The Spirit Seeking the Body
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
ROMANS viii. 23.
=) HE idea is a very striking one. ‘Even we — the men who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, are not satisfied without the redemption of the body too. Even we, who are supposed to have our souls anchored in another world, are not content to let the present world go. It is not enough for us to believe, as we do believe, that there are regions beyond the seen and temporal; we want the region that is seen and temporal to be itself redeemed and glorified. It is not enough for us to know that there is a sacred as well as a secular life; we want the secular life to be made itself sacred. It is not enough for us to recognise that there is a city not built with hands; we want to feel that every village of the world was
THE SPIRIT SEEKING THE BODY, 15!
meant to be a street of that city. We want to see the deep things of God thrown up upon the surface of society, to behold the life of the Spirit permeating the life of the flesh, to find the impress of eternity stamped upon the forms of time. We wait for the creation itself to be delivered from bondage into freedom. We wait for the time when we shall have pleasure without hurt, knowledge without detriment, research without shaking, criticism without irreverence, culture without coldness, contact with impurity without sin. We, the men of the Spirit, desire most of all the redemption of the body.’
Spirit Divine, make the body divine too. Redeem this outer man from the sense of bondage. Give me an enlarged liberty of action, an extended sphere of locomotion, a wider boundary of possession. Give me the power to visit more places without injury, to do more things without harm, to taste more pleasures without corruption. Give me the grace to walk through the corn fields on the Sabbath day and yet to keep the Sabbath even in my walking. Give me the strength to go to the marriage feast of Cana, and yet to make a sacrament even of the nuptial joy. Give me the purity to sit down in the social circle of Bethany and yet to preserve the heart uncumbered by social cares. Give me, above all, the spotlessness of soul that can touch the world and remain unspotted still — exposed, yet undefiled, assailed, yet free from tarnish, tempted, yet without sin. The Spirit indeed is willing; but I groar within myself for the redemption of the body.