God's Spirit vs. Our Flesh

November 12th, 2024
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Nov 12, 2024

Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 7:14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

The depravity of man means that humanity is born as a slave to sin in the likeness of Adam (Rom. 5:12-21). Though alive physically, all are born dead spiritually. In his physical life, man knows God’s Law, whether from Scripture or in his heart (Rom. 2:14-15). But being spiritually dead, man is unable to keep God’s Law and thus please God. When God awakens his soul to the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ, he is reborn (John 3:3, 5), free from the penalty and power of sin. As a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), baptized with the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), he is called to walk in the newness of life (Rom. 6:2-4). Though he is no longer a slave to sin and can now say no to it, sin still seeks him (cf. 1 Peter 5:8). Now in Romans 7:14-25 the Apostle Paul reveals, in a very frank way, his own struggle to battle sin and measure up to the standards of the Christian faith. He reveals through personal experience the pain and perplexity of the spiritual battle that all Christians experience when they fail to walk in the Spirit of God for victory over sin.

The Christian’s flesh can and will tempt him to slip back into the idea that works can save or sanctify, and this brings both his spiritual and physical conditions into great conflict. Christians who attempt to live in the flesh and not the Spirit will inevitably fail, in spite of the fact that they have been baptized with the Spirit. It is their own failure to be filled with the Spirit through a rich, daily dwelling upon God’s Word (Eph. 5:18-21; Col. 3:12-17) that causes them to fall back into fleshly desires that are aroused by the Law (7:9-11). It is in this sense that Paul says what he says in v. 14: “the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” He has clearly made the point that true Christians are dead to sin but alive to Christ (6:11), and as a result they are slaves of righteousness, not sin (6:18). But when they begin to dabble in rule-keeping in order to be sanctified, they find themselves in the midst of the war between their flesh, which is tempted to rebel against God’s Law, and their spirit which desires to please God. In hindsight they see their struggle as a war against the power of sin that relentlessly seeks their destruction.

Now if Paul had not been converted to Christ, he would have remained a legalistic Pharisee —those pious Jews who made God’s impossible-to-keep laws possible through loopholes and faulty interpretations. So, prior to his conversion, Paul actually viewed himself as “blameless” in regard to keeping God’s Law (cf. Phil. 3:6), not “sold in bondage to sin” (v. 14) or “doing the very thing I hate” (v. 15) after he came to faith in Christ. But now in Christ, Paul struggled the same way every Christian struggles, with good intentions but weak flesh.

Food for Thought

Every Christian understands the struggle with sin. Some wonder whether they are Christian at all given how hard it is for them to say no to sin. Yet it is this heated battle that reveals our relationship with Christ. Without a daily struggle with sin, sin itself is the victor. Yet in Christ, in knowing and trusting Him for salvation through faith alone, we as Christians are victorious. How? Because our Savior was victorious! His death to sin is our death to sin. But we must never forget that sin itself is not dead. We can say no to it, but it still relentlessly seeks us. Let us draw near to God through prayer and study of Scripture so that we may continually see His holiness and our sin (3:20). The power of sin will always be present on this side of glory, although sin’s penalty has been paid for by Christ. We still await our freedom from sin’s presence, so until then we must draw near to Christ as Paul did in order to experience all of Christ’s goodness. When we fail to, we will feel the heat of the battle with sin which continues to relentlessly pursue us.