So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand…Wretched man that I am!…Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 7:14-26.

These words of the apostle Paul are well known. But about which period in his life is the apostle speaking here? Is it about the time before or after his conversion? Can he, as an unconverted person, rejoice about salvation through Christ (v. 25)? Surely not! But then the question immediately arises: can he then, as a believing person, say about himself, “Wretched man that I am!”? It is not possible, is it, that someone who believes, who desires to do good, repeatedly must conclude that there is a power stronger than he is: sin! Has he not been redeemed from that? So about which period in his life is the apostle speaking? The answer to that question is of great importance to us in our view of life through the Spirit, the life as a Christian.

Because there are authors who support their understandings from the whole of the letter and from chapters 6 and 8, let us take a somewhat broad approach and make the decision to begin with only a few remarks on Romans 8.

Synagogue and Congregation⤒🔗

In Paul’s days, Rome recognized a large Jewish sector, impressive and respected. The Christian church, on the contrary, consisted of people who were formerly heathens and it was small. The relationship between the two of them forms an important background to the letter to the Romans (J. van Bruggen). The Christian congregation looked up very much to the mighty synagogue of the Jews. The Jews had influence in society and they were the people of God from of old. They had the law and circumcision.

The apostle shows that there need not be any question of jealousy. He is not a Jew, so he explains it to the congregation who appears to be one outwardly, and circumcision is not that which happens to the flesh outwardly, but he is a Jew who “is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart (Rom. 2:28).

But did the Jews not have the law? Yes, they did, but they also had to keep it! And the Jews are, in themselves, just as all others who are not Jews, sinners who deserve God’s judgment (Rom. 3:9). They do not receive exoneration from judgment through the law. That exoneration comes only apart from the law, through Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21.). Through faith in him, all Christians may receive redemption and peace with God. All Christians! Circumcised and uncircumcised. All sons and daughters of Adam who believe in Christ (Rom. 5:12-21).

Being Made Holy Through the Law?←⤒🔗

The work of Christ is unimaginably rich. He gave his life and arose from the dead. His death and resurrection have meaning, not only for our acquittal. They also lead us to a holy life. For if Christ died to “sin”, how can we then yet live in “sin”? And if Christ rose up to a new life, shall we then not present our members in the service of God (Rom. 6:1-14)? For, if we are no longer subject to the punishment and curse of the law, then surely we are destined to live under grace, for God!

But, how must you do that as heathen-Christian, live for God and in the service of God, in that degenerate Roman society? Did not the Jews with their law still have an advantage? Would not the Jewish law be an excellent aid in the necessary sanctification? Is the new life not about a life in accordance with the law? God’s law!

Yes, it was God’s law. And it remains so! The life of the Christian must indeed be directed according to the law of God, but that law is not the driving force. The congregation does not attribute or give thanks for her sanctification to the law. To illustrate this, the apostle gives an image. The law itself, Paul writes, says that a woman is bound to her husband as long as that man lives. But when he dies, she is no longer bound to him. This is the way it is with the Christian and the law. You died, with Christ. At that time you were released from your ties to the law. It can no longer condemn you. You are dead to it. You are no longer “under” the law. There is now Another to whom you are bound; after your resurrection from the dead, you are now governed by him who raised you up from death, Jesus Christ. You are “under” Him. He will renew you, so that you begin to live according to the law of God, the law of love, the law of the Spirit of life (Rom. 7:1-6).

The congregation in Rome thus has no necessity to be jealous of the synagogue. For their sanctification, they are not directed to the law, but to Christ and his Spirit (Jer. 31).

But the apostle already hears the counter arguments! Is the law then something to be rejected? Must we dismiss it as quickly as possible? No, says Paul, that is not what we should do, for the law is holy and righteous and good. The problem is not in the law, but in us! While the law teaches us what is sin and what we therefore must flee from, we are put together in such a way that the command to shun something arouses in us the desire to do the forbidden. We cannot blame the law for this. That is our depravity, our sinfulness!

The law, says Paul, became my death, the law, at which you looked so jealously — and which is holy and righteous and good! — it only brought me further from home. Through the law I learned how depraved I was. And it worked in a contrary way: it only made sin more alive in me! Not because it was evil, but because I am full of iniquity!

Christian Experience←⤒🔗

Now we come to the section that especially holds our attention in this article.

It is noteworthy how personally the apostle speaks, in first person singular “I” and “me”. He calls upon his experience as a Christian and on that of his brothers and sisters. We know, he writes, that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold to sin. And in verse 18, once more, “For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh.” And in verse 25 he concludes, “So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

Paul points to the experience that God’s children know. He lets us see that things in the life of a Christian are not always simple, so that you know exactly what you are doing. It occurs that you do something totally different from what you wanted and planned, and that the sum total of your action is exactly what you precisely did not want! Then you see that you, as Christian, can desire to live according to God’s law, but that this is not sufficient. There appears to be a stronger power that still brings you into sinning, a power that forces you to do that which you do not desire at all!

I am not saying that it is always this way for a Christian. That is also not the intention of the apostle: saying that we as believers would never do the good that we desire to do. We confess that all our works, even the best, are imperfect and defiled by sin. But that does not necessarily always happen in the concrete manner of Romans 7. The reasoning and confession of the apostle does not demand this explanation either. Stronger yet, in chapter 8 Paul will say that we, thanks to Jesus Christ, not only desire to do good, but also walk according to the Spirit (v. 4). And does not the apostle, also in other places, write about the fruit of the Spirit which is truly found in our lives and about our new life which is not a fiasco at all?!

Paul does not say that nothing positive ever comes from our hands. Paul does point out the more than incidental experience (pay attention to “dwells” in verse 20 and “law” in verse 21) that the good comes to nothing. In that you see how strong the power of sin is in your life, also in your redeemed life. You do not do what you want to do, and you do things that you do not want. Thereby, says Paul, you learn that you cannot make it with only the law and a heap of good will, even if you are a child of God, even when you believe in Christ. You stand powerless with regard to sin. You need the Spirit of Christ! Think about Jeremiah 31: the Israel of the Old Testament ran aground, even though they had the law. It is the Spirit who writes God’s law in our hearts and enables us to do it.

Unconverted or Converted←⤒🔗

I spoke earlier about Paul’s experiences as “Christian”. In doing so, I introduced a preview on the question which had to be dealt with separately: does Paul speak here about his life as an unbeliever or his life as a Christian? Among the commentators, there is a difference of opinion on this point. There are some who say that it must be about his life prior to conversion. In verse 14, it states, “I am of flesh, sold under sin”. And when Paul writes that he desires intensely to live under God’s law, but that he cannot succeed, then that can only refer to the time when the Spirit of Christ did not yet live in him, for otherwise that Spirit would conquer the evil. His life could not remain such a refuse heap if he truly was a Christian. They say that it is about Paul, still in the power of the flesh, still in the grip of sin, here.

Yet, I do not believe at all that in Romans 7 Paul is speaking about his life before he came to faith in Christ. He is not writing about himself, describing how he used to be long ago. He is speaking about himself in the present time! I am “flesh”. What I do not “desire”, that I “do”. I “am”, with my understanding, subservient to the law of God. In my members another law “wages” war.

Also “what” Paul writes, does not fit with being unconverted and without faith, for all inability to do what he desires does not take away that he “desires” the good, that he even “takes delight” in God’s law. These are not expressions that fit with someone who is in the flesh. The flesh does not desire good. It does not rejoice in the law of God. The inclination of the flesh, as Paul writes in chapter 8, is enmity towards God and is not submission to the law of God. And in verse 18, Paul corrects himself; it is not all doom and gloom in him: I know that within me, “that is, in my flesh”, nothing good dwells. There is in Paul that which is indeed good: his deepest desire is to serve the Lord. That comes only through Christ.

The “I” of Romans 7 is not an unconverted man or an unbeliever. He himself can rejoice in the redemption through Christ in verse 25! That is not an unconnected rejoicing: in Chapter 8, Paul continues in this vein: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. Also the apostle is freed from the law — from its compelling power! — from sin. Not through the Jewish law, which the Christians in Rome viewed so jealously, but through the Spirit of Christ. What the law could not do, that God has done in the life of Paul though his Son (Jer. 31)!

What about verse 14 then, “I am of flesh, sold under sin”? And the idea, that which I desire to do for the Lord, never works out?

First of all, “I am of flesh”. That is not the same as “in the flesh”. For Paul “in the flesh” indicates being unregenerate, you are still in the grip of sin. But “of flesh” is something you can also be as a “spiritual” person. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul writes to the congregation in Corinth that they truly are “brothers” (3:1) and that the grace of God has been given to them (1:4), but that they are still people “of flesh” (3:1-3). Children of God also sin and sometimes it is very difficult to have them desist. At times, they can live as if they were not regenerated. “Of flesh” is how Paul refers to himself in Romans 7. Although he is a Christian, there is yet much sin in him.

“Sold under sin”. That is a powerful expression. In the Old Testament, it speaks about people who “have sold themselves” to do what is evil in God’s eyes: for example, the godless Ahab (1 Kings 21:20, 25; 2 Kings 17:17). There it is about somebody who wants nothing to do with God. The difference between those people and Paul in Romans 7 is that Ahab sold himself to sin whereas Paul, contrary to his will, feels himself sold under sin. He struggles against it, but sin is too strong for him. In his case, it is about a totally different “sold under sin” than in the case of Ahab and suchlike ungodly men (J. Murray).

Moreover, someone who is unregenerate does not know the tension under which Paul feels himself torn apart. The battle between Spirit and flesh is not a battle felt by the unregenerate. It is a battle that you must wage when you believe and are growing in faith!

Of Importance←⤒🔗

The “I” of Romans 7 is therefore the Christian Paul! Why would I dwell on this single fact for so long?

This is important for two reasons, first of all, for our view of the unregenerated person. If you say that Paul, in Romans 7, speaks about the unconverted person, you assume, as point of departure, that such an unconverted person already can have a deep longing to live according to God’s law. This means that he is therefore not living in darkness (Eph. 5:8), is not dead in transgressions and sin (Eph. 2:1), but that there can be much light in him. He no longer has to be reborn and made alive (John 3:3, 5; Eph. 2:6), but he only needs help in order to be made better. It would mean that man can desire good, perfectly, himself, but only that his execution is faulty. Meanwhile the Bible says that God must work in us, not only the works, but also the desire (Phil. 2:13). Whoever thinks that Romans 7 is about an unregenerated person, does not have good insight into God’s grace; he does not see it as grace for people who are enemies of God and wicked (Rom. 5:6-10). He is acting as if those who are unregenerate can already do (and desire to do) much that is good.

The second thing that is of importance is the view of our Christian life. Such romantic and idealistic views of that life can be brought into being, as if, in the Christian life, only joy and growth are present. As if whoever believes, no longer has to contend with Satan, and is no longer troubled by sin. As if you can grow beyond that! And also, as if every sin which still entangles you would be a proof that you are not yet a Christian. That perfectionism can give rise to and feed a heap of insecurity and anxiety in yourself every time that you feel yourself powerless in your life with God. Also your environment can use this as a whip: driving you to more and more and more, a pursuit without rest.

How gracious it is then to hear Paul speak from his own experience. Here we do not have a perfect Christian who only laughs and grows spiritually. But we have one who knows from experience about contrary forces and who knows what it is to be torn apart. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me”, he calls out. The battle of God’s children can be murderous. If you then have only the law and a portion of good will, you will totally get stuck. It is marvellous to be allowed to know: Christ, your redemptive dying remains the point of rest of my heart. Your good Spirit is my guide through the uneven ground of my temptations and my sin.

Not Passivity but Humility←⤒🔗

There are groups of people who steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that the “I” of Romans 7 could be a Christian. They also refuse to accept what I wrote about the imperfection that clings to us until our death. That, they say, feeds only passivity and resignation. In that case you have much too little expectation of Christ and of the Spirit. By that method of reasoning, they say, you are soothed to sleep, “ah, sin doesn’t matter, it is normal”.

Is that indeed the attitude that Paul teaches us in Romans 7? Is that the picture of him who rises before us in this chapter? A Christian who shifts all responsibility from himself and who hides behind a dark power from outside?

In the first place, we notice that Paul does not blame Christ or his Spirit for anything. He specifically confesses Christ as his Redeemer: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” It is his Spirit, the Spirit of life, who frees us from the power and the law of sin.

Paul does not point his arrows at the law either, as in: the law demands way too much and casts me into misfortune. No, he sings the praise of the law. It is holy and righteous and good. It is spiritual, he says in verse 14. It comes from God and it is good.

So: Christ cannot be blamed for anything; the law cannot be blamed for anything. Who bears the blame?

It appears as if the apostle places the blame on sin, sin as a power outside of himself, beyond his control. In verse 17 and 20, we read: “Now if I do what I do not want…I do not do the good I want…it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me”.

Then it is not I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me. Is not Paul, in this manner, shifting the blame to something outside of himself? It appears so. But look closely at the manner in which Paul writes, for he is speaking about the sin that dwells in him. They are my members in which the law of sin rages. And Paul writes: “I” do the evil; verse 26: “with my flesh I serve the law of sin”. And he calls out “Wretched man that I am!” Similarly, he began in verse 14, “I am of the flesh”. Paul does not place himself out of the line of fire. He does not even shift the blame for the sin in which he was born, to someone else!

I must say it, still more vehemently. You might be able to think that Paul says: my desire is good, but sin is present in my body or in my external functioning, in “my flesh” and in my concrete “actions”. But that is not what he means either. His “flesh” is not his body, but his total being as a sinful man who carries the consequences of sin along with him; he carries them in his body, but also in his soul and spirit and will.

And it is also not so that Paul would say that his will is always good. He is, with his flesh, that is, with all of his being, enslaved to the law of sin. Because of that he also “desires” wrong things, things that are not in accord with his Christian will, things which revolt the Lord. Paul’s sins truly do not always occur outside of his will!

Not Submission But Struggle←⤒🔗

Paul does not lay the blame on sin as a power outside of himself. But he does clearly differentiate between himself and the sin, “not I, but the sin that dwells in me”. And does he not speak about what he does, but does not desire to do?

Indeed. And that we also may not quickly skim over. We saw that Paul is not a victim without a will of his own. Sometimes he even submits himself to sin, but often, he distances himself from it. Then he says: not I, but sin or according to “my inner being” — that is to say, in my deepest being, I delight in the law of God and not in the law of sin. Very often I do exactly what I do not want.

We do not see an apostle here who has reconciled himself to his sin and no longer struggles against it. We hear that, with his flesh, he is enslaved to the law of sin, but that he is also, with his understanding ruled by the Spirit, in service to the law of God. In his members, he sees sin carrying on its battle, but in his inner being, he delights in the law of God. He desires the good. Within him, there is no submission, but rather a struggle! Visibly characteristic of the Christian life is the battle of the flesh and the Spirit, the battle for our hearts between the law of sin and the law of God. Thus no one can make reference to Romans 7 in order to evade the battle of faith or in order to withdraw himself from the law of God. The one speaking here is not a soulless or will-less apostle, but rather one who focuses on living according to God’s will and who hates sin and, from the heart, distances himself from it (not I, but the sin).

Deliverance←⤒🔗

Paul feels torn: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

He himself gives the answer: deliverance does not come through my death, but through Jesus Christ, our Lord! Through his Spirit, he frees us from the law of sin and from death. What the law could not do, that God did through his Son and through his Spirit. He writes the law on the table of our hearts. We begin to walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Does that mean that the Lord Jesus takes away from us the struggle that Paul describes in Romans 7? Yes, he will do that. In God’s new world, it will not trouble us any more. Then the children of God will live in a glorious freedom. Then we will be delivered from all that pulls us down here, from sin and its consequences, from all brokenness, corruption and fruitlessness. Then sin will not have any power over us anymore, not even over our flesh.

But it is not yet that far. Christ causes us to live, here and now already, according to God’s law. But this life remains a struggle. Immediately after his shout of exultation at his deliverance in verse 25, Paul says, “So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” That is characteristic of life when you know Christ and believe in him.

With Christ the battle is not yet past. We have not yet reached the end of it. But thanks be to him, there is an end! For the person who is in Christ, how the battle will end no longer needs to be in question. In Christ, we are more than conquerors. This does not remove the struggle and difficulty of today, but it does place it in the light of deliverance! We may walk in that light, also in the middle of all brokenness and sighing.

That is what strikes us in the next chapter, Romans 8. This is a powerful chapter which speaks about the redemption God grants in his Son and through his Spirit. But it is also the chapter about the creation which groans (v. 22) and of the believers who receive the Spirit and groan (v. 23), of the Spirit himself who groans (v. 26). All look forward to the deliverance from this broken existence, to the complete deliverance from sin and all its consequences.

There are those who apply Romans 7 to the unconverted person, and not to the believer. The believers should no longer have to struggle with sin and its consequences in this way. They should be able to become perfect. It is one of the characteristics of such perfectionism that they place all their cards on the here and now. The spiritual joy is now. Among them, the looking forward to and longing for the future dies. Enjoyment is here and now already!

The outstanding characteristic of the life of the Christian is looking forward. We are, so Paul writes in Romans 8, saved “in hope”. This hope is not yet seen (v. 24). Now we are still greatly hindered by the sin that clings to all our works, but we know that deliverance is coming and we look forward to it. It is a hope that softens all our sorrows and that causes us to persevere in the struggle. We know that the victory belongs to our Saviour. He delivers us out of our deadly existence. His Spirit is the Spirit of life. He gives rest and strength to live holy lives according to the law of God.