Living Understanding, Pt 41: Sold as a slave
Romans 7:14-25 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. 18For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do, but 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: Although 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 me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 6:11-12 11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Romans 8:1-2 1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Sold as a slave to sin
These verses describe the struggle Paul sees between the desire of the believer to rise to fully engaged faith, holiness, and righteousness under the overarching governance of Godly precepts while nevertheless faced with the reality of a body prone to sin. This is a very real problem: I relate to Paul’s consternation, “Why do I do the things I hate to do? Why do I act the way I do? Why do I not do good?” ‘Sold as a slave to sin’ has a particular connotation—that we are ‘owned’ by sin. The practical reality of this is that all people who are apart from Christ are daily, even moment-by-moment, influenced by sin. Sin is very much a force, often a personal force, directing its ‘host’ away from Godly precepts.
When we habitually swear nasty things to that guy who cut us off in traffic we have sinned. When we spend time at a bar with someone not our spouse we have sinned. When we cheat in our financial actions we have sinned. All these things are seemingly innocent wandering away from Godly precepts, so they are sins. They are often habitual, and we are often unaware of their presence in our lives.
This situation is not completely bad because Paul is at least aware of what is happening. When we find ourselves torn between willing and doing, that means we are at least aware of what ‘good’ is. We are aware of Godly precepts; we have an awareness of good and evil. We can relax a little and know that God, at a minimum, is still talking to us. It is important to understand that the unrepentant person, the one who has never come to know Jesus, or the secular, fallen believer, does not have any struggle with sin. Such a person has no conflict between the old nature subject to sun, and the new dedicated to Christ. The only nature they have is that of sin.
Good does not dwell in me
But having Christ as our Savior opens the conflict. We don’t like who we once were, and especially we don’t like the hanging-on vestiges of our old self. The Holy Spirit has awakened our soul to the goodness of God, and we now perceive Godly precepts as guidelines for moral, righteous, and holy lives. Suddenly we are aware that ‘good does not dwell in me’. Paul was here encouraging the sinful Roman believers that all believer, even Apostles, struggle with the conflict between the two natures.
The Law of Sin and Death, or Law of Life
Paul saw the Law, specifically the Law of Moses but generally all the Old Testament, as a good, holy, and righteous thing as it points the believer to righteous living. But since no human being can meet its demands and commandments in the flesh, in our fallen state before acceptance of Christ it serves only to condemn. Acceptance of Christ opens our awareness of a new law, the Law of Life, which says that because of Christ’s sacrifice we have been forgiven of our sins. It is easy to understand that to mean forgiveness of things we did before Christ, but it also means forgiveness of those sins not yet committed.
Given the existence of the two natures and the two laws, we must choose. In the acceptance of Jesus as Savior, we have chosen life, but the hanging on of the old self is a burden which must be overcome. Do we allow those old temptations to drag us down? Do we allow them to turn us away from Jesus? This is the point of the Romans 8 verse. The believer has been set free from the Law of Sin and death and brought to Life. But we need the reminder: When sin is present, turn away from it, hit delete, ask for forgiveness and move on.
What about me?
Since none of you who read this are perfect, all of you struggle with the idea of “Why do I do the things I hate?” I certainly struggle also. This is the nature of who we are as believers. We are imperfect, fleshly followers of God who are aware of His righteousness and holiness, and who want to be like Him, but who fail every time in the attempt. It might be easy to give up, find excuses for our sin, fall off the wagon as it were, and turn away from God.
Don’t do that. The only one who can end your relationship with God is you. He will never reject you or forsake you. He will never turn his back on you. Because of Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who follow Jesus (Romans 8:1). When you are feeling weak, trust in Him.