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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
February 27
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Today's Pathway:
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Yesterday Paul began discussing his struggles with sin after his salvation. He was dead to sin and freed from it's bondage, yet in reality his flesh still had a tremendous influence over him. In today's verses he continues with those thoughts. In verse 15 he starts by saying,
"For that which I do I allow not".
The word "allow" is a translation of the Greek word that means "to know". In other words, Paul is saying, "I don't know why I am doing these things and living this way." What was he doing? According to verse 15 he wasn't doing the righteous things that he wanted to do, but instead was doing the evil things that he hated. He truly desired to serve the Lord and live a life that would be pleasing to Him, but instead found himself often living exactly the opposite way. I believe that many Christians can relate to this situation. They really want to do what is right, yet they find themselves succumbing to sins.
In the next verses Paul attempts to explain this. In verse 16 he is saying that even when he violates the law, the fact that it bothers him shows that he agrees ("consents") that the law is good. So, if he knows that God's commandments are correct, why does he break them? According to verse 17 it is because of the strength of his sin nature. Paul is not attempting to excuse himself, but he wants his readers to understand just how strong sin is even in the life of the Christian. John MacArthur wrote this:
"After salvation, sin, like a deposed and exiled ruler, no longer reigns in a person’s life, but it manages to survive. It no longer resides in the innermost self but finds its residual dwelling in his flesh, in the humanness that remains until a believer meets the Lord at the Rapture or at death."
In verse 18 Paul states that he knows that there is nothing good in his flesh. He wrote in Galatians 5:17,
"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."
Our flesh is in a constant battle against our spirit, and Paul shows how difficult that battle is in verses 18-19 when he says,
"for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."
He wants to do what is right ("to will is present"), but he is struggling to be able to perform that which is good. He doesn't do the good he should, and instead does the wrong that he should not. Why? He repeats his answer from verse 17 in verse 20: sin dwells in him.
George Zeller makes a personal application of this conflict. He wrote,
"I want to do good, I want to have victory over sin, I want to keep God’s holy law and obey God’s Word, but I have NO POWER to perform. I’m powerless! I’m helpless! I can’t do it! I am totally UNABLE to live the Christian life!!! Have you made this discovery? The new creature in Christ has the will to do what is good and right but no power at all. The power is not in ourselves but is found only in God the Holy Spirit."
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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