An Enemy on the Inside

This morning, I came across this shocking news story about a Polish man who leads an institute investigating war crimes from World War II; evidenced has surfaced of him offering the Nazi salute, and making statements sympathetic to Nazi beliefs: https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium-head-of-polish-institute-researching-wwii-crimes-photographed-giving-nazi-salute-1.9559008

Right away, I thought of the irony of this man leading an organization designed to fight what he believes. My guess is that he’s a mole – intentionally placed there in order to thwart the work of that institute! How fitting an illustration this is of the internal battle we all have with sin. We can’t trust our own hearts to lead us in the right direction, because they are deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9, Genesis 6:5). There’s an enemy on the inside – our flesh! There’s a battle between the flesh and the Spirit within us (Romans 8:4, Galatians 5:16-18, 2 Peter 1:4). Paul himself shared openly about his internal struggle (Romans 7), but he reassured us that the same Jesus who forgave our sins will rescue us “from this body of death” when we trust in him (Romans 7:24).

An Illustration for our Sinful Nature

My wife just sent me this article about a man who committed a carjacking, only 20 minutes after being released from prison: https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-back-bars-carjacking-16-year-girl-20/story?id=75901321

It made me think of our sinful nature and its persistence (Psalm 51, Jeremiah 17, Romans 5, Ephesians 2), as well as Paul’s frustration in Romans 7 about frequently returning to the sin he hates. This story could also illustrate the ongoing battle of the flesh vs. Spirit in Galatians 5.

One thing I know that I would need to guard against in using this illustration is making it humorous. Although the story is definitely ironic, I wouldn’t want to encourage people to laugh at this man’s sin, to mock his situation, or to swell up with pride in our own hearts about how we think we aren’t like him. But for the grace of God, there go I.