Paul's Struggle in Romans Chapter Seven

The apostle Paul is explaining to his readers in vivid detail his ongoing battle between his flesh, mind and spirit. This is a struggle we all must suffer as Christians and it is a most painful struggle!

In Romans 7:15-25 we read:

“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. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 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. For the good I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.                                                                                                

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 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. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.”

I want to focus on the bold texts for a moment. If one fails to read this in context, one could believe that Paul was absolving himself of personal responsibility for his sin when he says, “It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me”

Sin as I have I mentioned before is rebelling against the commands of God; Sin is the total absence of good.  We sin by omission and commission. A sin of omission is not doing what God has commanded (e.g. forgive one another, pray, share the gospel, etc). A sin of commission is going beyond the boundaries of God’s commands (e.g. do not lie, commit adultery, worship other gods, etc). We sin by not doing what God commands as well by trespassing what He has prohibited.

The truth of the matter is sin by itself is a nameless cypher. Sin must have the opportunity to engage a willing host (i.e. our bodies) in order to bring ruin to our lives. In other words, sin has no power without humans. So no, Paul was by no means espousing dualism[1] which some may have accused him of. He was not saying that sin by itself was to blame for his sin. For if that were true, we could not be blamed for sin, for sin alone would be guilty and not the person whom sin indwelt. (I’m drawing this thought to its most logical conclusion). Paul, like us chose to sin because he wanted to even though he knew choice was wrong before he did it. We do the same thing.  Paul in these verses clearly decries his pain, and struggle to do right verses wrong. These verses are an incredible revelation of the pain of the human condition. Paul a redeemed man gives us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit why we act the way we do – even as Christians. Because of our unredeemed flesh, we will continue to war within ourselves. Our spirit man is renewed and desires to obey God, whereas our flesh – the old man desires, and serves the law of sin. This will be our struggle until we are glorified in our bodies. This obviously has not occurred yet due to sin ever being present with us. As Paul cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” We cry out to God for the same deliverance.      

If you are like me it seems sometimes I’m being torn apart inside. What do I mean? A similar passage that describes our struggle is in Galatians 5:16-17, “But I say walk and live habitually in the Holy Spirit (responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit) then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God). For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the Holy Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other (continually withstanding and in conflict with each other), so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do” (Amplified Version).               

To put this in laymen’s terms, we are in a tug-of-war with ourselves due to the flesh and Spirit battle we are constantly engaged in. We must recognize and deal with this struggle. We must be determined to walk in victory by allowing the Spirit of God to rule our spirits. How? By learning, understanding, and applying the word of God.

Jesus said this about His words: It is the Spirit that gives life (i.e. regeneration)…The words that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life (John 6:63). The word of God has inherent power to continue to transform us on the inside so that we can behave holy on the outside. We as Christians have to trust God and His Word! We must for it is our “get-out-of-jail-free-card” constantly, and our lifeline.  

So, when Paul is talking about our flesh dwells no good thing, he is not talking about the human body per se. Our physical bodies are not evil for God made us, and all that God made was perfect in the beginning (Genesis 1:31). When Paul mentions the flesh in this context, he is referencing our fallen sinful nature-that is the flesh.  Sin operates and takes advantage our fallen evil nature to wreak havoc in our lives and tempts us to sin. If we are not filled with the Spirit on an ongoing basis (Eph 5:18), then we are sitting ducks for the devil and his tricks (Eph 6:11), and we will sin every time.

Concluding, we cannot use the old Flip Wilson phrase, “The devil made me do it!” Yes, sin is ever present with us because of our fallen sinful nature. Sin assaults our minds and our flesh to commit evil acts. Likewise, when we yield to the Spirit, He also operates through our flesh to commit godly acts (Gal 2:20). It all boils down to which one we want to serve the most at that precise time, the law of God, or the law of sin?             

The choice is always ours.                           

                                                                                                               

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[1] Dualism was a false Greek Philosophy that taught that the human body was evil

and the spirit is good so when someone sinned, they were not personally responsible

for it because it was their flesh alone that committed the sin; it did not involve their minds

or spirits when the sin was committed. This mindset in the Greeks mind absolved

them of personal responsibility for evil.