If we are as you claim, why bother asking anything at all? After all, we are admonished by the Scriptures to disassociate yourself from the godless and cultist.
It is for the benefit of those who will choose not to be deceived.
As a Christian, Paul is no longer in bondage to sin
That is correct. And that is why when Paul speaks of being in bondage to sin, he is speaking of a condition when he has not been set free from it.
Romans 7:5
“For while we
were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which
were aroused by the Law,
were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.”
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law”
1 Corinthians 15:56
Paul makes it clear what took place before they are regenerated (a new creation in Christ) and are set free from this death.
In Adam, we were under the Law, in the flesh, and in sin, and the fruit we bear is death.
In Christ, we are under grace, in the Spirit, and in righteousness, and we bear the fruit of eternal life!
Verse 6
“But
now we
have been released from the Law,
having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”
“And such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
2 Corinthians 3:4-6
Paul gives a clear delineation between having been under the demands of the Law, and now being in the Spirit in how we are to serve God.
Under the Law, everything we do falls short because our entire dependence is in our own abilities. In the flesh, we can do nothing… “There is none righteous; there is none who does good”
In the Spirit, it is God who is at work in and through us, for His good pleasure.
The only thing that our flesh can produce is that which is contrary to the Law. In Galatians 5, Paul describes the deeds of the flesh that are aroused through the Law: "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these". (Paul adds "things like these" just in case anyone had the notion to believe that they were not doing any of the things he actually listed ). Paul makes it clear that we are not bound to or under the Law, and that we now serve Christ in the Spirit, and not in the flesh.
Paul begins to now reveal how the Law was used to lead him to Christ…
Verse 7
"What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary,
I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I
would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "You shall not covet."
“Now we know that whatever the Law says,
it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for
through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
Paul certainly knew the Law. He was a self-professed Pharisee. But the Law had not done it’s work in Paul until he came to realize that he was a sinner.
"Therefore the Law has become our tutor
to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith." Galatians 3:24
Paul was led to Christ through the Law. This is his testimony in Romans 7, on how he saw that he was a sinner through the Law. Deny it all you want, but what Paul says has just destroyed your entire false religious system. Paul says that the Law speaks to those under the Law, which is what he was when he came to realize that he was a sinner and it led him to Christ.
Verse 8
“But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.”
This does not in any way mean that the Law made Paul sin, but only increased his knowledge of how great the sin in him was.
The Law was given to reveal to each of us that we have sin. Why? Because sin is the indicator that you are dead to God, and in need of life. The Law shows you that you are dead; it leads you to life (Gal 3:22-26). However, once you have received life, you are dead to the Law, and alive to God.
Verse 9
“And I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died;”
In no way does this mean that Paul was not already dead before the Law, but only that he perceived that he was alive. If that were not so, then Paul would never have said in chapter 5…
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-- for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
The Law revealed that death reigned in Paul, and that he needed life.
Verses 10-11
“…and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.”
Paul refers to the ten commandments as the "ministry of death" and the "ministry of condemnation". (2 Corinthians 3)
Jesus was born under the Law (Gal 4:4) and therefore He used the Law to bring death and condemnation to all who believed that they were righteous through observing the Law.
Any notion that people had that they were righteous under the Law was laid to rest by Jesus' ability to prove that it is impossible for men to have eternal life through the Law. As Paul affirms:
"I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
Galatians 2:21
"Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." Galatians 3:21-22
Verses 12-13
"So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful."
Again we see that Paul confirms the purpose of the Law, to reveal how completely unrighteous we are, and that we are dead to God.
"Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made." Galatians 3:19
Again...
"Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith" Galatians 3:24
Paul goes on to show how the Law worked to lead him to Christ. After he saw that it had revealed that he is a sinner, and therefore dead because of sin, he explains how this condition kept him from doing what he wanted to do, because he is still in bondage to it, and needs to be set free.
You cannot be led to Christ by the Law, if you are not convicted by it. You have to be an unbeliever to be led to be a believer.
Verses 14-16
"For we know that the Law is spiritual; but
I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For that which I am doing,
I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good."
Paul shows the struggle of his desire to do that which agrees with the Law, and yet, because of his flesh, he is only able to do those things that are contrary to the Law.... the very deeds of the flesh (Gal 5:19-21).
The majority of the Christian world claims that Paul is speaking here of his position in Christ and his daily struggle, but that would be quite odd for him to say that he is in bondage to sin, when he just spent all of chapter 6 speaking of his release from it. As much as you would like to pervert what Paul has said, he cannot be free from sin and in bondage to sin at the same time. Only a double-minded false teacher would make that claim.
Romans 7:17-21
"So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good."
Even though Paul desires to meet the demands of the Law, he cannot. He has found that there is indwelling sin in his flesh, and it is impossible for him to do good. Again, Paul says that in the condition of being in the flesh, he does evil. In 3 John we read…
“The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.”
Has Paul not seen God when he wrote Romans? Of course he, has, but Paul is speaking of how he determined that he needed to be set free from this death.
Verses 22-23
"For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me
a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
Wretched man that I am!
Who will set me free from the body of this death?"
Paul concludes that he is trapped by his desire to do good, and the fact that his body has indwelling sin which wages war against his desire to do what is right, and he pleads to be set free!
If Paul was speaking of who he is in Christ in these verses, he would not say that he is
a "prisoner of the law of sin” or request to be set free. Considering what he has to say in Romans 8:1-2…
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has
set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
Romans 7:25
"Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
Paul makes it clear that the only solution to his delimma is Jesus! Paul was led to Christ through the Law.
Romans 7:25
"So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin."
Even though Paul had the desire to do good and that he was bound to the flesh that has indwelling sin, he can give thanks to Christ who has set him free from this body of death, and he is no longer under the condemnation of the Law.
Paul is now in Christ, in the spirit, and not in the flesh. As a new creation in Christ he has been made alive in the spirit, even though he still lives on in a body that is dead because of sin.
Romans 8:1-2
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
There are two opposing laws at work. We were under the law of sin and death, but now, we are under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ! We are no longer in the flesh, in bondage to sin, or wretched men. We are no longer a "prisoner of the law of sin". We are free from sin, free from the law, and free from death.
