Questions and Romans 7

People have accused me of asking too many questions. Sometimes, when Suzanne asks me to do so something, and the reason does not seem obvious to me, my question is, “Why?” It frustrates because usually she is on a mission and just wants me to do it. The other is that it reminds her of the questions asked by her children when they were young.

Learning to ask good questions is important as we read the Bible. In fact, life itself should stimulate some questions.

Are you ready for some humorous questions? Not important questions, but questions nonetheless:

Why do snooze buttons only give you nine more minutes of sleep?

Why can you not tickle yourself?

Those big clocks in the hall way or sometimes in large rooms — why do we call them “grandfather clocks?”

It is unlikely that these questions have crossed your mind, but they have crossed someone’s mind. The editors at Mental_Floss, a trivia magazine, have even included them in an article called “The 25 most important questions in the history of the universe” (November-December 2004).

Tongue firmly planted in cheek.

More of Life's Unanswered Questions:

 

* If pro is the opposite of con, is progress the opposite of Congress?

* If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2? 

* If the cops arrest a mime, do they have to tell him he has the right to remain silent?

* If the Energizer Bunny attacks someone, is it charged with battery?

* Why does Hawaii have Interstate highways?

* If you spend your day doing nothing, how do you know when you are done?

* Should vegetarians eat animal crackers?

* Why are there Braille signs on drive-up ATMs?

--Life's Unanswered Questions, Bored.com/questions.htm.

 

Such questions are kind of like riddles. They do not intend to bring an answer. They just intend to make us puzzle and humor us.

How do rabbits travel? By hareplane.

What did the sock say to the foot? You’re putting me on.

What do whales like to chew? Blubber gum.

 

Questions intrigue us, even if they are trivial or humorous in a grade-school sort of way.

Questions are how we learn as human beings.

Questions are how we grow in our faith.

Then sometimes we are hit with questions that stop us in our tracks, conundrums that confuse us and paradoxes that perplex. Like the dilemma the apostle Paul poses in 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” (7:15). He repeats himself in verse 19: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”

Some people want to read this in a psychological way. All of us wrestle at times with the difference between who we are and what we desire to be. When we see the difference – that was not me, we say, when we know it really was part of us – it causes us to ask questions. All of that is true.

Yet, I think Paul is wrestling with another matter. He has been writing about the universal nature of sin, its turn away from God. Yet, God has turned toward us to redeem us in Jesus Christ. He has also wrestled with the Jewish Law, for it promised to bring redemption as well, especially through its ethical guidance, as well as its purity legislation (mostly related to foods and Sabbath observance) and its various sacrifices. His point is that as long as you are trying to obey the Law, you will never have the peace with God for which you long.

I would like to extend the argument a bit. Today, we often hear the distinction between religion and relationship. In this chapter, that distinction works well. Religion becomes your best effort to get right with God. Frankly, I wish more people today would at least make that effort. Many people could care less today. Yet, the speaker at the Indiana Annual Conference in 2014, the writer of Renovate or Die, noted that the biggest mistake he made was to make sure his children had a relationship with the church. He was not so good about making sure they had a relationship with Jesus Christ. You see, I think many people in our churches are trying to get the church thing right. Yet, we are not following a church. We as a community are people who seek to make disciples of Jesus who will then transform the world.

When I read this passage, the question that comes to my mind is how can I move from being a religious person to being a person who abides in Jesus Christ?

Paul may put it better. All the Law and religion can do is show me that I am a sinner, for I am locked in this dilemma of not performing what the Law tells me. His question, then, is, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” His answer comes next: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Let that be our answer as well.