Into the Heart of Romans: A Deep Dive into Paul's Greatest Letter

by Tom Wright

Think how the original exodus worked. God rescued his people from Egypt so that they could leave the land full of idols and worship him in the desert. The idea was that, after coming through the Red Sea and being given Torah on Mount Sinai, God could establish his Tabernacle in their midst and then come to dwell there in person, living alongside his people, leading them to their inheritance. Exodus–Torah–Tabernacle–inheritance. To repeat what I said before, Romans 6 speaks of the exodus: the slaves come through the water to freedom. Romans 7 brings them to Sinai, with all its puzzles and problems but with its continuing promise of life for those who actually keep Torah. But how (granted that, as in 7.17, ‘Sin’ dwells within them)? Paul’s answer is the spirit – and now the spirit coming to dwell actually within humans themselves, not just in a tent outside the gate of the camp. This is the new Tabernacle. And then, as we will discover in the subsequent passage, the spirit leads God’s redeemed people to their inheritance – which is not ‘heaven’ but the entire renewed creation.