Romans 7:22-23 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 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.

Peace out was a phrase I used in my hippie days when an argument was posed that I didn’t want to argue. Paul’s argument here is one of those difficult expressions which many do not want to hear and would just as soon not argue.

Jesus preached peace and combated fear in His disciples by simply saying, “Peace, fear not.” Peace be still calms the troubled heart. We are tired of war, tired of fighting. Just give us peace. Peace out.

Paul is addressing an ugly truth that many of us don’t want to talk about. Given that we know the truth, we know what is right, we still make bad choices. How Paul chose to deal with this issue leaves many of us frustrated with a sense of helplessness.

“Bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” is a hard pill to swallow. It sounds like there is nothing I can do to find peace of mind. Paul isn’t directly saying it here and will clarify this later. In the mean time we wrestle with these passages trying to find some glimmer of hope.

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Thank you Paul for the reminder. For those who know the Word, you can see I left out the ending of this quote, once again.

“So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

Some of us do not like to hold two opposing thoughts in our minds at the same time.

Romans 7:2-3 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

I warned you yesterday that things were going to get worse in chapter 7 of Romans. It is extremely easy to get focused on issues of marriage and adultery and miss the analogy of sin. I would have liked a simpler example that was less stressful.

A doctor of theology wrote a book about being set free from the power of sin and the cover had a man’s wrists bound up in ancient handcuffs. Sin binds us like handcuffs and Jesus is the key to setting us free. Now that is a safe analogy and doesn’t put ugly thoughts in my wife’s head..

Granted, Paul states in the opening line that he is speaking to those who know the law. Did you get that he was speaking to the Jews? The marital reference would mean something different to a Jew than it would to my Catholic raised wife. She is twice divorced and the language is calling her an adulteress by her earlier education. This is a distraction I don’t need.

My point is this, if you are not a Jew then this analogy is not best suited to you and you need to temper your understanding as an outsider, a non-Jew. A proper understanding is required to keep focused on Paul’s message here, that sin no longer has power over you.

The mature in Christ get it but what about the inexperienced new Christian? Where will their focus go?