Romans 7:14-25 “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. (15) For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (16) If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. (17) But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. (18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. (19) For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. (20) Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. (21) I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. (22) For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. (23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (24) O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (25) I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”
The third part of man we will discuss is how our physical body influences our will. It may sound strange to some but nevertheless our physical bodies do have a voice and can exert a strong influence on our wills. In the previous section we have seen that God created mankind with an inward and an outward man, and we have stated that our outward man is our physical body. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul introduces us to the biblical concept of the flesh, and the reason he does that is to explain to us that sin originates in the flesh of believers. So why does sin originate in our bodies? The answer to that question is that unlike our spirits which come directly from God, our physical bodies are inherited from Adam, for God uses his blood to make the bodies of all mankind (Acts 17:26). And so when Adam committed sin in the Garden of Eden the sin virus entered his blood stream, thus contaminating every earthly body with that same sin virus ever since. Because our bodies are contaminated with the sin virus their only desire is to commit sin. Sin in the flesh is extremely powerful and is thus able to exert strong influence over the will of the believer. From this passage of scripture we can see that as a new believer Paul struggled with sin, for his born-again spirit wanted to serve God but the sin in his flesh proved to be the stronger force, thus exerting its influence over his will and forcing him into sin. All new born believers experience this same problem, which is one of the reasons why it is so vital for believers to grow strong in spirit so that they can eventually overcome the sin virus that resides in their flesh. So how do Christians who are strong in spirit overcome sin in their flesh? One of the fruit of the born-again spirit is the fruit of self control (Galatians 5:23). That fruit is specifically designed by God to keep our flesh under control, thus making no provision for the flesh to fulfil its lusts. However until the believer matures sufficiently in spirit thus producing strong fruit of self control, an interim solution is required, for in this passage the apostle Paul teaches us that on its own, the will of man is not strong enough to overcome sin in the flesh. And so when Paul cried out to God for a solution to his problem the Lord revealed to him that through faith in the power of Christ he could well overcome sin in the flesh, which he subsequently did. Nevertheless because Paul also grew strong in spirit and the fruit of self control, he could confidently state later in his life that he disciplined his body and brought it into subjection (1 Corinthians 9:27). In other words through the fruit of self control Paul made sure that his flesh could no longer influence his will to fulfil its desires of sin.
Michael E.B. Maher
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