{"id":1687,"date":"2010-05-04T19:31:42","date_gmt":"2010-05-05T01:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1687"},"modified":"2010-05-04T19:31:42","modified_gmt":"2010-05-05T01:31:42","slug":"romans-717-victory-through-surrender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-717-victory-through-surrender\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 7:17 – Victory Through Surrender"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Romans 7:17<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

But now,<\/span> it is<\/span><\/em> no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a battle going on within us that requires surrender.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The word translated \u201cdwells<\/span>\u201d is the Greek word oikousa<\/span><\/em>, which is a participial form of oikos<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201ca dwelling place or a house.\u201d Oikousa<\/span><\/em> means \u201cliving somewhere as a permanent residence, as opposed to a temporary residence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Two verses back Paul lamented, \u201cFor that which I am determined to do I don\u2019t always do but, on the other hand, that which I hate to do I keep on doing\u201d [my translation]. In the current verse he appears to absolve himself of any responsibility. What does he mean when he says, \u201cit is<\/span><\/em> no longer I who do it<\/span>\u201d? We have to refer back to verse fifteen to answer this. There he said, \u201cFor what I determine to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.<\/span>\u201d You see that it is Paul\u2019s will (determination to do good) versus his actions that he is talking about. So, in the current verse he says that in his inner most self his greatest desire is to do good, but this gets overpowered by the sin that dwells in him.<\/p>\n

Now, what does he mean when he says that sin \u201cdwells in me<\/span>?\u201d Paul is telling us that sin has taken up a permanent residence in him (and us); therefore, the natural propensity to sin is a permanent part of our human bodies. We can\u2019t get away from it and we can\u2019t overcome it. So we\u2019re not responsible when we sin, right? Wrong!<\/p>\n

Before we were saved, this was true; we had no choice but to sin. But now that we have been saved, we have someone else living inside us. Romans 8:9<\/span><\/strong> says, \u201cBut you are not in the flesh, but in the<\/span> Spirit, if indeed the<\/span> Spirit of God dwells <\/span>(the same word as in Romans 7:17<\/span><\/strong>) in you. Now if anyone does not have the<\/span> Spirit of Christ, he is not His.<\/span>\u201d Also in 1 Corinthians 3:16<\/span><\/strong> he says, \u201cDo you not know that you are the temple of God, and that<\/span> the Spirit of God dwells <\/span>(the same word as in Romans 7:17<\/span><\/strong>) <\/span><\/em>in you?<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n

When we were saved, a marvelous thing happened. God the Father gave us a token to guarantee His promise to redeem us, a seal of our salvation (see Ephesians 1:13, 14<\/span><\/strong>) . That token, that seal, that guarantee is the 3rd<\/sup> person of the Godhead, God the Holy Spirit. God is actually dwelling in us. That\u2019s one reason that we are told that God will never leave us nor forsake us. He will always be with us because He dwells in us, that is, He has taken up permanent residence in us.<\/p>\n

Now consider this, of the two that dwell within us, our sin nature (which Paul has been talking about here) and God, which do you think is stronger? <\/span>\u201cWell, that\u2019s obvious!\u201d you say. \u201cGod is stronger!\u201d<\/p>\n

You are absolutely correct. As we yield ourselves to God, as we surrender our will to His, He has control and He overcomes our sin nature. But, when we take the reins of our own lives, when it is our will that is calling the shots, our sin nature takes control because it is stronger than we are.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

He (or she) who desires to please God must continually surrender his or her will to God. That is the only way we can live a victorious life!<\/p>\n

Is your will completely surrendered to God today?<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

<\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, send an e-mail to:\"e-mail<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 7:17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. Truth to Learn There is a battle going on within us that requires surrender. Behind the Words The word translated \u201cdwells\u201d is the Greek word oikousa, which is a participial form of oikos, meaning \u201ca dwelling place […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[844,845,846,276],"class_list":["post-1687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dwells","tag-oikos","tag-oikousa","tag-sin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-rd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}