Romans 7:15-25a

In preaching class, it was suggested that personal stories make good illustrations but one should be careful to not make the sermon “all about the preacher.” My family does not appreciate my use of family stories in my sermons. As well, the age of internet has made the collecting of stories a difficult path. We all know preachers who have told some internet story as though it actually happened to them. So how do we find good ways to open windows in our preaching and make scripture come alive?

Those thoughts come to mind as I read the commentaries on Romans 7:15-25a. Many scholars go to great lengths talking about whether or not Paul is being autobiographical in this passage. They wonder as well about what sin it was that had such a grip on him. Perhaps the use of the first person in this passage is a device to help open up the point he is making. It allows us to know that Paul just like the rest of us struggles with the human dilemma of knowing that while the law has its place but it is life in the Spirit made available to us through the faithfulness of Jesus to which we are now called.

Paul wants us to know that conversation about the Jewish concepts of the “evil impulse” and the “good impulse” is not just abstract theological one but rather a very human and personal ongoing struggle. So it would seem that the question for this week is: How do we live in that tension between God’s nudging us toward wholeness and shalom and all that draws us away from that? How do we open up windows in our preaching and in our lives that help ourselves and others to know of this great freedom that we have in the Spirit to live as God intends for us to live?