Tommy Lasorda, the former Los Angeles Dodgers manager, once described his battle with bad habits: “I took a pack of cigarettes from my pocket, stared at it and said, “Who’s stronger, you or me?” The answer was me. I stopped smoking. Then I took a vodka martini and said to it, “Who’s stronger, you or me?” Again the answer was me. I quit drinking. Then I went on a diet. I looked at a big plate of linguine with clam sauce and said, “Who’s stronger, you or me?” And a little clam looked up at me and answered, “I am.” I can’t beat linguine.
How many of you here this morning can identify with Tommy Lasorda? How many of you have done battle with some bad habit or some sin, only to find out that you couldn’t beat it? And my guess is that was not just the case before you became a disciple of Jesus and that you still have those battles in your life from time to time even after putting your faith in Jesus. I say that because I don’t know of one single Christian, and I’m including myself, who has experienced complete victory over sin even though, as we have seen in our study of Romans, we have been freed from the penalty and power of sin by being united with Jesus.
But, as we’re going to see this morning, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I am confident that I’ll be able to show you this morning that the fact that you have those kind of battles in your life is actually a very healthy thing and even evidence of your spiritual maturity. And even more importantly, we’ll see that there is hope that we can actual prevail in those struggles.
We have a lot to cover this morning, so go ahead and open your Bibles to Romans chapter 7. I was originally going to break this last section of chapter 7 into two separate sermons, but it became apparent very quickly that we need to look at this whole section as one unit. So you can follow along as I begin in verse 14 and read through the end of the chapter.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
(Romans 7:14-25 ESV)
As I mentioned last week, every week I think we have now come to the most challenging part of Romans, only to discover that there is an even more difficult passage to deal with the following week. But I am pretty sure that today’s passage is going to be pretty hard to beat. So although I am going to share with you some of the conclusions that I’ve reached based on my study on this passage, I don’t claim that I have this all figured out. I fully expect that some of you will disagree with my conclusions and I’m perfectly comfortable with that and we’ll use the Roundtable time after the service to have a further discussion about some of the different ways to look at this passage.
There is far from universal agreement about the perspective from which Paul is writing in this passage. So here is how I am going to approach the message this morning. I’m going to give you a brief overview of the three major ways to view this passage. Then I’ll point to some things in the text that might help us determine which view is most likely. But most importantly, we’ll see how this passage ought to impact our lives regardless of which of those views is correct.
Although there are many different opinions about Paul’s viewpoint in this section, all of them pretty much fit into one of…
THREE POSSIBLE VIEWPOINTS:
1. Paul is writing about his past as an unbeliever
There is little doubt that the first part of chapter 7 is written from this perspective. As we saw last week, Paul described how he once thought he was alive due to his adherence to the law, but that once he truly understood the law fully, he became aware of his sin and self-centeredness and his corresponding need for a Savior. So one possibility is that Paul continues that same train of thought here and that he is writing about his struggles with sin prior to the time he placed his faith in Jesus.
2. Paul is writing about his present as a believer
The second possibility is that Paul is writing about his current life as a disciple of Jesus. If that is the case, then Paul is describing the struggles that he still experiences with sin in his life, even as a mature disciple of Jesus.
3. Paul is writing about a “carnal” Christian
In the first part of 1 Corinthians 3 where Paul wrote to some Christians who were so immature that they still required spiritual milk and were not ready for spiritual meat. Those who believe that Paul is writing from the perspective of a believer like that claim he is teaching immature believers about what it takes to become a more mature believer who, while they are not completely free from sin, no longer have constant struggles with sin.
At least to some degree, it is possible to make plausible arguments for all three positions. So before we proceed let me share a couple of cautions:
• This is not the only place in Scripture that addresses the issues we’ll discuss today, so we can’t rely only on these few verses alone to develop dogmatic positions.
• If we keep the context in mind, even if come to the wrong conclusion about Paul’s viewpoint, we’ll can still apply this passage appropriately and effectively in our lives. Remember that the overall idea that Paul has been reinforcing over and over in his letter is that we have to die to the law to be accepted by God and to bear fruit for God. Faith in Jesus alone is the only way to be justified and it is also the only road to genuine sanctification as well.
But the fact that we need to die to the law does not mean that the law is bad. In fact, the law, as we saw last week, is good because if reveals our sinfulness, self-centeredness and our need for a Savior. The problem isn’t the law – it is the sin that the law reveals. Regardless of which perspective he is writing from, it is clear that in this section, Paul is further explaining that idea. So whether this is Paul as an unbeliever or a believer or something else, the misery that we see in verse 24 – Wretched man that I am! - is caused not by the law but rather by indwelling sin.
As we attempt to determine which of the three viewpoints is most likely, let’s look at…
SOME CLUES IN THE TEXT:
1. Verb tenses
As I pointed out last week, in verse 14 Paul switches from the past tense that he used almost exclusively in verse 7-13, to using the present tense beginning in verse 14 through the end of the chapter. Then, at the beginning of chapter 8 Paul returns to the past tense. That fact alone leads me to believe that Paul is writing here about his current life as a disciple of Jesus.
It is possible that Paul is employing some kind of literary device here where he puts himself in someone else’s shoes – either an unbeliever or an immature believer – or where he is personifying what life is like when a person tries to live by the law. But this would be the only place I’m aware of in all of Paul’s writings where he used a technique like that. So it seems more reasonable to me to just accept the present tense at its face value rather than assuming that Paul is trying to be tricky or cute here.
2. Structure:
There are a number of ways to outline this passage, but the most logical to me is to let the text outline itself by looking for certain key phases or ideas that are repeated throughout. And when we do that I believe that what we find here are…
• Three laments:
While laments are found fairly regularly in the Old Testament, this is the only one I’m really aware of in the New Testament. Each of the three laments we find here follows the same structure which makes it easy to clearly identify three parallel laments in which Paul reinforces the same idea three times:
o Lament #1 - Verses 14-17
o Lament #2 - Verses 18-20
o Lament #3 - Verses 21-23
Here is the structure that is common to all three
1) What Paul knows:
Each lament begins with something that Paul knows:
- For we know – v. 14
- For I know… - v. 18
- So I find it to be… v. 21
And in each lament, Paul reveals that he knows something about the law and something about himself:
a. About the law – it is good (vv. 14, 16, 22)
This shouldn’t surprise us at all since it is Paul’s main point in this entire chapter. He writes that the law is spiritual (v. 14), good (v. 16) and that he delights in the law of God (v. 22). So again, the problem here isn’t the law.
Paul’s view of the law tends to support the idea that Paul is writing here about his present life as a believer since not a lot of unbelievers view the law as good, but rather as something to get around.
To be fair, however, he and other Jewish believers had once viewed the law as good in the sense that they thought that observing it could save them. So it’ not totally out of the question that Paul could have been writing about his life as an unbeliever.
b. About himself – He desires to do good (vv. 15, 19, 21)
Although it is clear here that Paul wants to do what is right and what the law requires, there just isn’t anything here that would lead us to believe that he wanted to do that because he thought it would earn his right to have a relationship with God. So once again Paul’s mindset here seems to be one of a believer who wants to do right because that would please God and bring glory to God, not because he was going to get something out of it.
While it is true that some Jews did have a desire to do what was right – but for the wrong reasons – most unbelievers really don’t have a natural desire to do what is right. Most of them seem to actually enjoy their sin and that often becomes a considerable obstacle that keeps them from putting their faith in Jesus.
2) What Paul feels – anguish (vv. 15, 18-19, 24)
Throughout this passage we sense the tension in Paul’s life in which he finds that he is often not able to do what he wants to do. That tension reaches a crescendo in verse 24 where we read - Wretched man that I am!
This is what really clinches for me the conclusion that Paul is writing here as a mature believer. While many unbelievers may have a sense that their sin is wrong, we just don’t see them agonizing over their sin like this. Again, I do want to allow for the possibility that this could have become Paul’s mindset right before he put his faith in Jesus, but I just don’t get that sense here at all, especially given the rest of the passage.
3) What Paul struggles with – indwelling sin (vv. 17, 20, 23)
Each of the three laments ends with Paul identifying the root cause that triggers this battle – sin that dwells within him. To be real honest this is the most difficult part of this passage to explain if Paul is in fact writing as a mature believer. After all he just spent a whole chapter – chapter 6 – writing about how being united with Jesus has freed us not just from the penalty of sin but also from the power of sin.
As we have talked about frequently, the very moment that I place my faith in Jesus, I am united with Him in His death, burial and resurrection and as a result I become a new creation. But unfortunately, that does not completely do away with my flesh that is still prone to sin. That is why it is only at death, when our flesh is separated from our spirit and soul, that we finally are freed from the presence of sin in our lives.
And it is in that flesh that sin resides, not as the honored guest, or even as a paying tenant, but more like a squatter that is impossible to eject. And it is that sin that results in those acts which Paul hates so much. So even though sin is no longer part of his new character, it still rises up and torments him from time to time.
There is just nothing here to lead us to believe that Paul is writing as an immature believer who thinks he can somehow mature to the point where he will no longer need to engage in the battle he describes here. Paul has no illusions that it is possible to arrive at some state of perfection in which he will no longer engage in these struggles.
As I said earlier, I’m pretty comfortable with the conclusion I’ve come to, but by no means would I be dogmatic about that. But even if I’m wrong and one of the other options, or even one we haven’t thought of, is true here, I think we can still draw some practical applications out of this passage that will be true…
REGARDLESS OF WHICH VIEWPOINT IS INTENDED:
1. It’s not OK to make peace with my sin
Here’s what I mean by that. I think a lot of people are tempted to look at this passage and think that if Paul struggled this much with sin, what chance do I have. So therefore I might as well just give up trying to adhere to the law, counting on the fact that God is a gracious God and he’ll forgive whatever sin I just can’t seem to get victory over.
Or I’ve heard others put it like this, even Christians at times: “Well that is just the way God made me. I can’t help it if I have a bad temper, or I lie all the time, or I look at pornography, or if I cheat on my taxes. God made me that way and he’ll understand. While those things may very well characterize your flesh, which is still present in your life, the good news is that even though you can’t do it on your own, there is a way to get victory over every sin you struggle with. That leads us to our second application…
2. God does not intend for me to live in continual defeat
As I mentioned earlier, some people think Paul is writing here from the perspective of an immature believer who has not yet “learned the secret” of gaining victory over sin. But one of the reasons that I think Paul is actually writing here as a mature believer, is that my experience and the testimony of Scripture is that the more mature I become, the more I actually engage in this struggle with the sinful flesh that remains in my life. That is because the more intimately that I get to know Jesus, the more I understand about just how sinful that I am.
Paul certainly discovered that in his life. The older and more mature he became, the more sinful he saw himself:
In one of his earliest letters, here is how Paul described himself to the church in Corinth.
For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
(1 Corinthians 15:9 ESV)
About 5 years later, he now saw himself a bit differently:
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
(Ephesians 3:8 ESV)
And shortly before his death, Paul came to see himself like this:
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
(1 Timothy 1:15 ESV)
See the progression there? The more Paul matured and the better he got to know Jesus, the more his sin became something that he hated.
In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote these insightful words:
When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.
But this passage is also a great example of why we can’t just take one passage in the Bible and develop doctrine based on that passage alone. Were we to do that with this passage, we’d think that Paul lived his whole life in continual defeat when it came to the battle with his sins. That’s why I’m glad that Paul didn’t end his letter right here.
While it is certainly not possible in our lives here on earth to mature to a place where we have complete victory over sin, as we’ll see in the coming weeks, it is indeed possible to come to the place where we no longer live in a continual state of defeat, either. But in order to get to that place, I must recognize that…
3. This is not a battle I can win on my own
Even though this is a winnable battle, it is clear here and throughout Paul’s letter to the churches in Rome, that I can’t win it by myself. Paul has constantly reinforced the idea that both my justification – being made right with God – and my sanctification – becoming more and more like Jesus – do require my cooperation, but ultimately I can’t accomplish either one merely through my own efforts.
Regardless of which perspective that Paul is writing from here, it seems pretty clear that what he is describing here is what happens when he attempts to battle his old sin nature in his flesh. As much as he wants to do good and not give into sin, he just can’t do that through his own efforts. He’s just like Tommy Lasorda and that linguine. But the good news is that there is a solution. But as we see in verse 25…
4. The solution is a Person, not a plan
We see clearly in verse 25 that the solution is not some plan that Paul can devise, it is not his own willpower, it doesn’t come from going to a meeting or reading a book. The only way that he can win this battle is to let Jesus do it for him. I’m going to leave it at that for now. If you want to know how we can join forces with Jesus so that we can have victory over sin, then you’ll have to come back next week when we get to chapter 8.
Are you struggling with some sin in your life this morning? Do you often find yourself thinking that I hate what I just did because I know that is not what God wants for my life? As we close I want to encourage you by saying that is a good thing. The very fact that you are engaging in that battle and that your sin bothers you like that is a good indication that you are maturing in your relationship with Jesus. That’s good news isn’t it? But you know what is even greater news? With Jesus’ help you can actually prevail in those struggles.
[Prayer]
This morning, perhaps God has been leading you to make a decision in response to what you’ve learned.
• For some of you, it’s possible that you’re thinking that I’ve never really battled with sin in the way we read about this morning. Maybe that is because you have never dealt with your sin by putting your faith in Jesus. If that is the case, we’d love to talk to you some more about how you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven and that you have been made right in God’s eyes.
• Perhaps you are struggling with some ongoing sin in your life that you just can’t seem to get victory over. If that’s the case, you don’t have to fight that battle alone. Not only will Jesus help you in that battle, but God has also placed you here in this church body where there are others who can help you with that, too.
So if you could use some help with these or any other parts of your walk with Jesus, we’re here to help if you’ll just let us know you would like some help. There are several ways you can do that:
• You can talk to me or to one of our Elders after our gathering this morning. [Ask Elders to stand]
• You can fill out the information on the Connection Card on your bulletin and give it to one of us or to one of our greeters and someone will be in touch with you this week.
• You can contact us on our website or message us on Facebook.
Discussion Questions:
1. From which of the three viewpoints (unbeliever, mature believer, immature believer) do you think Paul is writing from? Or is there another possible viewpoint we didn’t cover? What are some of the potential ramifications of each view?
2. In light of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17 about us being new creations, some people would deny that a believer still has an old sin nature. What would you say to them? Why might that be a dangerous position to take?
3. Why are making peace with our sin or living in a state of continual defeat dangerous for the Christian? What practical steps can we take to avoid doing either of them?
