Author : Keith Sharp
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).
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to accomplish what is good I do not find (verse 18).
In and of itself, aside from the intellect, the flesh is neither morally good nor morally bad. The flesh, the animal part of man, is a bundle of appetites and passions, which lead to sin only when they have enlisted the mind to plan and execute methods of self-gratification in an unlawful way (Whiteside. 159; cf. Matthew 15:19-20)
For the good that I will to produce, I do not produce; but the evil I will not to practice, that I practice (verse 19). He reiterates the two principles of verse fifteen.
Now it is no longer I (alone) who produce it, but sin (also) that dwells in me(verse 20).
He restates the point of verse seventeen.
Paul is picturing the helplessness of the sinner without Christ – without the regenerating and saving power of the gospel. Here again is emphasized the need of the power of the gospel. The inward man, the spirit, in its contest with the passions of the flesh is helpless without the gospel (Ibid. 160).
Thus, the master, Sin, is stronger than the slave, the sinner (verses 21-23). The “law of sin” is the rule of sin over the sinner (cf. 6:20). The apostle returns to this “law of sin” later to rejoice, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (8:2). This is not the struggles of a Christian with sin. He has been freed from sin’s dominion (6:17-18) by obedience to “the law of the Spirit of life.”
The honest sinner striving to be justified before God by flawless law keeping must cry in helpless despair (verse 24).
The piteous and plaintive lament of Paul is evoked by the overwhelming sense of helplessness arising from the condition herein described. It lies not within man to envisage a more hopeless condition than this one, as resting on one’s own resources for deliverance (Vinson. 139).
The answer is Christ (verse 25a; Which introduces chapter 8.).
The reason is the inner struggle he faces between mind (spirit) and flesh (sinful desires) (verse 25b)
Paul contrasts two kinds of service. He had been a slave of sin, but was redeemed to the service of God. The Christian serves with the mind the law of God; the sinner with the flesh serves the law of sin. In the life of a Christian, the mind – the inner man – dominates the flesh; in the sinner’s life the flesh dominates the mind. But in either case the mind does the planning and the willing. In the sinful life the mind yields to the appetites and passions of the flesh, and plans for their gratification; in the Christian life the mind keeps the body under, and uses it in acts of service to God. Hence, the use we make of our bodies determines whose servants we are (Whiteside. 164; cf. 6:12-13,16; 8:5-8,12-13).
Conclusion
The inner war Paul describes in Romans seven is of the sinner outside Christ, not of the Christian. The sinner has lost the war and is the slave of sin (verse 23). The Christian does have this inner war, but he is expected to win (Galatians 5:16-26).
Sinner, don’t try to be saved and live a morally upright life aside from Christ. Sin is your master, and you are under its control. Only by turning to the One Who overcame Satan, Sin, and Hades do you have an ally who can give you the victory.
Christian, don’t use the inner struggle as an excuse to live an immoral life. The Mighty One is on your side. His great sword, His word, will defeat sin. Strap it on! Wield it! Your Mighty Prince, the Lord of Sabaoth, awaits your summons through prayer to help you defeat the invisible foes with whom we are locked in mortal combat. Your brethren, the Army of God, want to assist. Stronger is the Prince whom we follow than the prince of darkness. Put on the whole armor of God. “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.”
Works Cited
Bullinger, E.W., Figures of Speech Used in the Bible.
Thayer, J.H., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
Vinson, Bryan, Sr., Paul’s Letters to the Saints at Rome.
Whiteside, R.L., A New Commentary on Paul’s Letters to the Saints at Rome.
