I am going to go out on a bit of a limb, but it is on my heart to write a little bit about how we have typically understood sanctification. Many have spent their
entire spiritual lives attempting to mortify the flesh and clean themselves up,
all under the assumption that their regeneration is ultimately dependent on
their own efforts.
I am not pointing any fingers here, because this was the
first four years of my own Christian life. I wanted, more than anything else, to
know the newness of life that Paul was talking about in Romans 6:4. I wanted a
deep and lasting transformation in my character and personality, and I worked
to effect it. Yet the struggle always seemed to be in vain. Condemnation would
sweep back in as I tried and failed over and over again in my effort to stay
sober, happy, and to not look at women the wrong way. I felt completely trapped
by my inability to live the Christian life. I knew there were promises of love,
joy, and peace, but I only experienced these as elusive and fleeting. My "growth" was a continual experience of discouragement.
The picture of this struggle to resist sin and to “crucify
the flesh” has been captured clearly by the “Romans 7 Man.” Paul, in Romans 7,
describes himself as a “wretch,” and as having “the desire to do what is right,
but not the ability to carry it out.” Romans 7 is touted as a prime example of
the issue of the believer’s “sin nature,” which necessitates the “sanctification
process” in which we are constantly striving to be more loving, holy, and
godly. We have consistently touted Mr. Romans 7 as our example of the standard
Christian life of trying and falling short. We have so identified ourselves
with this passage that to think the Christian life could be easy or fun seems delusional. Christian
life has been described ad nauseum as
a continual process of “taking up your cross” and “dying to yourself” to deal
with Mr. Sin, the Romans 7 Man, and be sanctified. For probably every genuine
believer, along with conversion to Christ came a deep seated awareness of
shortcomings. (Note: this is not wrong in and of itself.) This has driven people
into “troubleshooting mode,” where careful inventory is taken of past sins,
generational curses, vows, etc. Great lengths are taken to find the “roots” of
sins and negative patterns, which are usually then confessed and renounced. In
most circles, it is common to hear the sin nature described as something that
is still alive, and as being
something that the believer is ultimately responsible to crucify so as to
become more like Jesus.
I am not the Romans 7 man, and neither are you.
It is crucial to understand Romans 7 in the context of the surrounding chapters.
In Romans 6, Paul issues us a death certificate. “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life… For we know that our old man was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.” (Romans 6:3-4, 6-7) The old nature that kept us locked up under sin and the law has died with Christ. Paul echoes this in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ.” (emphasis mine) Anything that could possibly hold us back from thinking, acting, talking, and relating to God and others the way Jesus does was slain with Jesus on Calvary. Read in the context of Romans 6 and Romans 8, it is apparent that in Romans 7 Paul is describing his life before his revelation of our righteousness in Christ. Paul is describing his life when he saw his identity, his righteousness, and his standing with God as a product of his own religious performance. Paul was recognizing his own helplessness to contribute anything at all to his standing with God, or to produce real or lasting change in his own heart and life. To identify in any way at all with Romans 7 Man is to backpedal right over the cross, ignoring the reality of what was accomplished in Romans 6, and stealing the context of our practical Christian living as taught in Romans 8. If you are a born again believer who is experiencing a Romans 7 Christianity, it is not because you are a Romans 7 Man; it is because you don’t understand that you have died. Could it be that our apparent propensity for sin after our conversion results not from some “sinful nature” that we drag around with us, but rather from a lack of understanding or belief about what was accomplished at Calvary? Could it be that when Paul admonished the Romans to “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus,” it was because that was, in fact, the only accurate way to communicate the reality of what occurred at salvation? Transformation is not our job; it is the effortless result of faith recognizing the reality that you are already dead. If we had not truly died in Christ at His cross, then for us to “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” is an exercise of pure delusion.
It is crucial to understand Romans 7 in the context of the surrounding chapters.
In Romans 6, Paul issues us a death certificate. “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life… For we know that our old man was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.” (Romans 6:3-4, 6-7) The old nature that kept us locked up under sin and the law has died with Christ. Paul echoes this in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ.” (emphasis mine) Anything that could possibly hold us back from thinking, acting, talking, and relating to God and others the way Jesus does was slain with Jesus on Calvary. Read in the context of Romans 6 and Romans 8, it is apparent that in Romans 7 Paul is describing his life before his revelation of our righteousness in Christ. Paul is describing his life when he saw his identity, his righteousness, and his standing with God as a product of his own religious performance. Paul was recognizing his own helplessness to contribute anything at all to his standing with God, or to produce real or lasting change in his own heart and life. To identify in any way at all with Romans 7 Man is to backpedal right over the cross, ignoring the reality of what was accomplished in Romans 6, and stealing the context of our practical Christian living as taught in Romans 8. If you are a born again believer who is experiencing a Romans 7 Christianity, it is not because you are a Romans 7 Man; it is because you don’t understand that you have died. Could it be that our apparent propensity for sin after our conversion results not from some “sinful nature” that we drag around with us, but rather from a lack of understanding or belief about what was accomplished at Calvary? Could it be that when Paul admonished the Romans to “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus,” it was because that was, in fact, the only accurate way to communicate the reality of what occurred at salvation? Transformation is not our job; it is the effortless result of faith recognizing the reality that you are already dead. If we had not truly died in Christ at His cross, then for us to “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” is an exercise of pure delusion.
Paul understood the mystery of the Gospel as being “Christ
in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) He described his spiritual life
in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who
live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live
by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Paul told
the Colossians, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
… Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self, and have
put on the new self, which is being renewed
in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:4, 9-10) In
Romans 12:2, Paul describes the transformation of the believers life: “Do not
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”
And lest we look at the renewal of the mind as “our part,” Paul reminds us that
we already have the mind of Christ.
(1 Corinthians 1:16, Philippians 2:5) Even the renewal of our minds comes as
the effortless by product of the revelation of our union with Christ in His
death! Far from providing license to sin, this understanding of identity raises
the bar for holiness in the believer's life, and then enables them to walk it
out through simple trust in the finished work of the cross.
You and I have died, and more than that, you and I are now
alive as new creations in Christ. Old things have passed away; behold, all
things are new. We are holy and righteous, perfect and blameless in Jesus
Christ. Let’s simply believe it, and watch as the Word of God bears the fruit the
fruit of righteousness unto holiness in our lives.
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