Romans 7:4-10
4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, You shall not covet. 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.
One of the oldest temptations is the temptation of "forbidden fruit". We get the name from the story of Adam and Eve being tempted by the forbidden fruit in the garden. But we also see it commonly in our lives. You tell a child not to go somewhere and they want to explore that area. When we consider sexual behaviors that are forbidden, our pulse starts racing and there can be an excitement about the "forbidden" aspect of it, about "getting away" with doing something "naughty". It is ironic how the commands of the law can actually lead to temptation, but that is what happens when we get excited about doing something that we know is wrong. Paul describes this when he says, "For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death" (verse 5). So the law both showed us our sin and aroused our sinful nature. The solution to this is that "we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit" (verse 6). Our obedience should now be a response of love, rather than a fear of breaking the law, and that changes the forbidden fruit from being something that we are not allowed to have because of some external power, to something that we do not want because our desire is elsewhere.
Lord, I confess to often desiring forbidden fruit. Help me to trust Your goodness and to desire You above all else.
4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, You shall not covet. 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.
One of the oldest temptations is the temptation of "forbidden fruit". We get the name from the story of Adam and Eve being tempted by the forbidden fruit in the garden. But we also see it commonly in our lives. You tell a child not to go somewhere and they want to explore that area. When we consider sexual behaviors that are forbidden, our pulse starts racing and there can be an excitement about the "forbidden" aspect of it, about "getting away" with doing something "naughty". It is ironic how the commands of the law can actually lead to temptation, but that is what happens when we get excited about doing something that we know is wrong. Paul describes this when he says, "For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death" (verse 5). So the law both showed us our sin and aroused our sinful nature. The solution to this is that "we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit" (verse 6). Our obedience should now be a response of love, rather than a fear of breaking the law, and that changes the forbidden fruit from being something that we are not allowed to have because of some external power, to something that we do not want because our desire is elsewhere.
Lord, I confess to often desiring forbidden fruit. Help me to trust Your goodness and to desire You above all else.