Studies in Romans

Romans

Romans 7:fifteen-25

The struggle within usa

Paul describes a disharmonize: "The constabulary is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin" (poetry 14). Could this be theChristian Paul, who said he died to sin and is no longer its slave? Could Paul draw himself as unspiritual, a slave of sin?2 Who is this "I"? Let usa go on reading to meet.

In verse 15 he describes the struggle: "I practise non understand what I do. For what I want to exercise, I do not do, but what I detest I do." He wants to practise adept, just he ends upwards doing bad. He has a listen that wants to benefit, only a body that does bad. Why? Because, as we volition shortly see, in that location is another power at work within him.

"And if I practise what I exercise non want to do, I agree that the police is good" (verse 16). "If I sin fifty-fifty though I don't want to sin, I am implying that the law is good" (my paraphrase). The fact that he doesn't similar his own behavior is evidence that he likes the law.

"As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, just information technology is sin living in me" (verse 17). Paul explains the problem by metaphorically splitting the person in two! There is "the real me," and there is "sin living in me." All the blame goes to sin; the "real me" is not guilty.

Paul is non trying to get pagans off the claw; he is not saying that people "in Adam" dearest God'south law andthey are not sinning. No. By distinguishing the "existent me" from the "sin living in me," he seems to be saying that the "real me" is the person in Christ. That is who we really are. This is why he tin can say that in that location is no condemnation for people in Christ (8:i). Whatever bad they practice is blamed on the sin within them, not on the new person they are in Christ.

Being freed from sin and obeying righteousness is non automated — it involves a struggle. Galatians five:17 describes it: "The mankind desires what is opposite to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is opposite to the mankind. They arein conflict with each other, and so that you are non to do whatever you lot want." At that place is the old person, in the sphere of sin, and at that place is the new person in Christ. The new person is enslaved to Christ, but the old person is still enslaved to sin, and they are both competing for our attention.

Only didn't Paul say that the old person is dead? Yep, he did. He is using metaphors to try to explain things, and we cannot expect the comparisons to extend further than what Paul intends. Forlegal authority, the old person is dead. The law, sin and death no longer take authority over us. Merely in terms of Christian life, the sinful nature still has its desires, and we should resist information technology. The struggle is real.

"Proficient itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature" (Romans 7:18). Paul clarifies his statement by saying that he'south talking virtually the flesh, the sinful nature, not his new nature in Christ. All theproficient in Paul's life comes from Christ living in him, rather than originating in Paul. The expert comes from the new nature, the bad comes from the sometime, and the Christian life involves fighting against the old.

"I have the want to do what is skillful, merely I cannot carry it out. For I do not practice the skilful I desire to do, simply the evil I practice not want to do — this I keep on doing" (verses xviii-19). Paul is a saint, merely he's not sinless. He wants to exercise good, but he sometimes sins. The sin within him is hijacking him, making him exercise things he wouldn't otherwise practise.

"Now if I practice what I exercise non want to do [that is, when I sin], information technology is no longer I who practice it, but it is sin living in me that does it" (poetry 20). Paul blames sin, not himself. What he said in poetry 14, that he was a slave to sin, is only the style itappeared to exist. The reality, he says, is that all my sins are blamed on this hostile power inside me. It is not me, simply my one-time sinful nature that is nevertheless enslaved to sin.

Paul summarizes information technology in verses 21-23: "So I find this police at piece of work: Although I want to practice expert, evil is right there with me. For in my inner existence I delight in God's law; merely I see another law [or principle] at piece of work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the constabulary of sin at work within me." Every bit a Christian, he wants to do correct, simply information technology's sometimes a struggle.

His mind wars against his body, which has been hijacked past sin. Although he wants to exercise good, the evil within him sometimes causes him to exercise things that he hates. So hegroans,as he says in Romans 8:23, waiting for the redemption of his body, the resurrection and theultimate victory over his sinful nature.

"What a wretched man I am! Who volition rescue me from this body that is subject to expiry?" (poesy 24). How will I escape the sinful nature that fights within me? Paul knows where his deliverance will come from: "Thanks be to God, who delivers me [nowadays tense] through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (verse 25a). Paul is in theprocedure of being delivered. It's a lifelong struggle, but the victory is sure, thanks to God! How does information technology happen? That's what Paul covers in chapter 8 — life in the Spirit, extending into eternity. That'southward where the battle is won.

Paul concludes this affiliate with a summary: "So so, I myself in my listen am a slave to God'southward law, just in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin" (verse 25b). Even after he talks near the deliverance being given to him by Christ, Paul uses the metaphor of a split person: there is the real me, and in that location is sin living in me. There is a struggle betwixt listen and body. He is enslaved to the law of Christ, but he sometimes falls curt. He's got a new mind, simply an erstwhile body, and he looks forward to all things being made new!

Things to think near

  • In Paul'due south analogy, is it possible to exist obligated to the law and united to Christ at the same time? (verse 3)
  • The commandment against coveting helped Paul come across that he was sinful (verses 7-8). Have I had a similar experience to help me realize that I am sinful?
  • If the commandment brings me death instead of life, how can it exist proficient? (verses 10, 12)
  • Have I struggled with sin in the mode that Paul describes in verses 15-20?
  • If I arraign my sins on a hostile power within me (poesy 20), do I reduce the importance of fighting against it?
  • Is God delivering me from the slavery of sin and expiry? (verse 24).

Endnotes

1 Some people do not experience much of an internal struggle before they come to organized religion. Possibly like Paul, they felt that they were successfully doing all that they ought to do. Others served sin and did not struggle against it. The struggle can go more intense after we come up to faith and perceive how far brusque nosotros are of the life nosotros want with Christ.

2 There are several explanations of this passage: that Paul is describing his ain life before Christ, or his life after Christ, or he is using "I" as a literary technique to draw people in general. In some ways, these views amount to the same matter. If Paul is describing himself, he shares his own experience because he thinks information technology is representative of others. If it describes people in general, then information technology applies to Paul as well. Nosotros have chosen to retain Paul's use of "I" to help give a personal feel to the struggle.

As a Pharisee, Paul would non have described himself as a slave of sin, merely his encounter with Jesus showed him that he was indeed a slave of sin. Through his zeal for the law, he was driven to persecute Jesus and the church; he was the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). Once he realized that God's righteousness was much deeper than the law, he would have also realized how much sin had infected him.

Author: Michael Morrison, 2003, 2014

Michael Morrison, PhDGrace Communion Seminary offers online master's degrees.