{"id":1706,"date":"2010-05-12T20:15:20","date_gmt":"2010-05-13T02:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1706"},"modified":"2010-05-12T20:15:20","modified_gmt":"2010-05-13T02:15:20","slug":"romans-722-gods-delightful-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-722-gods-delightful-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 7:22 – God’s Delightful Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Romans 7:22<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

For Christians, obeying God\u2019s law is delightful, not onerous.<\/p>\n

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

The word translated here as \u201cI delight in<\/span>\u201d is sun\u0113domai<\/span><\/em>, which only occurs in this one place in the New Testament. It is a compound word made up of sun<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cwith\u201d or \u201ctogether with\u201d and a form of h\u0113domai<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto be pleased\u201d or \u201cto rejoice.\u201d So, we see that this word means \u201cto be pleased with\u201d or \u201cto have delight in something.\u201d Paul actually finds delight, that is, inward pleasure, when he obeys the Law of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInward<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek word es\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which is a form of eis<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cinto.\u201d It refers that which is already on the inside.<\/p>\n

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

Paul said back in verse twelve that the Law is Holy and that the commandments that make up the law are holy, just, and good. Now he is saying that he actually finds pleasure in the Law. This is an obvious indication that Paul is \u201cborn-again,\u201d for without this conversion a man cannot find pleasure in obeying God\u2019s Law.<\/span><\/p>\n

King David expressed a similar sentiment in Psalms 1: <\/span><\/p>\n

Blessed<\/span> is<\/span><\/em> the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight<\/strong><\/span> is<\/span><\/em> in the law of the LORD<\/span><\/strong>, And in His law he meditates day and night.<\/span> (Psalms 1:1-2<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

The law of God is not something that Christians should be afraid of; it should be a source of joy for us in our innermost being. Paul refers to this innermost being as \u201cthe inward man<\/span>.<\/span>\u201d Here\u2019s what Albert Barnes said about this expression in his Notes on the Bible<\/em>:<\/p>\n

The expression \u201cthe inward man\u201d is used sometimes to denote the rational part of man as opposed to the sensual; sometimes the mind as opposed to the body (compare 2Co 4:16; 1Pe 3:4<\/span><\/strong>). It is thus used by the Greek classic writers. Here it is used evidently in opposition to a carnal and corrupt nature; to the evil passions and desires of the soul in an unrenewed state; to what is called elsewhere \u201cthe old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.\u201d (Eph 4:22<\/span><\/strong>). The \u201cinward man\u201d is called elsewhere \u201cthe new man\u201d (Eph 4:24<\/span><\/strong>); and denotes not the mere intellect, or conscience, but is a personification of the principles of action by which a Christian is governed; the new nature; the holy disposition; the inclination of the heart that is renewed.<\/p>\n

So, Paul is saying that he finds inward, intellectual pleasure in obeying God\u2019s Law because of the regenerated spiritual life that God has given him. Unfortunately, as we will see in the next verse, the \u201cold man\u201d is still with us as well and it is in a constant battle with this \u201cnew man.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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

As we said, the law of God is not something that Christians should fear, but we also know that obeying it does not make us holy or righteous. We should feel good when we are obedient to God, but we should also recognize that our sin nature will cause us to break God\u2019s law. Thank God for confession and for His grace!<\/span><\/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 7:22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. Truth to Learn For Christians, obeying God\u2019s law is delightful, not onerous. Behind the Words The word translated here as \u201cI delight in\u201d is sun\u0113domai, which only occurs in this one place in the New Testament. It is a compound […]<\/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":[856,857,858,504,859],"class_list":["post-1706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-delight","tag-eso","tag-inward-man","tag-law","tag-sunedomai"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-rw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706","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=1706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}