Romans 7:21-25 “Wondering”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²¹Therefore I am finding the law that, me desiring to be doing the good, the evil is being present with me, ²²for I am approving the law of God according to the inner man, ²³but I am seeing another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and taking me captive in the law of sin which being in my members. ²⁴I [am] a wretched man! Who will rescue me out of the body of this death? ²⁵But thanks [be] to God through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, I myself in mind am being a servant to the law of God but in flesh to [the] law of sin.

I’ve decided I’m done studying this chapter and ready to move on. However, just for the fun of it, I want to record some thoughts before I head into chapter 8.

I am aware that Romans 8 will lead us into the victory of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence in the believer’s life. I have read the chapter seemingly a million times and even memorized large portions, but I’ve never actually slowed down to truly study it. When I do, I’m interested to see if a lot of questions I have get answered. Just for the fun of it, I want to try to write them down, so I can come back later and see what I’ve learned.

What my basic question comes down to is that I am surprised the Holy Spirit’s indwelling doesn’t do more good that it seems to. What do I mean? This very indwelling is at least a partial fulfilment of the New Covenant promise, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees…” (Ezek. 36:26,27).

The whole point of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling is to enable believers to rise above themselves and actually be the people God wants them to be. As chapter 7 has demonstrated, without the Lord’s help, we are absolutely hopeless to ever conquer our evil selves. When Moses gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites, they replied, “All that the Lord commands us, we will do!” The Lord’s response to Moses was, “Oh that they had such a heart in them.” He knew they didn’t. Throughout the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was “with” people, but He wasn’t “in” them. This New Covenant indwelling of His Spirit would be God’s answer to the problem they didn’t have “such a heart in them.”

So the Messiah did come. He did win the victory over sin and death. He did send the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and now believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We do have “such a heart in us.”

What I don’t understand is why it doesn’t seem to do any more good than it does or has. The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity. He is personally occupying a place inside of me. I can say without a doubt that I constantly experience the reality of His presence. I am rather constantly doing and saying and accomplishing things I know come from Him, not me, and I am very thankful for that.

But still. As I look at church history, I don’t think the church in general has done any better than Israel. It doesn’t appear to me that church history reads any different than Israel’s. You would think with this being the age of Holy Spirit indwelling, the church would have done noticeably better. You’d think Christians in general would be noticeably more godly people. Yet I read the Old Testament and see people like David and Daniel and Ruth and Boaz and Isaiah and Josiah and they would all be spiritual giants compared to our general level of spiritual maturity (or lack thereof). Remember that the Psalms were largely written by David—an Old Testament believer. I feel in the last few years, I’ve only begun to enjoy the kind of relationship with God that David had.

Why doesn’t it seem to make much difference if we in this dispensation are literally indwelt by the very Holy Spirit of God? Why is there still such a minimal level of general spiritual maturity amongst us believers?

I know a lot of people would give a lot of answers to my question. They would be quite sure “their group” has the answer. My question would be, then why doesn’t “your group” rise any higher than anyone else’s? I don’t see anyone’s that does or has.

I’m very confident there is a good answer. I’m sure one way or another I am “darkening counsel without knowledge.” I do not doubt at all that the Lord knows exactly what He’s doing and why He’s doing it and that it is the very best possible plan. Like Job, I just don’t understand.

That’s why I study the Bible. When and if the Lord is good and ready (or should I say I’m ready), He will teach me something that will make it all make sense.

But right now, I don’t understand. And I wish I did.

Well, I’ll just have to wade into chapter 8 and see what I find!

 

Romans 7:21-25 “Jesus Is”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²¹Therefore I am finding the law that, me desiring to be doing the good, the evil is being present with me, ²²for I am approving the law of God according to the inner man, ²³but I am seeing another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and taking me captive in the law of sin which being in my members. ²⁴I [am] a wretched man! Who will rescue me out of the body of this death? ²⁵But thanks [be] to God through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, I myself in mind am being a servant to the law of God but in flesh to [the] law of sin.

Lots to learn. I think Paul’s big point of Romans 7 has been to prove the Law (or law, in general) is not our answer. Up through chapter 5, he clearly demonstrated we must be saved by grace through faith in Christ. Most of us have no problem agreeing with him. We’re very aware we cannot be saved by our “good works.” The Law can only condemn us.

However, the next question remains, “How shall we then live?” Most of us will exist for decades on this earth after being saved by this grace through faith. What does it mean then to be a Christian, to live a life of faith, to have a relationship with God? What does the Lord expect of us? Where do “good works” fit in? What about the Law? Clearly, it is God’s Law, so it cannot be unimportant to us. Yes, it couldn’t save us, but surely we need it now?

Then, before we decide our answer to these questions, if we would slow down a moment and be honest, we will have to admit that, whatever those answers may be, we haven’t done a very good job of it. Here’s where I think all the “scholarly debate” goes out the window. What Paul is lamenting throughout Romans 7 is the very familiar awareness in any born-again Christian’s heart, “I don’t measure up.” Like the young man exclaimed, “When the Lord saved me, He got ripped off!” Jesus went to the Cross for me and saved me by His grace. That acknowledged, I should have given Him a lifetime of faithful service. Yet, especially late in life, I have to admit, I’ve been a pretty miserable bargain to Him.

Once again, there is no question in my mind, in spite of all the “scholarly debate” on this chapter, we are each very aware that what Paul is lamenting is exactly what I constantly find to be true: “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.”

Something’s wrong. What is the answer? Do I need to make a fresh start? “Re-dedicate” myself? To what? To do a better job of “keeping the rules?” What am I to do? The Law, it would seem, is still condemning me. I believe, if we’re honest, we will find ourselves exactly in Paul’s shoes (sandals), exclaiming, “Who shall save me from this body of death!!??”

This is not the cry of an unsaved person. It is the cry of a genuinely born-again Christian who wants very deeply to serve the Lord, to know Him, and to live a life that is pleasing to Him, yet honestly finds themself failing. Again, I ask, what is the answer? Is it some renewed effort to keep the Law (or laws)? Is it even in some supreme dedication of myself to the effort?

No. His answer is the only answer, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Jesus saved me by His grace to begin with and it is by grace alone I’ll live my life for Him. “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave His life for me!”

This is exactly the problem Paul confronted at the church of Galatia. What did he say to them? “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?”

Yes or no?

What will it be?

Grace or law?

We’re back to pondering Paul’s assertion in Romans 6:14, “…You are not under law but under grace.”

Our hope is not in any way, shape, or form “doing better.” Our hope is in a Person. Our hope is in a personal relationship. Our hope is in the Lord. Our hope is not in legal righteousness. It is in grace righteousness. I could elaborate on what that means, but Paul will do so in chapter 8, so I think I’ll let him speak!

I sincerely wish I could have understood these things early in my Christian life. I wish I could have just gotten lost in my relationship with Him and let His grace be my universe. But I suppose it is the lifetime of failure that drives all of us to our own Romans 7:24 moment, “Who shall deliver me from this body of death!!??”—to that painful realization, “I.cannot.do.it.” I suppose some people come to that point earlier than others. Maybe. Then again, maybe it takes a lifetime? I guess what matters is that we get it at all. 

I might have to keep pondering these verses for a bit longer, but suffice it to say today, I don’t think there needs to be any “scholarly debate” on this chapter. I think we all just need to admit verse 24 is our destination. “Law” is not the answer.

Jesus is.

Romans 7:14-20 “Me”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, one sold under the sin, ¹⁵for I am not knowing what I am doing, for I am not practicing what I am desiring but what I am hating, this I am doing. ¹⁶But if I am doing this, what I am not desiring, I am agreeing with the law that [it is] good. ¹⁷But now I am no longer doing this but the sin dwelling in me. ¹⁸For I know that there is dwelling not good in me, that is, in my flesh, for to desire is being present with me, but to do the good [is] not. ¹⁹For I am not doing the good which I desire, but I am practicing this, [the] evil which I am not desiring. ²⁰But, if I am not doing that which I am desiring, I am no longer doing it but the sin dwelling in me.

I started the last blog stating that vv.7-13 are “an extended explanation of what Paul says in Gal. 3:24, that the law is a ‘schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.’” Now what I see in vv.14-20 is an extended explanation of Gal. 5:17, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other…” I am very thankful I studied the book of Galatians, as it really helped me, in a nutshell so to speak, to understand the very issues Paul addresses here in Romans 7. It is nice, then to see it all explained “beyond” the nutshell!

Several things I think need to be said up front. First of all, there has down through the centuries been endless “scholarly debate” about exactly who is in view here. People ask whether Paul is describing himself as an unsaved man or perhaps as one of those “unspiritual” Christians, or if he’s actually describing the experience of a real, born-again Christian. I too could enter into the debate, but let me just say this: I do not understand how any genuinely born-again Christian can read this passage and not see their own face in the mirror. What Paul is describing is exactly the battle I face every day and, in fact, the same battle you see throughout the entire New Testament. What is the import of basically every single book of the New Testament? Is it not, here are the things God desires you to do and to be, and here are the things He desires you not to do and not to be? Where does that leave us? With the struggle to see it happen, with “the flesh  and the Spirit in conflict with one another,” just as described more succinctly in Galatians. I frankly cannot believe saved people even debate the matter. The face in the mirror may be ugly, but I cannot deny it is mine! And what I see in the New Testament is that is the exact face being addressed on every page.

The second thing I want to say is that I don’t think this spirit/flesh thing is that difficult either. When the Bible refers to “the flesh,” it is referring to the Adamic me. In other words, it is the natural me, the one that was born in 1957. I was born entirely a descendant of Adam and bearing his likeness as a fallen man. That contamination ruined both my body (which was born dying) and my natural spirit which knows not God and loves evil. When the Lord saved me, He sent His Holy Spirit to actually dwell in me. The old “me” is still quite present. I still live in the same Adamic body I was born with and it still contaminates my spirit, so that my heart is desperately wicked. That is all summed up in the name “my flesh.” The Holy Spirit’s presence now means there are two “spirits” within me, the one still driven by evil desires, and the other always calling me to holiness, to desire the good things the Lord intends for us.

This leads to my third assertion. At this point, I’ll probably be labelled a complete heretic or totally nuts, but I think the Bible is clear on the point, whether it is easy to understand or not and whether it is what anyone else supports. The question comes down to this matter of “me.”  Read the verses again and it clearly seems there are two “I’s” present. “I” desire to do good, but “I” do instead what I hate. I want to suggest this bi-polar Jekyll/Hyde problem is explained in vv.17 and 20: “But now I am no longer doing this but the sin dwelling in me...I am no longer doing it but the sin dwelling in me.”

Here's the deal. Sin is like a wart on your nose. Is the wart part of you? Obviously yes. If anyone doubts it, slice it off with your pocket knife and it will definitely be you bleeding. But is it really a part of you? No. A wart is a virus. It is something which has invaded “you.” It is not a part of who you really are. It should not be there. Even if you are covered with warts, when you wake up in Heaven, will you still have them? Of course not. But will you still be you? Obviously yes. So, do you see there is a “you” where warts don’t belong?

What Paul is saying is it is the same way with this sin problem. “I am no longer doing it but the sin dwelling in me.” Sin is a virus. It is an infection. It is an invasion of something into you, something not you that has found its way into you. Once it’s there, then, yes, it is quite you. Like the wart, if I’ve contracted a stomach flu, it is definitely me that is sick. It is me that is vomiting. But it’s not really me. In the same way, sin does not belong in me. When I wake up in Heaven, will I still be a sinner? No. As the old hymn said, “This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise, to gain the everlasting prize…” So I will no longer be a sinner, but I will still be me, right? Can we see it is true that the real me, the eternal me, the me that “agrees the law is good,” the me that “desires to do the good” and “hates to do the wrong”—that “me” is quite real.

Just like the wart or the stomach flu, sin has become a part of me. Now, I need to inject here that when I sin, it is, in fact, “me” doing it and the guilt is mine. Note, although Paul can say, “I am no longer doing it but the sin dwelling in me,” yet he also says, “I am practicing this, [the] evil which I am not desiring.” Once again, the “I” is doing it. My point here is that nothing I’m saying absolves us from the guilt of the sins we commit, nor does any of this absolve me from the guilt of being a sinner by very nature.

And yet, sin is still not me. Can I suggest this truth is actually very liberating? It affects how I see myself but it also affects how I see others. I believe this is precisely how Jesus could love even prostitutes and “sinners.” As He looked at them, He saw the real person. He knew that sin was a virus that had infected them. In a sense, the prostitute’s problem was no different than the leper’s. In both cases, something from the outside had found it’s way into them, so it was very much them, and yet, still it wasn’t them. The problem was something Jesus could take away from them. When He did, they were still them, yet the infection was gone. The question then becomes, “Can you and I do the same?”

Can you and I look at the worst of “sinners,” and see that the warts of sin do not belong there? Can we see that there is a person there who should not have warts? Can we see they are a person who can exist without the warts, a person who is not a sinner? That “I” without sin is just as present in them as it is in you and me.

If I can belabor the point, can I circle back to the “me?” If I will allow my eyes to see the “real” person in others, can I allow my eyes to see the real “me” as well?  It is true of me too. Sin is a virus. It does not belong in me. It is an infection, an invasion, a perversion of who I really am. What Jesus is doing day by day (what we call sanctification) is actually stripping away that which is not really me! He is redeeming the real me! His Spirit is enabling me to become who I really am and He will continue that work until He completes it. Then I will be me, but what here on earth we have called my flesh—the contaminated Adamic me—will be gone forever! Then I get to spend eternity really being me!

Paul’s point in Romans 7 is to shoot down the idea that somehow “law-keeping” is the solution. I’m running ahead now, but in the next few verses, he will continue to bemoan this bi-polar “me” problem and finally exclaim, “Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” The answer is not law. It is grace.

I’ll try to pull that all together, but for now I just want to leave all of this with the liberating thought of seeing that sin is not our ultimate reality. It was and is a contamination of who we really are. Even as I readily own the guilt of my sins and even my sinfulness, may I also enjoy the liberty of seeing it’s not really me!

 

Romans 7:7-13 “Led”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Therefore, what will we say? Is the law sin? May it never be! But I would not have known the sin except through law, for indeed, I would not have known the lust except the law was saying, “You shall not covet.” ⁸But the sin, taking [the] opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every lust, for without law, sin [is] dead, ⁹but I [was] once living without law, the commandment coming, the sin revived and I died, ¹⁰and the commandment which [was] into life was found to me, this into death, ¹¹for the sin taking [the] opportunity through the commandment deceived me and killed [me] through it. ¹²So that the law [is] indeed holy and the commandment [is] holy and righteous and good. ¹³Therefore did the good become death to me? May it never be! But the sin [was] producing death to me through the good, in order that it might be shone [to be] sin, in order that the sin might become exceedingly sinful through the commandment.

What we have here is an extended explanation of what Paul says in Gal. 3:24, that the law is a “schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” As he explains here in v.13, it is the law which exposes sin and, in fact, shows it to be “exceedingly sinful.” For anyone who has actually repented of their legalism, it is important to assert that in no way do we mean to imply that God’s law is a bad thing. It is not. As Paul says, it is “holy and good and righteous.” The problem is not in the law. The problem is in us. It is like turning on the kitchen light, only to see cockroaches scurry in all directions. The light isn’t bad because it revealed the cockroaches. Light is a good thing. It is the cockroaches that are disgusting.

Everyone knows cockroaches are disgusting. Our problem is that we don’t realize we’re disgusting! Or should I say more specifically, we don’t realize our sin is disgusting. Even being legalists at heart, we don’t think we’re “that bad.” Our evil hearts strongly desire the “lusts of the flesh” (pleasures, possessions, and applause) to the point we turn those things into idols and will stop at nothing to “get what we want.” In one way or another, we’ll find ways to break all of the first nine of the Ten Commandments, then conveniently not notice the tenth forbids our “coveting.”

What is the direction the human race always goes? The less the Bible is known in any culture, the more decadent the people become. While the Bible was being written, many of the cultures of the world were heavily into human sacrifices. In Western culture, it has been the Bible that raised us to standards of decency in how we live and how we treat each other. As it says in Prov. 29:18, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.” Psalm 33:12 adds, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

Law is, in fact, a good thing because it holds before people God’s standards which all are in our best interest. To the extent we ignore them, we, as individuals and as nations, end up self-destructing. Paul, of course, already elaborated on that back in ch.1. In all of this, we can easily see how in fact the law is “holy and righteous and good.” However, enter our evil hearts, and what that law reveals is that very evil. Paul may have been able to look at the Ten Commandments and say, “I’ve never killed anyone or stolen anything,” and thereby assured himself he was one of the “good” people. However, that one command, “You shall not covet,” suddenly called him to look deeply not into what he does, but why he does it. It is an easy thing for a man to say, “I’ve never cheated on my wife.” It is another thing to ask, “But have you ever noticed any other woman’s beauty and found yourself longing?”

Suddenly the law, rather than justifying me, can only condemn. Again, it’s not the law that is bad, it is the evil in me that is bad, and the law has accomplished its purpose to expose me for who I really am. The purpose of all that, then, is “to lead me to Christ.” The law’s condemnation should only highlight for us how badly we need grace, how badly we need to literally live in a world of grace, and to see that exact grace can be found nowhere else but at the foot of the Cross.

I believe all of this is why Paul needs to elaborate on these matters here in Romans 7. If, in fact, we are to choose to live under grace rather than law, the immediate accusation will always be that we are disdaining God’s law. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, we are allowing God to use His law in our lives as He would use it, not for the self-justifying perversions we all turn it into.

There is a lot here in verses 7-13 which can be discussed and debated. However, literally volumes have been written all down through the ages by everyone who has an opinion. I think this time I’ll refrain from adding to the cacophony. I’ll just say that, for myself, I am content to back up a step and observe what he’s elaborating on is that simple idea that the law is a “schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” I’m glad these verses are in the Bible. I’m glad the Lord moved Paul to write down these thoughts and explanations. If these questions arise in our minds, they need to be answered. However, for myself and for today, I’m happy to simply know God’s intention for His law is always ultimately to lead us to Christ, to lead us to grace, to lead us to love and joy and peace.

I like being led!