Thoughts on the Epistle to the Romans (129) - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Romans 7:22.23

Thoughts on the Epistle to the Romans (129)
Regenerate man who places himself under the law finds himself in a desperate conflict.

However, God's grace is active and ready to teach him three essential facts:

Nothing good dwells in his flesh.

There is a vast difference between the new nature and the old nature (the flesh in which sin dwells).

Even when he wishes to do what is good, sin proves too powerful for him.

The hopelessness of this situation now reaches its climax. Verse 24 gives the final plaintive cry expressing the helplessness of the person concerned.

The "inner man", the believer's new nature, finds its delight in the law of God, and there is also a "law of the mind", a motivating force in agreement with the law of God. By contrast, there is another motivating force, "the law of sin", that constantly gains the upper hand. Every effort to escape from this law appears to be vain.

If Christians seek the necessary power to do so in themselves, sin will always prove stronger. We might compare this difficulty with the situation of a seagull covered with oil from head to tail as a result of an oil spill. The sticky oil prevents the gull from activating the physical law that enables him to fly, and it cannot free itself from the oil.

(to be continued next Sunday)

Today's reading: Exodus 27:9-21 · Luke 11:1-13