{"id":225591,"date":"2025-05-02T09:14:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T16:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vayhub.us\/rdpt22\/?p=225591"},"modified":"2025-09-03T17:30:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T00:30:50","slug":"smoking-saint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vayhub.us\/rdpt22\/smoking-saint","title":{"rendered":"Smoking Saint?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus\u2026 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit\u2026 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation\u2014but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.<\/p>\nRomans 7:24-8:1, 3-4, 12-14 (NIV)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In preparation to preach the Romans 8 series, I found this interesting snippet from R.C. Sproul’s “The Power of the Gospel: A Year in Romans”<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This begs the question, “How could a Christian smoke for 45 years after his conversion and honestly be a well-known Reformed theologian and respected seminary professor?”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This question hits hard, doesn’t it? It challenges our assumptions about what the Christian life, especially for a leader, is supposed to look like. It forces us to grapple with the messy reality of ongoing struggle this side of glory. To answer it honestly, we need to anchor ourselves in some fundamental truths of the very gospel Sproul himself championed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Things First: Saved by Grace, Not Perfection<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before we go any further, let’s be crystal clear: our standing before God does not depend on our performance, our ability to conquer habits, or our level of achieved sanctification. A Christian is someone who, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, has been forgiven, declared righteous (justified), adopted into God’s family, and given the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 3:22-24, 5:1, 8:9). It is a gift received, not a status earned. Our identity is secured by Christ’s finished work and the Spirit’s seal (Ephesians 1:13-14), not by our ability to immediately “clean up our lives,” as Sproul\u2019s professor perhaps insensitively put it. Sproul, despite his struggle, could be a genuine Christian and theologian precisely because his salvation, like ours, rested entirely on God’s grace in Christ, not on his success in quitting smoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Reality: Life “According to the Spirit” Means War, Not Instant Victory<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Being saved by grace and indwelt by the Spirit (Romans 8:9) instantly changes our position<\/em> and identity<\/em>. But it doesn’t instantly eradicate our sinful nature or the ingrained patterns of the “flesh.” Instead, it inaugurates a lifelong process called sanctification \u2013 learning to live out our new identity. This is exactly what Paul describes in Romans 8:5-13. It’s a call to “set [our] minds on the things of the Spirit” (v. 5) and, crucially, “by the Spirit<\/em> put to death the deeds of the body” (v. 13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice the dynamics: It’s a process<\/em> (“set your minds,” “put to death” \u2013 ongoing actions). It requires our participation<\/em> (“you put to death”). And it’s accomplished by the Spirit’s power<\/em> (“by the Spirit”). Sproul\u2019s title, “No Shortcuts,” perfectly captures this. His 45-year battle wasn’t evidence against<\/em> his faith; it was a raw, painful demonstration of the slow, often agonizing reality of progressive sanctification \u2013 the “war that goes on in the soul of the Christian between the spirit and the flesh,” as he put it. This struggle is normal, though not desirable, in the Christian life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuancing Sin: Is Smoking a “Blood” Issue?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now, we need to think carefully about the\u00a0nature<\/em>\u00a0of the struggle. Is smoking, in itself, a sin on par with denying Christ or committing adultery? Here, Keith Drury’s framework of “Pencil, Ink, and Blood”<\/a> is incredibly helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n