Thanks be to God...there is no condemnation...

Romans 7:14-8:8 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. ¹⁷ So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. ¹⁹ For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. ²⁰ But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

²¹ I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. ²² For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, ²³ but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

8 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³ For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

In today’s text Paul fairly well captures the ongoing struggle of man, even of those who want to do what is right. There is a battle that is waged between our flesh, our selfish, self satisfying desires and our spirit. The battleground for the war is in our minds. It is with our minds that we choose which we will follow, the temptations and the lust of our flesh or the voice of the Spirit, of whom Jesus says:  But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (John 16:13) The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He speaks truth, leading us toward Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6)

Still, we all, like Paul, struggle with this battle. As Paul says:   What I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. …For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.   Paul reasons that it is not he himself who is doing these things, but rather it is the sin nature within him. He says: So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.    Does this excuse us then? Are we helpless to control this sin nature, this lust of our flesh?  James offers some insight into how this process unfolds within our minds. It is not simply that we do good or evil. James 1:13-15 says:   Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.  But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.  Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.       We are not helpless bystanders in the battle between evil and good which goes on in our minds. The point at which we engage in the battle is at the point of temptation. Temptation is not sin. Jesus Himself was tempted. Hebrews 4:15 says:  We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.       Temptation is not sin. It is yielding to temptation which becomes sin. James says we are enticed and carried away by our own lusts. What may be a great temptation to one may have little or no affect on another. That one may be tempted in a whole different way. The temptations we face are no more evil or difficult to overcome than that of another. It is in our entertaining that temptation that we become carried away.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says: No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.     There is no temptation, whether fear, anxiety, doubt which  themselves are sins we are tempted to participate in, or things such as lying, greed and immorality, none of these are without a way of escape, a way of overcoming.  James says:  Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:7-8)       As soon as we recognize a temptation our response needs to be that we submit to God, that we resist the devil. The way of escape from temptation is simply to draw near to God; God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.  When we draw near to God the devil will flee. Darkness has no place in light.

The final element of the battle in our minds has to do with what happens when we do entertain temptation, when we do yield to our lusts and the voice of the tempter rather than the voice of truth. Almost immediately after we yield to temptation, the next thing we hear from the devil is condemnation, which leads to guilt and despair. Condemnation and despair drive us farther from God. We, like Adam and Eve, try to hide from God so that He will not see our sinfulness. In today’s text Paul writes:  Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!... Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.     We are to engage in the battle, to resist the devil, to resist and not yield to temptation, but when we fail we are to rest and take confidence in the truth that God does not condemn us. We do not need to increase the effects of our sin by taking on the guilt and condemnation, that too is a temptation we should resist. Jesus Christ took on all of our condemnation and shame.

1 Peter 2:21-25 says:  For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,  who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;  and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.  For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.       Jesus has won the ultimate victory. Through Him we are reunited with God, we are able to draw near to Him without condemnation. Still each day we engage in the battle, the battle in our own minds. Paul says: For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,  because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,  and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.        God does not condemn us, but if we want to please Him we must set our minds, we must decide and determine to follow the Spirit, the voice of truth. We must walk in the way He Himself has given us.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is both the victor and the way to victory. Amen