It doesn't take a genius to figure out that there's something wrong. Someone once said, "I take the Resurrection on faith, but the doctrine of Original Sin is the easiest thing in the world to prove." Even skeptics understand that there is a problem -- the problem of evil. What do to, what to do?
Christianity is the only religion that offers an answer to the problem. Only in Christianity is there atonement, redemption, "paid in full". Only in Christianity do we find a God who actually takes the trouble to solve the problem of sin by paying the debt owed, thereby retaining both justice and mercy. Other religions offer weak answers. "Well, if you be good enough ..." whatever that means. "If you repent of your wicked ways ..." as if saying "I'm sorry" solves the problem of Cosmic Treason. Some even twist Christianity into a set of rules to be followed by which you can earn your way into the kingdom ... as if we could actually earn our way into anything but the Hell we so richly deserve. They go on to twist God into some sort of magnificent "nice guy" who decides, "Eh, justice is highly overrated. I'll accept your pitiful attempts at selfish 'good' and ignore the fact that you're a ghastly felon and let you in. No problem." No, none of that works. Only unaltered Christianity offers a genuine answer to the problem.
So, here we are, on the other side of Christ, cloaked in His perfection, receiving His imputed righteousness. It's a good thing. But we still have a problem, don't we? I mean, it's a real good thing -- this change in nature, this indwelling of the Spirit of God and all -- but we still have some work to do. We still need what is commonly referred to as "sanctification" -- the lifelong process of changing from dead images of Adam into living reflections of Christ. That's our task from the moment we are regenerated until we walk into the very presence of God. So how do we go about this?
In far too many cases these days, it appears that we go about this by a completely mind-boggling approach. The Bible tells us that "to set the mind on the flesh is death", that our original problem was that "we all once lived in the passions of our flesh". We are told, then, that "the flesh" -- that corrupted, sinful nature -- is the problem. In Romans 7 Paul bemoans the problem of living in "the flesh" while being a follower of Christ. He says, "I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh" and cries out, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" So what do we do? Well, understanding the severity of the problem and properly motivated to become good reflections of Christ, we go about trying to figure out what makes us tick. Why do we have a problem with lust or bitterness or gossip or disrespecting our parents? (Okay, that last one probably isn't a common one to ask these days ... but it should be.) Why do we do the things we know are wrong? And what steps can we take to remedy that? Go to AA? Find a support group? Examine our past life to find what happened? Maybe, if we just get in the right group of loving people or find the right program or gain a little self-esteem or get the right therapist we can work this thing out.
Do you see what we're doing there? We're trying to fix the thing of which Paul says there is "nothing good". Jesus said, "The flesh profits nothing" and we're saying, "Yeah, okay, we got that ... so how do we fix it?" The only possible answer is ... we don't. It's dead and, worse, gone completely bad. Don't look for a remedy; look for a shovel. "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you" (Col 3:5). We start with being "buried with Christ in baptism"; keep that up. Kill the old man. We don't need to find solutions, remedies, fixes. We need to nail him to the cross, line him up against the wall and shoot him, drop him in a vast desert and let him starve to death. And we need to do it now. And now. And again. Jesus didn't say, "Pick up that old dying carcass and follow Me." He said, "Take up your cross and follow Me." Paul said, "I die every day!"
The truth is we actually are sleeping with the enemy. The enemy is the flesh that we carry around with us constantly. That flesh is the old man. We are to put that old man to death and put on the new man. The process is not finding remedies for the old man, but to put on something new in its place. Sanctification is the ongoing, daily (more often if necessary), intentional murder of that dead carcass we carry around so that the living one can assume more and more presence in our lives by the work of the Spirit within. There is no fix for the old man. Put him out of your misery -- without mercy.
4 comments:
Wow, good post, Stan. One I feel maybe I should read again ever so often. Thank you for it.
Much of the admonition I write I write to me as well as anyone else. ;)
BUT! it sounds like a paradox (or a pair of something). It brings us back to free will, choice, what WE can do, even though you speak the truth that we can do nothing. Either we must do or there is nothing TO do. What does "kill the old dude" mean and why is that not something of which we can boast? It does sound like a decision on our part; something we decide to do, particularly in the way you put it in your post. And having done away with the old dude, we put on something new, another conscious decision as implied by your post. Being easily confused, I stand befuddled. How does what this post says not lend credibility to my position regarding free will?
First, I don't think I ever said, "There's no such thing as free will." What I said was that Natural Man would have to act outside his character to choose Christ. Second, the New Man has God at work in him, so he has both the will and the power to do what God wants.
I am not/would not urge unbelievers to kill the old man. They lack both the understanding and the ability. Much (most) of what I write is aimed at Christians. This is one of them.
Post a Comment