By the use of three different analogies in the previous passages, Paul has shown that to be a Christian there must be a change by death of the old man, and a new life in the new man. He first showed that in chapter 5 starting in vs 15 as the old man, represented by Adam, needed to die, so that he might be resurrected to new life in Christ. The next analogy Paul used is found in chapter 6 starting in vs 16 which likens the old man in slavery to sin, and the death of that man which brings freedom from sin, so that we might be enslaved in the new man to righteousness.
Then last week, Paul used the analogy of marriage in chapter 7 vs 1, which as the old man dies the woman is free to marry a new husband which is Christ and the fruit of that relationship is righteousness. So in all three cases, the point that is emphasized is that there is a necessity of death of the old man, that we might have new life in the spirit. Now that’s the basic premise of our salvation, that there needs to be a death to the old man, and we must be spiritually reborn.
Jesus said as much to Nicodemus in John 3, “you must be born again.” Nicodemus didn’t understand what He meant by that. So Jesus explained, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” So man is born naturally in the flesh, which is characterized by water, and then he must be reborn in the spirit.
For those of you who have been with us awhile, please forgive my redundancy in relating the following. But I think it might be helpful in understanding today’s passage especially. When God created man, He made him with three components of his being. God made man spirit, soul and body. And He made him in that order of dominance; first spirit, then soul, and then body.
When man sinned, God said that the penalty for sin was that man would surely die. And what died that day that Adam sinned was the spirit of man. The essence of man that was designed for communion with God, that was made to spiritually rule over the soul and the body, died as a result of sin. The process of the body dying also started at the moment, but that death took longer. However, the spirit died immediately.
And as a result of the death of the spirit, the spiritual order of man’s being was overturned. In God’s design, the spirit was to rule over the soul, and the soul was to rule over the body. But in the post-fall man, that order was inverted, the body now ruled over the soul, and the spirit was dead. Now man is governed by the lusts of the flesh, and the mind or soul is under the dominion of the body, especially the sins of the body. So the mind or soul serves the body.
However, when a man is born again, the Spirit of God brings to life a new spirit within man. And the divine order of man’s being is reestablished; man is once again made spirit, soul, and body, in the original order of dominance. Therefore, sin no longer rules through the flesh, but the Spirit reigns over our mind, and our mind controls our body. And to exercise control the body, Paul often refers to it in 1 Cor. 9:37 as discipling his body and making it his slave.
So then, God’s divine plan of salvation is accomplished whereby man becomes a new creation and old things are passed away and all things become new. But what then? The penalty for sin has been paid for, and the power over sin through the indwelling of the Spirit has been made available. We are born again spiritually into a new life. But are we totally free from the influence of the flesh? Has sin been completely eradicated in our life?
Well, that is the question that Paul has been trying to address in the last couple of chapters. And today, I hope to show you how Paul perceives the dichotomy that exists within the believer. And what is particularly helpful, is that in this section of scripture, Paul relates this dilemma as something that pertains to him. Notice the consistent use of personal pronouns “I” and “me” as he illustrates this dilemma. And that should be an encouragement to us. This struggle that is prevalent within us is not something that necessarily indicates a moral failing on our part, so that we become disillusioned with Christianity because we feel like such a failure. But we can say that if Paul had problems in this regard, and I think the text makes it clear that he did, then we can have assurance that such difficulties in the flesh are common to even the best of Christians. And in fact, our ability to recognize our deficiencies indicates that we are in fact sons and daughters of God, in spite of struggling at times with the old nature.
So Paul summarized the three analogies we spoke of earlier with the following statement in vs 5 “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”
Paul speaks of the old sinful passions being aroused by the law. He speaks of being released from the law. So the question that might arise then, is the law bad? Is the law something that was analogous to the old man and therefore is sinful? He says in vs 7, 8, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.”
So the answer is no, the law is not sinful. “On the contrary” Paul says, the law reveals sin. Paul said the same thing back in chapter 5 vs 20, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase.” The law made sin more magnified. The holy standard of God made sin that much more apparent.
Notice Paul said he would not have come to know sin had it not been through the law. Now that does not negate what he said in chapters 1-3, that all men have a form of law written in their hearts which condemns them when they sin. But I think he is referring here to the more distinct knowledge of his sin that came through the commandments. It would appear that he is speaking here directly about the 10 commandments because he mentions particularly the law of coveting, which is the 10th commandment.
We need to remember that Paul was a Pharisee, someone who kept the law to the ninth degree. They were fastidious about the law. But as Jesus pointed out in the Sermon on the Mount, they may have attempted to keep the letter of the law, but they failed to keep the spirit of the law. So Paul writes that there was something about the 10th commandment that shook his confidence in his ability to keep the law. And perhaps that is because the 10th commandment speaks of coveting, of desire. It speaks of a sinful heart in wanting what is not yours. It was one thing to say you had not committed adultery, or murder, but it is another thing to examine your motives or your thoughts in light of God’s law. And when Paul considered that, he was convicted of his sinfulness.
And he adds that sin taking opportunity through the law produced in him coveting of every kind. And what I think he means by that is a reiteration of the earlier principle about law and sin in 5:20. In other words, the law magnified his sin, and because of the law he saw that his coveting extended to all sorts of things, far beyond what he may have originally been aware of. Coveting is a sin that applies to all other sins and in fact, may be the instigating factor in adultery, murder, lying, idolatry and so forth.
And that brings up an important aspect of our sanctification. As we draw near to God, as we are molded into the image of Christ, we become more aware of our sin, not less aware. That person that has little or no awareness of sin is not more sanctified, not more holy, but more carnal. However, the man whose heart is right towards God and is being conformed to Christ becomes ever more aware of his sinfulness and how much he fails as a Christian in his walk.
Consider for instance, the saints of old, who did not take pride in their righteousness, but fell on their face before God, having become more aware of their shortcomings. Job, whom God called a blameless and upright man, said in Job 42:6, “I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Daniel, undoubtedly a great man of God, said in his prayer, “O Lord, we have sinned and done wrong, we are covered in shame because of our sins against You.” Isaiah, a great prophet fell on his face before God and said in Isaiah 6:5, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” So then it is not immature, carnal believers who are aware of their sin, but the more mature spiritually you are, the more aware you are of your sin.
So not only is the law not sinful, but Paul says that apart from the law sin is dead. Maybe it would be easier to understand if “dead” was translated as “dormant.” Without the written law, you are unaware of the terrible, deadly nature of sin. By nature you can be complacent in your sin, almost unaware of it, but when the law appears, it makes you aware of your sin. So Paul says in vs 9, “once I was alive apart from law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died.” In other words, the spiritual deadness had occurred in him because of sin, but when the commandment came in, sin sprang to life, he became aware of his sin, and he died to that self satisfied complacency. What he says there reminds me of Adam and Eve before their sin, having no shame that they were naked. But when they broke the law of God, sin sprang to life, and they became aware they were naked, and they tried to hide from God.
He goes on to say in vs10, “and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” Notice Paul isn’t saying here that keeping the commandments was supposed to bring you salvation. But what he is saying is that the commandment was to result in life. In other words, the law was to keep you from death, to keep you from sin. Think back to the Garden of Eden, the commandment not to eat of the tree didn’t give them life. But it preserved their life. Breaking the commandment brought death. So the commandment was intended to keep you from death, that you might have life. But sin deceived me, Paul said, and through the law, killed me. The wages of sin is death, according to the law.
But Paul is quick to point out that doesn’t negate the goodness of the law. The law is holy, righteous and good. The law reveals the character of God. The law is the means God uses to train us in righteousness. And we know that God is holy, righteous and good. So it’s not the laws fault that we sinned. It’s the fault of the sin nature that was inherent in us, which was made apparent by the law.
He says that in vs13, “Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.” The law did not cause us to sin. But the commandment made us aware of our sin as utterly sinful, that we might not be complacent in our sin, but be driven to the cross to be delivered from sin by the Savior. The cause of death is sin, not the commandment. The commandment simply made sin more apparently sinful.
Now that Paul had explained the principles of the law and sin and the way in which they worked in him, he then relates his experience of it. And this is his experience while yet a Christian. Thus we can relate to his experience because it is so often our experience. And as I said earlier, he isn’t speaking as an unbeliever, nor is he speaking as an immature believer. But contrarily, he is speaking as a mature believer who by the Spirit of God in him has become more convicted of his sinfulness.
And to begin his explanation of his experience he states the principle of his dual nature in vs14; “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” This is where we see clearly the principle regarding the three components of our being, that I spoke of earlier. We are made spirit, soul, and body. And Paul here says that the law is spiritual. It is something that reflects the character of God. The Holy Spirit works through the law of God to convict the Christian of sin and righteousness. The law speaks to the spiritual nature of man and only by the spiritual nature can it be ascertained in it’s fullness. And it can only be accomplished in the realm of the Spirit. That’s what we saw when we studied the Sermon on the Mount last summer. The only way to accomplish any of the laws that Jesus was talking about was by first becoming spiritual, a new creation. So the law is spiritual.
So the law is spiritual, but, Paul says, I am carnal, so as a slave to sin. I believe he is referring to the inherent carnal nature of his body. He has a new spirit, but he still has the same body. A body that was born into the slavery of sin. It’s a common theme in the history of the Jews that even though they had been delivered from slavery in the exodus by Moses, they still had the desire to return to that slavery and still returned to the sins of Egypt. So also Paul acknowledges that the carnal aspect of his nature are still there. He was sold, he said, as a slave to sin. I think he is speaking of his inherited nature from Adam. David said in Ps.51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” So sold into sin from his birth by nature.
And that sin nature is very much in effect, even though he has been born again. Notice vs15, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I [would] like to [do,] but I am doing the very thing I hate.” Now Paul is writing this as a converted person. For the unsaved do not hate their sin, but they love evil. Jesus said in John 3:19, “men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” But the converted man hates his sin, because it goes against his new nature.
Vs16 “But if I do the very thing I do not want [to do,] I agree with the Law, [confessing] that the Law is good.” That’s what repentance is, ladies and gentlemen. Repentance is agreeing with the law. The solution is not to disregard the law and continue in sin. The way to sanctification is to recognize that the law is good, recognize when I fall short, and confess it to God and agree with God and ask by His help to be obedient to it.
Paul then in vs 17 restates the sin principle that is at work in his sinful nature, in his flesh. And he sees it in opposition to his better nature, that is the spiritual nature that has been reborn. Vs 17-20 “So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good [is] not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”
So he discovers another law. Not a law of God, but a principle working in him. And the principle is summarized in vs 21; “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.” Notice how Paul characterizes this evil nature, “evil is present in me.” The RSV translates it this way; “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.” It reminds me of God’s warning to Cain in Genesis 4:7, “And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Sin is like a crouching lion waiting for an opportunity. And Paul says he recognizes that in himself.
I wonder how much of our problem with sin is because we give the devil an opportunity by going some place we should not be, or looking at something we shouldn’t look at, or thinking of something we should not be thinking of. Or as Paul said was his problem, desiring something that we shouldn’t desire. That’s giving the devil and opportunity. We may think we have it under control and we aren’t going to sin, but this principle of sin that was crouching at the door sees the opportunity and comes alive and you fall. Paul said in Eph. 4:26-27 “BE ANGRY, AND [yet] DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.”
But then in vs22, Paul differentiates between the spirit and the flesh, and he reiterates that spiritually he loves God’s law, but there is another law or principle working in his flesh. He says in vs 22, “For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.”
What Paul is saying is that there is a war going on in him between the law of God which is spiritual, and the law of sin which is in his body. And the interesting thing is that the battlefield is in the soul, or the mind. The fact that he uses the word law as a descriptor for all three elements of man, the spirit, soul and body, indicates that he is talking about the governing principles of the spirit, soul and body.
But let’s not pass over too quickly this principle that the soul, or the mind is the battleground between the spirit and the body. Remember in my first illustration about how God designed us as spirit, soul and body, and then the order was reversed by sin so that it was body, soul and spirit, in both cases the soul stays in the middle. The mind either subjects itself to the governing principle of sin in the body, or it subjects itself to the governing law of the spirit, depending on whether or not you have been born again.
And we see that necessity of renewing the mind emphasized again and again in scripture. The most prominent passage concerning that is found in Romans 12:1. “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
So there you see the necessity of offering your body sacrificially to the Lord, and the need to renew your mind so that you may do the will of God. We that have been saved have a new spirit, and the divine order has been restored. But for that order to work as it should our minds have to be transformed as well, in submission to the Spirit effecting the spiritual discipline over our bodies, or over the flesh. And our minds are transformed by the washing of the word of God.
Another text which speaks to that is Eph. 4:22-24 “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in [the likeness of] God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” There Paul puts the operation of the spirit and mind together, laying aside the old self. That is, he stops listening to the old man, and starts listening to the new man which is created in the truth, that is, God’s word.
God’s law is another way of referring to God’s word, which is God’s governing principles. And the psalmist tells us that God’s law is the means by which we are given wisdom of the mind. Psalm 19:7-8 says “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.”
The word of God is the means by which we are trained in righteousness, that our minds are transformed, so that we might have success in our walk with God. As it says in Joshua 1:8 "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”
Well, very quickly we must close. In comprehending this war that is within his body and spirit, Paul cries out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Notice he recognizes that it is the body that is the offensive thing here. The Spirit give life. But the body leads to death. And Paul yearns for the freedom from that body of sin that is still clinging to his soul. He finds himself despairing of this war within his being.
But he gives us the answer to that question in vs 25; “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Jesus Christ has set us free from the bondage of sin in the flesh. We are no longer under it’s dominion. It still is there, crouching in wait for an opportunity, but by walking in the Spirit we will no longer be subject to the flesh. Gal 5:16 Paul says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
Paul concludes in vs 25, “So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” Paul can thank Jesus Christ that He has won the victory over sin and death and that as he is in Christ, then he too will overcome this body and death. At the resurrection we will be raised with a new, incorruptible body, a body without the sin nature and all that turmoil that this present body causes our soul will be left behind. Our salvation will be complete and final. And we will live forever with the Lord in a world without sin and death, without sickness and sorrow. Thanks be to God though our Lord Jesus Christ we have been saved from the penalty of sin, delivered from the power of sin, and at the resurrection we will be delivered from this body of sin. That is our salvation, and it has been purchased by Jesus Christ, received as a gift of His grace by faith. I trust that you have received Him as your Lord and Savior, that you have been born again as a new creature, old things have passed away, and all things have become new.
Gal 5:24-25 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
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