Merry Christmas!

Good morning. The Ides of March. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? In other words did it have unintended consequences? God forbid! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. Now we get to the controversial part of chapter 7. Is Paul talking about himself before he became a Christian or afterwards? For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. That is true about our old man, who is now dead. Unfortunately, we do not act like our old man is dead. It seems like he is alive and kicking. We all do go through some form of the following at times. What I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I’m doing the very thing I hate. One would think that after becoming a Christian that Paul’s desire to disobey would be eradicated. But if I do that very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the law is good. The fact that he’s talking about the law may mean that he’s talking about himself as a Jew. Even after they became Christians, Jews still had trouble following the law. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. That almost sounds like, “the devil made me do it“. We feel pulls from what our flesh wants us to do; what the world wants us to do; and what the Holy Spirit indwelling us wants us to do. We have to choose. Father thank You that You give us the means to walk in Your Holy Spirit. Help us to choose to follow You and not our flesh nor the world.