Read Romans 7:14-25
Context: Paul has been explaining sanctification to the Romans. He has discussed how Christ's death took away the law so we can be released and serve in the new way of the Spirit, not the old way of the written code.
Text:
14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For 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. 20Now 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.
21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but 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. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks 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. (NIV)
Footnotes:
Romans 7:18 Or my flesh
taken from www.biblegateway.com
It is encouraging to see that someone who was so faithful and dedicated also struggled daily with sin. It seems that just as soon as I decide I'm going to focus on a particular area of my life to improve (such as eating less or devoting more time to Bible study) my mind and body rebel and I end up doing the thing I don't want to do even more often that I did before I decided not to do it!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment