Are Christians Still Sinners, Saved By Grace – Part 6
(Rev. Barry Johnson and Rev. Rodney Johnson)
NOTE: New Light Faith Ministries and Barry Johnson Ministries, founded by Rodney V. Johnson and Barry O. Johnson, respectively, are partnering to offer Bible studies for Christians who are seeking to grow in their relationship with Jesus. This is a Bible study lesson, not a sermon. The Bible studies teach foundational truth that are designed to challenge, encourage and, most importantly, flame the fire of hunger in the Christian who wants to learn more about who they have become in Christ Jesus. The Bible studies you find on this site contains the written version of the lesson. However, these lessons also include a video and an audio file of the study, a PDF version of the lesson and a sheet for note taking. If you would like any of the additional resources for these studies, please email us at newlightfaithministries@gmail.com or bjteachingltr@gmail.com for more information or contact us at the email provided on both of our Sermon Central pages. Please visit our YouTube Channel (Barry Johnson Ministries; New Light Faith Ministries, Inc.) to watch or listen to these lessons as well as other available sermons. Be blessed.
Introduction
This is the sixth and final lesson in this series which examines a statement that is very popular in the Church today: “I’m a sinner saved by grace!” In the first five lessons we looked at scriptures that identified the biblically accurate description of who we are because of the life of Jesus that we have living inside of us. That statement is “I was a sinner saved by grace! Now I am a righteous, blameless holy child of God!”
In the last lesson, we did a somewhat detailed look at Romans chapter six that tied together the truths that we learned in the first five chapters of the book, namely that Christians no longer have a sin nature and are free from the dominion of sin. In chapter six, we saw clearly how committing acts of sin is a decision that a Christian makes deliberately. The Apostle Paul lays out what happens to cause a Christian to consider committing sin, and then acting on that consideration to commit the sin. He said in verse13 of Romans chapter six, “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” (Romans 6:13) Paul says, “Do not present your members.…to sin.” When it comes to committing sin, Paul said we decide to avail ourselves to the sin before committing the act.
And it is in chapter six that Paul makes a clear distinction between living under the Law and living under grace. He wrote the following in verse 14: “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under Law but under grace.” Paul connects the sin nature with the Law. He says, “The Law was given to people who had a sin nature. Now that we have God’s life, the Law no longer applies to us. Jesus has made us free from the dominion of sin.” We now live under a new Law – “The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus….” (Romans 8:2a). In essence, Paul says a person will either have a nature that is governed by the Law or a nature that is governed by grace. A person cannot be governed by the Law and by grace (the spirit of life) at the same time.
We want to emphasize this point one more time: the born again nature cannot co-exist with the sin nature. The born again nature replaces the sin nature. Second Corinthians 5:17 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The word “new” means “something that has never existed before.” The sin nature we had before being born again no longer lives inside of us. Paul drives this point home with the phrase “passed away”. When a person has “passed away” we know the person is dead. The person ceases to exist, except in our minds. The simple truth is this: Christians who commit sin do so because they refuse to bow the knee to their new nature. They choose instead to bow the knee to rebellious un-submitted minds and bodies that lust after the flesh.
The Prevailing Interpretation of Romans Chapter Seven
Before we study Romans chapter seven, we thought it would be helpful for you to see four of the prevailing interpretations of the chapter. Several Bible translations include marginal and study notes as part of their examination of the chapter. The following excerpts are a sampling of what we found.
The New Scofield Study Bible: “In this passage (Romans 7:15-25) of profound spiritual and psychological insight, the apostle personifies the struggle of the two natures within the believer – the old or Adamic nature, and the divine nature received through the new birth.”
New International Version: “Whether Paul is describing a Christian or non-Christian experience has been hotly debated through the centuries.” (The NIV presents three reasons favoring the non-Christian view and four that favor the Christian viewpoint. On the surface, the NIV appears to be neutral. However, in reading the additional notes for the chapter, it is clear to us the editors believe that Paul is talking about a Christian struggling with two natures.)
Contemporary English Version: “Have you ever wondered why you can’t help but keep on sinning sometimes, even after you’ve given your life to God? Read Romans 7:1-25.”
The Dakes Study Bible: “Paul in Romans 6 sets forth the obligations of all men to live a holy life. In Romans 7 he proves that the Jew is freed from all obligations to keep the Law and shows why the Law is helpless to deliver any man from sin and hell. Romans 7 demonstrate the old relationship to sin and the new relationship to God illustrated by marriage.”
All of these translations are respected in the Christian community, but all do not present the truth in their marginal and study notes concerning what is being described in Romans chapter seven. Many Christians read marginal and study notes and accept them as true and accurate without much question, and very few model the behavior of the believers in Acts 17:11. “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” Now we are ready to study Romans chapter seven.
Romans Chapter Seven Verses 1-4
Most Christians read this chapter as Paul giving his testimony as a born again believer who is struggling with the sin nature and committing sin even though his born again spirit does not want to commit sin. If we believe this, then we have destroyed the power of the new nature to deliver us from sin and we are playing in Satan’s sandbox.
Verse 1 – “Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the Law), that the Law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?”
When we read the first verse, we see to whom Paul is addressing this chapter. Both the Jews and Gentile proselytes would have known the Law. And remembering what we learned in the first six chapters of Romans, the Law only has dominion over a person who is not born again. This is significant. Paul is using Romans chapter seven as a “teaching moment” to illustrate just how powerful the new nature inside of them truly is.
Verses 2-3: “For the woman who has a husband is bound by the Law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the Law of her husband. (3) So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that Law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.”
Paul is illustrating a spiritual truth with a natural example. The sin nature “marries” us to the Law, and death is the only thing that can cancel the marriage. Here’s the message and some will not like it: as far as God is concerned only the death of a spouse can end a marriage. The word “free” drives this point home. When we are born again all the authority and power associated with living under the Law is terminated. This is not a divorce. This is an annihilation of the relationship. Paul uses an example that the people readily understood: the end of the marriage was through death. What he was demonstrating was the fact that when a person is born again, their relationship with sin is separated, cancelled, no longer exists because the previous nature essentially died. Again, when something is dead it ceases to exist. Let’s continue.
Verse 4 – “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the Law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.”
We are dead to the Law, our former “husband”, through the body of Christ. We cannot be dead to the Law and still have a sin nature. Let me say that again, we cannot be dead to the Law and still have a sin nature. One cancels out the other! Plain and simple. We have no sin nature “marrying” us to the Law. Ladies and gentlemen, this verse dovetails with chapter six, where Paul explains in detail that through Jesus our old man of the sin nature died. We no longer have any responsibility to the Law. We are now married to Jesus! What does it mean to be dead to the Law? It means we cannot still have a sin nature. It means we have no sin nature “marrying” us to the Law. It means we are no longer under the control of the sin nature. What does it mean to be married to Christ? It means we have become one with Him. It means we have His life and nature. It means we have a “non-sin natured” spirit. It means we have access to God in the same way as Jesus. And finally, it means we have access to all that God has for us through Jesus and we see this in Philippians 4:19 where Paul writes, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Romans Chapter Seven Verses 5-10
Verses 5-7 – “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the Law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. (6) But now we have been delivered from the Law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. (7) What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the Law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the Law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’"
With verse five, Paul begins a detailed explanation of the person with a sin nature under the Law (“we were in the flesh”). It indicates a past-tense existence, which means it does not exist in the present. However, verse six begins with the word “But” which sets in contrast what we read in verse five. It says we have been delivered from the Law. In other words, we have been delivered from the sin nature. Spiritual death is what kept man bound to the Law once it was given. Our deliverance means we now have spiritual life and can now serve God as He always wanted. The word “oldness” in verse six means “obsolete.” Wouldn’t you agree that if something is obsolete, it is no longer required or expected? When something is obsolete it is no longer useful as it has been replaced by something much better. Our spirits are new, and we can serve God out of union with Him.
In verse seven Paul says the Law shines a spotlight on the sin nature. “Is the Law the source of sin? Is the Law the cause of sin? Certainly not! If it hadn’t been for the Law, I wouldn’t have known that I wasn’t supposed to covet. But because of the sin nature, I had no problem coveting. Boy, was I wrong!” The sin nature has absolutely no concept of Godly right and wrong. Isn’t it interesting how Paul says that he understood what sin was because of the Law? The Law told him what he was not supposed to do! So here is a question for you to think about as it relates to sin: “If the Law told the non-born again people what they were not supposed to do and there were penalties if they did it, why would grace now give permission to do that which the Law forbids?” Think about it. Who would not want to live under a system where you could sin all you wanted because you had grace and there was no penalty for sin? This is what the statement “I am a sinner saved by grace” literally means. Because I am saved I can sin without repercussion.
Now, why does Paul identify coveting/lust in verse seven? Exodus 20:17 says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's." This is an extremely important choice of sins to identify. It fits with verse five’s “sinful passions”. The word “covet” means “to have the affections directed toward something, to lust, to desire, long after.” To covet means to have an inordinate desire for a thing or a person. It’s a desire that supersedes a desire for God. Using coveting as the example reinforces the truth that the sin problem originates in the heart of man. Paul is stating, in a different way, what Jesus says in Matthew 5:27-28 – "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' (28) But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Verses 8-9 – “(8) But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the Law sin was dead. (9) I was alive once without the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.”
The commandment, generally the Law and specifically in this case, Exodus 20:17, detailed Godly right and wrong. Paul says that once the Law said it was wrong, the realization hit him that it was the sin nature producing all kinds of evil desires. Until the Law came along, coveting was not recognized as a sin. “For apart from the Law sin was dead.” Paul says, “Before God gave the Law, I didn’t know I was living in sin. I did whatever I wanted to do and didn’t feel guilty about it at all.” “...but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” “However, once the Law was given, I now had a holy standard to follow. But I began to see very clearly how the power of the sin nature in me made it impossible for me to obey that holy standard.”
Verse 10 – “And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.”
The Law revealed the righteous nature of God that would exist in man if he were born again. But instead of bearing witness of God’s life in man, the Law exposed what was really there: the death of the sin nature. Galatians 3:10 says, “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the Law, to do them.’” This verse is not saying you are not cursed until you break the Law. It’s saying you are cursed and that is why you break the Law.
Romans Chapter Seven Verses 11-16
Verses 11-13 – “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. (12) Therefore the Law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. (13) Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. (14) For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.”
The language Paul uses, “deceived me, and by it killed me”, depicts the sin nature luring a person off the main street into a dimly lit alley and murdering him. “The sin nature,” Paul says, “blinds and deceives us into believing we’re okay with Jesus until we stand before Him on our day of judgment and find out we’re not.” Too late. Lake of fire for all eternity. Imagine the Jewish and Gentile proselytes’ response to hearing Paul say the Law magnified the spiritual death working them.
What we see in verse 12: (1) The Law, God’s perfect standard in writing, was indeed holy and just. (2) This condition of the Law enabled the Law to confront sin. (3) The Law was the opposite of the nature of man. In verses 13 and 14, Paul agrees that the Law originated in the spirit, came from God, identified spiritual life, and revealed God’s character and nature. But he says, “I am carnal, sold under sin.” “Carnal” means “flesh oriented.” This is the man with the sin nature, he depends on feelings and emotions and it is impossible for him to live by the character and nature that God reveals in the Law.
Now, let us remind you that man was not carnal by choice. Romans 5:12 states, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Paul says, “I see the Law and I know it is from God and I know it is good. But I was born with a sin nature. I can’t keep the Law.”
And with verse 15 he begins to outline his struggle as a person with a sin nature who is trying to keep the Law. In other words, he’s putting himself in the place of the person who is not born again.
Verses 15-16 – “(15) For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (16) If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the Law that it is good.
What Paul is describing in these verses is a conflict that takes place in the mind. “What I wish to practice I can’t,” he says, “I am an unwilling slave to the sin nature living inside of me. But I don’t understand. If I keep lusting and coveting – things I don’t want to do, it just proves that the Law is good. I want to do what is right. I want to follow the Law. But there is something more powerful at work inside of me that stops me in my tracks.” Listen to what Paul is saying here: The sin nature, because it is inside the person, is more powerful than the Law, which is outside the person. And the more Paul thinks about it the more frustrated he becomes. “I want to do the right thing. I want to keep the Law. I don’t like lusting. I don’t like sinning. But I can’t stop. No matter how much I want to obey the Law, the sin nature stops me. I am forced to continue doing what I don’t want to do. I hate this!”
Do you know how many people have used Paul’s example to justify and explain why they can’t stop sinning and why it’s okay that they can’t? They believe that it is okay to give in to a desire when “deep down” they really do not want to do it but they can’t help themselves. This is why people often say, “God knows my heart.” In other words, even though I am doing things that I should not be doing, God knows my heart and that I really don’t want to be doing what I am doing. It’s also like they expect credit for not wanting to do what they are actually doing.
Romans Chapter Seven Verses 17-23
Verses 17-20 – (17) But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. (18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. (19) For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. (20) Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”
“But now, it is no longer I who do it.” Verses 17 through 20 have been used to try and prove that Christians have a sin nature. Reminder: the sin nature needs the Law. These verses must be left in the context of the entire book. If Christians are free from sin, as we saw in the last Bible study on Romans chapter six, then it is not our nature forcing us to sin. Verse 17 is talking about the sin dwelling in the nature of a carnal man. The mental desire to obey the Law is there, but the understanding of how to live according to the nature of God revealed by the Law is not there. This means the person has a sin nature. Paul knows he is powerless against the sin nature. “If I am forced to constantly do the things I don’t want to do, then it’s not me, but it’s the sin nature that lives in me. I can make up my mind not to sin anymore, but the sin nature is stronger than my will and overpowers me. It’s even stronger than the Law!” The sin nature dwelling in a person is what prohibits that person from living according to the righteousness of God that is revealed in the Law.
We like the way that The Dakes Annotated Reference Bible explains these verses. “I have a will, but it is so overpowered by the lusts of sin that I am helpless. My passion is stronger than my reason. My will, reason, understanding, and my conscience are on God’s side and consents to His will and Law, but my slave master will not consent for me to serve God or His Law.” Ladies and gentlemen, that is powerful.
Verse 21 – “I find then a Law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.”
Paul says, there is something powerfully at work here and it is like a Law that governs a person’s life because whenever a person tries to live righteously, this “Law of evil” – the nature of sin – rises up.
Verses 22-23 – “(22) For I delight in the Law of God according to the inward man. (23) But I see another Law in my members, warring against the Law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members.”
Now follow us closely: Paul’s delight comes from his desire to live for God. Desires – good and bad – originate in our minds. In other words, the “inward man” is speaking of the mind, not the new nature. But the sin (“the Law in my members”) is warring against the Law in Paul’s mind and winning. The Law was “written” on the mind of every Jewish male starting as a child. It was committed to memory and resulted in the Law continually filling the mind. This is what Paul is describing. He wants to follow the Law that is in his mind. He wants to please God. But he can’t. The sin nature is too powerful. A Law that’s governs from the outside cannot overpower a nature that rules on the inside. That is the key point of verse 23. And that’s why Hebrew 8:10 says, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My Laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” A person with a sin nature is the true walking dead. In this new covenant, the Law is no longer an outside influence. It is who the person has become because of accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. And that brings us to verse twenty-four.
Romans Chapter Seven Verses 24-25
Verse 24 – “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death.”
The “body of death” is the sin nature and the death is spiritual death. The lake of fire death. Eternal separation from God death. Primarily, it is talking about the death of the sin nature in man’s spirit and we saw this in the last lesson in Romans 6:6, which says, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” Paul is painting a horrible picture of the sin nature and the death it produces. It is an allusion to the ancient custom of tyrants who bound a dead body to a person as punishment. The person had to drag the offensive smelling dead weight wherever he went. Eventually he died from the disease produced by the rotting and decaying flesh. This is how Paul describes the sin nature! And the Law is powerless to deliver him from this horrible death! Do you see this?
So, he asks the question: “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Paul knew that man was not capable of delivering himself from the sin nature. This statement represents the entire Jewish race. He is essentially saying: “As Jews, we have been given the Law. The Law has exposed the sin nature. We want to serve God and obey the Law, but this sin nature refuses to allow us to live that way. We have sacrificed innumerable animals, but still no relief. Is there anyone out there who can step in and set us free?” Ladies and gentlemen. Jesus is the answer! He is the only answer!
Verse 25 – “I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the Law of sin.”
Jesus is the salvation for every man, woman, and child. And we see this as we read into chapter eight. We want you to remember something we have said before: verses, chapter breaks, chapter headings and punctuations were added by the translators. Some are good. Some are not so good. And in this case, it is not so good. We must read into chapter eight or we will miss Paul’s summation.
Romans Chapter Eight Verses 1-4
Verses 1-4 – “(1) There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (2) For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the Law of sin and death. (3) For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, (4) that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Paul ends Romans chapter seven with a declaration of victory. Jesus Christ is the only one who can rescue him from the sin nature. And that’s why Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” The condemnation that Paul is talking about is the sin nature and with it the “condemning sentence” is eternal death.
The “Therefore” begins a concluding statement that says because of the new nature we have received through Jesus Christ [being “in Christ Jesus”], we are no longer condemned! We no longer carry around a rotting and decaying nature! We now have the spirit of life working in us that freed us from sin and death [the sin nature and the Law]. The phrase “who do not walk according to the flesh” is not the Christian who gets into sin. It is the person who is not born again. We saw in chapter seven that the sin nature manifested itself through the actions of the flesh.
The sin nature is “the Law of sin and death.” The Law of Moses was given to expose the internal Law of sin and death. The “Spirit of life” is not the Holy Spirit. Spirit should not be capitalized. It refers to the new nature. The Holy Spirit doesn’t cause us to be free from the Law. Jesus frees us from the Law! The Law of the spirit of life is a greater Law than the Law of sin and death. It gives us union with God. The Law of the spirit of life establishes our complete freedom from the Law of sin and death. The Law of the spirit of life cannot be randomly overpowered by sin. And, the Law of the spirit of life can reverse some of the effects of the Law of sin and death.
Please remember this: Laws are meant to be enforced. Since we now have the Law of the spirit of life inside of us, it is up to us to enforce it in our lives. We are going to give you four things relative to enforcing the Law of the spirit of life. (1) You must know what the Law is. (2) You must believe it. (3) You must act like you believe this Law. And (4) you must speak it. This is how we enforce the Law of the spirit of life in our lives.
Summary & Close
Romans chapter seven is not a discussion of a Christian struggling with both the sin nature and the new nature. It is a logical argument showing the utter futility of a person with a sin nature trying to live up to the standards of the Law, which show the character and nature of God. The impossibility of living as the Law demands is seen most clearly as Paul acknowledges its goodness, but his inability to live by it because of the sin nature dwelling in him. That sin nature forced him to disobey the Law repeatedly no matter how hard he tried to “will” himself to obey it.
But thank God for Jesus! It is through the redeeming work of Jesus that Paul says we have been made dead to the Law through the death of the sin nature. And because we are dead to the Law, we are no longer under its condemning sentence, a condemning sentence that was removed the moment we received God’s life. Ladies and gentlemen, we have been delivered from sin and therefore we should not practice it, make allowances for it, or make excuses for it. We now live under a new Law: the Law of the spirit of life. And that Law has made us free from the Law of sin and death!
We want to leave you with a final thought to reflect on as you think about everything you have heard in this series of six lessons. Paul wrote that Jesus Christ “….gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” (Galatians 1:4) The definition of “deliver” is “to free or save somebody from captivity, hardship, or evil.” So if when we accepted Christ as our personal Savior and He freed us from sin, does it make any sense whatsoever that we could still be sinners? Either we are delivered, freed from sin or we are not. If you have accepted Christ as your personal Savior, you have been delivered and the only choice now is to live the life you have been given OR reject it and continue in sin leading to eternal separation from God. As in all things, the choice is ours to make.
We hope that this series has been enlightening and a blessing and has shown you who you are in Christ. Let’s pray.
