Romans 7:7-25
Sin Springs to Life
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 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. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 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.
Matthew 26:41
Our Flesh is Weak
41 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Hebrews 4:14-16
Jesus Was and Is Without Sin
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Matthew 18:21-22
Forgiving Others
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? 22 Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Matthew 9:9-13
Jesus Came for Sinners
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
John 3:16-17
Believe in the Father and the Son and You Shall Have Eternal Life
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
St. Paul is one of our Great Saints...He tells us what it is like to struggle with sin...If our Great Saints struggle with sin, we too must be aware that sin can just spring to life -sometimes out of no where...We too then will have these struggles with sin in our lives...St. Paul was aware of his sinning ways and is writing this epistle to the Romans to tell them about people's sinning ways...St. Paul wanted the Romans to be aware of this and our sinful nature...
But those that follow Jesus know that our flesh is weak...Jesus told His Disciples that our flesh is weak and we can quickly fall into temptation...And the Disciples were with our LORD, and they still would and could be tempted to sin...Jesus' closest followers were tempted to sin and did sin...I have read more time than once that the reason some people do not follow Jesus is because of the way His followers act and their actions...Followers of Jesus are expected (I guess) to act like Him...And there is this much disappointment in His followers (by others), when we cannot handle our personal struggles with sin correctly...After reading about why some people reject His teachings, maybe because of the way I act...So other people (who could be followers) do watch the behavior of Christians and how they act...And that would be very nice, if all followers could act more like Him...It would be nice, if we could make the right decisions each and everyday, and not sin at all in their lives...It would be nice, if just a few men and women could be the perfect role model for others to watch and observe...It would be nice, if there was just one man in our neighborhood who could carry out this moral behavior that St. Paul is talking about...But there is not...There is not one man, who day in and day out can behave perfectly moral...
St. Paul understood his behavior (and this type of behavior in others) and wrote about this moral dilemma...St. Paul said that he did not understand some of the things he did, or maybe why he did them...Because he says, I cannot always do what I want to do, and what I need to do...But I sometimes do what I hate to do...And if I do what I do not want to do, then I do do things that are contrary to God and His moral ways...St. Paul knew and said that a sinful nature came from within him...For he had this great desire to do what is good, but he could not quite carry it out...
Followers do have this Mentor...There is only One Man who can carry out His behavior in the proper way and be morally right with God...In fact, He did behave that way...Jesus was without sin...And yet, He came to earth for us, for the outcasts, and for the disappointing ones...He came for sinners...He gives all us great sinners, a great hope...
St. Paul may have wrote about his struggles with sin in disappointment (I do not know)...But we see others are disappointed when believers and followers of the gospel cannot behave in the proper and right way, all the time...But we can thank God for bringing us Jesus...And although we are sometimes disappointing -Jesus is not...He teaches us to forgive others when we behave in this disappointing way...He teaches us to love God and our neighbor...And He teaches us, if we believe in His Father and Him then we can have eternal life...