3. The law of the renewed mind (Rom 7:22-23):
Does all this mean it's okay to live in sin and/or not take it too seriously when we stumble and fall? Absolutely not, because another law forbids it. Paul refers to this law as "the law of my mind" and says this law wages war against "the law of sin and death." So what is "the law of the renewed mind"?
Paul's epistles say a lot about the believer's renewal of mind, brought about by the Holy Spirit's work as He applies His Word to our hearts. And Ephesians 4:22-24 makes it very clear that it's not the body or the old nature that's renewed; it's the mind:
That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
In Romans 7:15-8:4 Paul says that he has received this "renewing of the mind," declaring that he hates the wrong that he does (7:15), that he longs to do right and does not wish to do wrong (vs 18-19), that he "joyfully concurs with the law of God" (v 22), and with his mind serves the law of God (v 25).
Paul calls this renewing of the mind in a believer a law. It's now "the law of my mind" that desires to do God's will. This law operates in every believer, which begins at the moment of our salvation. More and more we should see sin and righteousness in their true light and "not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom 12:2).
(to be continued)
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