The Law and Sin
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. Rom 7:18
will is present... I have a will, but it is so overpowered by the lusts of sin that I am helpless. My passion is stronger than my reason. My will, reason, understanding, and my conscience are on God’s side and consent to His will and law, but my slave-master will not consent for me to serve God or His law.
No man’s flesh follows God. Man’s flesh must be crucified for the spirit to reign.
The flesh serves as a base camp from which sin operates in the Christian’s life. It is not sinful inherently, but because of its fallenness, it is still subject to sin and is thoroughly contaminated.
The flesh is that part of the believer’s present being that remains unredeemed.
Gal. 5:24-26 “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” “Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Paul is trying to say that the flesh of man is a hindrance to him. Even Jesus, when facing the cruel death of the cross, said (my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak). We must somehow get our flesh and the lusts thereof under subjection to the spirit of God within us.
Paul’s experience convinced him that “the Law is good” (Rom. 7:16). But he also concluded, I know that nothing good lives in me. Then he hastened to explain that by the phrase “in me” he meant in my sinful nature (sarki, “flesh”; cf. Rom. 7:5, 7:25). This is not literal physical or material flesh, but the principle of sin that expresses itself through one’s mind and body.
As support for this conclusion Paul explained, For I have the desire to do what is good (“For to wish is present with me” [or “is lying beside me”]), but I cannot carry it out (lit., “but to produce the good is not”).
0 comments:
Post a Comment