Memory Text:

“Now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:6).

Is the Law Sin? See Monday's section.

http://www.ssnet.org/qrtrly/eng/10c/less08.html#mon

7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.
7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.
7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Paul is obviously describing born-again believers who keep their fallen flesh nature under the control of a sanctified will and mind. He says, "I allow not . . . it is no more I that do it." It is the "sin that dwelleth in me . . . that is in my flesh . . . that doeth it."

What is the "do it" he's talking about? He's clearly not talking about sinning. Instead, he is talking about the unholy temptations (thoughts and feelings) generated and communicated to our conscious minds by sinful flesh nature.

Clearly?

Then you are saying that temptation is sin, or that the "thoughts and feelings" you speak about, generated by the "sinful flesh nature," are sin, for Paul is speaking of the "sin which dwells within me" (v. 17). Besides, you do not "do" thoughts and feelings.

The "do it" is referring to the fact sinful flesh generates and communicates temptation. Clearly it is not referring to actually committing sin. Fallen flesh cannot commit a sin; the only thing it can "do" is tempt people to sin.

If it does not refer to actually committing sin, and Paul is speaking of the "sin which dwells within me," you must admit that either sinful tendencies are sin or that temptation (generated by the "fallen flesh") is sin.

The fact that Paul is not speaking of the converted believer's experience is clear from the fact that he speaks of himself (for the sake of argument) as "carnal, sold under sin" (v.14). This, of course, cannot refer to the born-again believer.

As a result of Adam's disobedience, every human being is a transgressor of the law, and is sold under sin. Unless man repents and is converted, he is under bondage of the law, serving Satan, falling into the deceptions of the enemy, bearing witness against the precepts of Jehovah. Only by perfect obedience to the requirements of God's holy law can man be justified. Let those whose natures have been perverted by sin, ever keep their eyes fixed on Christ, the author and the finisher of their faith. {8MR 98.1}

Oh, how many flatter themselves that they have goodness and righteousness, when the true light of God reveals that all their lives they have only lived to please themselves! Their whole conduct is abhorred of God. How many are alive without the law! In their gross darkness they view themselves with complacency; but let the law of God be revealed to their consciences, as it was to Paul, and they would see that they are sold under sin and must die to the carnal mind. Self must be slain. {3T 475.1}

What is said in today's lesson is true: