What does the Bible say about the struggle between the spirit and the flesh?
The Bible acknowledges a conflict between the spirit and the flesh, as seen in Romans 7:25, where Paul expresses his struggle against sin.
As believers, we are called to understand this reality and to acknowledge the humbling truth of our fallen nature. While our minds may delight in serving God's law, the flesh often rebels, pulling our focus away from righteousness and drawing us into sin. It is crucial to recognize this state of being as we seek to grow in grace and holiness, understanding that it drives us to a greater dependence on Jesus Christ, who alone can deliver us from this body of death.
How do we know that Christ can deliver us from our sin?
Christ's deliverance from sin is affirmed through Scripture and the experience of believers, as Paul declares in Romans 7:25 that he finds deliverance in Jesus.
In our journey of faith, we find that it is only by realizing the depth of our sinfulness that we can truly appreciate the magnitude of Christ's salvation. The blood of Jesus alone is sufficient to cleanse us from our sins, and His righteousness is the only basis for our justification before God. Thus, it is imperative for Christians to foster a deep sense of dependence on Christ, recognizing that He is not just our Savior in doctrine but our practical deliverer in daily life.
Why is understanding human depravity important for Christians?
Understanding human depravity is crucial for Christians as it leads to a deeper dependence on God's grace for salvation.
Moreover, acknowledging our depravity enhances our appreciation for the grace found in Christ. When we grasp the depth of our sin and the reality that sin infects every part of our being, we are driven to cling more tightly to the cross of Christ, where true salvation lies. We learn to appreciate the sufficiency of His sacrifice and the transformative power of His righteousness in our lives, which reinforces the importance of continual growth in grace and reliance on the Holy Spirit to battle the ongoing influence of sin.
"So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."—Rom, vii. 25.
— Romans 7:25
Is this thy language, my soul? Hast thou learnt with Paul, with Job, with Isaiah, and all the faithful gone before, to loathe thyself in thine own sight? Dost thou groan, being burthened with a body of sin which drags down the soul? Pause over this view of human nature. In the first place - think, my soul, what humbling thoughts such a state of corruption ought to induce. Though the mind be regenerated, though with the mind the believer serves the law of God, delights in the law of God, loves the law, and would make it the subject of devout meditation all the day; yet such is the body of sin, the flesh with its affections, and appetites, and desires, that it draws away the attention, imperiously, puts in its claims, and rises up in rebellion continually. And are the souls of God's children thus exercised, thus afflicted, in the struggles between the different motions of grace and corrnption from day to day? Yes, such is the state, such the uniform experience of God's people in all ages. Paul thus complains, though he had been so highly sanctified. Perhaps there never was a child of God brought into a closer and more intimate communion with God. He had been caught up to the third heaven, and heard unspeakable words. He had laboured more than all the apostles. He had been converted by a miracle from heaven, and by the immediate call of the Lord Jesus personally to him. But yet this highly favoured servant of the Lord, this blessed apostle, who was continually flying on the wings of zeal and love in the service of his Master, even he, with his flesh, he-tells us, served the law of sin: nay, he felt and discovered "a law of sin in his members, warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin which was in his members;" and under a deep distress of soul he cried out - "Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" Is it so, then, my soul, with thee also! Dost thou discover the same in thy experience? Dost thou feel the rebellions of sin rising up within thee? Dost thou detect thine heart, wandering even in the moment of solemn exercises; and, in short, thine own body, the worst and greatest enemy thou hast to contend with? Oh then, learn from hence, what humbling views oughtest thou to have of thyself, and to lay low in the dust in consequence thereof before God. When thou hast duly contemplated this state of fallen nature, let thy next improvement of this subject be to endear the Lord Jesus to thee, my soul, more and more; to fly out of thyself, to fly to Jesus, to take refuge in him and his great salvation; from even thyself, with all that body of sin and death, under which thou thus continually groanest; and to derive here from a daily and hourly conviction, yet more strong and unanswerably conclusive, that nothing but the blood of Jesus can cleanse, nothing but the righteousness of Jesus can save and justify a sinner. Say as Paul did, when from the bottom of his heart that soul-piercing question arose," Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
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