Let us consider the verses concerning the law of sin and of death in Romans 7. Verse 21 reads, “I find then the law that, at my willing to do the good, the evil is present with me.” Paul found a law. This was not the law of God given through Moses. This is a law just like the law of gravity. When I throw something into the air, I don’t need to pray that God would send it back. It comes back because of the law of gravity. Furthermore, if you drop a book, and it falls to the earth, you shouldn’t condemn Satan, saying that he took away your book. That is not fair. That means you do not know the law of gravity.
We also need to read verse 20: “But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwells in me.” Paul discovered that what he did not want to do, he did. Then he said it was no longer he that did it but something within him that did it. He said that it was sin dwelling in him that did it. He discovered that there was a law working within him. When he wanted to do good, a law came in to frustrate.
In verse 22 Paul said that he delighted in the law of God. This refers to the law given on Mount Sinai through Moses. This law was outside of Paul. Verse 23 goes on to say, “But I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me a captive in the law of sin which is in my members.” The Mosaic law was outside of Paul, but another law was within him warring against the law of God. This law was in his members, in his flesh. It goes on to say that this law is warring against the law of his mind. The law in the mind is another law. This is not the Mosaic law. This is a law in your mind, in your very nature created by God, always trying to do good, to keep the law of God. The mind represents the soul, and the soul is the being. This means that in the living part of your being is another law which wants to keep the law of God and to do good. But the law in our members is always warring against this good law in our mind and making us captive to the law of sin which is in our members. This one verse makes it very clear that the sin in our members is the law of sin in our members.
How can we prove that the law of sin in our members is sin? We must go back to read verse 18: “For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but to do the good is not.” This proves that the law of sin in our members is sin. This is sin personified and in verse 21 is also called evil. He says that evil is present with him. We must realize that in the whole universe what is evil is Satan. And this evil is the very sin that is in our members, that is, in our flesh.
Let us also read Romans 5:12. “Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin; and so death passed to all men because all have sinned.” The world here means mankind, human beings. Through Adam, sin entered. This means something living entered into human beings, into mankind, into the world. This something living must be that evil one, Satan. In Genesis 3 the Devil tempted Adam and Eve to take the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At that time Satan entered into man and that entered Satan is nothing less than Satan himself becoming a system in us. That system within us, that set up principle within us is called the law of sin and of death.
This means that at the fall of man Satan entered into man. In other words Satan has installed himself into man as an evil “electricity.” Satan has installed himself into man as an evil system. That system, that set up principle, is the law of sin. From that time onward, when man wanted to steal, to commit fornication, to kill people, he didn’t need to do it by activity but by law. No human being needs to be taught to steal or to commit fornication. That evil law in you simply works. No one needs to be taught to be selfish or to be covetous or to be greedy. It is not a matter of an activity. This is simply the law of the greedy lust.