In Chapter Seven of the Book of Romans Paul was speaking directly to the Jews, showing them the dilemma of the righteous man or woman under the Law. He (or she) has a desire to please God but the flesh is in rebellion. The Law brings sin to life and emphasizes it. The Law cannot deliver us from sin.

Paul suggests, in the second chapter of Romans, that the Jews of his day, like the Christians of our day, had fallen into the trap of considering their knowledge of the Law as constituting a de jure (if not a de facto) righteousness, while their actual conduct was not up to the standard of the righteous Gentile who was behaving according to conscience (Romans 2:12-15.

The Scriptures almost always stress de facto (actual) righteousness.

The conflict of Chapter Seven exists in the person who loves God, whether Jew or Gentile. The eighth chapter points toward the resolution of it.

The Christian life is a prolonged (and successful if we will follow the rules) warfare against sin. The goal of our warfare is eternal life, the resurrection to life. Paul pressed the battle until he had finished his course (Philippians 3:8-14; II Timothy 4:7,8).

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:25)

This is the condition of the Christian at the outset of his discipleship. He loves God in his inner man and seeks always to please Him. His flesh hates the ways of the Spirit of God. Satan and his demons strive day and night to provoke and deceive him into yielding to the appetites of his flesh.

Unlike the Jew under the Law, the Christian now has the Divine tools with which he can put to death the deeds of his body. Through Christ the bondages can be broken. Victory in every area does not come at once and so the blood of the cross covers those aspects of his personality that still are under the control of the enemy.

There indeed is victory in the area of immediate challenge if the saint walks in the Spirit, adhering to the rules of Christian conduct (praying, meditating in the Scriptures, worshiping with fervent believers, obeying the Lord, giving, serving).

If we, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, continue to walk in the Spirit each day, not letting our hope and diligence weaken, going to God for help in our time of need, eventually we will overcome our flesh and Satan and will arrive at the resurrection to righteousness, immortality, and glory.

If we do not hold our confidence firmly to the end, do not continue to walk in the Spirit, do not adhere to the rules of Christian conduct, we will be overcome by our flesh and Satan and will await an uncertain future. The rewards go to the victorious saints. We are made partakers of Christ only if we hold our confidence steadfastly to the end.

To be continued.