CF Bible Study, Romans 7:14-25: “Sin Became Alive and I Died” Part 2

For a while now, in our study of Romans 6 and 7, I have felt that our vision is not as wide as Paul’s. We have on a pair of glasses that make many things fairly clear. But when we look up, down, or to the side of rim of those glasses, the landscape is blurry.

I was mulling over this a week ago in preparation for tonight, when finally the thought washed over me: Chapters 6, 7, and 8 come right after chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4, and right before chapters 9-16. In other words, the thinking here connects with the letter as a whole. And what is Paul’s letter to the Romans mainly about? It is about two points—salvation for Jews and Gentiles, and salvation by faith apart from the works of the Law. A couple verses in Chapter 1 condense almost the entire letter.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall live by faith.’” (1:16-17)

By the time we get to chapter 6, much of the object of Romans has been presented. But some clarifications still need to be made. Particularly this: Salvation by faith apart from the works of the Law does not and should not produce lawless people. The death in the Jesus that is the basis of this salvation by grace is a death to sin and a death to the Law. The result of this is that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. And that is where today’s passage fits in. The Law is not salvation (Paul still is pounding that point), but that does not mean it is sin. It has a purpose. And that purpose is to make crystal clear that sin is the root of death.

We Can Get the Point in 14-25 Even If We Don’t Understand Everything

Last time, we spent the whole evening attempting to discern whether Paul is referring to himself as believer or a non-believer in 14-25. If you remember, my opinion is that he is referring to himself as a non-believer. But here I feel that I need reiterate something that I said last time, because confidence in any position about this issue is very difficult to attain. In some sense, it does not really matter whether Paul is thinking of himself as Christian or not. The main thrust of the passage comes through either way. Law keeping is not the way of salvation (justification or sanctification), but neither is this God-given Law sinful.

This does not mean that we should not try to discover the correct interpretation. It is a comfort, however, to know that we can capture the main idea of the passage and that we can grasp chapter 8 in light of it.

Three Steps of Conviction

We are now in a position to examine Paul’s experience in conviction of sin. He essentially says three things about this turning of his understanding.

1. I desire to do good.
“For I joyfully concur with the Law of God in the inner man . . .” Also v. 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 25

This is not a pharisaical kind of desire for good and love for Law. It is a radically different kind of love for righteousness that is fashioned by God. Paul’s previous love for the Law as a pharisaical self-vindicator was founded on a skewed vision of it. He was a murderer and yet saw himself blameless (Philippians 3:6). But this new and genuine love was founded on a new and right vision of righteousness. He was strapped to a table and dead asleep, but God in His grace awakened him to the fact that true righteousness was not what he had seen on the inside of his eyelids; it was what he now saw all around him.

I am not sure that there can be any real conviction of sin without God awakening the sinner to see genuine righteousness and, in some way, to love it and desire it as beautiful.

2. The good that I desire to do, I cannot do.
“. . . for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing that I hate.” Also v. 18, 19, 23, 25.

Stemming from the fact that he now truly understood righteousness in such a way that it was desirable, Paul began to struggle for that righteousness. That is the only natural reaction for some one who is strapped to a table and has just been awakened to see that real freedom is not what they thought it to be but is so much more lovely—they fight to get it.

However, as soon as Paul did begin to struggle to do good, he realized that he could not do it. For some reason, every attempt to get off the table and gain freedom was fruitless. “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the evil that I do not want.” (v. 19)

3. Therefore I find that sin dwells in me.
“I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.” Also v. 17, 18, 20.

This is Paul’s ultimate deduction, it is set on top of the first two realizations, and it is the makeup of authentic conviction. “Because I have begun to desire true righteousness, I have struggled for it. And because every struggle has done nothing toward gaining it, I now see that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in this flesh that I have for so long put my confidence in. I am sold into bondage to sin.”

He was strapped to a table, asleep. Only now that he is awake and grasping for freedom does feel the straps that hold him down. Only now that he understands that his flesh (or body; the natural as opposed to the supernatural) that he has for so long trusted in for his salvation is really a body of death is he in a position to cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death!”

Preaching to Produce Deliverance Seekers

When I read this passage and hear Paul say “Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?” do you know what I think? I think: “I want Annie’s dad to say that. And I want Lydia (the Wingerd’s cousin) to say that, or I want even some here tonight to get to the point of saying that. I want sin to become alive in them and for them to die (v. 9). This is why these verses are so practical. We need to examine what happened to Paul so that we can endeavor by Holy Spirit to bring about the same result in the people we preach to.

Paul addresses here the fundamental problem with almost all mankind. They lower the standard of righteousness until it describes them. In their minds they are safe from hell because they have morphed the holiness that God requires into an attainable imitation. This was exactly Paul’s problem. He was killing people and at the same time saying, “As to the Law, I am found blameless.” What changed? How did he come to the place of saying, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” and seeking deliverance?

The answer is that his comprehension of righteousness was transformed. What he once thought he measured up to was now shown to be phony and ugly. God had brought before him a vision of holiness that was true and beautiful—so beautiful that, when he found it unattainable, he was totally devastated. That is what led him to cry, “Wretched man that I am!”

This passage has done a lot to shape the way I think about evangelism and conviction. When I preach to bring about conviction and knowledge of sin in those who are trusting in their flesh, I need to preach a beautiful holiness. Only then will my hearers truly see their sin. Some one strapped to a bed who is asleep will not know they are strapped until they wake up and begin to struggle for freedom. We must show sinners the beauty Christ’s demands for a righteousness that corresponds to His own. And when, out of desire to have it, they begin to struggle for it, they will see in what a wretched body of death they really are.

We must show people the righteousness that God really requires, not the counterfeit that they understand. And we must show them that it is beautiful. To understand bondage a person must desire freedom.

Bryan Elliff © 2008

Audacious Prayer

Christians must be people who pray with audacity, not because we deserve an answer, but because God will give it. When one of Jesus’ followers requested of Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples,” Jesus response was two-fold. He first gave an example of how we ought to pray, and then he told a story about a man who desired bread from a friend.

“Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in be; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence [shamelessness, audacity] he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”

“So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.”
Luke 11:5-10

With this story, Jesus was making a contrast between the friend “who will not get up and give him anything” and God. “Suppose one of you goes to a friend at midnight and asks for bread,” Christ said. “That man will not want to get up and give you anything. The hour is too late and the children have already gone to bed. But even though he will not want to get up and give you anything, because you had the shamelessness to come and ask, he will get up and give you as much as you need.”

To grasp the object of this story, we need to define one word—“because of his persistence (NASB).” The original word literally means “lack of sensitivity to what is proper.” Shamelessness and audacity (boldness and daring in going against what seems normal) come close. The idea of persistence could possibly be included, but it is not the best translation because it not Jesus main point. In other words, Jesus’ description of this man’s action in coming to his friend and knocking on his door in the middle of the night was that he was audacious.

Now here is the contrast Jesus was pointing out: if that unrighteous man would get up and give you bread at midnight even though he did not want to, how much more will God, who delights in His children and never sleeps, give all that is needed to those who simply have the shamelessness to come ask Him?

Our asking is not grounded on what we deserve. That is the point. We deserve nothing. Godly audacity is asking even though we do not deserve it—asking because we believe that God will not withhold any good thing from His people. And Godly audacity is asking for great things even though they may seem to be too great—asking because we know that God delights to give vast gifts to those who trust Him. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,” Jesus continued teaching in this passage, “how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

So what was Jesus’ conclusion? “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.”

We must pray with daring and boldness, not trusting our worthiness, but trusting in God’s goodness.

Bryan Elliff © 2008

CF Bible Study, Romans 7:14-25: “Sin Became Alive and I Died” Part 1

For the next few weeks we are going to study a passage that is one of the most controversial and confusing in the entire Bible. But do not lose heart. Possibly the greatest lesson I have learned in this past year is that the Holy Spirit is the granter of understanding and without Him all else is without worth. That lesson has two sides. On one side, no matter how intelligent you are, apart from the Spirit you are totally impotent. And on the other side, no matter how unintelligent you might be, God may still give you the answer. So what we must do for these next couple of weeks is pray and study hard, and the Lord may grant us the truth.

There are two basic views that have traditionally been taken on these verses.

1. Paul is speaking of his experience as a non-believer under conviction of sin.
2. Paul is speaking of his experience as a believer struggling with indwelling sin.

Tonight we will spend all of our time simply trying to discover which view is correct. Normally, I do not like to teach this way. The Bible ought to be taught positively (by clear statements of truth), not negatively (by refutation of contrary positions). It is not life changing to listen to some one talk about what some scholars have thought in previous centuries. It is boring. I do not want to know why what theologians have thought is wrong. I want to know the Bible says and what is right. I feel, however, that tonight some of that sort of teaching is necessary because the view opposite what I will teach is so prevalent in Christianity. I cannot teach you anything life-changing from this passage until you are convinced that my basic premise is correct.

Something, however, needs to be said first. You can totally miss this text and still have a great idea of the Christian life and of conversion, because the truth drawn from both views is still taught in the rest of scripture. Paul may be referring to himself as a non-believer under conviction of sin, but the Bible still teaches that believers struggle with sin. And Paul may be referring to himself as a believer struggling with sin, and still the Bible still teaches that non-believers undergo conviction of sin. Even if we misunderstand this passage, right doctrine is not necessarily lost.

What is Paul Talking About?

In my opinion 14-25 is Paul’s deeper description of his conviction as an unbeliever. He uses the present tense because it naturally flows out of the grammar in verses 13-14 and because it makes what he says vivid and penetrating. It is his purpose to further show that the Law is good and sin is utterly sinful, and thus protect justification, and to glorify it by depicting his awful bondage so that he can strikingly uncover the One who can deliver him from the “body of this death.”

There are three large reasons I think Paul is not describing himself here as a Christian.

1. 7:14-25 would directly contradict chapters 6 and 8.

The result of chapter 6 is that Paul has built a wall around the cross against those who say that the forgiveness we have gives us license to sin. The wall is this: those who have died to sin cannot still live in it (6:2). Believers have died with Jesus their representative, and in that death the strength of sin was drained. Therefore a new master rules them—no longer master sin but master Christ. Look again at some of the statements that make this point obvious.

“. . . our old self was crucified with Him that our body of sin might be done away with that we would no longer be slaves to sin . . .” (6:6)

“Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (6:11)

“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (6:14)

“. . . having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness.” (6:18)

“But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.” (6:22)

Now I want you to notice one of Paul’s first declarations in 7:14-25 and compare it with the tenor of chapter 6.

“ . . . I am of the flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” (7:14)

It is unbelievable that Paul would take all of chapter 6-8 to say that a Christian is not in bondage to sin, and then turn and say that he (a true Christian) is.

Let’s move our focus to chapter 8 for a few moments. Here we are told in several ways that believers are of the Spirit and not the flesh.

“ . . . who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (8:4b)

“. . . those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (8:8b)

“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” (8:9)

Now here again is Paul’s assertion in 7:14. And again the contradiction is unbelievable.

“. . . I am of the flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” (7:14)

Could it be that Paul as a believer is of the flesh when those who are in the flesh cannot please God?

2. There is a significant change from chapter 7 to chapter 8.

It does not take more than a surface reading to discern the difference between chapters 7 and 8. You can almost feel it. There is tension in 7, resolution in 8. There is bondage and then there is freedom.

Chapter 7
“I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good.” (7:22)

“. . . I find a different law in the members of my body . . . making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.” (7:23b)

“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (7:24b)

Chapter 8
“There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. (8:2)

“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!” (8:16)

3. The flow of thought would seem to be notably broken.

In a section of scripture devoted to showing that believers are freed from sin, it would not make sense for Paul to insert ten verses about his struggles with sin as a believer. Some would say that he is simply dealing with reality; he describes a victorious life, but believers do not always experience one. That is possible, but is seems weak. It seems to be put on top of the passage, not pulled out of it. Could he not be simply furthering what he has already said for five verses: the law is good and sin is utterly sinful?

Why Are These Verses Here?

Verse 9 of chapter 7 throws open this section. “I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died . . .” In verses 14-15 Paul is describing that death. Before, he considered himself to be a blameless Law-keeper. But when God took the Law and demonstrated to Paul that he was comprehensively unable to keep it (“I am doing the very thing that I hate”), he saw his bondage to sin (“No longer am I the one doing it but sin which indwells me.”) and realized that he was a dead man (Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?”).

There are two main reasons for this deeper account of his conviction. First, it is to protect the cross. He must make clear that the Law is not evil, sin is. If you have the incorrect problem, you will get the incorrect solution. We must know that God’s Law is good (it is “spiritual”). And we must die to it through the cross because we are fleshly and sinful (“but I am of the flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”) and it therefore results in death for us.

The second reason for this section is to glorify the cross. He goes this deep in chapter 7 so that chapter 8 can come and be amazingly beautiful. Who will deliver us from sin and death? The one who came and condemned sin in the flesh!

Bryan Elliff © 2008