Ripped Out of Context: The Christian's Internal Struggle (Rom 7)
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INTRODUCTION (UNBLACK SLIDE)
We all know what it’s like to have struggles with sin. This is part of the battle that we face each and every day. And we get so frustrated with ourselves whenever we give into the same temptation time and time again. Because of how much we all identify with that struggle, we commonly point to as the example of this problem.
Let’s read . We will look at the rest of the context shortly. :
[19] For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (ESV)
We read this passage, and we can often think to ourselves, “see, even Paul struggled with sin as we do,” and then we feel so much better about ourselves falling into sin as we do. But it may surprise you. Paul in this passage is not talking about the struggles that he was having against sin as a Christian. He was talking about something else.
The quick response to this may be: Paul is speaking in the present texts here… And this is true. But the fact that Paul speaks in the present tense through this verse and the rest of the section (vv. 13-34) does not, in and of itself prove, that Paul was speaking of his life as a Christian at the time he was writing this section. This way of speaking (first person, present) is not uncommon as a literary or rhetorical device to make a bigger point.
We can back up a little in the context to see how Paul was setting up this section, and as he goes through this chapter, you can see that he is talking about another time in his life to describe a man who is living in the flesh and is under the law in order to give a more general point about all who are in this condition.
Let’s go through this context to see this. by summing up chapter 6 with an illustration. He gives us an illustration of a husband and wife. He states that as long as the husband is alive, the wife is bound to the husband by law. But if the death of her husband occurs, she is free from that law. Also, if the wife marries another while she is still under law to her husband, she becomes an adulteress. This will be the case unless her husband dies. Then and only then can she marry another. So then, Paul makes an application of this illustration to the Romans in verse 4:
[4] Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
Paul is showing them that whenever they were baptized into Christ, a death occurred. They died with Christ, so that now, upon being raised into newness of life, they now could live according to the Spirit, bearing fruit to God, no longer being under the law. The law no longer had power over them.
Then in verses 5 and 6, Paul sets up a contrast that he will take us through the rest of chapter 7 and into chapter 8.
[5] For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. [6] But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. ( ESV)
In verse 5, Paul speaks of the time before being united with Christ, when they (and he) were still living in the flesh, showing that when they were in the flesh, their sinful passions used the law to enslave them and to bear fruit to death (most would agree Paul is talking about his pre-Christian life here). This is an overview of what he tells us in the rest of chapter 7.
Then, in verse 6, having been released from the law, there is now hope. We are not captives any longer. There is no condemnation. We can now serve God, live in newness of life, in the way of the Spirit and not under the law (This is an overview of chapter 8, which we studied in last week’s lesson).
CONTRASTS BETWEEN CHS 7 & 8
With these verses in mind, let’s continue by looking at some of the contrasts that he makes between the person under the law who is under bondage in chapter 7 and the person who is led by the Spirit in ch8. The chapter break between chapters 7 and 8 is not ideal because if you don’t read these two chapters together, you can miss the contrasts that Paul is making.
When we read these chapters together, we find a contrast that cannot be ignored that shows that it is just not possible for both chapters to be talking about the same person. Both chapters cannot be talking about the life of a Christian. Let’s begin in .
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In 7:17 Paul speaks of “sin which dwells in me.” In 7:18 he says that “nothing good dwells in me.”
Compare that to 8:9-11, where the Spirit and Christ are said to dwell in the child of God. And even later in the book, in , where Paul, speaking of the Roman Christians, says that they are “full of goodness.” One of the fruits of the Spirit is goodness also.
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In 7:14, Paul says that the man under the law is “sold into bondage to sin.” The are enslaved. In 7:23, he is becoming a prisoner.
Compare that to 8:1 that shows we are set free from the law of sin, and also 8:14-15, where Paul says that those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. They did not receive a spirit of slavery
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In 7:9 and 7:13 that describe the man in ch7 as being dead.
Compare that to 8:1 where we are told that there is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and 8:10 which says that our spirit is alive.
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In 7:15, we are told that this man is not practicing what he should be practicing, but what he should not be practicing. You see a picture painted that this man is living in sin… walking in the flesh…
In 8:4, we see that the Spirit-led Christian is walking according to the Spirit, and in 8:13-14, the Christian is said to “by the Spirit can put to death the deeds of the body.”
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When you look at the contrasts between these two chapters, you see that these two chapters cannot be talking about the same person. Chapter 8 is talking about the spirit-led Christian who has God’s Spirit dwelling in them, has life, is not under bondage, and is walking in the ways of the Spirit. And in chapter 7, we have a man who is described as being enslaved to sin, dead, practicing evil, and having nothing good within him. Only sin. This is not even all of the contrasts Paul makes! These phrases in chapter 7 don’t describe a Spirit-led Christian. If this is describing a Christian, not only would this contradict the picture of the Spirit-led Christian in ch8, but it would also contradict other passages of scripture that show that a child of God does not practice sin. Christians are not wretched enslaved sinners. We are saints of the most-high God. We are His children, fellow heirs with Christ.
CONCLUSION
All of this is to say, 7:19 is right in the middle of this context where Paul is talking about this man living in sin and enslaved. If we read this passage and identify ourselves in this passage, then this is not a good thing! Even this passage itself is showing us a picture of someone who keeps on doing evil. Some translations even say, “I am practicing the evil I don’t want to do.” The Apostle John, as we have seen in our class, says that the child of God does not practice sin.
This is not a good passage to use to talk about our struggles with sin as we fight in the daily wars that we do against it. From it’s context, we see that it is a passage describing a defeated and hopeless who needs Jesus Christ to deliver Him from his terrible condition. To say Paul is describing a Spirit-led Christian is misusing the passage.
But once again, none of this is to say that Christians never struggle with sin or commit sin (). We do. We struggle with it every day. This passage is just not talking about a Christian’s struggle against sin, it is describing a man who is fighting a losing battle.
But there may be some here that this passage may apply to:
1. If you have come to understand what God expects of you and see that you have not yet obeyed the Gospel yet, you may be right now saying, “this passage describes how I feel.” It should make you feel this way, because Paul is talking about the one who is enslaved to sin and is desperate for God’s mercy that only comes by obeying the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. If you are a Christian who thinks you must keep the law perfectly to be saved or if we believe we are saved by our works. No matter how hard you try, you will not be able to be perfect. You will still sin, and with this kind of mindset, you will put yourself into the same condition as the man under the law in , enslaved to the law that you cannot ever perfectly obey.
3. If you are one who is not being faithful as a disciple. If you have fallen into sin and have been re-enslaved to it. Paul shows in that a Christian can become servants of sin once again and die spiritually.
If you believe that you are in one of these groups, we are here for you today to help you obey the Gospel or to return to the Lord. If there is anything we can do to be of service to you, why don’t you make your need known while together we stand and sing?