THE ‘OTHER LAW’ WAS HIDDEN UNTIL NOW
Rom 7:23 “But I (Paul) see “another law” in my members (inner-man), warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me (soul) into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (outer-man).”
Extremely important: Three laws are mentioned.
- The law of sin:
Sin dwells in the body of the sinner and is only removed when the person comes to faith in the Lord Jesus and receives the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit replaces sin in the body and so the inner man is delivered from sin.
(See the law of the body below)
- The law of the mind:
This is in essence the law of the soul.
(See the law of the soul below.)
- The ‘other law’ mention in the scripture:
This is actually the law of the spirit.
(See the law of the spirit below.)
The laws of the three members of a human-being
God is a trinity and therefore He created us humans also with three members: A soul, a spirit and a body. The soul is the head of the inner man and the spirit is the spiritual body of the inner man. The body of flesh and blood is the outer-man consisting of a head and a body. TAKE NOTE! The Father who is (the soul/the head) instructs the Holy Spirit (the spirit) and His command is performed by the Son (the body).
- The soul (Adam) is the head of the spirit (Eve)
The will, intellect, knowledge, consciousness, mind and conscience are all based in the soul of man. As the head, the soul is responsible for the actions of the person. The soul itself cannot believe - it can only understand. The soul makes decisions according to the knowledge it has, but the soul has no power to carry out its’ decisions. He needs his spirit to move his body to perform the actions, for the power of the soul is situated in his spirit.
- The spirit (Eve) is subject to the soul (Adam)
Faith or unbelief, emotions and desires are all based in the spirit of man. If the spirit does not believe the soul, the spirit will not obey the soul's will. Example: The soul wants to 'bungee jump' because he sees other people jumping and it is safe, but the spirit who is fearful (in unbelief) will not allow the soul’s decision to jump.
The nature of the inner-man is seated in the spirit. The nature of the spirit is stronger than the knowledge of the soul. The spirit's nature is "her will" and because “she” is stronger, the soul cannot always do what “he” decides. This should not be the case because God created the soul to be the head of the spirit.
The inner-man
The inner man (the soul and spirit) is a spirit-person (to help you, think of a 'ghost'). When the body dies it goes to the grave, but the spirit-person is received into either paradise or hell. The inner man, who cannot die, is responsible for all his deeds that he does in the body - whether it is good or evil. In the resurrection, the inner man will be united with his body.
- The body (the outward-man)
The body is the house or instrument of the inner man. The body has a human nature and cannot do good or evil — it is the inner man who moves it to do good or evil.
‘I’ and ‘my’ always refer to the soul of man. I (the soul /the head) decides to go to town. The spirit obeys and moves the body to take me (the soul) to town, because the body itself knows nothing about 'going to town'.
To put it differently: The body of man can be compared to a glove. The hand-in glove is like the inner man. The glove does nothing out of itself — it is the hand in the glove that moves it.
Another example: The body is like a car. It cannot decide where to go. It is the driver (occupant) who decides. The car only responds to the driver's movements.
The body only has its’ own human nature that regulates all the organs and systems.
NB! NB! NB!
Romans 7:23: Paul discovered ‘another’ law.
Rom 7:23 “But I see another law in my members (spirit), warring against the law of my mind (soul), and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (body).”
The other law refers to the spirit which wars against the law of the mind (referring to the soul). It is an inner struggle that takes place in the inner-man between his soul and his spirit, whether the person is a believer or not. In Christ, this other law is the reason why born again believers still sin. They are delivered from the law of sin and are not under the law of God (Old Testament) and yet they still sin. Without thorough knowledge of the working and effect of this 'other law' in the believer's life, it is difficult for him to fulfill sanctification, because he does not know where his problem lies.
The 'other law' originated in paradise
To understand the New Testament scriptures, we must go back to the Old Testament, because it explains to us the New Testament Scriptures. The Old Testament focused only on the outward person. The New Testament focuses only on the inner man.
Adam (the soul) was captured by Eve (the spirit) to do her will. Since then, God’s created order has been overturned and the soul (Adam) is no longer the spirit’s (Eve) head. The soul is powerless against the spirit, because the nature of the spirit is stronger than the knowledge of the soul.
Example: You (the soul) know that you may not lie, but because your spirit fears the consequences if you speak the truth, your spirit captures your soul to lie. This is the ungodly state of believers in the New Testament.
Note: The believer IS born again, but trust in God and obedience to the faith, still has to be obtained.
Another example: You (the soul) read the Bible and discover that you should not be dishonest. You decide there and then to obey the Word, but experience that you cannot because your spirit has always been dishonest before you got born again. Your spirit still takes your soul captive to do iniquity (sin). Only through the process of sanctification, your spirit's nature is changed to obey the soul — and therefore to the Word. To change the spirit's nature is a painful process because the believer's spirit is still fearful of the consequences if the soul would be honest.
Another example: The soul, that knows the Word of God, KNOWS he should not gossip and he does not want to gossip, but the spirit desires to at least say something. The soul experiences that the pressure of his spirit (his 'Eve') increases, and then he gives in and gossips in any case. Afterwards the soul has regret for what he has done.
Another kind of example: The trash container has been standing in a certain place for many years. Without the soul having to think, the spirit simply took the garbage to it. One day the trash container is moved to another spot. What does the soul experience? He discovers that his spirit instinctively takes him back to the place where the trashcan stood before. We call this the power of habit and it's going to take a while for the spirit to adapt to the new habit. Can you now see! The soul can easily make a decision based on new knowledge he gains, but it takes a long time for the information to penetrate the spirit. This is also the reason why it takes a long time for the soul (the head) to obey scriptures because his spirit is slow to change its’ habit.
We therefore find that the unchanged spirit is largely the cause of why the soul still sins.
Examples from the Old Testament: Adam was seduced by Eve; Abraham's wife Sarah lets him go to her maid Hagar; Samson is seduced by Delilah; Job's wife says that he must curse God; Lot's wife disobeys and looks back because she loves the world.
So we therefore see that the soul (the ‘Adam’) is weak in comparison to the spirit (the ‘Eve’). This is also why the spirit (‘Eve’) was easily deceived and enticed in paradise.
The soul is not innocent because as the head of his spirit, the soul is held responsible by God for the doings of the whole person. Because the soul is powerless against his unchanged spirit, he must call on God for salvation.
Proverbs 4:23 “(Soul), Keep your heart (the spirit) with all diligence, For out of it (your spirit) spring the issues of life.”
The RESTORATION too the divine order of the soul and the spirit of man.
The inner man is redeemed from sin at rebirth, but the soul as well as the spirit must still be perfected. The soul ('the Adam') must again become the head of the spirit (‘the Eve’). This process is beautifully depicted with diagrams in the Study Guide “Sons of God sin not”. In chapters 10 and 11 we see how the indwelling Holy Spirit does the transformation — Hebrews 8:10 and 10:16 is extremely important.
The ungodly order (in which the spirit dominates the soul) is CORRECTED through the renewal of the soul and the sanctification of the spirit. The Scriptures are revealed to the soul and so the soul is renewed to the knowledge of God. Through the process of sanctification, the spirit's nature is changed from ungodly to godly (from unbelief to belief) as to obey the soul (and therefore the Word). Fear and unbelief of the spirit is mortified and obedience to the Word is created. When the spirit becomes obedient to the soul (and therefore to the Scriptures), the inner man is perfect — the soul is once again the head of his spirit and therefore also of his body.
1Pet 1:9 “receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.”
NB!! The spirit who has learned to trust the Word and became obedient to the faith, will not allow the soul to sin. If the soul should consider being dishonest, he will find that his spirit does not allow Him to be dishonest. Praise the Lord!!
ALLEGORY
As God created man a trinity, He also ordained marriage to be a trinity: the father (the soul), the mother (the spirit) and the child (the body).
The Son obeys God the Father under the guidance of the Spirit. It is the Spirit who makes the Son obey the Father. LIKEWISE, it is the mother's TASK to educate and teach the child(ren) to obey their father.
Of the man (soul) is expected: “Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.” (1 Pet 3:7) and “Husbands love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.” (Col 3:19)
Of the woman (spirit) is expected: “For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.” (1Pet 3:5&6)
Of the child (body) is expected: “Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.” (Col 3:20)
Summary:
Brother/ sister, this condition (wherein your spirit got control over your soul) exists in your inner man, for it originated in Paradise when Adam obeyed Eve instead of God. Now you clearly understand what is going on in your inner man. This explains the turmoil and the struggle you experience in yourself. This is the battle between your soul and your spirit. Example: You (the soul) KNOW you should not get angry and you DO NOT WANT TO get angry, but your spirit (which is stronger) loses 'her' temper and you completely lose it. THIS IS THE “OTHER LAW” that Paul mentions in Romans 7:23.
GET CONTROL OF YOUR SPIRIT
Proverbs 25:28 “He (the soul) that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” OKJ
Proverbs 16:32 “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he (the soul) who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”
When sanctification of your spirit is accomplished, the renewed soul understands the scriptures; the spirit believes the Scriptures and the body obeys the scriptures.
Amen.
Download the free study guide 'Sons of God do not sin' or 'Sons or God sin not' at www.sinnot.org and study it thoroughly.
If you have a friend from Pakistan who understands the Urdu dialect, let him/her download the study guide in that language at the same web address for free.
If you have a friend from India who understands the Kannada dialect, let him / her download the study guide in that language at the same web address for free.