You really need to read the entire passage, which is all of chapter 7, to fully understand the message, but in a nutshell, it speaks of God's law and the law of sin. We are born with a sin nature, that even after being born again, still have. We fight that sin nature our entire natural life. THE only thing that saves us from our sin is salvation through Jesus Christ. God's law made man aware of sin and the need for a savior. God's law is spiritual, but man, in the flesh, is carnal, unable to avoid sin, no matter how well the intentions are. Many feel that just because they haven't murdered someone, or stole, or got involved with drugs or alcohol, or cheated on their spouse, that they aren't so bad and are O.K., but the fact is, sin is sin. A bad thought, acting out in anger, even if only yelling at someone, looking at a member of the opposite sex in an inappropiate manner, telling a lie, just to name a few, is sin. Sin is not catagorized in severity, as man's law is. When you are born again, your sins are forgiven and you are dead to the penalty of sin, but you still have that sin nature to battle in the flesh. When you are born again, you are born into God's family, and God is not going to kick you out because you committed sin. He will chasten you, but not cut you loose. We need to strive to be Christ like, but because our sin nature, we are going to stumble and sin. That doesn't give us a free pass to sin, as some feel, just because we can not loose our salvation. Sin hinders our growth and separates us from God in our prayer life. We still must confess our sin and do our best to avoid it, but we are not held to the old law. We are born into a newness of life with Jesus Christ which in itself is going to bear the fruit of living a Christian life. Good works is a product of a Christian life. We no longer have a willingness to sin, but do still have a sin nature that needs to be kept in check.
Gary Vest
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