How Low Can You Go? Series

The gym I frequent once placed a “Do Not Touch” sign on the temperature control box outside that goes from low 1 to high 10, due to patrons incessantly adjusting the temperature in the room. It did not work; even the sign disappeared! I suggested a “Wet Paint” sign would have done a better job. In today’s language, we say “I can’t help it” or “I can’t help myself.”

The human heart is worse than a can of worms. It does more damage than germs, viruses and diseases, playing its Jekyll and Hyde drama, tug of war sport, yes and no game in us all the time.

The dilemma of man and his struggle with sin, as exposed and expounded in verse 15, is so exquisite and intricate in Greek. There are basically only three “do” words in verse 15 - all at the end of a sentence; the “want to do” expression is merely “wish” in Greek. Verse 15 in Greek says: “For that I do (work out), not I know; for that I wish, not that I do. But what I hate, that I do.”

Paul says he does not “understand” or “ginosko” (know) what he is “doing” (1st “do”), the Greek word for “kat-ergazomai” means “work fully, work out, work through.” It has the “kata” preposition, meaning “against,” “through” or “out.”

Paul does not understand why he purposefully and preferentially do the wrong thing and make the bad choices – to its full extent or maximum limits bare. Further, there is no holding him back from testing the waters and pushing the boundaries. This “do” had to do with its extent, degree or scope – the edge. Understanding this helps readers to unravel the passage, because the word occurs five times in the chapter (Rom 7:13 –“produced”, 15 – “what I do”, 17 –“do”, 18 – “do”, 20 – “I who do it”).

The second do (complicated by NIV) has to with its regularity, typified by the last “do” (prasso) in verse 15 (“not do”). The last two “do’s” before this “prasso” word do not occur in Greek; it just means “wish.” Greek is simply “For not that I wish, I practice (prasso).” “Prasso” (vv 15, 19) is praxis/practice, to perform repeatedly or habitually, the same word translated as “keep on doing” in verse 19. Paul laments he cannot consistently practice good behavior. Good behavior is in bits and pieces, in fits and spurts, switched off and on.

The third “do” (poieo) is the decisive and outcome “do,” which occurs five times in the passage (Rom 7:15, 16, 19, 20, 21).

We do things contrary to our desire and profession to do well - in its complete extreme, constant exercise and conventional end. We sin to no end, we sin at all times and we sin to foregone conclusion. In the end he ended up returning to what he “does not want” or “hates” (miseo) (v 15) to do - precursor to the word “miso-gynist,” means to hate, detest. It is the “I hate to do it” or “I hate myself for it” syndrome. How complex, conflicted and contradictory. Doing right is a titanic struggle and an uphill struggle; doing wrong is a short step or a minor slip. The Chinese says, “Doing right requires ten years, doing bad requires just one minute.” The previous Chinese generation says, “Kids take three days to learn bad, three years to learn good.” Some have modified to say kids take three minutes or even there seconds to learn bad.