Thoughts on the Epistle to the Romans (128) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
Romans 7:20.21

Thoughts on the Epistle to the Romans (128)
Any Christian who places himself under the law will be made to realise more and more that in his own strength he cannot resist the power to sin that is in his flesh.

God's wish is to lead him away from looking at himself so as to behold Christ. To imagine one can make spiritual progress on the basis of the law and one's own strength is a misapprehension. True freedom and undisturbed peace can never be attained that way. Why not? Because there us a "law" in the Christian preventing it. The more he pays attention to the commandments, trying vigorously to keep them, the more he will become aware of this "law". By this expression "law" we do not mean the law of Sinai, but a kind of natural law that makes a person do what he does not want to.

A Christian learns from experience that the failures he suffers are not only exceptions but are prompted by an automatic reaction: whenever he wishes to do good, evil is at once present asserting itself. This he ascertains when he is confronted with the demands of the law and examines himself to see whether he complies with them. "Nothing good" dwells in him, that is, in his flesh (cf. v. 18). Nor will it ever change! So should we not cease seeking good where it cannot be found?

(to be continued next Sunday)

Today's reading: Exodus 23:20-33 · Luke 9:18-27