21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but 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. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks 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.
Some of the most interesting reading I've done lately involved looking at different reactions to this passage from Romans 7. Frankly, I'm not sure why some people find it so perplexing. The light of Christ is meaningless if we refuse to admit our own darkness. Apart from God, I am a monster. Before I succumbed to Christ, I had lied with a straight face, dreamed of killing the man who raped my mother-though I've never met or seen him-, and committed countless other sins. Too many Christians I know speak of their sin nature in a philosophical tone. If our spiritual foundation is not built upon an intimate understanding of our blackness, then we risk our faith crumbling when we finally come face to face with evil in our lives. I am never surprised by the depravity of my "old' self, and as a result I never cease to be astounded by the love and grace of my Lord.
