Slides: Doing What I Hate

Doing What I Hate
Romans 7:14-25

Doing what I hate

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Being who I’m not

¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Who is the real I?

I am of the flesh… I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.   For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh… Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (6:14-20)

“The flesh” is like cancer. Cancer might be part of my body in a sense, but it’s not supposed to be. Cancer is not how my body is supposed to work. The cancerous cells are attacking my body and don't properly belong to it, even though they are in it. Likewise, "the flesh" isn't the real me, even though it's in me. "The flesh," the sinful self detached from God, is attacking the real me and could kill the real me if it isn't dealt with.

War within

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

Who will deliver me?

²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.