things so, and gives out such supplies of grace to believers, that they
CHAPTER 7.
The captivating power of indwelling sin - The prevalence of sin, when from itself, when from temptation – The madness that is in sin.
THE third thing assigned to this law of sin in its opposition to God and the law of his grace is, that it leads the soul captive: Romans 7:23, "I find a law leading me captive to the law of sin." And this is the utmost height to which the apostle in that place carries the warring of the remainders of indwelling sin; closing with a complaint of the resulting condition of believers, and an earnest prayer for deliverance from it: Verse 24, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?"
1. It is not directly the power of the law of sin that is here expressed, but its success in its actions. But success is the greatest evidence of power, and leading captive in war is the height of success. None can aim at greater success than to lead their enemies captive. So the Lord Christ, on his victory over Satan, is said to "lead captivity captive," Ephesians 4:8, - that is, to conquer him who had conquered others; and this he did when "by death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil," Hebrews 2:14. Here, then, a great power of sin in its warring against the soul is revealed. It so wars as to "lead captive;" which it could not do unless it had not great power, especially against that resistance of the soul.
2. It is said that it leads the soul captive "to the law of sin." God orders things so, and gives out such supplies of grace to believers, that they shall not be made a prey to particular sins, that should compel them to serve it and have dominion over them, that they should be slaves to it. This is what David prays so earnestly against: Psalm 19:12, 13,
"Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright."
He supposes the continuance of the law of sin in him, verse 12, which will bring forth errors of life and secret sins; against which he finds relief in pardoning mercy, which he prays for. "This," says he, "will be my condition. But for sins of pride, such as all sins are that get dominion in a man, the Lord restrain your servant from them." For whatever sin gets such power in a man, be it small or great, it becomes a sin of boldness and presumption; for these things are not due to the nature of the sin, but its prevalence and familiarity, which result from its pride, boldness, and contempt of God. To the same purpose, prays Jabez: 1 Chronicles 4:10,
"Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!"
The holy man took occasion from his own name to pray against sin, that that might not be a grief to him by its power. It may come to this with a believer, that for a time he may be led captive by a particular sin; it may have such a rule in him that it dominates him. So it seems to have been with David, when he lay so long in his sin without repentance; and was plainly so with those in Isaiah 57:17, 18,
"For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on waywardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him."
They continued under the power of their covetousness, so that no dealings of God with them, for a long time, could reclaim them. But mostly, when any sin so prevails, it is from the advantage it has gained by some powerful temptation. He has poisoned it, inflamed it, and entangled the soul. So the apostle, speaking of those who had fallen from holiness through sin, says,
"They were in the snare of the devil, being taken captive by him at his will," 2 Timothy 2:26.
Though they served their own lusts, yet they were brought into bondage by being entangled in some snare of Satan; and thence they are said to be "taken alive," as a beast in a crush.
And here we may enquire whether the power of a sin is from itself, or from the influence of temptation on it.
(1.) Much of the prevalence of sin on the soul is certainly from Satan, when the captivating sin has no prior advantage in the condition of the sinner. When any lust grows more than others, on its own account, it is from the advantage that it has in the constitution, or the condition of the person in the world; for otherwise the law of sin gives an equal tendency to all evil. So when it is not clear that the sin is fixed in the nature of the sinner, or is from his education or employment, the prevalence of it is peculiarly from Satan. He has got to the root of it, and has given it strength. Perhaps, sometimes what may seem to the soul to be the corrupt lusting of the heart, is nothing but Satan's imposing his suggestions on the imagination. If a man finds a rage from any corruption that is not evidently in his nature, let him cross himself, or fly by faith to the cross of Christ, for the devil is near.
(2.) When a lust brings to captivity, but brings in no advantage to the flesh, it is from Satan. All that the law of sin does of itself is to serve the the flesh, Romans 13:14; and it must bring profit and pleasure. Now, if the prevailing sin does not so act, if it is more spiritual and inward, it is much from Satan by the imagination, more than the corruption of the heart itself. But this by the way.
I say, then, that the apostle treats not here of our being captivated to this or that sin, but to the law of sin; that is. we are compelled to bear it whether we will or no. Sometimes the soul hopes that it may through grace be utterly freed from this troublesome inmate. Upon some enjoyment of God some deep affliction, some humiliation, the poor soul begins to hope that it shall be freed from the law of sin; but after a while it perceives that it is not. Sin acts again and makes good its old station; which makes it cry out for deliverance.