1Or don’t you know, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives? 2For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband. 3So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man. 4Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God. 5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law worked in our members to bring out fruit to death. 6But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 8But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead. 9I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10The commandment which was for life, this I found to be for death; 11for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. 12Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, righteous, and good.
13Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful. 14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin. 15For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do. 16But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good. 17So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. 18For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good. 19For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice. 20But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. 21I find then the law that, while I desire to do good, evil is present. 22For I delight in God’s law after the inward person, 23but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, sin’s law.
The Great Wrestling Match
The Great Wrestling Match
19 For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice. 20 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the law that, while I desire to do good, evil is present. 22 For I delight in God’s law after the inward person, 23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, sin’s law.
A misguided teaching is circulating among Christian circles these days. It essentially states that, as we are a “new creation” in Christ, we will no longer have the inclination or desire to do what is wrong. Instead, we’ll be focused on Jesus, and we’ll have an innate desire to follow Him and do what is right. Every deception includes kernels of truth. Paul’s dialogue in these verses clearly explains why we don’t truly experience it if we are honest with ourselves and others. I think it’s dangerous because it promotes the idea of sinless perfection. That is a hazardous idea because if a believer sins, and they do, they might be tempted to believe that their walk with Christ is somehow defective, or they’ll be inclined to think that they have no relationship with Him at all. Satan always promotes lies with significant elements of truth contained within them.
In these verses, the same Paul who wrote that we are new creations in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) explains that, although we are a new creation, we still carry within us what I like to call the “sin gene”. When faced with a crisis, conflict, or any kind of pressure, we often revert to fleshly patterns we used to survive before coming into a relationship with Jesus. It’s our default, and it is a sin pattern. It is the opposite of relying on the guidance of the Holy Spirit in such a crisis. Yet within us, we now do have a spirit which has been made alive. It longs to please God, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, it can have victory over sin. As we read in our last devotion, the presence of the Holy Spirit within us gives us the potential to overcome sin. It isn’t realized until each time we exercise our positive volition, our choice to walk into that new reality in our lives.
This is indeed a great wrestling match. If we choose to yield to the Holy Spirit for comfort and guidance, He can and will direct us. We can and will do it “God’s way,” rather than reverting to our own way. In doing so, we will do the things that we ought to do, and we will avoid the things we ought not to do. That is an excellent comfort. In those last verses (24-25), Paul comes to that conclusion. I might paraphrase his words by saying, “Oh, what a mess I am when I’m doing it on my own. How, in the world, can I get out of this trap of self? I give glory to God that through Jesus I am able to do what is right, but if I try to do it in the flesh, relying on my own strength, I end up in sin, not doing what I should be doing and doing what I shouldn’t do.” Jesus is the answer. In Him is the strength to walk in newness of life as the new creation that is my identity in Christ!
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