So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." Romans 7: 14-25
This is an amazing and important piece of scripture, one which I have always felt an affinity for. John Piper did seven sermons on these verses. I have decided to attempt to write my thoughts on them in a much shorter time. For now I will tackle the beginning:"For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me."
I can't help but feel the reason I am often drawn to these verses is that they are some of the easiest to relate to verses I know of. I love the law. I love the word of God. I feel it deep down within myself that I know in my heart His laws and His word are the single greatest things we can heed. For we know that the law is spiritual. The things God tells us not to do are for our own good. It is so that we are not corrupted and so that we may be more like Him and have our hearts closer to alignment that He gives us these commands. And, despite my foolishness that sometimes makes it seem otherwise, I want nothing more than to do as God tells me to do and grow closer to Him. So I have no trouble relating to Paul as he writes a bit earlier in Romans about how great the law is, and here that we know the law is spiritual. And I also have great ease relating to the statement that, while the law is spiritual I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
Now it is important, I feel, to address the fact that Paul is writing this as a believer. This is a point that is debated often, whether this is Paul speaking as a non-believer, a young believer, or as a believer as he was as he wrote this. And the context that he writes this is very important since it gives the whole thing a different flavor depending on which you believe and can change how you read it. This isn't to say that the main point is different depending on which view you hold. The main point seems to be that we are sinful, by choice and nature, and that it is only through Christ that we can overcome. But for the sake of what I write, know that I subscribe to the view, for a few reasons (all of which are from Piper's sermon(s)). 1) Paul uses personal pronouns so we shall assume he means himself. 2) He declares that that law is good "when he says, "I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man." It's this phrase "inner man" that sounds so much like the way Paul talks about the Christian's real, inner self. And when you put that together with the word "joyfully concur" ("I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man") it sounds to me like Paul's description of his present deep joy in the truth and law of God, not a carnal and superficial and ungodly joy that would be the experience of an unregenerate Pharisee." -Piper. 3) Paul, when talking about himself before his conversion, never talks negatively about himself, he even says that he was perfect as far a Jewish law, only the Paul who came to know Christ admits his sin.
The practical implications of believing this are simple in that it helps us, as believers to know that sin is a part of our being. Indwelling sin, you will here it called. This in no way means that we are to be at peace with sin, with idiotic sayings like "well, sin is within me and so I cannot fight it, so I won't try." Just the opposite. This shows us that we must never rest on our heels, for sin is always at the door waiting for any sign of weakness, waiting for us to ignore Christ just long enough for it to grab hold of us and attempt to drag us down.
This is one of the most difficult things to understand and come to terms with. Sin is still a part of our lives. How can this be? Christ died to set us free from sin. Piper says this: "The other thing that should be deeply rooted in your mind is that, even though a decisive deliverance from the dominion of sin has happened, a final and perfect deliverance from the effects of indwelling sin has not yet happened," which means that while Christ's death on the cross decisively defeated Satan and sin, and it cannot be overturned, the final and perfect victory, the one that will destroy all sin and free us perfectly has not yet come, and will not come until Christ's return. So we know that we who have accepted Christ have assurance of eternal life. But all of us will still admit that we still struggle and still sin.
And we hate it. Which is a big difference between believers and non-believers. I know the days when I am struggling or flat out failing I cannot stand to even look in the mirror. I do the very thing that I hate, and I do hate it. I hate sin so deeply and yet far too often I let it take hold of me. Why? Sin is so deeply a part of us as humans, weak and flawed as we are, that we still let it control us, we still let ourselves be of the flesh and sold under sin.
But Paul tells us, if I agree that the law is good, that is good. Then it is no longer me who sins, but the sin within me. This is interesting, and by that I mean confusing, because on a surface level this could be interpreted to an extent that lets us off the hook. "I didn't fail, that was just indwelling sin." And yet no one ought to be so foolish as to think they can escape the consequence of their sin. For sin does dwell within us. There is no doubt. It is the only reason I can imagine as to why, despite the fact I agree with the law, see my need for it, and love it that I would ever still break it and do so often and willingly. There is sin that is so much a part of our flesh, and we are confined to that flesh in this life, that sin will always be there and it is in our nature for that to appeal to us. We are sinful both by nature and by choice, and the two work together in some hideous beauty of synchronicity to try to destroy us.
So there is a man. We will call him Tory, you know, for the sake on anonymity. And Tory loves the Lord, with all his heart and soul and mind. Tory longs to do what is right, to obey the law of the Lord. Tory longs to do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with the Lord. Indeed his whole will seems to point towards nothing save pleasing the Lord and bringing Him glory. And there is another man, or rather another Tory. The same man, just a different part. A part that, admittedly, the other Tory abhors. This Tory longs for nothing so more than to gratify the desires of the flesh. He wants money and fame, he is greedy, lustful, prideful, a man of flesh. And so we have a divided man. A struggle, because in his mind Tory agrees with the law of the Lord. In his heart he knows it is the best thing in the world and the only thing worth striving for. He loves it. But his flesh continues to sin. He is weak, you see, this divided man. And so it goes, on and on, with this Tory character doing the very thing he hates.
Now, Tory has several options. He could give in, decide that while the law is good and all, the flesh appears to be stronger and give up, beginning to revel in his sin, seeking it out and feeling nothing negative due to it. He could go far the other way, demanding adherence to the law, and so he will put out his eyes, chop off his tongue and hands, and probably cause himself to go deaf in an attempt to adhere to the law through a shear lack of possibilities for evil. Or perhaps he ends up hopeless. He sins and fails again and feels so dejected, like such a failure that he avoids the mirror because when he looks into that glass he feels such loathing, not simply towards the sin within himself, but for himself as a whole. And in this anger, this hatred he gives up, feels this is a hopeless struggle, and ties a rope to a tree or takes out a revolver and gives up in the most ultimate of fashions.
Or he can realize something of great importance. That his guilt or innocence, his purity and holiness do not, in fact, come from the law. The law is good, there is no doubt of that. The law is there for our own good, that we adhere to it benefits us. But it does not justify us! Only Christ can be our justification. The law is great in that it reveals our sin, shows us our weakness so we can give it to Christ and rely on His strength to overcome!
I went through stages as a young believer, and it was around a year ago that I went through this one, of an intimate feeling of indwelling sin, falling over and over into the same sins. I felt hopeless, worthless, like I was a failure and was the single worst Christian ever to the point I avoided mirrors because the hatred I saw in my own eyes as they looked at me scared me. The hopelessness failed me. It was one of the greatest revelations I ever had to to realize that the fact I hated sin so much was a good thing. That my hatred was misplaced. It was not me who does it, but the sin within me. This passage is not about being okay with sinning because indwelling sin exists. It is about recognizing that sin within you and hating it and fighting it. It is not the law that justifies us, but Christ.
As I said, this is one of the most important pieces of scripture I have come across. More will follow in the coming days. Until then, God bless.
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