Romans Chapter 7 Vs. 23

 

The Law and Sin

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. Rom 7:23

another law in... This is the law of sin (Rom. 7:23, 7:25; 8:2). That law is stronger than the law of the mind, for it captures man regardless of the protest of the law of the mind (Rom. 7:23, 7:25). This victory is not occasional, but complete (Rom. 7:24).

This is a corresponding spiritual principle to the one in verse 21. But this principle, which Paul identifies as “the law of sin,” operates in the members of his body, that is, his unredeemed and still sinful humanness, waging war against his desire to obey God’s law.

law of my... Mind is equivalent to the new inner self, which longs to obey the law of God. Paul is not saying his mind is spiritual and his body is inherently evil.

This principle is continually doing two things: waging war against the law of the believer’s mind and making him a prisoner of the law of sin at work within his members. The indwelling principle of sin is constantly mounting a military campaign against the new nature, trying to gain victory and control (cf. “slave” in Rom. 7:14, 7:25 and “slaves” in Rom. 6:17, 6:19-20), of a believer and his actions. The new nature is called “the law” of the “mind” (noos; cf. Rom. 7:25) because it has the capacity for perceiving and making moral judgments. Further, despite a believer’s identification with Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection and his efforts to have Christ-honoring attitudes and actions, he cannot in his own power resist his indwelling sin nature. In and of himself he repeatedly experiences defeat and frustration.