Catechism: Old Adam and New Man
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Matthew 15:19
You are driving down the highway when suddenly your car makes an awful noise, the “Check Engine” light comes on, and smoke starts billowing from underneath the hood. You pull over, but instead of opening the hood and trying to find the source of the problem, you merely kick the tires, check the body for dents and scratches, maybe look to see if the muffler is still attached. Satisfied that everything looks alright, you continue on your way. You probably will not make it very far.
Few people would be so foolish with automobiles, but so many are prone to do a similar thing in spiritual matters. People are aware of sin, but they don’t open the hood and look inside. It is a great temptation to lay the blame of sin on outside influences—our environment, our society. But Jesus teaches us that the problem of sin can be pin-pointed to each person’s heart. We each have what is called the Old Adam within us. This is our sinful nature which leads us to do sinful things. It is deep-seated in our hearts and is capable of producing every kind of evil.
Now, if my car started to act funny, I would pull over and have a look under the hood. But since I’m not too knowledgeable about its inner workings, it is unlikely I would be able to find the problem. That’s true of us in regard to our Old Adam. We could hardly diagnose the full problem of sin if Christ did not show us exactly what the issue was. He shows us the heart of the matter so that it can be fixed. He shows us how the sinful nature in us is such a big problem that we have no way to fix it ourselves. But Jesus can and has fixed it with His perfect life and innocent death. Our focus this week is the wonderful way our God does away with our Old Adam and creates in us a New Man.
Holy Spirit, show us the severity of our sin and show us our Savior that we may trust in Him. Amen.