²² For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, ²³ 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.

Paul’s insightful mind lays blame for the inner struggle on different sources. In previous verses the problem was with the evil in him and to some degree the Law, which takes opportunity to cause problems as well. Now, in a play on words, he speaks of an opposing “law,” another master at work that finds outward evidence showing in the “members of my body.”

There is no question Paul was holistic in his view of humanity, as he wrote to the Galatian believers: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess 5:23, emphasis added). However, in analyzing the human predicament, he breaks the problem down to its constituent components.

In chapter 6, Paul wrote, “[Do] not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” (Rom 6:13). The “members” are the parts of the body that carry out the inner evil. The eyes are used for lust, the hands are used for fighting, the mouth for gossip and cursing. The simple reality, and support for understanding Paul to be speaking of the common experience of believers, is that all too often there exists a dichotomy between the good and righteous desires we have as justified believers and what we find ourselves actually doing. He refers to the good desires as taking place in the “inner man.” Paul uses this phrase similarly in another place to contrast with the physical aspect of our humanness: “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor 4:16). His uses “the flesh,” “body” and “members” to refer to the base, earthly, sin-prone part of us, which is most clearly seen in the outward working of the physical part of our being.

No hysterical hyperbole, Paul describes the struggle as a war. No unbeliever would describe the efforts to be holy in these terms. The constant pull back into the prison of sin seeks, through the appetites of the worldly experiences, ever to tantalize, capture and enslave. Miserable experience. Justification by grace through faith must be realized in the everyday living of the physical world. And that is where the struggle is.

Lord, the war is real, and at times I feel it’s a losing battle. Remind me of who I am in Christ—justified and secure.