Daily Retreat 10/26/07
2007 Oct 26 Fri
Rom 7: 18-25a/ Ps 118(119): 66. 68. 76. 77. 93. 94/ Lk 12: 54-59
From today’s readings: “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.... Lord, teach me Your statutes.... You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”
Being True to Yourself
The psychological insights found in St. Paul’s writings are part of the reason his letters are so intriguing. With the penetrating light of his faith, Paul dares to examine, describe and sort through some of the inner conflicts of human nature, thereby helping us understand not just Paul, but our own selves as well.
Paul bemoans, “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want!” How often you and I have made an examination of conscience, and come to this same puzzling and depressing conclusion. Remembering that the wages of sin is death, how come we continue to fall into temptation and become once again slaves of sin?
Note that Paul is NOT excusing himself when he states, “Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” Some have misconstrued this verse so completely so as to imply that sin makes us the unwilling victim of circumstances, that sin is not my fault, since “the devil MADE me do it.” Such a monstrous misunderstanding is the result of reading out of context, of missing the essential nuances Paul has worked so hard to lay out in the whole of this letter!
So, we must establish the context by re-reading at least chapter 6, along with all of this chapter 7, and the next chapter. God’s grace makes us dead to sin, but alive in Christ. Sin brings death, so what Paul is profoundly saying here is that to sin is to betray our new redeemed true self; to sin is to dwell in the flesh (i.e., all that is corruptible, mortal - doomed to death) instead of in the “inner self” or mind or spirit (incorruptible, immortal - destined for eternal life). The second half of the last verse (7:25 - oddly omitted from the lectionary) makes this dichotomy clear: “Therefore, I myself, with my mind, serve the law of God but, with my flesh, the law of sin.”
So, Paul argues that sin is always a foreign intruder, a treacherous trespasser, an unwelcome and unlawful squatter in the domain of our life. Far from cowardly acquiescing to sin because we can’t help ourselves, Paul insists that we realize that sin has NO hold or claim on our true selves, implying, therefore, that sin is to be entirely evicted and expunged because there no longer is any lawful sanction, shelter or room for it whatsoever in the new life in Christ!
Rom 7: 18-25a/ Ps 118(119): 66. 68. 76. 77. 93. 94/ Lk 12: 54-59
From today’s readings: “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.... Lord, teach me Your statutes.... You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”
Being True to Yourself
The psychological insights found in St. Paul’s writings are part of the reason his letters are so intriguing. With the penetrating light of his faith, Paul dares to examine, describe and sort through some of the inner conflicts of human nature, thereby helping us understand not just Paul, but our own selves as well.
Paul bemoans, “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want!” How often you and I have made an examination of conscience, and come to this same puzzling and depressing conclusion. Remembering that the wages of sin is death, how come we continue to fall into temptation and become once again slaves of sin?
Note that Paul is NOT excusing himself when he states, “Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” Some have misconstrued this verse so completely so as to imply that sin makes us the unwilling victim of circumstances, that sin is not my fault, since “the devil MADE me do it.” Such a monstrous misunderstanding is the result of reading out of context, of missing the essential nuances Paul has worked so hard to lay out in the whole of this letter!
So, we must establish the context by re-reading at least chapter 6, along with all of this chapter 7, and the next chapter. God’s grace makes us dead to sin, but alive in Christ. Sin brings death, so what Paul is profoundly saying here is that to sin is to betray our new redeemed true self; to sin is to dwell in the flesh (i.e., all that is corruptible, mortal - doomed to death) instead of in the “inner self” or mind or spirit (incorruptible, immortal - destined for eternal life). The second half of the last verse (7:25 - oddly omitted from the lectionary) makes this dichotomy clear: “Therefore, I myself, with my mind, serve the law of God but, with my flesh, the law of sin.”
So, Paul argues that sin is always a foreign intruder, a treacherous trespasser, an unwelcome and unlawful squatter in the domain of our life. Far from cowardly acquiescing to sin because we can’t help ourselves, Paul insists that we realize that sin has NO hold or claim on our true selves, implying, therefore, that sin is to be entirely evicted and expunged because there no longer is any lawful sanction, shelter or room for it whatsoever in the new life in Christ!
posted by FrPitstick | 10/25/2007
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