“I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin,” Romans 7:21-25 NASB.
In these verses Paul was still talking about life under the law without Christ. In the next two verses, Romans 8:1-2, he gives the answer to his conundrum, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
Earlier in chapter 6:12-14 Paul wrote, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
So it is more than evident that Paul was no longer a slave to sin, but had become a slave to righteousness. Few people believe this; they want to hold on to the Paul under the Law who did not do what he wished to do, but did evil instead. They want it to end there, with Paul struggling to do what is right, only to fail and do what is wrong. But the truth is— he found delivery from that part of himself that did what was wrong rather than what was right.
Dear friends, please consider this:
If faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain, it seems that faith, perhaps even a little smaller, could move one to take the way of escape that God provides for every temptation common to man, especially since God is faithful, and will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that we will be able to endure it.
It appears there are many with very little faith in the power of God and the sacrifice of Jesus.
It’s a shame, don’t you think?
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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