Romans 7: 14-25
In the book (and movie) Lord of the Rings, the character Gollum struggles with both the good and evil living inside him. The good side of him wants to obey his master, Frodo, but that evil part wants to murder his master and his friend. There’s a scene where Gollum struggles with both sides of his nature, fighting until one side vanishes.
I think we too, struggle with the good in us - the part made new and which loves God. And the evil, selfish part that that just won't go away.
Paul is under no illusion that we human beings become perfect and pure after coming to faith in Jesus. He knows the evil we’re capable of. He sees within himself (and us) a war between those two natures, fighting for dominance.
Luther called this simul iustis et peccator. Badly translated, simultaneously saint and sinner. Both Paul and Luther knew that the Christian life was NOT one upward climb until we reached perfect holiness.
They knew that we will always fight with our sinful selves, until that day when God will make the whole world new, and finish what God started when Jesus burst from the tomb, the firstborn of the new creation.
No comments:
Post a Comment