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. Romans 7:22-23 (ESV)
When I was a youngster, I accidently spilled a glob of black oil paint on one of my mom’s pink throw rugs. The spot was only the size of a quarter, but no amount of cleaning could remove it. The spot was set, and the rug was permanently marred.
Sin left a
permanent stain on the human soul when Adam sinned. Its source was the highest
created cherub of God, Lucifer (Satan), who allowed his beauty to corrupt his
wisdom and righteousness so that he rebelled against the LORD, moving to unseat
Him from His throne (Is. 14:13-14, Ezk. 28:12-19). After losing his holy position,
Lucifer brought sin with him into the world, bringing mankind into his long war
against God.
The
continual warring of my inborn sin nature with the righteousness of Christ
frustrates me. The Apostle Paul was frustrated by the sin in his own life, too.
Like myself he wanted to do right but sin always tripped him up. In his
frustration he cried out, “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I
cannot carry it out. 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” (Rom. 7:18-19).
The Bible
does not teach that our sin nature is eradicated at salvation. I wish that were
so but like that oil stain in that rug, it is permanently set on our souls. We
will not be free of it except through death or Rapture. Paul expresses what
kind of man sin had made him when he cries out, “What a wretched man I am!
Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Rom. 7:24).
When Christ
gave His life on the cross, He broke the power of sin to enslave us. Even
though the curse of sin was not fully removed, there was still a great victory
won at the cross. If sin remains a problem, it no longer has the legal right to
force its mastery and control on us.
The good
news is God the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4) empowers us to stand against sin in
its war against the mind. When temptation comes to us with its chains of
seduction that once held us, we now have the freedom and the right in Christ to
refuse to put those chains back on. The Word of God is our Document of Emancipation.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not
let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1).
God has for
reasons of His own chosen not to explain why He did not take the stain of sin
completely from us when we believed on Christ.
However, since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for nearly 2,000
years His loving power and saving grace have been extended to billions of the
sons and daughters of Adam making them into new
creations in Christ (1st Cor. 15:45, 17).
After Paul’s
question of who will rescue him, he states in the emphatic, “Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ
our Lord!” (Rom. 7:25). It is Christ and the powerful working of
the Spirit of Truth who delivers us, for He will be with us and in us
(Jn. 14:17, 16:13).
Sin will
certainly be eradicated one day, and we have the King of Kings’ true and
faithful promise that He will make all things new and perfect again (Rev. 21:5). Until
then sin remains that oily smudge we cannot be rid of. Who will save us from
this body of sin and death?
We can all gratefully
say with Paul, “Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our
Lord!” Amen. Let it be so, Lord Jesus, for in Your strength is our power to
accomplish all things in righteousness (Phil 4:13).
Maranatha,
Ken
