So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Beginning with the word 'so,' Paul presents a logical consequence for his argument and this time when he uses the word 'law,' he is speaking of one which is as essential as the law of nature, or the law of gravity. Evil exists within him and it is waging war within him. Even though he wants to do good, that law of sin constantly works within him. His nature … obeys that law. For Paul, there is no getting around it … by himself. No matter what he does or what he desires, sin remains within him.
He is a prisoner to that sin … a slave to sin.
These words bring the presentation of his case to a close. Paul concludes that we are each a slave to the law of sin, even though in our minds we are a slave to God's law.
Slavery to sin brings one final consequence … death. By ourselves, we are unable to do anything about that. We will die. Our sinful nature leads us to death. When we believe that we are able to deliver ourselves and that all the good we do on our own will lead us beyond death, we are lost.
Deliverance from death and from sin can only come from something beyond ourselves. "Thanks be to God, who delivers me (us) through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:25).
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