Monthly Archives: May 2012

The trump card of Romans 7

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It happens all the time. It happened to my daughter not long ago. She was in a group of young people having a devotional Bible study, she mentioned a Scripture about how Christians can live in victory, probably referencing something along the lines of Philippians 4:13 (“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”), and the response she received came back as “Well, yes, BUT . . .”

Romans 7.

Romans 7, for the uninitiated, seems in some circles to be the trump passage of Scripture when it comes to the Christian life. In it (the second half, to be specific), are found the verses in which Paul delineates a classic struggle: “The good that I wish I could do, I do not do. The evil that I wish I didn’t do, that’s what I do.”

These Scriptures, which resonate so deeply with Christians who truly love God and want to serve Him but find themselves falling again and again into sin, seem to overshadow other Scriptures.

Like the one from Philippians, above, only one of the many in Philippians that proclaim the truth of the power of Christ in the life of the Christian.

Like ones in Colossians, I Peter, Galatians, Ephesians, Hebrews, II Corinthians, Psalms, John, over and over again, in a veritable cornucopia of declarations of astonishing power available in the Christian life to live in victory. I’ve blogged about many of them.

Like ones in Romans. And to get specific, Romans 6, 7, and 8. Yes, the very same passage that ostensibly declares Defeatist Christianity. Taken in its beautiful context, the second half of Romans 7 fits into a very different picture than the one many Christians seem to want to see: a picture of a Christian life lived in victory.

My own take on Romans 7? I agree with a wise man (who happens to be my pastor) who said, “Paul is here describing the life of anyone trying to live a life pleasing to God by his own [fleshly] efforts.” Bingo. That’s a hard, hard life. Very opposed to a life lived in the power of the Spirit, which is described in both the previous chapter of Romans and the next.

Why—when the bulk of Scriptures about the Christian life proclaim victory, and only a very small portion seems to describe a Christian life of constant failure (only 17 verses, to be exact)—why do these few verses almost invariably trump all the other dozens of fantastic declarations?

It’s because they match with our experience.

This is crucial. Don’t miss it. The way many Christians approach the Scriptures is to take our low-level experience as the grid through which we read. Then the Scriptures that match with the experience resonate, and the ones that don’t match get dismissed or relegated to the theoretical (the “positional” as opposed to the “practical”).

I think it’s safe to say that Christians would agree that the Apostle Paul wasn’t a schizoid. He didn’t live in consistent defeat (as some think Romans 7 seems to indicate) and at the same time in consistent victory (as about a hundred other Scriptures indicate). But many Christians have never come head to head with what to do with this seeming contradiction.

What’s the solution? It’s a matter of taking the Bible seriously—all of it—of crying out to God to grant vision to our near-sighted eyes, to soften our hard hearts, to knock His truths through our thick skulls, by the power of His Holy Spirit. To come face to face with these Scriptures, and—even though they may not match with our experience—to believe them.

Let’s not interpret all the victorious Christian life Scriptures through the lens of a Roman 7 life. Instead, let’s take all the Scriptures—including Romans 7—in their victorious context.

A friend once said to me something like, “Well, if Paul couldn’t live in victory, how can we expect to?” As far as I can remember she never mentioned Romans 7, but of course I knew that was what she was referring to. I answered, “Paul didn’t live in Romans 7. He lived in Romans 8.” She gazed at me, dumbfounded, and had no reply. I’m guessing she had never heard a challenge like that before.

Challenge Romans 7 thinking. In your own life and in the lives of those around you.

Challenge the Romans 7 trump card. Live in the resurrection power of the life of Jesus Christ. It will trump the Romans 7 life every time.

Maturity: Praying in faith, not fear

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Revisiting a concept I first wrote about in November of 2009. Here is that thought, and I hope to add more thoughts soon, as the Lord since then has been deepening my understanding.

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I was doing a Biblical word study, because I wanted to understand the concept of perfection, often translated “maturity.” After all, with two children young adults, it seemed about time.

Mature, perfect, complete, sanctified, holy, whole-hearted. The study got bigger and bigger, but I kept doggedly moving through it. Learning a lot. Being deepened and blessed. Convicted again and again.

Then I came to I Thessalonians 3:9-10. How can we properly give thanks to God for all the joy that you give us in Him? Night and day we keep praying earnestly for you, longing to see your face and complete that which is lacking in your faith.

Maybe at first glance it doesn’t look like anything outstanding. But in reading the earlier part of the chapter I saw that Paul had been experiencing some discouragement in his persecution, and he had wanted to hear how the Thessalonians were doing in hope of being encouraged. Timothy had brought back such an outstanding report of how these believers were growing in faith and love that Paul was filled with joy and hope.

So then, he said that this joy motivated him to pray for them even more.

Paul didn’t say, “What a relief that they’re doing well. I can forget about them for a while. I’ll focus my prayer attention on those people over there who aren’t doing well.” No, actually it was just the opposite. In fact, his continued prayer for them was a way of showing his thankfulness to God for what He had already done in their lives.

“Augh!” I thought. “I don’t pray like that!” When I hear that people are doing well spiritually, I tend to think, “Oh, wonderful. Thank you, Lord. Now I’ll pray for these other people who aren’t doing so well.”

And I realized that sometimes my prayers are motivated more by fear than by faith. I grew up hearing and giving prayer requests for people in trouble. Health trouble, financial trouble, spiritual trouble. I don’t mean to say that these requests are wrong. But I don’t remember hearing or saying, “Pray for so and so, because he’s really growing strong in the Lord.”

The mindset Paul shows here, and as well in Colossians 1:3-4 (“We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you ever since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints”), is one of the confidence of victory, rather than the fear of defeat. It’s centered around the assurance that God is doing a great work. “You’ve made great progress! Praise God! Now I’m eagerly longing to personally see that you make even greater progress!”

One thing I’ve learned about maturity is that the maturity that can “complete” (perfect, bring to maturity) the faith of another is the same maturity that rejoices in, revels in, the beautiful growth that is already evident, the faith and love already blossoming. This kind of maturity will focus less on what I think God still needs to do and more on what God is already doing. In great joy I’ll be motivated by it to pray even more.