Romans 7:1-25
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. (vv. 22-23) Particularly in these two verses, but also throughout the last half of today’s reading we see this contrast between my mind and sin. I see this cartoon depiction of an angel standing on a person’s one shoulder and a devil standing on the person’s other shoulder, each whispering into the person’s ear. It’s a cute depiction, but really quite true, except that the angel is really the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Archbishop Beach says it well in today’s podcast where he speaks of temptation. Here is a quote from that summary: You will be tempted again and again, but the temptation itself is not the sin. The sin resides in your grabbing onto the temptation; dwelling on the temptation; and following through on the temptation. (his emphases) Beyond the quote he offers one of the few verses in my life that I have worked on and memorized: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (again, his emphases, I Corinthians 10:13) Paul’s final words today echo our Archbishop: Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (vv. 24-25a) Divine echo!!
See also: June 21 / Romans 7:1-12; June 22 / Romans 7:13-25
Good points, Fred. This reading took me in a little bit different direction and got me thinking about the nature of sin. Like a lot of people, I tend to think of sin as “big” sins and “small (trivial)” sins and I am somewhat comforted that at least I don’t commit “big” sins (at least on a regular basis – Hahaha). It is probably our human nature to think about it that way even though I suspect that God does not have the same grading system that we might have. After all, arguably the worst sin ever was Adam/Eve’s which condemned the entire human race. And it was only about an apple! The common denominator in all sin, I believe, is that it subverts God’s will to our will. Big or small circumstance from our human point of view may not mean that much to God. It is all an affront to our Father.
So, I guess where it leads me is that we have a need to constantly renew and refresh our relationship with God through worship and prayer. One of the early monastic saints (I forget who exactly) said that we should strive to be in constant prayer. I’m not sure what that looks like, but I would think it means constantly seeking God’s will and trying to fulfill His purpose; getting more and more in touch with our spiritual side and further away from our human/earthly side.
Our hope is in our gracious and merciful God. Alleluia.
From my Catholic upbringing I remember a distinction between mortal and venial sins. I don’t recall where the line was drawn and whether or not eternity was part of the split between the two classifications, but that distinction sounds altogether similar to Lou’s “big” vs. “small” sins. So yeah, Lou, I’ve been there all my life! And yeah, there were many times in my earlier life when I just hoped that God graded on a curve!!
I find it interesting that Paul said he “delights in the law of God” in his “inmost being…” when he is also saying the Law produces sin in our lives by the very fact that it defines what sin is…
As Lou pointed out, we need to be constantly renewing our core—minds and hearts and wills—to keep God’s point of view on sin: “big” sins and “little” sins? No. It’s all just plain old SIN.
I love the term “delight in” God. Everything about God is a delight, even when we have sinned and need to come back to him in repentance. I have a reminder alert on my phone that comes at noon every day: “Delight in God for two minutes.” It makes me pause and reset my mind and heart.
An additional thought: the study notes in my Bible state that the law “not only reveals sin; it also stimulates it. The natural human tendency is to desire the forbidden thing.” I resonate with that just thinking of any two-year-old’s being told “no” or even my own teenage years! Ha, ha!