From Lost to Loved: A 30-Day Study of Romans 8නියැදිය

The phrase “burying the lede” first appeared during the American Civil War. It refers to starting a story with the wrong details. Telegraph lines at the time were notoriously unreliable, and messages could cut out mid-sentence. If the main point was buried, the most important news might never make it through. War correspondents learned: lead with the big news.

Christians often bury the lede.

We miss the headline of our faith when we reduce the Gospel to earthly upgrades like comfort, success, or relief. God does bless His people, but never in ways that will overshadow what matters most. Every kindness from Him in this life is a signal, not that we’ve reached the destination but that Christ is preparing something greater. Our riches in Christ weren’t meant to decorate a dying world. They’re meant to prepare us for a coming one. This life is a vapor; eternity is the headline.

That’s why Paul speaks so directly in Romans 8:10. “The body is dead because of sin.” It sounds severe, but it’s a needed reminder. If this life were the main event, we’d be big trouble. The reality is our bodies are wasting away, and the pull of the flesh still lingers. But that’s no longer the truest thing about you.

The Holy Spirit now dwells in you. You live in what one scholar calls a “decisively new dimension.”[1] The Spirit fills you with real power, presence, and life. Paul uses the word zōē here, pointing to something far greater than survival with a spiritual twist. Zōē is about the reality of Christ alive in you.[2]

That’s why Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 15:19: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” If your faith only reaches for comfort and never longs for resurrection, then your gaze is set too low.

Romans 8:10 is the correction we need. It lifts your eyes beyond the temporary and anchors them in the unstoppable work of God already breaking in. We’re reminded the Spirit gives life because the blood-bought righteousness of Christ now defines us. That righteousness was secured by a cross.

The old is fading, and the greater work is breaking in. It’s a work fueled by Jesus’s righteousness, sealed with the Spirit, and accepted by the Father. This is the life we’ve been given: resurrection now and glory still to come.

REFLECT:
How are you still living as if this life is the headline instead of eternity?

[1]James D. G. Dunn, Romans 1–8, vol. 38A of Word Biblical Commentary, ed. David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1988), 431.

[2] Hermann Cremer, Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek, trans. William Urwick (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1895), 272.