The law of God and the law of sin
[Romans 7:21-23]
Romans 7:21-23 says: “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.” In this passage, the word “law” appears five times: “this law” (v. 21), “God’s law” (v. 22), “another law” (v. 23), and “the law of my mind” (v. 23), “the law of sin” (v. 23). These five “law” can be summarized into two: (1) The law of sin” (v. 23): “this law” (v. 21), “another law” (v. 23), and (2) The law of God (v. 22): “the law of my mind” (v. 23). So, I would like to meditate on today’s text, Romans 7:21-23, under the title “The law of God and the law of sin.”
Before I delve into meditating on "The law of God and the law of sin," I'd like to first reflect on the "I" (vv. 21, 22, 23) mentioned in today's passage, referring to the Apostle Paul. While we've already contemplated that the "I" in the passage refers to the Apostle Paul, scholars interpret this "I" in three ways: (1) as Paul before believing in Jesus (being unregenerate), (2) as Paul after believing in Jesus but when he was still spiritually immature in Christ, as in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3: "Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?" The believer likened to "infants in Christ" is one who is "worldly" and engages in "jealousy and quarreling." The believer likened to "infants in Christ" is one who has not yet "grown up for salvation" (1 Peter 2:2). Hebrews 5:12-14 reads: "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." The believer likened to "infants in Christ" is someone who is in a position of needing to be taught "the elementary truths of God’s word" from someone else, who has not experienced "the teaching about righteousness" and who has not trained themselves to "distinguish good from evil" through the use of their faculties. (3) as Paul after believing in Jesus, a spiritual man (1 Corinthians 3:1) or a matured man (1 Corinthians 14:20; Hebrews 5:14).
In today's passage, Romans 7:21-23, we accept the third interpretation of "I." That is, when the Apostle Paul refers to "I," he speaks of himself as a spiritual man or a mature man. Therefore, when Paul wrote to the saints in Corinth, urging them to imitate him as he imitated Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), he was speaking of having become "like Christ," that is, gentle and humble in heart (Matthew 11:29), and having loved his own to the end, just as Jesus Christ, who washed the feet of his disciples (John 13:1-14). Another reason why we take the third interpretation of “I” is because, as Hebrews 5:14 states, Paul, as a mature man, was one who by constant use had trained himself to distinguish good from evil. Therefore, he was recording in Romans 7 that though he desired to do what was good (Roman 7:15), that is, what he wanted (v. 19), he found himself not doing the good he wanted to do (v. 18) but instead hating what he did (v. 15), recognizing his own actions of doing evil (v. 19). In other words, the Apostle Paul was a mature man who could distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:14).
So, in Romans 7:21, he said, "So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me." Here, "this law" that the Apostle Paul found refers to “the law of sin at work within my members” (v. 23). Paul realized that evil was present with him as he desired to do good (v. 21). So, he said, "For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing" (v. 19). And Paul said, "If I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it" (v. 20). This "law of sin at work within my members" (v. 23) is in conflict with "the law of my mind" (v. 23), which is "God’s law" (v. 22). In other words, as his inner being (the regenerated person, the new creation) (v. 22), the Apostle Paul desires to delight in "God’s law" (v. 22) and wants to do good (v. 19), but “the law of sin at work within my members” (v. 23), this "another law" (v. 23), captured him (v. 23), making him do what he does not want (v. 16) and even what he hates (v. 15). The regenerated man, the new creation, the inner being is the blessed man who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night" (Psalms 1:2). However, “the law of sin at work within my members” (Romans 7:23) enjoys hating God's law and delights in disobeying it, leading to delighting in doing evil. Therefore, the Apostle Paul said, "but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members" (v. 23). In other words, he saw himself becoming a slave to the law of sin. Even the mature Apostle Paul, having witnessed himself becoming a slave to the law of sin, sighed, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?" (v. 24)
Until the Lord returns (His second coming), the law of God (v. 22) and the law of sin (v. 23) will continue to wage war. We must keep fighting against the law of sin, which we hate, while delighting in the law of God until the end of our lives. The key to victory in this spiritual battle lies solely in the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:2 says, "because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." Only by the power of the Spirit can we triumph in the struggle between the law of God and the law of sin, obeying God's law joyfully in our hearts and living a life of righteousness. I pray that we all may be filled with the Holy Spirit, fighting against the law of sin within our bodies moment by moment with the power of the Spirit, and living according to the law of God.