The Jekyll and Hyde in Us

​In the story of Jekyll and Hyde, Jekyll takes a potion and becomes the completely selfish and wicked Hyde, who takes control of Jekyll. In us, we also have both good and bad sides that are constantly at war. Let’s learn from Romans 7:1-25.
 
In the passage, Paul describes our having desires for evil and good, and our inability to beat our evil desire.
 
God tells us we shouldn’t take the fruit. But with the devil tempting us, and with the fruit seemingly good to us, we take it (v5, 8).
 
The law showed Paul what he ought to do. Before Paul relied on Christ, Paul’s evil desire used the law to temp him, enticing him to do what he should not do. Paul knew he could not beat his evil desire (v9-11).
 
Similarly, our evil desire could use Christ’s teaching to temp us, enticing us to do what we should not do.
 
Before we rely on Christ, our performance defines how good or bad we are, and who we are (v1-5). But in many situations, we just do the bad and can’t do the good.
 
To save us, God poured His wrath on Christ, punishing Christ for all our wrongs (2 Corinthians 5:21).
 
If we rely on Christ’s sacrifice, we become perfect before God (v6). Through Christ—not through our behavior—we become God’s beloved children. 
 
Also, God loves us to the point of sacrificing Christ, His only son, for us. We should live for and serve the one who loves us so much. We should do good to delight Him (Colossians 3:1-10).
 
Though our evil desire is still lurking in us (Galatians 5:17), the evil desire can’t control us like before (v6, 25). This is because who we are depends on Christ, not our behavior. The Spirit that resurrected Christ now dwells within us and can help us beat our evil desires. With that, we can live a life of following God (Romans 8:11,13).
 
Summarized from a sermon from Tim Keller, “War_Between_Selves 1.”
https://gospelinlife.com/downloads/war-between-your-selves-part-41/
 

 
化身博士 (Jekyll and Hyde) 潜伏在心里该怎么办？
 
在化身博士的故事中，杰基尔博士(Dr.Jekyll) 通过用药完全变成海德先生(Mr. Hyde) ，却最终被这个自私而邪恶的人控制。在我们里面也有好坏两面，彼此不停地争战。让我们从罗马书7：1-25中学习。
 
保罗在这段经文中描述人都有邪恶和善良两面的欲望，而人无法靠自己击败那邪恶的欲望。
 
上帝告诉亚当和夏娃不能吃那个苹果。但因为魔鬼的诱惑, 而他们觉得那苹果似乎对他们有好处, 于是便吃了（罗马书7：5,8）。
 
律法向保罗显明应该做的事。在保罗倚靠基督之前, 邪恶的欲望借用律法引诱他, 诱惑他做不该做的事。保罗知道自己无法击败这邪恶的欲望（罗马书7：9-11）。
 
同样地，邪恶的欲望也可以用基督的教导来引诱我们, 诱惑我们做不该做的事。
 
在倚靠基督之前，自我表现决定我们的好坏和定义我们的价值（罗马书7：1-5）。但在很多情况下，我们都行恶弃善。
 
神为了拯救世人将忿怒倾倒在基督身上，为我们所有的过犯惩罚祂（哥林多后书 5：21）。
 
信徒籍着基督的牺牲在神面前变得完美，籍着基督而非个人的表现成为上帝蒙爱的儿女（罗马书7：6）。
 
上帝如此地爱我们，甚至不惜牺牲自己的独生爱子, 我们应该为祂而活，殷勤地服事祂，多行善事讨祂喜悦 （歌罗西书3：1-10）。
 
虽然邪恶的欲望仍然潜伏在心中 (加拉太书5：17), 却不能像以前那样控制我们 (罗马书7：6,25）。因为现在知道我们的好坏取决于基督，而非自己的行为。那使基督复活之上帝的灵活在信徒里面，帮助信徒战胜心里邪恶的欲望，活出跟随上帝的生命(罗马书8：11, 13)!