Romans Chapter 7

This is our OLD SELF.

Romans 7 is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible. Right after teaching us that we are in Christ and made just-as-if-i’d never sinned, Paul explains that sanctification- becoming more like God- is not an instantaneous process. Rather, it’s a life long struggle: in fact, Paul says we’re AT WAR with our old selves.

We’re conditioned to relieve tension in our lives wherever we find it. If we’re cold, we turn up the heat. If we’re hungry, we eat. If we’re bogged down with work, we take a break. Obviously, this sort of alleviation isn’t always bad, but this type of mindset can’t translate to our Christian life.

When we sin, bad things happen; things that cause pain and hurt. So our human nature seeks to alleviate this tension. We ignore the pain, pretend it’s not there, and convince ourselves that we’re really not so bad (remember our inner churchie?). Our efforts to smooth things out cause us to do exactly what we learned about in chapter 1: we suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Rather than injure our glorious egos and self esteems, we tell our selves that sin isn’t sin.

The Catechism reminds us that there’s two parts to our conversion. The second part, the coming to life of our new self, gets a whole lot more attention than the first: the dying away of our old self. For most of us, including the venerable Apostle Paul, this is a slow, painful death. Although we have been ALREADY made one with Christ, we have NOT YET fully realized this new life. As Pastor Jelmer has said, our inner being is at home with God, but our feet are still on this sinful planet.

Martin Luther said there are two kinds of Christians- Christians of the cross, and Christians of glory. The Christians of glory seek to alleviate the tension we feel by masking the effects of sin, by explaining away the mysteries of God, and focus all of their attention on this world. On the other hand, a Christian of the cross accepts the painful tension caused by living simultaneously in two different realms; he’s willing to let God kill away his old sinful self, as painful as that sometimes is; and remembers that he is just a pilgrim in this sinful world, willing to be a good servant and steward wherever God has placed him, but also ready to drop it in an instant to claim the promises of eternity.

The Apostle Paul, the one who spent considerable time in the presence of the resurrected Christ, the one who bravely brought the gospel to the marketplace of the world, finishes this chapter with these words:

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

This is our NEW SELF.

The next chapter, eight, is one of the most remarkable passages in all of literature. Next week, there is no Sunday School, so we need to wait to hear these promises. That’s ok. Take these two weeks and read through the second half of chapter seven several times, both alone and with your family. Read it slowly- let it sink in. Don’t try and relieve the tension by putting a happy face on this passage. If you don’t feel a bit like the fella in the top picture, you need to re-read it.

But don’t forget Paul’s answer to his own question:

“Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”