Romans 7 - The Enemy Within
If you're wondering why life is so hard, it's because there's a war that's being waged inside of you.
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Romans 7 (ESV)
1 Or do you not know, brothers—
for I am speaking to those who know the law—
that the law
is binding on a person
only as long as he lives?
2 For a married woman
is bound by law to her husband
while he lives,
but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.
3 Accordingly,
she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.
But if her husband dies,
she is free from that law,
and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
4 Likewise, my brothers,
you also have died to the law
through the body of Christ,
so that you may belong to another,
to him who has been raised from the dead,
in order that we may bear fruit for God.
5 For while we were living in the flesh,
our sinful passions,
aroused by the law,
were at work in our members
to bear fruit for death.
6 But now we are released from the law,
having died to that which held us captive,
so that we serve
in the new way of the Spirit
and not in the old way of the written code.
7 What then shall we say?
That the law is sin?
By no means!
Yet
if it had not been for the law,
I would not have known sin.
For I would not have known what it is to covet
if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
8 But sin,
seizing an opportunity through the commandment,
produced in me all kinds of covetousness.
For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
9 I was once alive apart from the law,
but when the commandment came,
sin came alive and I died.
10 The very commandment
that promised life
proved to be death to me.
11 For sin,
seizing an opportunity through the commandment,
deceived me and through it killed me.
12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me?
By no means!
It was sin,
producing death in me
through what is good,
in order that sin might be shown to be sin,
and through the commandment
might become sinful beyond measure.
14 For we know
that the law is spiritual,
but I
am of the flesh,
sold under sin.
15 For I do not understand my own actions.
For I do not do what I want,
but I do the very thing I hate.
16 Now
if I do what I do not want,
I agree with the law, that it is good.
17 So now
it is no longer I who do it,
but sin that dwells within me.
18 For I know
that nothing good
dwells in me,
that is, in my flesh.
For
I have the desire to do what is right,
but not the ability to carry it out.
19 For
I do not do the good I want,
but the evil
I do not want
is what I keep on doing.
20 Now
if I do what I do not want,
it
is no longer I who do it,
but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law
that when I want to do right,
evil lies close at hand.
22 For
I delight in the law of God,
in my inner being,
23 but I see
in my members
another law
waging war against the law of my mind
and making me captive
to the law of sin
that dwells in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am!
Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be
to God
through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then,
I myself serve the law of God with my mind,
but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
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Romans 7 Summary
This chapter centers around your complicated relationship with God's Law. On the one hand, the Law is good, as it is a guide for living a godly life. On the other hand, your sinful nature (which we often refer to as Sarx, the Greek word for 'flesh'), causes you to look for ways to twist and break God's commandments, which of course leads to death.
The opening paragraph uses the example of how a married person is freed from her vows if her spouse dies; she's no longer obligated to the first man and is free to marry another. In the same way, "you died to the law through Christ," so you are no longer obligated to all of the law's details and requirements. BUT, this doesn't mean that you're free to do as you please.
Verse 4 makes clear that the reason Christ freed you from the law is "in order that you might bear fruit for God." The best way to bear fruit for God is to live according to His law. Do you see why your relationship with the law is complicated?
Dig Deeper
The difficult thing about the Christian life is that the victory has already been won by Christ, but the battle is not yet over. You have a war that's being fought within you each day, between Sarx (the personification of evil that's always whispering temptations in your ear), and your desire to do what is right that comes from having a regenerated heart that loves God.
While this battle is brutal and unceasing, Romans 7 gives you peace for two reasons.
First, know that you're not the only Christian fighting this battle, and even being occasionally knocked down by it. Even Paul succumbed to Sarx on a daily basis, and so does every other Christian in the world.
Secondly, and most importantly, be reminded that even when you lose the daily battle, the war has already been won by your Savior, who is Jesus Christ our Lord (v25).
AAA Prayer:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father God, who gave us His law as a picture of what His holiness;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Ask God for continuing strength to win the ongoing battle within you so that you might bear fruit for Him (v5, 23).
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
