The topic of our conversation today is The Struggle Within.

“I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 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. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
Romans 7:21-24 (NKJV)

This is the situation in which we find ourselves when we have just given our lives to Christ. A fierce struggle commences between our soul and flesh—which have been programmed and trained to obey the sinful nature—and our spirit which has just been recreated and has assumed the nature of Christ.

Christians sometimes rely on Apostle Paul’s cry in Romans 7 to claim that the struggle between doing good and doing evil never subsides in the life of a Christian, that the struggle remains intense throughout the life of a believer.

But this interpretation is wrong. In Romans 7, Paul was describing the life of a person who has just received Christ. He was describing the challenges of a baby Christian.

Apostle Paul was explaining that at the time a man is converted, the law of sin—the satanic nature ruling his flesh—will start warring against his new nature. The new convert is like a person being torn in two directions. But Apostle Paul did not stop there. He gives the new convert hope. He goes further to state that the new convert has already prevailed against the law of sin by the work of the Spirit of God.

He says in verse 24:
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

And in verse 25, he provides the solution:
“I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (NKJV)

And he continues in chapter 8:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Romans 8:1-2 (NKJV)

Paul says that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death.

The law of sin and death is that satanic power—the power of evil that keeps men in bondage to the flesh and the sinful nature. It is the law that operates in the lives of people who have not received the gift of salvation. Condemnation, sickness, and death all flow from the law of sin and death.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the law that operates in the life of the redeemed. According to this law, there is forgiveness of sin, healing, and abundant life for the redeemed.

Paul states in Romans 8:2 that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set the children of God free from the law of sin and death. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has displaced the law of sin and death from the lives of the redeemed. Praise the Lord!

So what happens when we are born again is that we are set free from bondage to sin. We receive the ability to resist sin and to live a life pleasing to God.

Before we were born again, we were slaves to sin and we could not resist sin, no matter how much we tried.

But chapter 8 of Romans does not only tell us that we have been set free from bondage to sin, it also shows us that the Spirit of God can transform our lives and help us to live in dominion over the flesh.

According to Romans 8:11:
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (NKJV)

So the situation now is that while before we were born again we could not resist sin even if we tried, now we have a choice. We have been given the power to resist the law of sin and death if we choose to.