Daily Scripture Reading Romans 7:14 - 8:8
Most Christians are familiar with the phrase “well done my good and faithful servant”. It is the desire of many Christians to hear that phrase when they reach heaven.
Many Christians have the mindset that the key to hearing that phrase is to do something that earns that praise. It is often assumed that those who spend their life in faithful, full-time Christian service will hear that phrase when they pass from this life into the next life. There is also a mindset that those serve in the background as a volunteer at church for many decades are worthy of that phrase.
We will see in today’s passage that another key to hearing that phrase might lie in what we do not do.
In the passage we read yesterday, Paul emphasized that Christians are freed from slavery to sin, so that we can be slaves of righteousness. He also drew a contrast between the newness of the Spirit and the oldness of the Law. That does not mean the Law is bad. Instead, the Law is a teacher that helps us know and recognize sin.
Rom. 7:14 ¶ For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, having been sold into bondage under sin.
Rom. 7:15 For what I am working out, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
Rom. 7:16 But if I do the very thing I do not want, I agree with the Law, that it is good.
Rom. 7:17 So now, no longer am I the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me.
This passage teaches us about, and warns us against, the power of sin. Sin is able to override what we desire to do.
Rom. 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not.
There has been much debate over the centuries as to whether humans are inherently good or inherently evil. Are they inherently good, but evil exists because good people are corrupted? Or are they inherently evil, and the only reason good exists is because they are taught to be good?
Paul answered that question in verse 18. He stated that nothing good dwells in him. This is in line with what he wrote in chapter 3 about no one being good. Humans are inherently evil and will be evil, unless they are trained to be good.
Rom. 7:19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
Rom. 7:20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me.
Evan as Christians, we are not immune to sin. We still have a sin nature in us which wants to rule us.
Rom. 7:21 ¶ I find then the principle that in me evil is present—in me who wants to do good.
Rom. 7:22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
Rom. 7:23 but I see a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?
Look at the word “wretched”. Humans are by nature wretched, sinful creatures. Paul logically asked who can deliver us from the wretchedness.
Rom. 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
Jesus is the One who delivers us.
Rom. 8:1 ¶ Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Notice the words “no condemnation”. In chapter 6 Paul wrote that the wages of sin is death. However, those who are in Christ Jesus are not condemned.
Rom. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Rom. 8:3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
The idea of the Law of Moses was that if people would observe it perfectly, then they would be righteous. However, it is not possible for people to be perfect; therefore, people cannot make themselves righteous by observing the Law.
Rom. 8:4 so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Rom. 8:5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
This verse mentions the concept of what our mind is set upon. Is it set upon the flesh or upon the Spirit?
Rom. 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
Notice the consequence of where our mind is. The focus of our mind determines death or life.
Rom. 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is at enmity toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
Look at the word “enmity”. Setting our mind on the flesh is not only bad because it is ignoring God, it is also bad because it is actively being opposed to God.
Rom. 8:8 and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.
Note the phrase “not able to please God”.
Christians want to get to heaven and hear God say, “well done my good and faithful servant”. God needs to be pleased with us in order to say that, but if we are in the flesh, we will not hear the phrase because it is not possible to please God if our mind is set on the flesh.
What does it look like to have our mind set on the flesh?
what does it look like to have our mind set on the Spirit?
What do you need to change in your life so that God might be willing to say “well done”?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”