February 6

Read: Romans 7:18-25

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me (Romans 7:20).

Carnality Is My Enemy

The Bible explains to us how man fell. Jesus makes it clear that this fallen, sinful nature is a deep-seated source of sins in our lives. In our scripture lesson Paul testifies that this carnal nature in the soul is a foreign element by which man is enslaved. It works in opposition to our best interests and our highest desires.

“I often find that I have the will to do good, but not the power. That is, I don’t accomplish the good I set out to do, and the evil I don’t really want to do I find I am always doing. Yet if I do the things that I don’t really want to do then it is not, I repeat, ‘I’ who do them, but the sin which has made its home within me” (Phillips).

This description of the work of the carnal mind certainly refers to Paul’s experience before he was converted. There is power in regeneration to save a man from continuous sinning. But the passage does depict clearly the essentially evil and alien nature of sin in the soul. Paul’s sensitive spirit recognized this antagonism to God and goodness before he met Christ. The presence and power of this sinful nature, even after one has been saved, is the widespread testimony of born-again Christians.

Paul was certain that this evil inclination was a foreign intrusion and no essential part of himself; its effects came from a force beyond his control. In his helplessness he implored, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

Does my own spirit echo Paul’s cry? If so, I may also find Paul’s answer, “I thank God [it is] through Jesus Christ our Lord.”