Life as we know it is just chemical reactions occuring within some membrane or walled environment. I don’t see why that definition couldn’t be extended to self

Life as we know it is just chemical reactions occuring within some membrane or walled environment. I don’t see why that definition couldn’t be extended to self sustaining chemical reactions that aren’t bound by a membrane or wall structure. The purpose of that membrane or wall is to just establish favorable conditions for the chemistry within the cell. If conditions could be established without such a membrane there wouldn’t be a reason for it. If reactions were energetically favorable across a wide spectrum of conditions there wouldn’t be a need for it either. There are some that consider fire to be a form of life. I don’t think that is such a wrong idea if we are to consider how wide the scope of possibilities are in the universe.