Friday, 11/4/11
In today’s excerpt from Paul’s Letter to the Romans Paul twice speaks of Christ Jesus. Three times he speaks of Christ. He never refers to our Lord simply as Jesus.
Paul was a student in Jerusalem at the time of Our Lord’s death. He must have been aware of Jesus. He must have heard stories, but the only story from Our Lord’s lifetime that he tells in detail is one about the Last Supper. There he speaks of the “Lord Jesus,” but not simply of “Jesus.”
Paul’s preference for referring to the Savior as Christ rather than as Jesus stemmed from his having all his hopes centered on the Savior living on in heaven as Christ, rather than on the Jesus of history.
We would do well to imitate Paul in this. In our prayer life we should relate directly to Christ in heaven, rather than to Jesus who lived all those centuries ago.
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