> General Discussions
Struggling With Sin
Sorin:
Romans 7:7-25
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, Do not covet.
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.
9 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognised as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do— this I keep on doing.
20 Now 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.
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.
------------------------------
So what are we to do in this situation? When we want to do good, but instead do the evil that we don't want to do--that we try to
pull away from? I know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal--sold under sin. In my mind I want to obey God's spiritual law, but my
carnal nature pulls me back into sin. And like Paul, I too will say: "What a wretched man I am!"
Only God can rescue me from this body of death. I try doing it myself, but fail everytime.
Bradigans:
Yes, in your mind your want the desire to do right. But, what’s in your heart?
- Revelation 3:20 - Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
You have an intellectual want to do...
Little Joe:
The solution,
Galations 5: 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
Peace
Kat:
Hi Sorin,
May I suggest that you read more of what Paul is talking about here than that short passage. As chapers 5 and 6 of Romans has already explained the answer to this passage.
--- Quote ---Romans 7:7-25
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, Do not covet.
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.
--- End quote ---
I believe here Paul is talking about how he came to understand what sins were, when he learned the law. If you don't know what the law is, you can claim ignorance, even though it is still sin. But when Paul learned the law (do not covet), he realized he had covetous desires of every kind.
--- Quote --- 9 Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
--- End quote ---
We are all deceived at first (Titus3:3), and we are all dead in our sins. Of course Paul was way beyond this in his life, but he says it for the benefit it will have to others.
Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned--
--- Quote ---12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognised as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
--- End quote ---
We know/recognise what sin is because the law tells us. Then we know we are dead, because we have all sinned. The law is not bad, it is to show us where we sin.
--- Quote ---14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do— this I keep on doing.
20 Now 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.
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
--- End quote ---
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
Rom 5:21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
So we are all dead in our sins and as Paul states " Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" and here is his answer to the brethren and these are believers;
Rom 6:2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
v. 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
--- Quote --- 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?
--- End quote ---
When we are dragged to Christ and we learn the Truth, then in our "inner being I delight in God's law." But we must be rescued from this "body of death."
--- Quote ---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.
--- End quote ---
Rom 6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
v. 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
v. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
v. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
v. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
v. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God
v. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
I hope this helps :)
mercy, peace and love
Kat
Brett:
Hi Kat,
You said:
--- Quote ---But we must be rescued from this "body of death."
--- End quote ---
After read Rom 7:24 "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
"We must"? For me "we must" is like we work on our own self? Sorry I am not good English reading and writing. Can you tell me who is "who will" in Romans 7:24, if you know?
Thank you,
Brett
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version