There is language in Romans chapter seven which, if read casually, seems to teach we lack the ability to keep from sinning. This is particularly apparent in the English Standard Version translation of Romans 7:18: "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." Does Romans seven teach that Christians lack the ability to keep from sinning?

Context

To understand Romans seven, we must view the chapter in context. The theme of Romans is justification by faith apart from the law (1:16-17; 3:21-26). In developing this theme, Paul had made some statements which needed clarification. He had asserted that the law does not justify but gives the knowledge of sin (3:20). He also declared that when the law entered, the offense abounded (5:20). And he announced, you are not under law but under grace (6:14). In Romans six Paul argues that the Christian is free from sin (6:17-18). In chapter seven he argues that the Christian is free from the law (7:4).

The law of which Paul speaks is specifically God's covenant with Israel through Moses (2:14,17-20,23,25-27; 3:21,31; 4:13-14,16; 5:13,20), though it includes in principle any system that demands sinless perfection, a life totally free from sin, for justification before God (3:27-28). The term "law" ("nomos") is used 23 times in Romans seven: 18 times it refers to the law of Moses (verses 1,2,4,5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 21, 22, 23, 25); 2 times to the rule of the husband (verses 2 and 3); and 3 times to the rule of sin over the sinner (verses 23 and 25).

In chapter seven the apostle answers four questions about the law in three arguments. How and why did freedom from the law occur? (verses 1-6; Marriage Analogy) Is the law sin, i.e., the cause of sin? (verses 7-12) Saul of Tarsus is the case in point of an honest Jew seeking to be justified by the law. Does the law cause death? (verses 13-25) Saul is still the case in point.

Does the law cause death?

The law does not cause death, but sin uses the good law, intended to give life, to produce evil, resulting in death, by appealing to the flesh (verse 13). The problem is Sin (personified). The fact Sin takes what is good (the law) as a means to produce sin, shows how exceedingly sinful (evil) Sin is.

Sin is always brought about by the perversion of good. Every desire God put within us is good and needed for our existence (e.g., hunger). But sin perverts these desires to evil (e.g., gluttony).

The problem is within the sinner, not the law (verse 14). "The law is spiritual, because it appeals to the inner man - the spirit of man" (Whiteside. 154; cf. 8:5-8). But the sinner is carnal, i.e., follows the desires of the flesh, and sold under sin, i.e., is the slave of sin.

Saint of Sinner?

Paul is thus speaking of himself before he was saved, when he was still Saul of Tarsus, as an example of an honest, sincere Jew seeking to be justified by the law. Christians are not dead in sin (7:5,9,11; cf. 6:8,11), they are not carnal (7:14; cf. 8:5-9), saints are not sold under sin (7:14,23; cf. 6:12,14,16-22), they do not use their members as instruments of sin (7:18,20; cf. 6:13), and sin does not dwell in the Christian’s body (7:18; cf. 6:12,19; 12:1; 1 Corinthians 6:13,15,19-20; 1 Thessalonians 2:10).

Romans 7:13-25 does not describe the struggles of a Christian with sin. It describes the agony of an honest sinner trying to be just before the holy God by just living a good life.

The Struggle

The honest Jew trying to be justified by the law (and any sinner trying to be justified by good works apart from Christ), has two great problems (verses 15-20) He is deceived by sin, not understanding the real results of sin; i.e., he dies while desiring life. He wants to do good, but gives in to the desires of the flesh (Matthew 26:41). He is enslaved to sin (Romans 6:16; 7:14,23).

Not that he cannot keep from sinning, which is a denial of personal responsibility, for Israelites could have kept the law (Deuteronomy 30:11-14), and Jesus demonstrated we have the ability to live without sin by living a sinless life as a man though tempted in all ways common to man (Hebrews 4:15-16).

In the King James Version, the word "do" is translated from three different words with different shades of meaning in verse fifteen. The terms are "katrergadzomai," "to perform, accomplish, achieve" (Thayer. 339), "prasso", "to exercise, practice, be busy with, carry on" (Thayer. 535), and "poieo", "to produce, construct, form, fashion" (Thayer. 524). In verses fifteen through twenty, I have, in the translation below, followed the New King James Version, except, every time the word "katergadzomai" occurs I have translated it "accomplish," every time the word "prasso" is found I have rendered it "practice," and each time "poieo" is found I have used the word "produce." If the passage seems complex, twisted, and even self-contradictory, and it does, it is because the sinners struggle with sin is complex, twisted, and self-contradictory.

For what I am accomplishing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do produce (verse 15). David is the perfect example of this problem (2 Samuel chapters 11-12). David knew from the law that coveting another man's wife, and committing adultery and murder were wrong (He violated three of the Ten Commandments). But he did not realize all the dreadful consequences his sins would bring and by giving in to fleshly desires, practiced evil, while within he desired to do right. Nonetheless, he didn't have to commit the sins, and he wasn't forgiven without repentance of those specific sins.

If, then, I produce what I will not to produce, I agree with the law that it is good (verse 16). Obedience to the law yields life, but Sin brings death. The sinner really wants to live. So, even while in sin, he agrees that the law is good.

Thus, the problem is not with the law itself, but with the one under the law. He violates it, and the law had no provision for his forgiveness (Hebrews 10:4). The law could maintain life, but it could not give life to one dead in sin (Galatians 3:12, 21; Hebrews 8:7-12).

But now it is no longer I (only) who accomplish it, but (also) sin that dwells in me. (ellipsis; verse 17). He is not denying personal responsibility but emphasizing the role of sin. This elliptical statement is a common figure, in which the writer denies the lesser to emphasize the greater (e.g., John 6:27; 12:44; cf. Bullinger. 526).