Two Egos, Two Laws and Two Slaveries
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin Romans 7:14-25
Having given a graphic description of the inward conflict of someone genuinely wanting to follow God by following the law, in 7:21-25 Paul now summarises the situation by describing the double reality of this person. He does it four times in four ways – as the two egos, the two laws, the two cries and the two slaveries.
First there are two egos: ‘So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me’ (7:21). This could be paraphrased ‘When in me there is a desire to do good, then in me evil is close at hand.’ The evil and the good are both present in me because they are both part of a fallen personality that honestly wants to please God.
Secondly, there are two laws: ‘For in my inner being I delight in God’s law’ (7:22). This inner delight in the law is also called ‘the law of my mind’ (7:23) because a mind that seeks God embraces His law. ‘But I see another law at work in the members of my body’ (7:23). Paul calls this ‘the law of sin’ (7:23) which is ‘waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members’ (7:23). So ‘the law of my mind’ (7:22) operates ‘in my inner being’ (7:22) and ‘delights in God’s law’ (7:22) while ‘the law of sin’ (7:23) operates ‘in the members of my body’ (7:23) and fights against the law of my mind and takes me captive.
Thirdly, there are two cries of the heart. The first is ‘What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?’ (7:24) and the second, ‘Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!’ (7:25). The first is a cry of longing but the second a cry of confidence and thanksgiving. Yet both are from the same person who sees his corruption, who knows the impotence of the law to rescue him and who exults in God through Christ as the only Saviour (though the Holy Spirit is still not mentioned). The cries follow one after the other. The second anticipates 8:3,4 where Paul declares what God has done through His Son and Spirit and what the law was powerless to do.
Fourthly, there are two slaveries. ‘So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law (I know it, love it and genuinely embrace it) but in the sinful nature (in my fallen self, my flesh) a slave to the law of sin’ (7:25b) because of my inability to keep it. The conflict is between the genuine desire of this person to embrace God’s law and his flesh, his sinful nature.
When we look for an application of Romans 7 to ourselves today, 7:4-6 is crucial. These verses set out two ways (ages, covenants, testaments) – the old way and the new way. The old was characterised by ‘letter’ (a written code) but the new is characterised by ‘Spirit’ (His indwelling presence). In the old order we were married to the law, controlled by the flesh and bore fruit for death. In the new order we are married to the risen Christ, liberated from the law and we bear fruit for God.
We must never slip back from the new order to the old, from a person to a system, from freedom to slavery, from the indwelling Spirit to an external code, from Christ to the law. We are New Testament Christians who having died and risen with Christ are living in the freedom of the indwelling Spirit.