Embracing our Struggles for the Good

Many of us, as we follow Christ, face a very troubling problem. We find that we just can’t do the good things we know we should do. Sometimes, we even feel a strong resistance inside us when it comes to obeying God’s will.

The apostle Paul talked about this struggle in Romans 7:

“We know that the law is spiritual, but I am flesh, sold as a slave to sin. I don’t understand my own actions. I don’t do what I want to do, but instead I do what I hate. And if I do what I don’t want, I am agreeing that the law is good. But really, it is not me doing it, but sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but I can’t. I don’t do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil I don’t want to do. And if I do what I don’t want to do, it is not really me doing it but sin living in me.”

Even if, for a time—maybe months or even years—we feel a sense of freedom and peace in our souls, the enemy will still try to use that against us later on.

For they tempt us into thinking that our main vices are gone—for we are after all in God’s Kingdom now! Yet we begin to notice inclinations within ourselves. These inclinations, of varying compulsion, prompt us to return to the warped thinking and behaviors. We used to engage in these behaviors with little consideration and indeed willingly. We may return to Scripture for answers. We might discover, to our chagrin instead of joy, the wonderful affirmations and promises of God regarding spiritual freedom and inner peace. For these may appear to be elusive and unreal. Lord, have mercy upon us!

One of the verses which may be distressing, or at least puzzling, to us is 2 Corinthians 5:17. I want to explore this verse, and parts of the whole passage.

A more literal rendering of the apostle Paul’s sentence, from the Greek text, can be rendered into English as follows: “So if anyone [is] in Christ, [that person is] a new creation; the old [things] passed away, behold [the] new [things] have come.”

Allow me to delve into two of the key Greek terms here. The Greek word translated as “passed away” is (transliterated) parelthen. It is a 2nd aorist compound verb. This verb conveys a sense of past action with emphasis on the whole of action (the completeness of it). The Greek word translated as “have come” is (transliterated) gegonen. This is a perfect participle that conveys a sense of action that has occurred, and is still continuing on. Furthermore, because it is a participle and not a verb, it makes the sense of chronological time frame indefinite. This conveys that the new heavenly realities have come and are continuing to come—in other words, that the “new things” within are progressively manifesting over time as we walk by faith in this life.

The truth affirmed and articulated here brilliantly by the apostle is most precious and it is crucial that we understand what he was pointing toward. What does this mean for us? How then might this help us in our struggles, as we genuinely desire to know and love God?

First, we are not yet spiritually perfected. The “new” is still in the process of “coming.” This implies that we will struggle. We must be willing to embrace our struggles. They are part of God’s transformation of our persons. We can learn to be faithful to our Lord through those struggles.

Nothing escapes the Father’s sovereign care and so our struggles are used to make us holy. What we must endure has been anticipated by God. Even what we actively choose to do in sinning by siding with “the flesh” is included. Let us remember: The Holy Spirit wastes nothing we do or experience. He operates in hidden ways, working in and through all that we choose to do in this life.

Second, our hope is grounded in Christ himself. We can expect to learn to listen to and obey the blessed Holy Spirit. And in choosing that we can progressively understand the reality of what God has done—namely, that the Holy Spirit has placed us (somehow) “in Christ” and thus the redemption through the “blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20) is appropriated within us. Christ's perfect sacrificial life offering, through His death, causes death within us. It also re-creates or renews life within us because of His indestructible life (see Hebrews 7:23-25).

We may have confidence in ourselves, but it is misplaced. This is because of the power of death over us. Additionally, the inward “bentness” of “the flesh” in our souls manifests chiefly in insisting on our own will being done. We are freed from this bondage because “one has died for all; therefore all have died.” (2 Corinthains 5:14) And thus “the old things have passed away”! We must learn to live into this truth to be free, as the Lord Jesus promised us (John 8:36).

Third, since our hope is in Christ alone, and we are “in Christ” in fact, this must become for us the standard for living now and into eternity (see 2 Corinthians 5:16). Those who have been “born from above” are already, somehow, participating in the “new creation”. We must live as though this is true, even if we have little confirmation of it in the moment.

Our difficulty is mainly in this: We want to understand this Divine operation through merely human capacities. Instead, we should open our hearts to God. The sooner we learn “to walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7), the sooner the Holy Spirit can demonstrate the power of God in and through us to other people. This power is shown in our mortal bodies, minds, emotions, and memories (see 2 Corinthians 4:7-12).

Finally, we can take courage. We know that our maturation as persons is a process. The Lord does this hidden and inscrutable transformation in us. God’s timing is perfect. The “new things have come”—and so they continue to be manifested in us and through us in ways that God decides. We cannot manufacture or produce these changes of character or attitude (the “new things”) directly. However, we can yield ourselves again and again to the blessed Holy Spirit. We can choose to be obedient to God’s good commands. Indeed, we must do this! We can actively choose to receive God’s rest “in Christ.” We do this by opening our whole selves to being in that position of love and power of God. This is offered to us moment by moment and day by day (see 2 Corinthians 4:16-18).