Lorenzo Palon

Why Obedience Is Real but Incomplete

Christians often feel caught in a storm of contradictions. On one hand, Scripture says we are new creations (2 Cor 5:17), indwelt by the Spirit, raised with Christ (Col 3:1). On the other, we remain painfully aware of our failures, our regressions, our repeated wrestling with sin. “Why am I still like this?” “Why do I still fall?” “Isn’t the Spirit supposed to fix this?”

Paul’s answer is not a simple spiritual bypass. He does not paper over the tension with pious slogans. Instead, he gives us a robust theological framework that makes sense of both the victory and the struggle. At the heart of this vision is Romans 8:10–11:

“But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Already Alive, Still Dying

Paul speaks here with breathtaking honesty: life is already present, and yet death is still at work. The Spirit brings resurrection life now, but the body remains subject to mortality and weakness. This dual reality explains the unevenness of our growth, the fragility of our obedience, the contested nature of our holiness¹.

Sanctification, in this view, is not a straight line upward. It is more like a battlefield, or perhaps a construction site—partially built, fully active, not yet finished.

This has profound implications.

Struggle Is Not Failure

The presence of struggle is not proof that the Spirit has failed. On the contrary, Paul assumes it. “The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit,” he writes, “and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh” (Gal 5:17). This is not defeat—it’s the sign that a new age has begun to dawn, and the old one is resisting².

So if you find obedience hard, if you feel like progress is slow, if you grieve over recurring sin—you are not a failed Christian. You are a normal Christian, walking in the tension between what has begun and what is not yet complete³.

Protection from Two Dangers

Paul’s vision guards us from two extremes:

1. Despair – The lie that says, “If I were truly saved, I wouldn’t be struggling.” Paul dismantles this. The Spirit gives life even in the midst of death. The evidence of God’s presence is not perfection, but direction⁴.
2. Triumphalism – The illusion that says, “I’ve arrived.” Paul rejects this too. Even he admits, “Not that I have already obtained this… but I press on” (Phil 3:12). Maturity is not a finish line we cross; it’s a road we stay on⁵.

Ethics Built for Real Life

This is why Paul builds an ethic that can survive setbacks⁶. He doesn’t just say, “Don’t sin.” He says, “Walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16). Not sprint. Not fly. Walk—step by step, in a direction, with perseverance.

He knows the Christian life is not lived in ideal conditions but in the messiness of real history. That’s why he speaks of hope (Rom 8:24), of groaning (8:23), of waiting eagerly for the fullness of adoption. This is not naïve optimism—it’s eschatological realism⁷.

Taking Time Seriously

Underneath it all is a profound theology of time⁸. The Christian is not someone who has already reached the end. The Christian is someone who knows what the end is—and lives in the present as if it were on the way.

To be “in Christ” and “according to the Spirit” means to inhabit a world where resurrection has begun but is not yet finished. Obedience matters, not because it proves we’re good, but because it reveals where our hope lies. It signals that we are aligned with God’s future, even as the present age tries to pull us back⁹.

So What Now?

If you are weary from the battle, take heart: you are not alone. Your obedience, though incomplete, is real. Your holiness, though fragile, is genuine. You live in the overlap of the ages. And the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is already at work in you.

He has not brought you this far to leave you unfinished.

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Footnotes

1. James D.G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 443–444.
2. Ibid., 571–573.
3. N.T. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, vol. 2 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013), 1066–1070.
4. Dunn, The Theology of Paul, 446.
5. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, 1112.
6. Dunn, The Theology of Paul, 616–617.
7. Ibid., 449–452.
8. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, 1032–1039.
9. Ibid., 1041–1046.