Thoughts from Evening Prayer

Reading:
Romans 7:21-8:17 


It is not hard to understand why Martin Luther was so moved by reading the book of Romans.  St. Paul clearly points out many times that we are both sinner and saint.  The Christian faith is really not an either/or proposition.  We can be both.  We continue to struggle against sin in this life, but we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.  This life is going to be filled with temptations and trials that are going to try to pull us away from Christ.  St. Paul is teaching us that if we are holding onto trying to be the Law, we are going to fall woefully short in the expectation.  It is not about our works, our adherence to the Law that places us in a right relationship with God.

St. Paul beautifully asks "Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"  (Romans 7:24-25)  This is the answer, Jesus Christ by His perfect life, death and resurrection as defeated sin, death and the devil.  Did you get that?  He defeated the three major issues in life, (sin, death and the devil) .  He kept the Law perfectly so that when we fall, we come back and trust in God's mercy and plead the perfect life of Christ.

He has given us new life in the waters of Holy Baptism.  In Holy Baptism, we come as helpless people trusting that God through this gift, will forgive us our sins, give us the gift of faith, and unite us to Jesus Christ.  We have been born again from above by the "water and the Spirit" (John 3:5).  It is not just plain water but as the Small Catechism teaches, water with Word.  It is a life giving fountain that produces faith in us and gives us hope that we have been united by Christ.  We have becomes heirs of God kingdom and now we can call out "Abba, Father".

What a truly great gift our God has given us in the person of His Son Jesus Christ.  When sin tries to pull us away, we can say we have been given righteousness by the one that kept the Law perfectly.  (Romans 8:3) When death approaches, we can say that one that died on the Cross to save me, has been raised from the dead, death no longer has dominion over him. (Romans 6:9)  And when Satan tries to tempt us and tell us that God can not love us because of what we have done, we can say, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and for ours only but for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2)