"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/flesh. 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 not 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 my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature/flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."
Romans 7:14-8:4
I had planned on only writing a couple of verses, but it is so hard to cut off scripture, because it works together and there is even so much more to this passage then I wrote, but this drives the point of what Christ is sharing with me today.
Over this last year and throughout life, I have begun to realize how easy it is to let sin creep in and do work in my mind and body. I relate to what Paul is saying here in Romans because even though I want to do good, I am weak when it comes to doing it. I feel, as though, I'm in a battle and one that I cannot win. It seems hopeless at times and the picture above is what I visualize in my mind. I am bound in chains, a slave to this master called sin. The problem with this is that I don't need to be. I don't need to be in this constant conundrum of what do I do, how can I get passed this, am I ever going to be free from these sins? This is why you can't have the beginning of this passage of scripture without the next section. Yes, Paul explains that there are two powers at work in him, sin/evil and good/the Spirit. He talks about how his sinful nature is what causes him to do the evil. He delights in God's law, but the law of the flesh/sinful nature, is right there with him and wages war against him. He even crys out "What a wretched man I am!" which is a cry I've uttered far too often. But there is incredible hope.
Christ's death on the cross and resurrection to life has broken sin's power over us. Although we do have that nature ingrained in us because of the fall, "through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." The spiritual law was/is weak to save us, because it is powerless to save us from ourselves and the law of sin and death. We are weak human beings and therefore, without Christ, we would never measure up to the standards that God has set for us and we would all be destined for hell. But God condemned sin in all of us and we can now meet the requirements he has set for us, through Christ, by living according to His Spirit.
I've been a Christian for practically my whole life and have read this passage many times, but today may have been the first time that it has ever clicked. I had a friend tell me over the weekend that God is offering us this incredible gift of freedom and some of us have accepted the present, but never truly unwrapped it to see what's inside. We have a choice to make here and I want to reference the picture one more time before I close. Look at the chains around that persons hands, they are bound, they shackled, imprisoned. Now imagine they are broken, the person's hands are set free from imprisonment, they can walk away without turning back, but they're afraid, afraid to move forward away from the life they used to live, so instead of running as quickly as they can away from the chains that held them, they pick them back up, not tightening them around their wrists like they used to be, but just holding on to them enough to not be free. It is time to let go, time to let God be in control and let His Spirit change us. Evil will always be right there with us, that won't change, but Christ has conquered sin, so we don't have to let it control us. We are free, it's time we begin to live that way!
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