ROMANS 7:23

“but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts.”

I have always liked the game of tug of war. It is especially fun when each side is divided by water or, better yet, a mud pit. You pull and pull to keep from being pulled into that water or mud. Of course, you have teammates. Depending on the size of the teammates you may have an advantage or disadvantage. However, you never want to go solo in a game of tug of war against another team. That would spell disaster.

When I read today’s verse, that image of tug of war came to mind. It’s as if Paul sees his spirit and his flesh in this spiritual tug of war. Whichever side is stronger wins. I have never quoted from the following source, but I found the comments worthy of a read. The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says this about verse 23, “here the apostle describes himself, when drawn under the power of his sinful nature, as forcibly seized and reluctantly dragged to his enemy’s camp, from which he would gladly make his escape.” That’s pretty good.

APPLICATION

The word translated as “making…a prisoner” is aichmalótizó. I wouldn’t even begin to try to pronounce that, lol. But the word means to “lead away captive, bring into captivity.” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance) Do you get what Paul is saying and what we feel regarding sin? Sin tries to drag us down and keep us captive. This word is only used three other times in the New Testament.

In Luke 21:24 Jesus says, “‘and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.’” He prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem and the enslavement of the people.

In 2 Corinthian 10:5 Paul uses the word again to say how we are to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. We have that power to control our thoughts and behaviors through the Holy Spirit. There is no excuse for allowing them to control us. But you can’t take captive what you haven’t already defeated. You have to put down those thoughts first.

The last time aichmalótizó is used is in 2 Timothy 3:6 where Paul issues a warning to Timothy that in the last days people will cause a lot of trouble including this: “For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,” But we are more than conquerors. We have power over sin, if we choose to exercise it. Do you want to be the captor or the captive of sin?

Father, I claim Your power over every sin that seeks to drag me away.

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