21 So I find this law at work: Although I
want to do good, evil is right there with me.22 For in
my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but
I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and
making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What
a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me
from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks
be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to
God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
- Romans 7:21-25
Paul examines us as physical beings with God's Spirit
inside. He feels the attack and demand
of the inherited sin versus the pull of the Spirit inside of him. When he wants to do good, evil is right there
tempting the whole while. Isn't wanting
to do good enough? Surely God only wants
us to want to do good right? Aren't we
sufficient if we just want to do what's right?
Um, maybe not. No matter how much
I may want to do good, I'm insufficient to do it. I simply can't overcome the sin within
myself. "What a wretched man I am!"
No
matter how much I want to be something more or do something more, I am caught
in this sin web and it will devour me.
What will rescue me? God does, "through Jesus Christ
our Lord!"
He describes it as two Masters that we are slaves. One is a slave "of sin at work within me"
and wages war against his mind. The
other is a slave to his mind. "The mind
governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is
life and peace." Paul writes in Romans 8:6. I believe it is an error to read Romans 7 and
not read Romans 8. If I just live in
Romans 7 then I believe that I am in a continual war with myself. Yes, God rescues me from the inevitable
consequence of my sin, but I am still at war with it. When I read Romans 8, I realize that Jesus' own
Spirit lives within me and there should be life and peace, not a war.
9 You,
however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the
Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not
have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But
if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death
because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And
if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he
who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because
of his Spirit who lives in you. - Romans 8:9-11
Once we are rescued we are in the life of the Spirit. And if that Spirit is of God who through His
power raised Jesus from the dead, He is able to give you life even though you
are in a sinful body. How? Because it is His Spirit and not your
Spirit. Why? Because He loves you and wants to be with
you. He wants us to live in His victory
over death from sin. He wants us to live
in that abundant life, which is life in Him (not more stuff).
"O death, where is thy sting?" Live in the Spirit of God today. Find it, dwell there, and seek to stay there.
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