“To Obey Its Lusts”

We tend to think of desire as the antithesis of submission to authority. Saying “I ate that chocolate pie because I wanted to” is the opposite of saying “I ate my broccoli because Moma told me to.” Paul, however, recognizes the imperative force of desire. Urging the Romans to resist the reign of Sin, who attempts to reassert mastery over those who have died to sin, Paul says that we must “not let sin reign in your mortal bodies to obey its desires” (Rom 6:12). He broadens the point in verse 16, insisting that no one is absolutely free; rather, ever form of freedom is simultaneously a form of slavery to something else. To follow desire ?Ewhether desire for God or desire for sin ?Eis to submit to an authoritative word.

Surely, Paul’s conception is far truer to our experience than the reigning ideology that sets desire against authority. We know that our desires demand and demand and then, when satisfied, demand some more. The ancients knew this, which is why Aphrodite is not merely a force but a goddess.