A Pauline Definition Ordinary Christianity

In the closing verses of Romans chapter seven Paul delves deep into the intimate struggle of a man coping with a fallen nature.  In the midst of an argument built to encourage living by faith and through the Spirit we are introduced to a sobering realization of our eminent struggle for perfection.  Paul writes in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”  (New International Version, 2011)  Within the twists and brambles of words lie a simple statement of insufficiency.  “Paul does not say that his flesh in not good.  The will is there but not the action, because carnal habit opposes the will” explained Pelagius.  He knows that his will does “desire to do what is good” but that “good itself does not dwell in [him]”.  Therefore, he writes, “it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it”.   Diodore wrote, “Paul is not condeming himself here but describing the common lot of mankind, which he sees in himself.” (Oden, 1998)

By disecting Paul’s contrasting statements we seem to view the opposing sides of an internal battle.  The “sin living in [us]” seems to create a discrepancy with the previous chapter in verses six and seven.  “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.”  If we are set free from sin then how can we be so influenced by the “sin living in [us]”?  Verse eighteen adds to this thought, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.”  Stott comments on this, “…it seems likely that ‘nothing good’…alludes to his inability to turn the desire into action.  It also means that everything ‘good’ in human beings is tainted with evil.” (Stott, 1994)

Paul has begun for us the initial construction of his definition of the ordinary Christian life.  To truly understand the appearance of antitheses in the text we need only look to one man, Jesus Christ.  Indeed this is not a contradiction but a characterization of man prior to the indwelling of Jesus Christ and the grace He brought.  Augustine wrote, “The man being described here is under the law, before the coming of grace.  Sin overpowers him when he attempts to live righteously in his own strength, without the help of God’s liberating grace.”  (Oden, 1998)

By the grace offered freely through Jesus Christ we find ourselves on the other side of the law which was His completion.  The sin that was “living in [us]” is now covered by the blood and we have been “set free from sin” that we might “become slaves to righteousness”.  And what then does righteous living entail?  If Paul’s definition of the ordinary Christian life is built on the previously discussed freedom from sin then what might a life of slavery to righteousness include?

The ethics of Paul concerning ordinary Christian living are best summarized by his words in verse twenty-seven of Galatians chapter three where he describes us as being “baptized into Christ” and having “clothed [ourselves] in Christ”.  In chapter five he writes more specifically in his list of the Fruits of the Spirit beginning in verse twenty-two, “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and selfcontrol”.  Appropriately, he concludes this list by adding that “against such things there is no law”.

Understandably, these words come as instruction to a community.  While we are to hold these fruits as acceptable and indispensible attributes for the individual, they also serve as exemplary characteristics of the Church.  Thiselton writes, “Much of Paul’s concern for appropriate behavior concerns the very identity, cohesion, stability and unity of the church.” (Thiselton, 2009)

Therefore, our Christian ethic is to begin with “those who belong to Christ Jesus [having] crucified the flesh” and continuing through life “by the Spirit” and “in step with the Spirit”.  If the Spirit is in us and at work in our lives then surely the characteristics of the Son of God will be evident.  As Christ is manifest in us so may we also become Christ to others.  Through our ordinary Christian behavior His light and life are expressed to those in darkness and death.  Through our normalcy in Him we know that the gospel of Christ is shone.