March 17       Tuesday                 Romans 7.13-25

¹³ So did the good law bring about my death? Absolutely not! It was sin that killed me, not the law. It’s the nature of sin to produce death through what is good and exploit the commandments to multiply sin’s vile effects. ¹⁴ This is what we know: the law comes from the spiritual realm. My problem is that I am of the fallen human realm, owned by sin, which tries to keep me in its service.

¹⁵ Listen, I can’t explain my actions. Here’s why: I am not able to do the things I want; and at the same time, I do the things I despise. ¹⁶ If I am doing the things I have already decided not to do, I am agreeing with the law regarding what is good. ¹⁷ But now I am no longer the one acting—I’ve lost control—sin has taken up residence in me and is wreaking havoc. ¹⁸ I know that in me, that is, in my fallen human nature, there is nothing good. I can will myself to do something good, but that does not help me carry it out. ¹⁹ I can determine that I am going to do good, but I don’t do it; instead, I end up living out the evil that I decided not to do. ²⁰ If I end up doing the exact thing I pledged not to do, I am no longer doing it because sin has taken up residence in me.

²¹ Here’s an important principle I’ve discovered: regardless of my desire to do the right thing, it is clear that evil is never far away. ²² For deep down I am in happy agreement with God’s law; ²³ but the rest of me does not concur. I see a very different principle at work in my bodily members, and it is at war with my mind; I have become a prisoner in this war to the rule of sin in my body. ²⁴ I am absolutely miserable! Is there anyone who can free me from this body where sin and death reign so supremely? ²⁵ I am thankful to God for the freedom that comes through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One! So on the one hand, I devotedly serve God’s law with my mind; but on the other hand, with my flesh, I serve the principle of sin.