Brian GC
Romans 7:14-25
“For we know that the law is spiritual:
but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not: for what I
would, that I do not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I
would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I
that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:
for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find
not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil, which I would not, that
I do. Now if I do that I would not, it
is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do
good, evil is present with me. For I
delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my
members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve
the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
This passage is Paul’s
testimony of the battle he had with his old nature, his ego or self (or to be
more accurate; with his self-ishness). In
his mind he understood that God's laws are good, but in his flesh he had a
corrupt nature and was a slave to sin.
In his soul he had a desire to do what is good but not the ability to
fulfil that which was good – he did not have the ability to fulfil God’s law;
but instead instinctively followed the impulses of his selfish nature.
By admitting the goodness
of God’s law, and in his heart wanting only to adhere to God’s standards it
became obvious to him that sinfulness was in his flesh, and not in the ‘heart’
wherein resides the new man, the new creature in Christ. Paul’s heartfelt cry “O wretched man that I am! Who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?” was answered for him, as we see in Romans 8:1-4
“There is therefore now no condemnation to
them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what
the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh (or because of the
flesh), God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”...
And we are able to
answer our own desperate cry for deliverance, as did Paul... “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
Paul conclusion was... “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law
of sin.”
Does this give us
a licence to sin? No! Paul has just told us; with the mind we are to serve the law of God. However knowing these
truths should instil two things within us:
a. freedom from
the threat of condemnation (for Christ has borne our condemnation), and
b. freedom to
spend our energies in service; service motivated by love for our loving Lord (we
love him because he first loved us).
There is another
aspect to this business of being freed from sin.
In John 3:9 we are
told... “Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is
born of God”.
What does this mean, especially when John has
only just stated in chapter 1:10
- “If we say that we have not sinned, we
make him a liar, and his word is not in us”? What is the answer?
In 2 Peter 1:2-4
we find the answer:
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you
through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine
power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust”.
One of these great
and precious promises Peter speaks of has already been covered by John in an
earlier verse, “...If we confess our sins
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness...”
And if we are
cleansed, then we are filled with His Spirit, and when filled with his Spirit
we cannot sin.
It is important to
remember that temptation is not sin: The lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes and the pride of life are all constantly with us, they are part of our
physical makeup, but their temptations are not sin. It is when we decide in our minds to give in
to those temptations that we grieve the Holy Spirit and become subject to the
old nature. We take ourselves out from
under His authority and then we commit sin.
Ignorance of sin
is not an excuse; even unknown sins grieve the Holy Spirit, and the resultant
carnality and loss of fellowship will quickly lead to the committing of known
sins. Ignorance of what constitutes sin
is the major reason why babes in Christ struggle to maintain spiritual
stability; they are ignorant of what constitutes sin, or unwilling to admit to
its existence.
When we are born
again we receive a new nature from God. Having
received that new nature while still retaining the old nature, every child of
God possesses two natures; one is incapable of sinning, and the other is
incapable of holiness.
When we are able
to admit to this truth there is no room for self-righteousness and pride.
I, a new creature
in Christ am incapable of sinning, but I the old man, the flesh, am incapable
of holiness. It is by the filling of the
Holy Spirit that we are enabled to live according to the desires of our new
nature. But by sinning we grieve Him,
and if that sin remains unconfessed, we will quench Him and will live according
to the flesh.
We must recognise
that in ourselves, in our flesh, there is ‘no
good thing’ - that we are born in sin.
Anyone who says they have no sin says in effect that God is a liar. We must recognise this sin nature as a fact
of life; we are sinners and will be till the day we put off this mortal body in
death and/or in resurrection.
We must also
recognise that we are born again; the Holy Spirit has regenerated us. Not only do we have God the Holy Spirit
dwelling within our bodies to empower us to godly living, we now have a spirit
from God, created in us, which allows us to understand - to know the things of
God. This is found in 1Corinthians 2:11 -13...
“For what man knoweth the things of a man,
save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no
man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,
but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God”.
We are then, “...new creatures in Christ Jesus...”
yet we have this treasure in the earthen vessel of our sinful body and to have
the victory over self and the sin which
so easily besets us we must come to terms with the reality and permanency
of this old nature and come to know the reality of ‘Christ in you the hope of glory’.
If Jesus Christ is
a living breathing reality in your life, then the other reality, the body of death will be put in its proper
place and will no longer have dominion over you. You will not be sinless but will have the
mastery over your old nature and keep it under the control of your mind.
If we look to our
emotions to evaluate our standing with God we will be utterly defeated, for our
emotions are easily influenced by the old nature and the lusts thereof. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 12:2 tells us not to be conformed to the world but to
be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and that is accomplished when we
replace the world’s thinking with God’s word – God’s thinking. Then and then only will we be... “able to determine what God's will is - what is
proper, pleasing, and perfect”.
There is a vast
array of sin, from the blatant sins of the flesh to the subtle hidden sins of
the mind and for slow learners it is a lifetime’s work to ‘know thyself’ and to
gain a semblance of mastery over sin. We
have in God's word the means to know ourselves, and the sooner we learn what
sin is in God’s eyes, the sooner we will know and judge ourselves so that we
will not be judged.
“For the word of God is quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart”. (Hebrews 4:12 )
It is a fact that
Christ has died for sin; it is a fact that Christ has died for our sins; every
niggling, constant, repetitive one of them, and it is a fact that if we
acknowledge our sins to God, he will not only forgive us that sin, but will
cleanse us from all those unknown sins.
Now these are
matters of fact and if we know these facts and apply them in our day-by-day
living, Christ our redeemer will become the greater fact, the greater reality,
and the power of the sin nature will be broken.
Not destroyed, for that must wait until the redemption of our bodies at
the coming of our Lord.
Peter tells us
that it is through knowledge we have this reality...
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you (How?): through
the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the
knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these (great and
precious promises) you might be partakers
of the divine nature: (because by utilizing them you will have escaped) the corruption that is in the world through
lust” (2Peter 1:2-4). It is a matter of trust and obedience to
God's truth wherein lies our participation in the divine nature.
When Christians
sin they bring upon themselves a penalty for that sin. Not eternal damnation but a separation from
God nevertheless, a separation which brings about loss of fellowship. This loss of fellowship can in some cases also
produce physical sickness and even death (1Corinthians 11:30 ).
Loss of fellowship
with God has eternal consequences as well, because rewards for service are on
the line. Therefore it is imperative
that we understand our redemption, that we understand all that our Redeemer has
accomplished on our behalf, and to trust in his great and precious promises and
to utilise them.
Points to
remember: -
1. If we confess our sins God is faithful to his
Son’s redemptive work on the Cross and is justified in forgiving us those sins
because he has already judged them in the body of his Son.
2. We are new creatures in Christ, old things
have passed away, behold things have become new.
3. And we can reckon ourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Constantly God
exhorts us to reckon these things to be reliable; to count upon the truth of
what has been done for us and to believe His word and to take Him at his
word.
Paul's victory over
the body of death, and his resultant cry, “...Thanks
be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord...” came because of his knowledge
and dependence on God's truth.
We must beware of
the dangers of knowledge (the Greek gnosis),
for knowledge on its own has the capacity to inflate the pride... (The
Corinthian believers were eating meat offered to idols because they knew that
the idols were nothing but wood or stone.
In their freedom from idolatry they were free to eat of this top quality
steak. Yet in their freedom of conscience, they disregarded their witness to
the idol worshippers themselves, and ignored the vulnerability of the young
ignorant believers recently converted from the worship of those same
idols).
Paul writes...
“Now as touching things offered unto
idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but love
edifieth, and if any man thinks that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing
yet as he ought to know. But if any man
love God, the same is known of him." 1Corinthians 8:1-3
Full knowledge, or
epi-gnosis, that inner revelation of
truth that comes from the Holy Spirit, condemns us for our shortcomings yet at
the same time reveals our all sufficiency in Christ. It is this knowledge that humbles us and yet
builds in us a love for God and a compassionate heart for our brethren and our
neighbour. It was this knowledge that
produced Paul's cry of thanksgiving.
If you and I
desire the goal of our Lord’s commendation ‘well
done thou good and faithful servant’,
we will allow the sharp two edged sword of God's word to cut to the
dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and no matter how much it may
hurt, will allow the thoughts and the real intents of our hearts to be
revealed.
This is the
pathway for all who press on to the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus
and it does entail pain and anguish from God's discipline and testing.
The Christian who
commits the sins of doubt and despondency, yet through gritted teeth presses on
in applying God's promises, this one is not a failure; but the one who becomes
a permanent casualty through doubt, despondency and unbelief, is a failure.
Moses crucified
the Saviour again and put him to an open shame when instead of speaking to the
rock, he struck it twice in his angry frustration toward the Jewish
people. Paul because of an emotional
attachment to his people went to Jerusalem
The two greatest
believers of all time, succumbed to the emotions of the old nature, Moses to
anger and frustration, Paul to misplaced affection. Both confessed their sin, learnt from their
mistakes and God has had those mistakes and their resultant discipline and
restoration recorded in His word for our instruction and our
encouragement. Simply put, this whole
paper can be summed in the words of Scripture: -
"...If we confess our sins He
will, in justice and righteousness, forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness..."
If we can see the
freedom that we have in this great promise, then we too can say with Paul “...I thank God through Jesus Christ our
Lord..."
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