Tuesday, September 12, 2017

JST Romans 7:24-27 -- On the War Within

"And now I see another law, even the commandment of Christ, and it is imprinted in my mind.
But my members are warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
And if I subdue not the sin which is in me, but with the flesh serve the law of sin; O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, then, that so with the mind I myself serve the law of God."
Joseph Smith Translation: Romans 7:24-27


This is an interesting passage about inner turmoil.  The mind is talked about as the place that is influenced by Christ, and the body as the place of sin and death.  It makes it clear that the goal is to subdue sin.

Sin is talked about as captivity and as death.  ... Scary.  And this part is fascinating: "who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"  Confusing at first, but I think, with the symbolism that we have going here that there is a war between mind and body, and if the mind doesn't come out on top (which is the good, ideal result), then there is a possibility that the body might win.  I think the idea here being that if we let the body win, then the mind is trapped there, and who can deliver us from our own choices like that, you know?

Today, let's let Christ, and our minds, take precedence in our lives.  Let's learn to let go of sin, and to work with God and not against him.  Let's not be passengers in our own bodies, unable to control ourselves and in need of deliverance.

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