Concluding Thoughts
Most who believe these passages in Romans refer to Paul’s experience as a Christian, will not take it at face value when he says, “I am sold as a slave to sin” and “I keep on doing” that which "I do not want to do." They twist, distort, and conform the text to their own experience, admitting that they CAN do many things, but that they just can't do some things, the very opposite of what Paul is asserting of himself in these verses in Rom. 7:15-20 of not continually being able to do that which he truly desired to do. Such a twisting and convolution of the Scriptures cannot be tolerated or allowed. Paul is stating here in unequivocal terms that he is a slave to sin, and who utterly lacks any power to do any good whatsoever until one turns to Christ as their Deliverer.
In Romans, chapters 6-8, we have a description of two types of people. One who is helplessly carnal and guilt laden with sin, until Christ gets a hold of him. Such a person has tried to be sanctified by the law, yet he is still duty-bound as a prisoner—as a slave—to the sin that one being under the Law can only incite them to do. In contrast, we have the new man and creature in Christ who has turned away from the world, the flesh and the devil. Unlike the previous individual described above in chapter 7, the believer has died to sin and is now alive unto God and unto righteousness which leads to holiness. He is now God’s slave. He is no longer a slave to sin. He who the Son sets free is truly free indeed! Free from what? Free from sin! Jesus told all such Pharisees as Paul, “I tell you the truth, everyone who [continually] sins is a slave to sin,” and that “a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever” (Jhn. 8:34-35; words in brackets show what the Greek is actually saying here). Are you a holy saint and son of God, or are you a slave to sin and the Devil? You are either one or the other, but not both. No one can serve two masters. For either you will hate the one and love the other; or hold to the one and despise the other. Pharisees were attempting to serve both God and mammon. And they didn’t even realize that in their unsaved condition they were attempting to serve God’s Law with their minds, but in their flesh they were actually serving the law of sin, just as Jesus described it of them. It took the apostle Paul, after his conversion, and as a former Pharisee, to explain in Romans just such a conundrum to all believing Jews who use to live under the Law. The freedom for which Christ said the Son sets us free from in Jhn. 8:36, is the freedom of all God’s sons that Paul talks about in Romans chapter 8, and even in chapter 6: “if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). Not slaves to sin, but “sons” with a permanent place to live!
The Consequences of a False View of These Verses in Romans 7
You do not have to look very far before finding the wounds inflicted in part at least by such a false understanding of Romans 7. As one person noted, a recent example was reported widely in the secular media that Sand Patti, one of the reigning queens of gospel music, was caught in adultery. In fact, she had been committing adultery for years during her ministry. If you had listened to her music, you might not have been surprised. On her Voyage Home CD, she sang a song reflecting Romans seven, but from her own perspective. While she sang, “but I do it, but I do it,” one couldn’t help but wonder what it was she was doing? It was obvious that she was secretly confessing the dominion that the lusts of her flesh had over her, and using Romans 7 to justify it. Not long after her marriage was destroyed, the tabloids proclaimed: “Number One Gospel Artist Caught Having An Affair!”
It is somewhat distressing that many others are able to relate to these passages in question in Romans 7 from the carnal, worldly perspective, and use it as an excuse for the reason for the sin that they do. Is it just possible, that they too, are silently confessing that they are really only carnal, sold as a slave to sin? Are they confessing that they desire to do good but find that they only continually practice evil, the very hallmarks of maybe one who is not really born of God at all? And worst yet, do they view this as the normal life for the believer? I hope not! But unfortunately many who take Paul’s experience here in Romans 7 as the normal Christian life are allowing themselves to succumb to that for which this chapter is just not asserting of the true believer who has been “born of God.” This I know—for my Bible tells me so—that such an individual “practices righteousness,” not unrighteousness. And I am afraid that it has become a strong deception that has given many only a further license or excuse for their sin.
As we noticed of the Romans 7 man, he affirmed: “I do not do….I cannot carry it out….this I keep doing…” (vv. 15-19); whereas, just the opposite is true of the Romans 6 and 8 man: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life….You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature [or flesh] but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you…” (6:22; 8:9). Similarly, in Phil. 2:13 Paul writes: “For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (AKJV). And, again, in chapter 4:13, he concludes, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me” (WEB). This isn’t to be restricted to just being able to live without things, though the context does refer to this; it is also about being able to no longer live and act like a person wholly of the flesh. There is nothing that we should not be able to do in Christ. This is why Paul could say that he now makes his body his “slave,” and not vice-versa (cf. 1Cor. 9:27).
As is very clear, the Romans 7 man is a description of one’s life as it use to be “under the law” and in bondage to sin. But by God’s Spirit enabling us to now “do of His good pleasure” as Paul describes for us in Philippians, we are meant to live the life of Enoch, Job, Daniel, and all those men and “holy women of old” (1Pet. 3:5) who “walked with God.” The contrast between the Romans 7 man, and those just noted who walk with God by His Spirit, exemplifies this glorious truth. The, "I cannot” before in the flesh, is now become in the Spirit, “I can.” And so, “I can” becomes the very experience in all that we do, described for us in Phil. 2:13 and 4:13. There is simply just nothing that we can do in and of ourselves, for “when I said, ‘my feet are slipping,’ your mercy, O LORD, continued to hold me up” (Psm. 94:18, GWT). “I cannot," now becomes…God can…and therefore…I can! I CAN [continually; present active indicative] do all things through Christ who strengthens [present active participle] me! It is no longer, “I continually cannot do,” but is, “I can continually do all things…through Christ who continually strengthens me! Believe it, receive it, and act upon it! Faithful is He who called you, and who also will do it (1Ths. 5:24).
As we await the day of the Lord, and if ever Peter’s last recorded exhortation below was ever applicable, it is now. As we await the day of the Lord, he cries:
Make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things which are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you might not be carried away by the error of lawless men, and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever, amen” (2Pet. 3:14b-18).
“His Divine Power
has given us everything
we need for life and godliness….
so that through them
you may participate in the Divine Nature
and escape the corruption
in the world caused by evil desires….
Add to your faith goodness…knowledge…self-control…perseverance…godliness…brotherly love….
they will keep you
from being ineffective and unproductive….
if anyone does not have them,
he is nearsighted and blind,
and has forgotten
that he has been cleansed
from his past sins”— 2Pet. 1:3-9
For further study and reading I would highly recommend Anthony Hoekema's The Christian Looks at Himself; Douglas Moo's commentary on The Epistle to the Romans; and also Adam Clarke's, Robert Gundry's, and Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones' verse by verse commentaries on Romans, chapter seven. Also of interest is my article on 18 reasons why Paul is not speaking of himself in his regenerate state in Romans 7. And my book, The Old Man in Adam vs. the New Man in Christ is also insightful. Please also click on this link for Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones' insightful comments on Romans 7, especially with regards to verses 14-25.
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