by his wounds, we are healed

Scripture: Romans 7
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

Observation:
I said yesterday that I would write a little something about the human condition, Sin and goodness.   Easter faith is couched within a certain understanding of the human situation.  It is, after all, a Jewish story involving Sin, guilt, punishment, forgiveness, and redemption. 
In the letter to the Romans, Paul is making a case for the death and resurrection of Jesus as an antidote for Sin.  Paul is describing his personal inner struggle, a universal struggle to know and do what is right and good.  Paul is describing the human condition from a Jewish, biblical, theological perspective.  Jews and Christians believe that humans are made in God's image, there is goodness in our DNA; and we are tragically flawed creatures.  (See Genesis chapter 1-11).  We are capable of disobeying God and our own best inner voices.  We will kill in anger or envy when our egos are wounded.  Hatred is a kind of spiritual killing, isn't it?  We will sometimes ignore the right thing to do what is easy or safe or pleasing or more comfortable. We will remain silent in the face of great injustice.  And we can often know the difference between right and wrong, what is just and unjust, good or evil.   Jews believe that their God gave them a law (commandments, see Exodus-Deuteronomy).  This law set them apart as God's holy people, called into obedience as a sign of loyalty to this God.  But the people ignored the law.  Despite all that their God had done for them to secure their freedom and provision.  Sin, the condition that causes disobedience, could not be remedied by knowledge of God's law or by communal accountability.  National, systemic injustice plagued them as much as personal sins against one another.   
In Romans, Paul is describing this dual nature of the human mind and body---divided between what is Godly and what is Sin.  Sin is a condition of the heart and mind, an infection of sorts, that plagues all humanity.  It is a denial of God and the right way of God that has been revealed through the law of God (commandments) to God's people.  Sin distorts the law.  Sin ignores responsibility and rules and abuses freedom.  Sin is greater than immoral behavior or bad choices.  Those things are "symptoms of the disease." Sin is also corporate, national, and systemic.  Doing away with "bad people" does not reduce or eliminate the infection.  In fact, it multiplies its effect.   
Talk about Sin is unpopular today.  Some Christian leaders deny it, refuse to discuss it because they think that people don't want to be told how bad they are.  I disagree.  The Jewish/ Christian story compels us to wrestle with the flawed human condition---to see the world through the lens of sin, and injustice.  There is something beautiful about our flaws though.  We are like God, but we are not God.  We are capable of such goodness, such sadness, such anger, such passion, such mercy, and such depravity.  We are individuals and we share a common, universal truth---no one is without Sin. 

Application
The story of Jesus is set within a particular theological anthropology---a way of thinking about God and the human condition.  That way of thinking has lasted thousands of years because it resonates universally with so many people.  There is one God.  That God is the good creator.  But creation is imperfect, flawed, distorted.  Why?  Because it had to be.  In order for God to be God, that which God made could not be confused with divinity.  The gift of imperfection is that we can know God---that which is greater than all things. Sin is easily identifiable and seemingly incurable.  Certainly inescapable.  And yet the story of Jesus teaches us that "goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, life is stronger than death." (Bishop Desmond Tutu). The biblical God provides a way out, an antidote.  It is found in Jesus.  And distributed through the waters of baptism and the bread and wine of communion.  "By his wounds, we are healed".  If we deny Sin, we do not need Jesus or salvation.  But denying an illness, living with the symptoms, and ignoring a cure does not seem like a way to live.  There is another way.  

Prayer    
Lord, we are sinners.  And we are made in your image.  And because of Jesus we are set right.  Reborn.  Renewed.  Reconciled.  Restored.  Help us to do what is right.  And help us to be grateful for the gift of forgiveness when we don't. Amen.