Killing My Old Man

Petra tells this one as a first-person crime story, and the joke is that the "murder" being planned is entirely theological. "I've got to even up the score before he sweeps me off the floor... so I'll nail him to the wood" sounds like a thriller plot until the target gets identified as "my old man" — not a person, but Paul's language for the sinful self that keeps resurfacing.

"Every time that I think he's gone and I've finally won, he just keeps coming back, puts me on the run" names the actual difficulty honestly: this isn't a one-time victory, it's a fight that keeps needing to happen again.

Paul's description of the old self being crucified with Christ, and his claim that those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions, both sit directly behind the song's crucifixion imagery — "nail him to the wood" isn't a random threat, it's the specific method scripture already uses for this exact problem. The prayer tucked into the closing verse, "pray to God that I won't fail," keeps the song from pretending this is a fight won by willpower alone.