Grasp the Gospel — Bible Comprehension Quizzes

Romans 7 Devotional

A Rescuer for the Divided Heart

“Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”Romans 7:25 (BSB)

Believers have died to the law through Christ's body, Paul says, the way a widow is free to marry again, so that they now belong to the risen Christ and bear fruit for God (7:1-4). Does that make the law the problem? Not at all. The law is good and holy, Paul insists (7:12). The trouble is sin, which takes a good commandment, like the one against coveting, and uses it to stir up every kind of wrong desire (7:7-11).

Then Paul speaks with startling honesty. He wants to do good and does not do it, and he keeps doing the very evil he hates (7:15-19). He delights in God's law deep within, yet finds another power at war inside him (7:22-23). The chapter does not end with a plan to try harder. It ends with a cry for rescue and with thanks to God through Jesus Christ (7:24-25). But the struggle is not the final word, and feeling it does not put anyone outside God's grace. It points to the only one who can deliver.

To think about: What sin do you keep fighting in your own strength, and what would it mean to bring it to God with thanks for Jesus instead?

About Romans 7: The Law and the Struggle with Sin

Paul explains that believers have died to the Law through Christ, like a widow freed to remarry. The Law is holy but exposes and provokes sin. Paul then describes his anguished struggle with indwelling sin and thanks God for deliverance through Jesus Christ.

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