Roman 7:14-24:
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold cinto bondage to sin.
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from athe body of this death?
Many of us have heard the typical evangelical teaching on this subject. And most of us believe something like this:
I am powerless to control my sinful nature.
I do the bad things I hate to do and I can’t do the good things I want to do.
There is a constant battle going on inside me between my sin nature and what I know God wants me to do.
I must crucify my flesh every moment of every day to remain in good standing with God.
Sounds pretty hopeless, doesn’t it? And it is hopeless! You and I have no chance whatsoever of rising above this miserable state of being. That is, it is hopeless without Christ in our lives. The Apostle Paul says that without Christ our righteousness is like filthy rags.
Well, let me just cut to the chase and tell the truth as plainly as I can:
If you are a child of God, Romans 7 is not for you.
Yes! I hear you! You’re calling me a heretic! Good job!
Listen, before you run me out of town, or give me the left boot of fellowship, let me explain.
The popular thinking about Romans 7 has put an incredible burden on modern Christians, a burden that the enemy uses to keep us only marginally aware of the true power in the grace of Christ. We are fond of quoting “The things I want to do I don’t do and the things I do are the things I don’t want to do” with lament and anguish in our voices.
We settle for a life that is marginalized by a viewpoint that is actually totally unbiblical. We believe there is a battle inside us between our spirit – who wants to do good and obey God’s will – and some kind of sin nature that fights against that spirit.
In this series, which I think will consume maybe 5 or 6 episodes, I want to simply discuss the ideas behind this mentality and show that this common Romans 7 perception is simply unbiblical and therefore wrong. But I also want to show that a simple, black and white biblical understanding of this topic can release people from spiritual bondage and bring a whole new appreciation for the depth of the grace of Christ and what He has accomplished for us.
The argument goes: “I am only filthy rags. I am nothing without Jesus. I have this continual battle inside me between my sinful nature and my Spirit.”
This is nonsense! This is NOT what Romans 7 is talking about. It’s a lie from the enemy that keeps us beaten down and robs us of any hope that we might actually be able to rise above our existing mental or spiritual state. It may be true that without Christ we are incapable of doing anything right.
Be we are not without Christ!
We have the righteousness of Christ! My own righteousness (the filthy rags stuff) has been killed and buried, and my righteousness is now made of the same stuff as God’s own!
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
So we lament and cry that there is this evil person living inside us causing all kinds of mayhem, but we ignore the weight of scripture.
Our common misconception of Romans 7 says that my evil man is still inside me, struggling against the life of the Spirit in me, but there are many scriptures that say the exact opposite. And every one of those scriptures says my old evil self is dead and gone. It has been crucified, killed and buried with Christ. A corpse has no power. It has no life. How can it be still warring inside you?
So then how do we reconcile what Romans 7 seems to be plainly saying? We reconcile this by actually taking Romans 7 in context. The enemy knows he can’t stop us from studying scriptures, but one of the oldest weapons in his arsenal is taking scripture out of context. So, next time we’ll take a look at what Romans 7 actually says. It just might be different from what you’re experienced!