Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
June 21, 2026
by: Rev. Lynn Podoll

Pentecost 4

Old Adam, New Adam. Unrighteousness, righteousness. Law, grace. Slaves, set free. Lawlessness, sanctification. Life, death. Wages, gift. Today’s epistle lesson from the sixth chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans is full of opposites. Each of these is in tension with another. And do you know what? They are all about you. Every baptized Christian of every age lives in the tension between the Old Adam and the New Adam, between the old life and the new life, the Old Self and the New Self, the Old Me and the New Me.

This is the struggle of the sanctified life. It is a struggle between what we are in Christ and what we are apart from him.

And what does the Old Adam, the Old Me, look like? Old Me, or the Old Adam, clings to autonomy and self-rule, individualism and self-sufficiency. This is the part of us that rebels against God and his commandments. This is the side of the teenager who sees clearly that parents are clueless and are to be regarded with contempt. Thus we reject the commandment that instructs us to honor our parents. Yes, young people, most of us seniors believed that at some point in our younger lives too and behaved accordingly. That is sin that needs to be confessed. Sin persuades the Old Adam that he should govern himself. The commandments feel offensive and intrusive. Our Old Selves continually are saying, “Why can’t I do what I want?” This is rebellion, not only in the obvious public sins, but in our ordinary, spiritual instinct toward self-definition and self-justification.

The Old Adam thinks, “I can watch anything I want on the internet; no one will know.” One of the more shocking events in our synod a few months ago was that one of our high-ranking pastors was arrested and taken to federal court on child pornography charges. Eventually our sin will be found out and it destroys. It is like Audrey the plant in “Little Shop of Horrors,” who promises fame and riches, but in truth only delivers death.

One pastor described the Old Adam as a rambunctious, out-of-control frat boy, one worse than the stereotype. Our Old Self is not noble; it’s pathetic. The Old Self is like a stubborn mule that keeps wandering toward cliffs, taking unnecessary risks and doing outright damage to self and others, while all the while insisting on his own freedom.

Old Adam says, “That law doesn’t apply to me.” “I can act as I want to.” Old Adam drives 10, 20, 30 miles an hour over the speed limit, no doubt contributing to the roughly 40,000 deaths on Unites States roads and streets each year. “I am my own law.”

Old Adam, male or female, cannot wait to dish on the latest bit of negative rumor that was heard in the supermarket or over coffee or at the barber shop or beauty shop. The results? Destroyed reputations, relationships and even families. And of course today we have the issue of misinformation on the internet, which is why many countries have enacted laws severely restricting the use, especially for social media, in schools and after certain hours for younger people. Old Adam needs restraints.

We have only been considering the visible sins that are typical of the Old Adam. Most of Old Adam’s sins of rebellion and destruction are more subtle. It is truly proper that in our confession at the beginning of our service we confess our sins of thought, word and deed, what we have done and what we have left undone. I think sometimes it would be good if we could stop for a few minutes in the middle of our Confession of Sins to give ourselves time to bring to mind at least a few of those things which are not of the Lord in our lives, specific things that we need forgiveness for. Years ago, one of my Confirmation Class members asked, “Pastor, what are we supposed to think about in that time of silence before we start the confession?” (I guess she thought it was way too long.) I answered, “Well, I try to go through the 10 commandments and see what needs to be forgiven. My problem is that I never get past the First Commandment!”
Old Adam hates boundaries or limits. So Paul in our text says, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies to make you obey its passions.” (Romans 6:12) Old Adam loves to weaponize the Gospel against God; Paul mocks that notion with his tongue-in-cheek question: “Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?” (6:15) In other words, “Should we sin more so we get more grace?” Paul has a strong reply, “By no means!” This is not just some kind of first-century misunderstanding; this is the natural theology of fallen humanity. Old Self hears about forgiveness and immediately starts writing out a permission slip.

Yes, for all of us the impulse to sin remains in us even after we receive God’s forgiveness, even as we cling to God’s grace. So what are we to do with this Old Adam of ours? We have to kill it! It needs to die. Old Adam cannot be improved. Old Self cannot be disciplined into righteousness because fundamentally, he does not want it! Old Self wants autonomy dressed up in religious clothing, so we can do what we want without consequence. Old Self wants freedom from God, which (ironically and tragically) is no freedom at all, but slavery that leads to death. The apostle goes on in this theme of slavery: “…thanks be to God that you who were once slaves to sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” (6:17, 18) This kind of slave talk might make us Americans a bit uncomfortable. After all, we are modern westerners, and we tend to elevate freedom and self-rule. We worship autonomy. “I got this; I can handle it!” But Paul insists that everyone serves a master; everyone is a slave to something. The question is: which master do you serve? Is it sin, which leads to death, or Christ, who leads to life?

So, if we need to kill the Old Me so that the New Me can dominate, how does that happen? First, let me say how it does not happen! It does not happen with you leaving here this morning with the thought “I have to try harder. I have to do better. I really need to make this New Person dominate my life. I need to love God better. I need to serve my neighbor better. I need to get serious about all this.” No! Any answer that begins with “I” is the wrong answer. That approach will end up in either pride or despair, neither of which will produce nor strengthen the New Person God has in mind.

Americans like solutions. So what is to be done? How does the New Person come forth? St. Paul has already introduced the subject of Baptism in the earlier verses of Romans 6. Here Dr. Luther is helpful. This is stuff you already know from the Small Catechism. (And if you don’t, you should keep reviewing it. It is in the front part of your hymnal, you know.) Remember the fourth question in the Holy Baptism section? Question: “What does such washing with water signify?” Answer: “It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” Then Dr. Luther quotes a verse from the earlier part of Romans 6: “We were buried therefore with him through Baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life.” (Romans 6:4) So how does that New Me come forth? It is not something I can do. It is not the result of my deep introspection, as worthy as that may be. It’s not the result of my trying harder. The answer to the Old Adam is always Christ! Christ crucified for you. Christ buried, and you buried with him through Baptism. Christ risen from the dead, and you raised with him. This is the outrageous promise of the Lord who loves us, pronounced over his baptized people: Dead to sin and alive to Christ. God’s grace is not floating in heaven somewhere; it is specific; it is concrete; it is in Christ. That dear Son of God became incarnate, took on our flesh, carried sin, our sin, in his body, was crucified publicly, was buried really, and raised historically.

That is why we can proclaim in those familiar words of St. Paul: “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23) Through Christ our Lord.

The Christian’s hope is not in spiritual progress. You know, “Every day in every way getting better and better.” No, our hope is in this union with Christ, because Old Adam is still very much alive in me. But the risen Christ is more alive still! Glory to his name! Amen.