IS THIS EVERY BELIEVER'S STRUGGLE???

[HOPE - Psalm 43:5]

Romans 7:14 - 25 (NIV)

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what
is good, but I cannot carry it out.

19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

20 Now 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.

21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law;

23 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.

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.




FIGHTING THE ENEMY IN ME

What did Paul mean by this passage?
Was he guilty of a transgression or a sinful habit?

Did he make bad decisions and decided to do some self-inspection and this passage was the result of his self-examination?

Is this every Believers struggle??? The struggle to do good but evil is present within them? And what happens when they don't do good? What happens when they make those bad decisions? What happens when they find themselves caught up in a sinful habit? It could be any sinful habit (lying, cheating, stealing, manipulating, fornication, etc.) After all there are no major and minor sins... ALL sin is sin.

Lastly, is Paul's acknowledgement of this "sin within" his way of repenting? Or is it just acknowlegement?

Let me know your thoughts.

[Child of the Kingdom]

Paul is saying that no man can serve God with his flesh but only with his mind. It you read the next passage it gives you a solution. Also, for the record Paul, in this passage is speaking in general about the flesh of all men and not per se his flesh. He gives a solution in the next passage as to say we don’t have to live according to the flesh once we are in Christ Jesus. Paul even says No more I that Liveth but Christ that liveth in me.

Romans 8:1-6 (King James Version)

 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
 3. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
 5. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
 6. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

[Child of the Kingdom]

Many Christians do struggle with sin but God has given us a solution. We must understand that Paul, in his teaching, was not saying that he is walking around not being able to become free from sin, but illustrating this struggle that some have, in order to present the solution.

Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Romans 6:1
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Be Blessed.