Romans 7:14-15
Romans 7:14 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.
Not only is the law holy, righteous, and good. It is also spiritual, and that is the opposite of what I am.
I am fleshly (the Greek in v. 14 literally means "fleshly" rather than "unspiritual").
And since I'm now aware of sin through the law I, like Paul, find myself hating sin but doing it anyway.
Is Paul describing himself and his experience in the past, present, or future. What tense is he using?
THE HISTORICAL PRESENT
There is a verb usage called the "Historical Present" tense. We use it in casual English fot story telling. For example, “
I remember that car accident very well. I'm driving along minding my own business, when out of nowhere a semi approaches me from a thick fog.”
That story teller used present tense verbs...
• I AM driving
• I AM minding
• A semi approaches
... to describe historical events.
That, I believe, is what Paul used in these verses. He's describing the past as if it were present. He is still talking about the way things were for him before Christ even though he's saying "I am..." as if it were the present. That is the "Historical Present."
Even though Paul was freed from sin’s mastery, he kept acting like he was still sin's slave.
I do that too.
There was a similar problem in the late 1800s - after the Civil War and after slavery was made illegal. Many slaves stayed with their masters - even with bad, abusive masters – though they knew that law said they could go free.
Slavery to a master was familiar life to them. It was the only life they knew. You’ve got to imagine that at some level these slave desired freedom, but they continued with what they knew. Something inside them (familiarity? fear?) caused them to not pursue the very thing that was best for them and which they desired - freedom.
And get this:
Anti-slavery laws didn’t make them free; it only made them able to be free.The ultimate purpose of the Law was to bring us life (Lev. 18:5; Deut. 4:1). Its purpose was to free us from slavery to sin.
But it couldn't accomplish that purpose because sin feeds off of law, takes control, and brings us death instead.
Each time I am exposed to the law, sin is stirred up. Paul explained it succinctly 1Cor 15:56, "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law."
There's only one hope, and that is to receive life without law.
Romans 7:16
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
The wording of this verse is difficult. I do sinful things even though I wish I didn't do them. My desire to not do them – that is, my regret and my disturbed conscience – show that I know the Law is good. Otherwise I wouldn't be troubled by my sin.
My desire has shifted. Before the Law, I wanted to sin. Now that the law exposed sin’s futility, I still sin but I don’t want to sin. The law is doing its job - driving me toward grace, where I can find righteousness apart from law. The problem is, Law can't change behavior.
Romans 7:17
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
Paul has already described sin as an independent entity, with its own evil desires (Romans 6:12).
Now he says that when I sin I no longer sin willfully. I am not doing the bad stuff, it is sin living in me is doing it.
I know....it makes me uncomfortable, too. We don't want to advocate a "devil made me do it" attitude. Yet Paul clearly says "it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me."
When I read that translation of Paul's words, so I poured through every English translation I could find and then consulted the Geek text directly. That's exactly what it says. Sin in me is doing evil. I am not.
Romans 7:18-23
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. 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.
Look at the change Paul has gone through!
- In Rom 7:8, Paul said "sin produced in me every kind of covetous desire." He desired sin.
- Now Rom in 7:18 he said, "I have the desire to do what is good." He now desires to please God, to live righteously, to not sin!
Paul suggests here that someone who has encountered law and realized that it is good never wants to do what God has prohibited. That's what happens when you encounter the law head-on.
But there's still one problem. Paul wants to be righteous, but he has no internal ability to fulfill that righteous desire. He keeps doing evil even though he doesn't want to.
So, what went wrong? Paul's explanation in v. 20, (also in v. 17) is, "It is no longer I" who does the bad stuff. It is Sin living in me" does it. He still has this sin problem. There is still this alien power, a force that he calls sin, a great beast lying still within us until touched by the commandment of the Law.
Sin will win over willpower, and we will do the evil that we swore we would never to do.
The sin problem hasn't been remedied yet. The Law only fixed our desires, not our actions.
This is right where we live, isn't it? This is what we all struggle with. I set out to do good - I'm confident I can and will do good, and WHAM-O! Evil takes the steering wheel and drives me off course.
The cry of the heart at that moment is in the next verse.
Romans 7:24
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
"WHAT AN IDIOT! I'M SUCH A STUPID LOSER
!"
That's my heart's cry right then, and it has been my heart's cry many, many, times.
"THIS IS USELESS! I'M WORTHLESS! I MAY AS WELL GIVE UP!!!"
What is this? My spirit at that moment is poor - depraved and destitute, really. Have you felt that way?
The good thing is that those cries reveal that your desires are righteous. They just don't match your actions because you still have this sin entity living in your flesh.
This is exactly where Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount by clarifying that those who are poor in spirit are blessed because the kingdom of heaven is theirs (Matt 5:3).
Blessed is the person who comes to the end of himself. Blessed is the person who has arrived at spiritual bankruptcy. Blessed is the person who realizes he is helpless.
And that is the point - the only point - where God can help you. You must encounter the law and grapple with sin directly before He can save you.
And from within that dark place, we cry out – “Who will rescue me? I am powerless. I need help!” That's verse 24 reworded.
I picture God sitting there on His throne, waiting with eager expectation for each and every cry like that so that He can provide the solution!!
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 flesh a slave to the law of sin.
Here’s the answer! God will do it through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's where life outside of law will be found.
That last sentence of Paul's paragraph is the explanation: "
In my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the flesh a slave to the law of sin."
My mind is enslaved to the law.
My flesh is enslaved to sin.
The spirit and flesh are at war.
The New Living Translation does a great job of paraphrasing that verse: Galatians 5:17, which describes the conflict:
T
he flesh wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the flesh desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.
Thank God that He has rescued me through Christ Jesus my Lord!
Romans 8:1-2
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
In Christ, we are no longer slaves to the law or to sin, and without the law there is nothing to condemn us!
The opening word of this chapter, "Therefore” shows that the next thoughts are a direct continuation of what Paul has been writing.
Therefore (because my awareness of sin led me to the law, the law showed me I needed rescued, and I was rescued in Christ Jesus), I am no longer condemned for my sin!
"Law" in v.2 is used in the sense of "principle truth," like the phrase "law of gravity."
The “law of the Spirit of Life” refers to the fundamental truth that we can become alive through the Holy Spirit.
That truth broke my bondage to sin and death. In other words, with what Paul has taught us about law and sin and flesh, we can see that godly fleshly life is impossible. This body of mine is a body of sin and death. The only solution is to find spiritual life rather than fleshly life. That is the law of the spirit of life. Body of death, spirit of life.
Don't miss this: The English text doesn't communicate as clearly as the Greek text does, but Paul is saying "Give up on life in the flesh. Life in the spirit is the solution."
Sure, the Holy Spirit is part of how that happens, but contrary to the capital "S" in the translations, I believe right here he's contrasting my flesh and my spirit rather than my flesh and the Holy Spirit.
In which one do I want to find life?
Romans 8:3-4
3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The Law is holy (Romans 7:12). Jesus’ sacrifice did what the law couldn't do because our flesh was in the way.
What exactly did Jesus accomplish through His sacrifice that the law couldn’t do? He enabled us to be righteous – “the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (v.4)?
Here too, in my opinion, the flow of thought suggests that he's talking about "my spirit" in contrast to "my flesh" rather than "the Spirit." The Holy Spirit empowers that, as we know. But I don't think he's mentioning that quite yet.
It says here that Jesus condemned sin in sinful man (not the man himself). Sin itself was judged and found guilty and condemned so that it no longer had a hold on me. After sin was condemned in Jesus’ flesh, He bore the consequence (death) that we deserved.
So we who are in Christ have already had that penalty taken care of. Jesus became our sin offering, which meant He was slaughtered to take away our sins.
The Sin Offering was a bull, female lamb or goat, two pigeons or doves (for those who couldn’t afford an animal), or even flour (for those who couldn’t afford birds). Everyone could participate! It was slaughtered/offered on behalf of the peoples’ sins, making atonement for them. After it was slaughtered, the offering became holy and they were to eat it.
Jesus’ sinless life in the form of a sinful man allowed Him to be an acceptable sacrifice to God for our sins. It enabled us to be declared righteous by God and to receive His righteousness as our own.
Remember, our receiving “righteousness from God” (1:17) is the theme throughout Romans.
Now, v. 4 says, the righteous requirements of the law are fully met in us. Now we have spiritual life rather than fleshly life.
What does that mean in this context, to "live according to the spirit?" The answer will come in v. 5.
