Rev. Don Campbell
Romans 4-7
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019
“PAUL’S WAR”
Paul was a fighter. First, he fought tirelessly against the gospel and then he fought tirelessly for the gospel. In today’s reading, he describes the biggest battle of all—his internal battle with the flesh: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin” (7:15-25).
Law is external to us, punishing us for doing what we really want to do, resulting in two errors: We find new and different ways to circumvent the law. We seek to avoid violations out of fear. The radical solution in regard to the flesh is death: “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:4-6).
Jews were set free from the law of Moses when they die with Christ. We Gentiles were never under that law, so it is of no consequences for use. However, at the same time a Jew is freed from the law, he is freed from sin: “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives” (Romans 6:1-4, NLT).
Are you, like Paul, struggling with the flesh? Good! The struggle confirms the presence of the Spirit in your life. If you are not struggling, you have surrendered.
CONNECTIONS
1. Who does Paul say will deliver him from the flesh?
2. Do some want God to give them the victory without their giving up the sin?
