When erring is human...
We often quote the phrase "To err is human".Paul was painfully aware of human brokenness. In Romans 7 he talked about wanting to do good but doing evil instead: "The good I want to do, I don't and the evil I don't want, I do." He goes on to plead "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
Thankfully Paul answers his own question in Romans 8. In this glorious chapter he talks, not only of how Christ forgives our failure and our past, but how the Holy Spirit will help us overcome our broken sinful nature so that we can get to a point where we will err no more...
Here's the promise:
| You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans8:9-11) |
What beautiful and amazing good news!
You see, we were dead at two levels:
Physically dead because the wages of our sin meant that we would die for our guilt
Spiritually dead because
- We had hearts of stone instead of flesh (See Ezekiel 36:26)
- Our consciences were seared (1Tim4:2)
- Our hearts and desires were darkened (Rom1:21ff)
- Our minds became depraved (Rom1:28-32)
What does the Spirit do? He resurrects our hearts, consciences, desires and minds. He shines His holy light into the darkness and restores the image of God in us.
And, says Paul, if God can resurrect us spiritually, then physical resurrection is a no-brainer!
What beautiful and amazing good news!
