Straw Man

Daily Reading: Romans 7

Wretched man that I am! (Romans 7.24)

Devotional Thought: Who is this wretched man?  Who is controlled by sin?  Some say it is Paul, but it certainly doesn’t sound like the Paul we read about in Romans 6 or the rest of his letters.

In Romans, Paul makes extensive grammatical use of second person (you), third person (he), and first person plural (we).  He goes back and forth between them with ease.  It is interesting, however, that each time he uses first person singular (I/me/my) he does so with a sense of setting up a “straw man” to illustrate an argument. He does this twice, once each in chapters 3 and 7.  The straw man of chapter 3 is trying to justify sinful behavior: “If through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?”  It is obvious from the context that Paul is not thinking of himself.  The same is true of the straw man in chapter 7.  Here he is referring to a pre-converted person coming to grips with the reality of sin in his/her life.  This person has been made aware of his/her sin, has been convicted of it, wishes to stop it, yet has no power over it.  Sin is still his/her master.  John Wesley referred to such a person as “the awakened man,” aware of sin, tired of sin, but still controlled by sin.

You cannot really understand Romans 7, however, without reading Romans 8.  There is a phrase in the first part of 7.25 that ties the two chapters together: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  Who will deliver me (7.24)?  Jesus Christ!  Who has set me free (8.2)?  Jesus Christ!

Don’t be the straw man of Romans 7.  Live in Romans 8.

Prayer: Once I was a wretched man, O Lord, but now I have been delivered and set free from sin through Jesus Christ our Lord!  Amen!

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 20.6-9

6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand.

7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

8 They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.

9 O Lord, save the king! May he answer us when we call.