What is the law of sin?

In Romans 7:22–23 Paul describes the tension between the law (Torah) on the one hand, and sin on the other as a tension between two competing laws. Sin is its own law and competes with the law (Torah) of God: For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members (Romans 7:22–23).

Paul is now wedged in between these two laws. He agrees with and loves the one law (the Torah) of God in his heart, which he calls his inner being in Romans 7:22. Yet his flesh is obedient to the other law and thereby his members—hands, eyes, and tongue—often serve the law or dominion of sin. Paul uses the word members twice in Romans 7:23. He does indeed refer to himself in terms of being the one doing the sin but simultaneously makes it clear that it is sin which makes use of his members to the detriment of others. Paul’s hands, eyes, and tongue often do things at odds with what his inner being desires. He is wedged in between these two laws and is therefore miserable: Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24).¹