Here’s a Readers’ Theatre approach to Romans 8:1 2 -2 5 1 7 2 01 1
Readers’ Theatre: Romans 8:1 2 -2 5
One: So then, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation,
but it isn’t an obligation to ourselves to live our lives
on the basis of selfishness.
Two: If you live on the basis of selfishness,
you are going to die.
But if, through the power of the Spirit,
you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature,
you will live.
One: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
Two: You didn’t receive a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.
Instead, you received God’s Spirit
when he adopted you as his own children.
One: Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
Two: And since we are his children, we are his heirs.
In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.
One: But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
Yet what we suffer now is nothing
compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
Two: The whole creation waits with breathless anticipation
for the revelation of God’s sons and daughters.
One: Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse.
But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day
when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
Two: For we know that all creation has been groaning
as in the pains of childbirth
right up to the present time.
One: And it’s not only the creation.
We ourselves who have the Spirit as the first crop of the harvest
also groan inside as we wait to be adopted
and for our bodies to be set free.
Two: We were saved in hope.
If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope.
Who hopes for what they already see?
But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:1 2 -2 5 1 7 2 01 1 1 1
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