Law of Sin

“I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.”

               This is a sober assessment of our condition as Christians. First, there is within us a law (rule, government, principle) of sin that entices to sin, undermines our resolve and ability to do good, and fights against our desires and attempts to do good (Rom. 7:23). This is not descriptive of unbelievers, who are dead in sin (8:1-2), unable to resist the law of sin, unable to please God, and utterly opposed to God’s law (8:3-4).

Second, this law of sin is a law – it is an operative principle in us, on account of our initial rebellion against God and the curse that came to us for rejecting his word. This law is not eradicated or erased by regeneration. We will come into conflict with this inner law of sin. We will feel painfully the warfare within us, as we “cannot do the things that we want” (Gal. 5:17). This warfare is the law of sin trying to regain its dominion over us. This warfare results in unrest and misery (7:24). Paul speaks here as a proto-typical Christian – wanting to do good, but stymied, having a will to do good, but finding himself at war with an inner law. However much progress we make in Christ, the law of sin fights us every step.

Third, the believer in Jesus Christ has a second law working in him: the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (8:2). Faith in Jesus Christ breaks the dominion of the law of sin by bringing us under the quickening government of the Holy Spirit. He raises us from death to life, gives us faith to come to Jesus Christ as our life, and works the life of Christ in us so that “it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us” (Gal. 2:20). However wretched we feel because of the law of sin, we must rejoice more in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in us, uniting us to Jesus Christ so that we draw all life from him.

               Yet, we have this “treasure in weak vessels” (2 Cor. 4:7). It is when we are endeavoring to do good that we find or discover this law of sin opposing the law of life in Christ. Paul did not read about this law of sin in a book. He was not told about it by a personal therapist. He found it himself. It slapped him in the face. He found it specifically when his resolve and attempts to do good as a new creature in Christ were in full operation. Then, sin roared back and attacked him.

               Every believer finds this same dynamic. We want to resolve a conflict, but when we try to make peace, words come out that make more war – or we sweat bullets trying to say the good words and reject the inflammatory or condescending or whatever the flesh happens to be spewing at a given moment. Again and again we discover this law of sin – we resolve to pursue purity, and impure thoughts attack us like hell’s cavalry. Or, we resolve to rise and pray, but the flesh sings us to sleep. We desire cheerful obedience in our homes, but a complaining spirit rises from hidden depths to attack us. This is the law of sin we find at work in us. Each believer discovers this truth about himself. It is unpleasant and painful. It is extremely humbling. It is debilitating and contributes to many mental and physical illnesses. The law of sin wants to kill us completely, body and soul.

               But we cannot excuse ourselves. It is our fault that we lost the unbroken joy of serving God with our whole hearts. We feel our wretchedness (v. 24), but we have victory in Jesus Christ. By the power of the Spirit, we can put sin to death (Rom. 8:13). In his strength, not ours, we continue looking unto Jesus and killing sin by the Spirit’s chief weapons – the word and prayer.

Let us help one another in this warfare. The Spirit of Christ unites us in one body so that we encourage one another and forgive one another, as we have been forgiven. We find no understanding in the world, but we should find much in one another. All believers have wept over indwelling sin. We should not demand perfection from one another, but rejoice together in our Healer and Captain. We have felt the wretchedness of sin’s law, dragging us down, trying to kill us. We have also felt the strong arm of Jesus Christ holding us up through the power of his indwelling Spirit.