THE INWARD BATTLE OF ROMANS SEVEN -- Tomorrow:
It is important to see that thoughts are the subject of this text, not deeds: i.e., "what I DO . . . If I Do what I do not want to DO . . . the evil that I do not want to DO . . . " This DOING is not speaking, or engaging in some overt expression. This is an inward matter -- an area in which we do not have total control. It i something done within, against the will.
Remember, Paul has already said that the Law caused him to recognize lust, or unlawful desire, at the very core of his natural being. "Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known LUST, except the law had said, Thou shalt not COVET. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of CONCUPISCENCE" (7:7-8). One of the ministries of the Law was to uncover sin at its root. Sinfulness is in the human nature itself, which is what necessitates the new birth. The very thought of being born again becomes absurd if man's natural condition could be corrected.
Paul had achieved external piety prior to his life in the Son. Concerning the righteousness of the law, he said he was "blameless" (Phil 3:6). However, the Law showed Saul of Tarsus that sin is deeper than appearance, words, and deeds. In fact, that resident lust was actually stirred up by the holy law of God. "But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire . . . For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death" (7:8,11, NKJV).
Now Paul will show us these lusts still surface--even against our will, AFTER we are in Christ Jesus. They are bastions of thought that are to be cast down with powerful spiritual weaponry. Thus it is written, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor 10:4-5, NKJV).
In this regard, believers are also told, "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry" (Col 3:5, NKJV). it should be apparent that believers would not be required to put something to death that does not exist. As a believer, there is still a part of you that must be forcefully subdued. The subject of Romans 7:15-25 is the expression of that part of us, which cannot be fully silenced until we are "absent from the body" (2 Cor 5:8).
It would be absurd to introduce a lengthy dialog on outward deeds after elaborating so extensively on the matter of "lust." Even though these lusts are abhorred by believers, and not desired, yet they must contend with them. They surface at the most unlikely times, are discovered in astounding dreams, and fleeting thoughts that are disconcerting. These are "fiery darts," or "flaming arrows," hurled at us by the wicked one to turn our hearts and minds away from the Lord (Eph 6:18).
Lust is inherent in the flesh. It is part and parcel of it, and cannot be separated from it. What is even more, "the flesh" is fixed in its nature, and cannot be changed. I will show in this series that even regeneration wrought no change in the flesh, or sinful nature. It remained the same. Now our text will show that we must contend with its eruption in our thoughts. Should these things find vent in our speech and actions, they become sin, and must be confessed. But that is not the subject of this text. We are dealing with a battle that rages in our minds.
When Paul says "doing" or "do," he is not referring to an outward act, but to activities of the mind, which is the battleground. He has already told us that the Law forthrightly condemned "lust," which is an inward thing. In order to confirm how great our deliverance from the law is, he will now show that we cannot stop the flesh from lusting. It will throw its thoughts into our minds whether we want them or not. While the Law condemns those desires because they found a way into our thoughts, we are NOT condemned for them in Christ Jesus. That is because they conflict with what we really want, or will to do. If, by God's grace, we cast those thoughts down, they are not credited to us. How marvelous is the grace of God!
PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank You through Jesus Christ for deliverance from the Law and its condemnation. I praise Your name that mercy does not condemn me when thoughts and desires rise in my mind against my will and contrary to the newness of life in which I delight.