Yes, the blogging side of me has been on a hiatus for two reasons. I've been sick for the past four days (lost my voice for two days) and yesterday I submitted my application, resume, references and cover letter for the position of Chaplain and Spiritual Life Director at Warren Wilson College! Jenny and I are praying that I, at least, get an interview. Of course, as with any job, your chances of getting a position dramatically increase when you can speak face-to-face with the person(s) who is hiring.
I also wanted to let you all know that I will be going on vacation to Orlando from Tuesday to Sunday. I doubt many posts will make it up on the site so don't think I've given it up, ok?
Alright, now let's get back to Romans, shall we?
Romans 7 (read it here)
This chapter is one of the most refreshing and genuinely transparent writings of Paul. I appreciate his honesty so much. Millions of Christ-followers understand exactly how difficult it is to balance righteous living with faith in Christ. Sometimes we seek to honor the law, or righteous living, more than Jesus himself who is the only way to truly be righteous in God's sight.
Don't you understand? Paul is telling not only Roman citizens but all of us that we should follow Jesus (by his teachings, actions, examples) instead of treating the law as if it were God itself!
Before I give away everything, let's go through exactly what Paul has to say.
Paul says the law applies only while a person is living. (v. 1) Duh, you might say. He gives the example of a woman taking part in a covenant of marriage with a man. As long as the man is alive, both parties are bound to that covenant. After all, they did promise, in the sight of God, a variation of "to death do us part." It is as the married couple promises; only when one of the two dies is the other free to marry again. (v. 2) Re-marriage in any other context other than infidelity is inappropriate (v. 3; Jesus uses the word pornea in Matthew 5:31 to describe unfaithfulness, which could describe a few other causes than just adultery).
This is not a post on marriage and divorce. I know that there are other reasons which, in our contemporary society, may be understandable grounds for divorce (physical & emotional abuse, for example). However, Paul is simply using the life-long term of such a covenant as marriage to make his point which is...
If you have given your life to Jesus Christ then you have died to the power of the law (remember the imagery of baptism?) and are completely able to produce a harvest of good deeds for God (v. 4) without fearing condemnation. Giving your life to Jesus is a life-long covenant.
All "good deeds" before becoming a Christ-follower may have been "good," but they might as well be isolated incidents until we produce a harvest (which suggests a plethora of similar incidents becoming like clockwork). In other words, before accepting Christ we would do "good" only when it benefited us or when it was obvious, felt good or was seemingly unavoidable. In a regenerated life with Christ, good deeds become part of who we are. Check yourself! If good deeds aren't pouring from your life, then you may have some soul searching to do.
Before one lays down his life to Jesus, natural sinful desires are free to reign from within. The results aren't good when our desires are defined without God's inspiration. In fact, humanity tends to produce a harvest of sinful deeds (the opposite of good deeds) which results in death. Death, as it is used here, is not speaking of a finality but of a process. To make this clear, let me paraphrase. It would be like Paul saying:
The way we are without Jesus, being led by whatever we feel, will not only lead to death (that is everyone's fate on earth) but it will kill us little by little in the process; make us feel like we're dying or dead inside.
Focusing on right and wrong, the main job of the law, becomes antiquated once we have accepted God's Spirit in place of our own. Then and only then will our instincts be completely changed and forever tend to produce the harvest of good deeds, (v. 6) reversing what was "normal."
Of course, this doesn't mean that the law is bad. It is the only way we learn definitively what is right and wrong; what pleases and what angers God. (v. 7) But, for some reason, when humans discover things that they should not do, they instinctively are tempted to do them. For example, if you are told there is an unwrapped gift for you in the closet, wouldn't you have the temptation to take a peep? If you wouldn't have known about its existence, the temptation wouldn't exist, either.
This is Adam & Eve's predicament in a nutshell. What if the serpent had not described the effects of eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Eve would've never known that eating from this tree would give her and Adam knowledge of right and wrong. At that time, wrong didn't even exist! (just what Paul is saying in verse 8) Adam was like Jesus, he was a perfect, sinless human being (the same could be said about Eve)!
Like two old sayings tell us: Knowledge is power, but curiosity kills the cat.
Sin comes to life when we are aware of it. The temptation begins its war within us and we are nowhere near strong enough to thwart every temptation. For the more we know what is right and wrong, the more we'll be tempted. When we discover the law, we'll see that it doesn't bring hope, it just shows how broken and sinful we are. Paul describes this process as spiritual death. (vs. 9-10)
Our human nature and sinful desires within us will deceive and make us give excuses for the things we do. All humans twist the law to say what they want it to say from time to time which is dangerous, downright lethal in some cases. (v. 11)
Don't get it confused. God's law is not the one causing the deception, its our natural reaction to it. A holy law + a naturally sinful human = dead (hu)man walking! Examine the law for yourself (read through Exodus 20, for starters) and see how you measure up. The moment we make any excuse about how such a law is unreasonable or that it is common to break this particular law, is the moment we discover how sinful we are. (v. 13)
Paul, the writer of the majority of the New Testament, doesn't put himself on a pedestal to be revered for his strict adherence to the law. Ironically, though, he is adored for his honesty in how difficult the law is to follow, even while being a Christ-follower.
Paul says that the law is good, but he is not. He still finds himself a slave to sin even though he doesn't want to or should be. With all of his being, he wants to do what is right because he knows the difference between right and wrong. Instead, he still does what he hates. He doesn't understand how he can serve God but fail so often. (vs. 13-15) Have you been there?
The fact that he knows an action is wrong shows that the law is good and beneficial. (v. 16)
Here's the most confusing statement that Paul makes, in my opinion: "So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it." (v. 17)
Huh? He isn't doing wrong, but then again, he is? How does that work?
Paul is saying that everyone has sin within them, a natural tendency to let ourselves be in control, no matter what God says or wishes. Even though we may not be conscious of this tendency in action, it is still us acting in defiance to God. Its like blaming a computer for its virus-ridden software. The software can be replaced but the computer itself will be considered in poor condition until that is remedied. Simply put, humanity with its "pre-programmed" sinful nature is the virus; Jesus is the new software that makes the computer perform better, not perfectly, of course!
Because even with Jesus, Christ-followers will not be able to be perfect. (v. 18) It won't matter how much you want to do everything that is right, you STILL won't be able to! (vs. 19, 21) You don't lose the sinful desires until you leave this sinful earth. Temptation is everywhere and will continue to only get worse the more wise you get. We are nothing compared to the craftiness of Satan, who uses these temptations for our own demise so that we will doubt our commitment to God.
Even if you love the law and desire to follow it with everything that you have (v. 22) you will find yourself in the midst of an internal war within your mind. (v. 23) The war is between who you are in Christ and who you were by yourself. You'll want to believe that without Jesus you were in the same boat (sinning), you just feel crappy about yourself more now. Is guilt the only bi-product of being a Christian? If it were, there would be few Christians!
Freedom is found when we discover and wholeheartedly trust that Jesus Christ truly frees us from the penalty of our sins. We don't have to worry about punishment but only about doing whatever good we can for others. If we are struggling within ourselves about our worth then the law (or what's right and wrong) has WAY TOO MUCH power in our lives!
It never has been about being a good person. If it were, we would all be damned from the very beginning with no hope of earning God's favor. Thank you, God, that You didn't intend for us to struggle to earn Your love that way. God offers it free of charge through His son, Jesus.
The more you know only shows how much more you need to learn and implement what you have learned. The law only shows how much you are not like God and how we all need Jesus' sacrifice and God's Spirit to truly find peace.
Update: The previous paragraph was the last thing I wrote before having a tumultuous day at work. I had to remind myself again and again after nearly losing my cool several times, "I'm free to do good deeds." I was reminded of a quote by Saint Augustine, an influential early church leader from the 400s, when he said, "When I thought of devoting myself entirely to you, my God, it was I that wished to do it, and i that wished not to do it. It was I. And since I neither completely wished, nor completely refused, I fought against myself and tore myself to pieces."
To me, this is exactly what Paul talks about. When we fight with ourselves over guilt or if we're worthy of God's love or forgiveness, we don't win. The fight was won when Jesus died for us. For if we fight against ourselves one of two things happen: 1) We will feel defeat no matter which 'side' wins or 2) both sides will tear each other to pieces. Go with God's expression of your worth (Jesus), instead of even your own view of yourself.
Questions
1.) What do you think about my statement: "Before accepting Christ we would do "good" only when it benefited us or when it was obvious, felt good or was seemingly unavoidable. In a regenerated life with Christ, good deeds become part of who we are. Check yourself! If good deeds aren't pouring from your life, then you may have some soul searching to do." If you are a Christ-follower, did that describe you in a before-and-after kind of way? If so, how?
2.) Do you agree that when we discover something that is wrong, we almost naturally begin to think about it and be tempted to do it? Why or why not? (Remember the example with the unopened gift or Adam and Eve.) Is ignorance bliss or is knowledge dangerous (or both)?
3.) We are naturally sinful, there's no way around it. Its difficult to give up the guilt when we accept Christ because we always experience and fall into temptation. However, real faith in Jesus is knowing that our sins are not held against us (even though consequences of our mistakes are still there) and we are free to do and seek out what is good in confidence! Anything other than that is not giving God the glory He deserves. Do you struggle with guilt and worry over doing more good than bad? Do you "tear yourself to pieces?"
No comments:
Post a Comment