SERIES: The Book of Romans
A Spiritual Autobiography, Pt. 2: The Beast Within
Introduction: A considerable amount of good, practical and biblical theology has been communicated to our culture by a person who was neither a theologian nor a pastor. His name is Charles Schulz. Charlie Brown and Lucy are walking along together when Charlie, wearing his most pensive look, says,
“All it would take to make me happy is to have someone say he likes me.”
“Are you sure,” asks Lucy?
“Of course, I’m sure!”
“You mean you’d be happy if someone merely said he or she likes you? Do you mean to tell me that someone has it within his or her power to make you happy merely by doing such a simple thing?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean!”
“Well,” says Lucy, “I don’t think that’s asking too much …. I really don’t. But you’re sure now? All you want is to have someone say, ‘I like you, Charlie Brown,’ and then you’ll be happy?”
“And then I’ll be happy!”
The last frame shows Lucy walking away, saying to herself, “I just can’t do it!” And Charlie Brown just stands there with this incredibly forlorn look on his face.
That to me is a great commentary on our Scripture text today: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” If Romans 7 is one of the hardest chapters in the Bible, and I feel sure that it is, then this final section of Romans 7 is surely the hardest part of this chapter. Let’s read together verses 14-25:
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. {15} I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. {16} And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. {17} As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. {18} I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. {19} For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. {20} Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
{21} So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. {22} For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; {23} but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. {24} What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? {25} Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
As one might expect, there are great differences of interpretation among godly scholars as to what Paul is saying here. After all, how can the same author who said in 6:6 that “our old self was crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be done away with,” now ask in 7:24, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”? And how can the same Apostle who said in 6:18. “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness,” now say in 7:14,“I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.”? So much in chapter 7 seems to contradict the positive, victorious tone of what he said earlier.
This has caused some Bible scholars to claim that the person being described in Romans 7:14-25 is an unbeliever. That eliminates the contradictions, but it creates a number of other problems, like how does one explain why Paul is speaking in the first person and in the present tense. Paul’s shift from the past tense to the present in verse 14 seems to have no natural explanation except that he is moving from talking about his experience in his pre-Christian days while under conviction, to talking now about his experience at the time he is writing, when he is surely a believer.
A second view is that the person of Romans 7:14-25 is “a pre-Christian,” a person who is under conviction but has not yet taken the step of receiving Christ. Frankly, this view has a lot to commend it, and it is the view I took last Sunday of verses 7-13. But it too does not explain the change in tense from past to present in verse 14.
A third view is that the person of our text is a Christian who has not yet received the second blessing. This view postulates a two-stage Christian experience in which, in stage one a person accepts Jesus as Savior only, but then later in stage two he receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit and arrives at the point of total sanctification. Under this view our text describes that person’s experience between salvation and sanctification. A variation of this two-stage view, more common in our circles, is perhaps not that different, only different terminology is employed. The first stage is trusting Jesus for salvation and the second stage is accepting Him as Lord of one’s life. Again, in that scenario Romans 7 is describing the person’s experience between salvation and Lordship.
Frankly, I am not persuaded by either of these two-stage theories because I think very few Christians experience a clear graduation from conversion to maturity. Far more of us grow gradually—three steps forward, two steps backward. Oh, we may go through spurts of growth, but I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who went from being unspiritual to spiritual, from unsanctified to sanctified in one step.
The view of Romans 7:14-25 that makes the most sense to me is that Paul is sharing his own spiritual autobiography in these verses—not as an unbeliever, nor as a pre-Christian, nor even as a carnal Christian before he “arrives” at an advanced stage of sanctification. Rather he is sharing the continuing conflict with sin that he has to deal with, even as a mature Christian, even as an Apostle!
Now I want to be sure you’re following me here. Remember, the entire book up to chapter 7, verse 6, is written in the third person. Then in verse 7 Paul shifts to the first person, indicating that he is sharing his personal story, his autobiography. From verse 7-13 he speaks in the past tense, but from verse 14 to the end of the chapter he shifts to the present tense. We conclude, therefore, that in 7-13 Paul is describing his life while under conviction immediately preceding his Damascus Road experience, while beginning in verse 14 he is describing his life after receiving Christ.
But how, you may ask, can an Apostle, a great missionary, an incomparable theologian, admit to such struggles as are recorded here in his own Christian experience? But before answering that question, allow me to ask another, more personal question. And I ask it only of those who are born again and know it—those who have absolute confidence that they would spend eternity with God if you were to die tonight. Here’s the question:
Have you ever had an experience such as described in today’s passage? Since you became a Christian have you ever said, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do.”? Have you ever asked, “When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”? Have you ever said, “What a wretched person I am! Who will rescue me?”
Come on now, be honest. Is there a besetting sin in your life, a nasty habit you haven’t been able to whip, a person you can’t love, an attitude you can’t seem to change?
Well, if you, as a confident Christian can admit as much, why is it so unbelievable that Paul would also struggle with sin after he became a Christian? Friends, one thing we so easily forget, and so often need to be reminded of, is that there really are no superstar Christians. Yes, certainly some are more mature and committed than others; some have taken on the character of Jesus Christ more than others; some have conquered more bad habits than others; but none has arrived!
Even the great men of God in the Scriptures—the patriarchs, the prophets, the Apostles, the pastors—all had struggles with sin! And some had worse struggles than you or me! Romans 7 is able to give a strong dose of realism to our theology.
Now two possible conclusions could be drawn from all this. First, we could say (but I hope we won’t) that since the great people of God struggle with sin and sometimes fail miserably, then it’s O.K. when I fail. A far better conclusion would be, “I must not feel like my experience is unique and I must not lose heart, because believers before me have struggled but have pressed on to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. I can press on, too!” And that brings us to our first major point today:
The converted individual still struggles with sin. (14-20)
This is such an important point that Paul states it three times in our text. In fact, if we look at the chapter carefully, I believe we will discover that he states the problem three times, describes it three times, and explains the reason for it three times. He is intent on our grasping the truth that the Christian life is not a picnic but a war, and though the outcome of that war is not in doubt, the outcome of many of the individual battles in that war is very much in doubt. We can lose an awful lot of skirmishes is we don’t go into them with a realistic assessment of our own weakness, as well as a realistic assessment of the divine resources at our disposal.
Follow with me in your Bible and I will point out the three times Paul states the problem in verses 14, 18, and 21:
Three times the problem is stated:
1. Verse 14: “I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.”
2. Verse 18: “Nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.”
3. Verse 21: “When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”
Now let’s talk about this for a moment. How can the Apostle Paul make such astounding admissions, when in the previous chapter he has already urged us to count ourselves dead to sin and has exhorted us to offer our body parts to God as instruments of righteousness? Doesn’t he practice what he preaches?
I think it is in part because Paul understands how high God’s standards are. If God graded on the curve I doubt if he would be saying any of these things. But God’s standards are absolute, and when Paul compares himself with God’s standards, he is appalled at the lack of conformity he sees in his own life. I believe he is saying, “I am at heart a worldly, unspiritual man. Left to myself and without dependence upon supernatural help, I consistently revert to sin, even as a believer.”
Is this any different from the experience of the great prophet Isaiah, who said in Isaiah 6:5, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Was Isaiah really such a filthy-mouthed rascal that he deserved such vilification? Only when he compares himself to God, whom he has just seen seated on a throne, high and exalted, with the train of his robe filling the temple, and the angels singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
You will never find a truly humble person identifying himself as humble, and, in fact, he does not even recognize himself as being humble, for his very humility causes him to be especially sensitive to any semblance of pride in his life. So also, you will never find a spiritual person who will call himself spiritual, because his very spirituality enables him to be especially sensitive to the presence of any sin in his life. We would call Paul spiritual if we were comparing him to ourselves. But heknows that he is basically a sinful man, even as a believer, even as an Apostle.
Then the second thing Paul repeats three times is his description of the conflict—in verses 15, 18, and 22. Do you see it?
Three times the conflict is described:
1. Verse 15: “What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
2. Verse 18: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”
3. Verse 22: “I delight in God’s law; but I see another law … waging war against the law of my mind.”
Friends, I don’t know about you, but I can relate to what Paul says here. I have felt the same way many times in my life. Let me paraphrase him:
I really don’t understand myself sometimes. I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. And I do the very thing I despise. But my bad conscience proves that I agree with the laws I am breaking. So my conclusion is that it is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things.
Please understand that the Apostle is not here suggesting that he always fails to do what is right or always does what he hates. That would be proof that he was unconverted. But if he ever does so as a Christian (and he clearly does), it demands an explanation. And sure enough, three times Paul explains the reason for the problem—in verses 17, 20, and 24.
Three times the reason for the problem is explained:
1. Verse 17: “It is sin living in me.”
2. Verse 20: “It is sin living in me.”
3. Verse 24: It is “this body of death.”
Now in identifying the reason for his problem as sin, is Paul suggesting that he himself is not responsible? Is Dr. Jekyll blaming Mr. Hyde for the evil actions and absolving himself of guilt? I think not, for in the concluding verses (24-25), he says, “What a wretched man I am!” Paul is not attempting to escape responsibility, but rather putting his finger on the real culprit—the old sinful nature—which he himself is allowing to have influence which it doesn’t deserve over his life.
Before moving on, I think it is important for us to recognize that Paul’s teaching here regarding the struggle that even a long-time Christian endures with sin, is not an isolated teaching found only in Romans 7. Consider Gal. 5:16-17:
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
Consider also James 4:1:
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.
Or 1 Peter 2:11:
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Or 1 Corinthians 9:26,27:
Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Each of these passages is clearly addressed to believers, but each describes a continuing struggle with sin. Now the question which is probably in the minds of all of us is this: “Why does the true Christian struggle with sin? Why doesn’t salvation solve the conflict?”
The converted individual still struggles with sin because the old sinful nature has not been eradicated. (18)
I go back to Romans 6:6 and stress the importance of a correct translation of that verse. While the NIV reads, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin,” we explained several weeks ago that the term translated “done away with” does not mean “to eradicate” but to “render powerless.” The old sinful nature we were born with has been crucified positionally, and we have been freed from slavery to it, but it has not been eradicated. In fact, I believe Paul is in essence teaching that …
The believer has two natures, whereas the unbeliever has only one. (22). This is a somewhat controversial view in some Christian circles, but I must tell you I don’t think anyone has been able to improve upon it. I think some of the opposition to it has been based upon a wrong concept of what a nature is, as though we are talking about two different personalities living in the same body—a kind of spiritual schizophrenia. We are not two people—we are one person, and our one person is responsible for all we do.
But one person can have two natures, because a nature is really just a capacity. No one has ever seen a nature. It cannot be felt with hands or painted with an artist’s brush. It is known only by the effects it produces. Ever since the Fall, human nature has been polluted and evil. As we are born into this world, we have no capacity for receiving the things of God or performing the works of God. This is clearly taught in 1 Cor. 2:14. Our only potential in God’s sight is for sin. Eph. 2 says that before conversion we “were by nature children of wrath.”
But just as birth into the human family gives every person Adam’s sinful nature, so a new birth into God’s family gives each person a new divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4 says, “God has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” In making us a new creation in Christ Jesus, God does not reform or rehabilitate the old sinful nature; in fact, He crucifies it. And he introduces into our lives an entirely new nature which has a capacity the old one never had—to “know the things that are freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12), and to “no longer let sin reign in our mortal bodies” (Romans 6:12).
Now almost no one would argue with me so far. The Scriptures make it very clear that the unbeliever has a sin nature while the believer has a new divine nature. But there are some who would argue that the believer has only one nature—his new divine nature—because when he becomes a Christian or when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit or when he makes Jesus the Lord of his life, he loses his old sinful nature. As we have seen, however, Paul does not teach that; he only teaches that the old sinful nature has been deposed as our master, and therefore our obligation to obey it has ended.
The fact is, a great many Christians, in the imagery shared by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, return again and again to the place of execution; they look wistfully at the old self as it hangs there crucified; they take a crowbar and begin to pull the nails out of its hands; they help it down off the cross and even give it CPR. The old sinful nature is very much alive and well in many Christians’ lives and it is at least dormant in every Christian’s life.
This same truth is confirmed in Eph. 4 and Col. 3. Let’s look at just one of those passages. In Eph. 4:22-24 Paul says,
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
If the old sinful nature were eradicated, there would be no need of the Apostle to tell believers to put it off and put on the new.
Now let’s return to Romans 7 and see if we can spot the two natures in verse 21: “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” The presence of evil is, of course, evidence of the old sinful nature. The desire to do good is evidence of the new divine nature. Or look at the last sentence in the chapter. “I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law”—there’s the new divine nature. But “in the sinful nature I am a slave to the law of sin”—there’s the old sinful nature. Both are evident in Paul’s life at the same time.
It should be fairly obvious that where there are two natures going in opposite directions, there is going to be conflict. And that’s exactly what we find.
The believer’s two natures are involved in an intense struggle. (23, Gal. 5:16,17) In fact, it is called a war in verse 23. This is a titanic conflict, and there is simply no evidence in the Bible of any believer who ever came to the point of no longer experiencing it. In fact, I suggest to you that in terms of conflict and struggle, the believer probably experiences more than the unbeliever. The unbeliever has only one nature—the one he is born with. Oh, he may experience some conflict when his behavior does not match the expectations of others (resulting in arrest, for example), or even his own expectations of himself (resulting in a guilty conscience). But he cannot experience the intense, heart-wrenching conflict the believer experiences when he realizes that his behavior is an affront to almighty God!
We have done a lot of theologizing this morning. I think it’s time for us to engage in some very practical analysis. Is there spiritual conflict in your life, and, if so, what’s causing it? Perhaps there’s bitterness. Someone did something or said something you didn’t like and you’re bitter about it. Your new nature is trying to tell you to forgive, to forget, to trust God to discipline the one who wronged you. But your old sinful nature is telling you to snub that person every chance you get, gossip about him, take revenge when you can, and at all costs, remember the offence. And what’s the result? Conflict, ineffective Christian witness, sleeplessness, maybe even health problems.
Or perhaps you’ve got a nasty habit, like criticism of others. Your new nature tells you to accept other people, give them the benefit of the doubt, concentrate on their good characteristics, let someone else point out their faults, give them another chance. But the old sinful nature says, “If I don’t criticize them, how are they going to know they’re doing wrong and correct it? If I don’t make it public, other people may get hurt. Besides, any dummy can see that what they did was inexcusable.” And the result? Conflict within and without.
Or let’s try another. Perhaps you have a problem with money. Your new nature tells you not to fix your hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17). The new nature urges you to be generous and ready to share (1 Tim. 6:18). But the old sinful nature tells you to spend your money on luxuries you don’t need, or to horde it for retirement, or maybe even to gamble with it. Of course, even the old nature will allow you to give a little—just enough to ease your conscience, but never enough to amount to a real sacrifice. And the result is internal struggle and conflict between what your divine nature wants and what your sinful nature wants, or between what God wants and Satan wants.
No wonder Paul cries out, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me?” If that were the end of the chapter, I’d say we were in serious trouble. But it is not, for he immediately answers his own question by telling us that in spite of the fact that the old sinful nature may win some major battles, it cannot win the war! Here, then, is our final point:
The converted individual will eventually experience final and complete victory in the war with sin.
And how will that victory come?
Deliverance will come through Jesus Christ our Lord. (25) “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” I think James Boice is right that the verb we supply to verse 25 must be in the future tense, just as the question in verse 24 is.[i] “Who will rescue me?” Jesus will rescue us. When? When He returns or when we go to be with Him. That’s when we will experience final and complete deliverance.
The focus here is not so much on the Cross as on the future resurrection. Jesus purchased our salvation by His death on the Cross, and we were positionally set free from slavery to sin at the Cross. But we will not be set free experientially until the great resurrection. If it is this future deliverance which the Apostle has primarily in mind, then it is not so puzzling why he ends the chapter as he does—on what seems like a negative note. He follows the giving of thanks for Christ’s deliverance with this summary conclusion: “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” The resurrection is assured, but it is not ours yet. The warfare continues, but the believer is upheld in the conflict by the assurance that finally there will be complete victory. But what about in the meantime?
In the meantime, daily battles are won (must be won) through the power of the Holy Spirit, plus other means God has provided: prayer, Bible study, obedience, etc. I don’t know if you have been reading ahead, but if you have, you have undoubtedly noticed that there is a very significant difference between Romans 7 & 8. From Rom. 7:7 through the end of the chapter—the entire section speaking of conflict with sin—there is not one mention of the Holy Spirit, but in chapter 8, a chapter about victory in the Christian experience, He is mentioned 18 times! On the other hand, chapter 7 mentions the Law 22 times while chapter 8 mentions it only 5 times.
It seems from this data that where the Law is prominent there is conflict; where the Holy Spirit is prominent there is victory. In the coming weeks we will have the delightful opportunity to examine how a believer can appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit in his life, as well as the other means God has provided to win the daily battles we all face.
Conclusion: I believe Romans 7 has performed some very important functions for us as struggling believers.
1. It has informed us that we are not Lone Rangers, unique in our struggle with sin.
2. It has devastated the humanistic notion that human nature is essentially good. That is not even true of the believer, much less the unbeliever.
3. It has destroyed any hope of our ever being sanctified by the Law. Another way to put it is that it has erased any idea that if only one will determine to do right, make resolutions, grit one’s teeth, and try harder, he can live a Christian life. It cannot be done without complete dependence upon the Holy Spirit.
4. It has made it clear that sanctification is not an awareness of how good we are becoming, but rather a growing sense of how sinful we really are.
Do not be confused. The war related to us in Romans 7 will be going on for as long as we are in these bodies. But the conflict is not sin; defeat is. God never asked us to live without conflict. He does demand that we abandon all notions of our own self-sufficiency, lean heavily upon Him for our strength and resources, undergo rigorous preparation, exercise constant alertness and dogged determination, and moment-by-moment trust in Him who alone can give us victory.
At the same time, He has also provided the means for victory—the condemnation of the sinful nature by the death of Christ, the assured hope of final deliverance by the resurrection, and the power of the Holy Spirit for each day’s battle.
DATE: April 9, 1995
Tags:
Sin
Sin nature
Sanctification
[i] James Montgomery Boice, Romans, Vol. 2, The Reign of Grace, Romans 5-8, 776.