Just as Jesus used familiar images, activities, and relationships in a new way in his unique parables of the kingdom, in today’s epistle text Paul uses the familiar practice of adoption to describe a wholly new possibility that is now available to those who are “in Christ Jesus” (8:1). We focus our exegesis on the first part of this week’s text in order to explore how Paul uses this well-known term as a way to describe the totally new status in which those who follow Christ find themselves.

The first verses of this week’s epistle reading is actually the concluding exhortation for Paul’s discussion in 8:1-11. Disciples of Jesus are no longer condemned by the old law, but are now living in “the law of the Spirit” (8:2). Paul uses his vocabulary to signal the importance of the conclusion he i…