21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 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. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 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.
These verses continue to describe the struggle, not only of Paul himself, but of every Christian. We have been redeemed and our bondage to sin has been broken, yet while we remain contained within our fallen, mortal bodies we will continue to struggle with sin. In fact, it will seem so much worse, because now long to obey God's law and loathe our sin.
We saw in yesterday's passage that the law is spiritual - it reflects God's holy character - but that we are unspiritual - still bound in our fallen humanness. We are still contaminated by sin and though we long to obey the will of God, we are still not all that we should be, and that frustrates us. And that is a sign of spiritual maturity! If we were immature (or unsaved) we wouldn't care about our sin. But when we are truly saved, and when we are growing in maturity, our sin only seems more sinful to us as we recognize God's holiness more and more. The conflict is the fact that our redeemed soul (we are a new creation!) is still encased in our fallen humanness.
And Paul repeats himself a few times with this theme, over and over, so we get the point.
Again Paul says that in our inner being, in the deepest part of our soul, in our redeemed and justified inner man, we delight and love the law of God. But our still human sinfulness wages war against our desire to obey God.
This heightened awareness of sin is really proof of our justification and sanctification. We still sin because sin is still with us in our humanness. But our sin grieves us.
Our inability to do God's will to the extent that we know we should is a result of indwelling sin that we long to be delivered from.
Who can deliver us from this body of sin and death?
25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
That is triumph! That is assurance. That is confidence. That is hope.
The day will come when we will be fully redeemed, fully freed from our fallen bodies. We will receive resurrection bodies and finally we will be glorified the way we long to be.
But that day is not yet here. And so in the meantime, we will battle on and continue to ask God for victory over sin in our lives.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 8:1-4
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