The War Within

"Or do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to those who know the Law--that the Law is binding on a person as long as he lives? Thus a woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But, if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused (yes, aroused) by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.' But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.

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. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 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


You know, there are times when I love Paul and what he has to say about the Christian life, but, there are those times when I really wish he would have just kept his mouth shut. This chapter tends to summarize those times for me.

Paul tells the Roman church(es) that they are free from the law because they are under grace (Romans 5). Then, he tells them that, even though they are under grace, it doesn't give them a free pass to do whatever they want (Romans 6). He tells them (and us) that they/we are no longer to be slaves to sin for we/they are free from it. Instead, we/they are to be slaves to righteousness.

That's all well and good, until we get to chapter 7. That is where Paul gets flat out confusing. He expounds on why we/they are free from the law: the law aroused sin in our bodies. And yes, when he says "aroused," he does mean in the same way that men and women are aroused by each other. Sin sees an opportunity and wants it really bad. In reality, our body has a desire and our reaction to fulfill that desire is sin. We know it is sin, but we still do it. So Paul, being Paul, gets even more confusing.

In anticipation of their question (and probably some of yours), he approaches the question of "Is the Law evil?" No, never. The Law was given by God to his people to show what he expected. We humans, however, see what God expects and we desire the opposite (before we accept Christ, that is). So, since it was given by God, and is what God expects of us, it cannot be evil and must be holy.

He anticipates another question and tells them/us that the Law did not kill us. We, in essence, killed ourselves because of sin. Sin did the killing, not the Law.

Now, we come to my favorite and least favorite part of this chapter. Paul jumps into this tirade about what he does. I can see him, pacing back and forth as he blurts out these words. The poor scribe is trying desperately to keep up and the emotion from Paul is flowing freely.

He says, "I want to do what is right, according to God. I see it and know that it is right, but I have a problem. Whenever I see what is right, I also see what is wrong. And I find this to be true about me (you probably do too, I sure do): when I want to do what is right, evil lies close at hand. I can't help it! My mind wants to serve God and follow him, but my body, man, my body wants to live for itself! I'm left with this doppleganger effect! There are two identities in me: Christ and my flesh. In my mind, I want Christ. But I have a hard time making my body do the same."

I know Paul's frustration well. I feel it daily. For I do things I don't want to do, and I don't do the things that I want and need to do! It drives me insane! But, Paul then gives us/them these words, "Who will deliver me from this body of death? Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ!"

He asks a legitimate question. "If this body is killing me, and if I cannot always do what is right because of it, who will save me from it?" The answer is Jesus Christ. He will save me from this body that wants to do evil. Unfortunately, as Paul notes, it's not while we are still alive. "So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin."

As long as we live in this body, we will fight this war with it. We won't always win every battle, but, we will win the war...through Christ's saving grace.

Have hope, Christ has won the day. Persevere, we won't always be in this fight. Have faith, God knows what he is doing.

And don't forget what Romans 8:1-4 say: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

Thanks God. You rock.