Romans 7:25 : I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. It seems to me that the commentators fail entirely to grasp the meaning of this verse. Some of them take it for granted that Paul is speaking of the condition of the Christian. In their estimation the mind of the redeemed man serves God, but the flesh serves the law of sin. When they seek to explain this idea by dwelling on the warfare in the Christian between the spirit and the flesh, they miss the point entirely, for the verse says nothing about such a warfare. Paul spoke of service, and not of fighting. And there is no such thing as serving God with the mind while the body serves sin. The idea is absurd. No man can serve two masters at the same time. Recognizing this truth, Lard says, "Now of course, I cannot serve both the law of God, with the mind, and the law of sin, with the flesh, at one and the same time. To serve the one is to slight the other. And since I cannot serve the law of sin continually and be a Christian; it follows that the service of sin is only occasional and exceptional. Hence, the meaning must be that with the flesh, and not with the mind, I serve the law of sin whenever I sin at all. I sin but seldom, suppose, but whenever I do sin, it is with the flesh as an instrument, or through its influence." But Lard misses the mark, for the word here translated "serve" means to be a slave, or subject. An occasional act does not constitute slavery in any relationship. You do not be-come a slave to your neighbor by helping him occasion-ally. An occasional sin does not make one a slave of sin. A person becomes a slave of sin only when he gives himself up to the rule of sin. Paul contrasts the two kinds of service. He had been a slave of sin, but was redeemed to the service of God. The Christian serves with the mind the law of God; the sinner with the flesh serves the law of sin. In the life of a Christian, the mind--the inner man--dominates the flesh; in the sinner's life the flesh dominates the mind. But in either case the mind does the planning and willing. In the sinful life the mind yields to the appetites and passions of the flesh, and plans for their gratification; in the Christian life the mind keeps the body under, and uses it in acts of service to God. Hence, the use we make of the mem-hers of our bodies determines whose servants we are. "Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:16).