Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Romans 7

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do now want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then, I myself in mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Romans 7:14-25

So, basically, even Paul, the creme-de-la-creme of Christians, the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, struggled in the members of his body with sin. Rather, the law of sin rages war against the Law of God using our flesh and our souls. My soul desires to do the will of God, but, literally, my physical body is incapable of carrying out the will of God because of the law of sin, and so only through the power of the Spirit of the Living God can I, or any other human, including Paul himself, carry out the will of God. Praise God for His Spirit, which overcomes sin. Amen and Amen.

1 comment:

Ryan said...

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.- 1 Timothy 1:15