Written by Ken Walker
July 2001
In Romans 7 Paul expresses his anguish about not being able to control his
behaviour, doing what he wishes not to do and not doing what he wants to do.
He says:
"For the good that I wish, I do not do;
but I practice the very evil that I do not wish." (Rom
Paul is saying this just after having come into the
Believers who have not understand exactly what was going on here, believe that
they too in this age, should experience these same troubles - this continuing
fight between good and evil. Consequently they miss out on the fullness of the
Spirit of God that Paul had in Romans 8 and everywhere else in his epistles.
Nowhere in his writings did he ever again express this same anguish that
appeared in Romans 7:14-24. Why is this so? The answer is simple. It is because
he never ever again did experience that same anguish that he expressed that one
time. It was in a process of learning that was controlled by the Spirit of God.
Other writing on this matter of correct interpretation of Romans 7 is listed at
http://www.vicnet.net.au/~gnaust/life/index-gr.html
The purpose of this article is to examine and expose who or what is the "I" he mentions so often in Romans 7:14-24, what a misinterpretation of this passage does to our understanding of the Gospel and how an identifying of this "I" opens some doorways towards fullness of life in Christ.
Romans 3-5 says that believers are justified by
faith and have peace through Christ.
Romans 6 says that believers are dead to sin and alive to God
Romans 7 says that believers are united to Christ and released from the law.
Romans 8 says believers have no condemnation and have been set free from the
law of sin and death.
An apparently good and proper sequence it would seem - and yes it is.
Justification, peace, dead to sin, alive to God, united to Christ, released
from the law, no condemnation, and set free from sin and death. The complete
gospel in a nutshell. From being guilty as every man in Romans 3, and sons of
disobedience of Ephesians 2:2 believers are now set free and partake of the
divine nature.
Paul tells us we were sons of disobedience and subject to Satan:
"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly
walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of
disobedience." (Eph 2:1-2 NASB )
Peter reminds us of our escape from corruption into being partakers of the
Divine Nature.
"For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent
promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." (2
Pet 1:4 NASB)
However, Paul's description of his struggles in Romans 7:14-24 has muddied the
waters. From my experience of church life and pulpit preaching and teaching,
the gospel we hear is rather watered down and weak in nature. It is certainly
not the full Gospel that Paul preached and used in his ministry, because it
presents the essential nature of the Christian life as one of conflict.
Conflict has its part, but is not central - abiding in Christ is central.
Examination of the "I"
The force of the word "I" in this passage is great. It is mentioned
no less than 23 times in 11 verses, whilst "me" is mentioned 6 times
and "my" 3 times. So in just 11 verses Paul's personal self ( as he
saw it at the time) is mentioned no less that 32 times, nearly three times per
verse. So what is he talking about and what does it mean?
To answer that we need to go back to Romans 6 and compare it with Romans 8. As
we have already noted, Paul came to the conclusion in Romans 6 that he was dead
to sin. He was no longer a sinner - he was declared dead to sin. And in Romans
8 we see Paul in fullness of life. And to get the full picture we need to
remind ourselves that Paul's "I" in Romans 7 was in all sorts of sin
and confusion. How could that be if he was dead to sin in Romans 6 and in
fullness of life in Romans 8? In summary this is what we are looking at..
Romans 6 - Dead to sin. ..............
Romans 7 - Sin and confusion ................. Romans 8 - Fullness of life
The question might be asked, "Did Paul really go through sin and
confusion, seeing as we know he did not stay in it as Romans 8 states?"
The answer is - Yes he did go through a confusing period when he had no control
over what he did, despite his best efforts, in his human strength.
Prior to his conversion Paul was a son of disobedience - as we all were before
our conversion. In Romans 6 he states he is now a son of God, because he says
in verse 11 that he is dead to sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. So he
has gone from being a son of disobedience to a son of God. Please notice that
this describes two states only. One is as an unsaved person, the other as a
saved person. Two states, one being under the control of Satan, the other being
under the control of God.
This then begs the question as to who Paul is talking about in Romans 7 when he
uses , "ME" or "MY". Is he talking about himself as an
unsaved person or as a saved person? Is he a sinner or a saint? Is he under
Satan's control or under the control of the Holy Spirit?
The short answer is that he is saved, a saint and under the control of the Holy
Spirit, although as we will see, he was not yet fully under the control of the
Holy Spirit as there was a great lesson still to learn. As we shall also see,
Paul's focus was in a wrong direction. He was still focussing on his own self,
the one that was striving against the law to do right, be righteous and not
sin.
Paul's lesson
Let us first do a slight historical diversion. In Chapter 1 of Galations
Paul tells us that after his conversion he went to
The lesson that Paul had to learn was that he had to obtain fullness of the
Spirit of God by faith alone and not by striving, because striving by human
effort brought him up against the power of the law, sinful behaviour and
certain failure. He discovered this by reference to the sin of coveting -
commandment number 10 in the Mosaic law.
"I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said,
"YOU SHALL NOT COVET." (Rom 7:7 NASB)
Notice the issue.
"For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were
aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for
death." (Rom 7:5 NASB)
Not being aware that he had been released from the law he strove against it -
coveting in particular - thus guaranteeing failure. His own striving for
perfection brought him against the law. Presumably, the Holy Spirit had to
stand by and let Paul make these mistakes, as the Spirit also strove with Paul
to teach him that control of all these things only came through the power that
the Holy Spirit alone could provide - and that Holy Spirit power only came to
him through faith.
"But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by
which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in
oldness of the letter." (Rom 7:6 NASB)
So Paul had to learn that he did not have to strive against sin or the law. He
was already dead to both! All he had to do - and it was a big and important
"all", was to believe that the Holy Spirit could work through the
presence of Christ in him - the Christ who is our life - Paul's Christ in you,
as per the following scriptures.
"When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be
revealed with Him in glory."... (Col 3:4 NASB)
"to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory." (
The life of Christ in Paul, because it was indeed the power of the Holy Spirit
was Paul's actual new life. He did not have to strive, only believe by faith
that this life was there within him. Quite a contrast from striving against sin
all the time!
Paul's focus on self
We can now examine what the "I" in Romans 7 was - as it appeared to
Paul as he isolated himself for 3 years. We must first say that Paul, being a
Pharisee of note, who was used to human effort in living out the law, would
know all about the relationship between sin and the law. As far as would have
been humanly possible, he would have been used to making sure he did not sin,
by attempting to observe all the requirements of the law. He was used to
striving against sin. It appears that although he was converted and therefore
now belonged to Christ, he was still focussed on self during some part of this
3 year period. Seventeen years later, his exasperation of that time is shown in
verse 24 of chapter 7 of Romans.
"Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this
death?" (Rom
This call indicates that at some stage he must have thought he was never going
to break free and be able to live without sin. Indeed, this would have been the
case, except for the intervention and teaching of the Holy Spirit during that
time. ( as it must be for all of us)
So at that time, all Paul"s focus was on "self", not on the Holy
Spirit where it should have been. The question now is - did this self really
exist? To answer this question we have to go back to the previously mentioned
facts that there are only two states, not saved and saved, sons of disobedience
or sons of God. The truth is that Paul was a son of God through all of this -
all through Romans 5-8. However, because he did not yet realise ( in A.D 38-40)
that the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit only came through faith and not
through the works of striving against sin, he thought that this
"self" that gave him so much trouble was really him. But it was not -
it did not exist - it was a phantom! Only two possible states exist. There is
no intermediate or independent self. Unsaved peoples move from being unsaved to
being saved and if they understand the fullness of the Gospel expressed in many
scriptures, then they also know that they immediately have available the
fullness of God through the Holy Spirit. The phantom state is Paul in partial
unbelief and lacking in knowledge trying to live his Christian life by virtue
of personal effort.
Comparison with modern Christianity
How does this compare with modern Christianity? From my observation, many if
not most Christians still believe, that even in a believer, there are two
natures fighting it out for control - that there is a continuing conflict which
never ends this side of heaven. The author has written another article about
this matter of getting the correct interpretation of Romans 7 and how its
affect on obtaining the fullness of the Spirit of God. See Searching for the
fullness of God, and is listed with other related articles at http://www.vicnet.net.au/~gnaust/life/index-gr.html
Do Christians have to go through their own
Romans 7 experience?
Christians who have lived striving to beat sin because they did not realise they
were dead to sin and believed that the two natures were in constant conflict,
will have to, in some form, correct their inadequate view of the Gospel, go
though some sort of experience as Paul did, until the Spirit of God witnesses
to them that they are indeed controlled by the Spirit of God and do not have to
strive against either sin or law. However, if people who are connected with or
responsible for people who have just entered the kingdom of God by virtue of
their conversion to Christ, really know and experience this fullness for
themselves, then I see no reason why new believers should be taught these
things from the beginning. It would save much confusion, heartache and other
errors derived from wrong interpretation.
Conclusion
Believers who identify themselves with the self (I, me, my) in Romans 7:14-24
do themselves a grievous dis-service. They need to realize that this phantom
self cannot exist if the believer has a true and full appreciation of his
position in Christ. This phantom self can only exist if believers are confused
about the fact that they are really dead to sin and law. They might also be
confused because Paul experienced this problem in his lifetime and wrote about
it. Therefore they might believe it must be theirs also. It is a phantom they
cannot afford to entertain.
To return to Fullness of Life in
Christ, click here
Ken Walker Email: kgww-@tpg.com.au Ken Walker.
PLEASE NOTE. When using this email address, please remove the dash (-) before
the @ otherwise the email will not work. This dash is there to stop search
engines picking up my true email address and bombarding me with useless emails.
July 2001
This article will eventually be on the internet, listed with others at http://www.vicnet.net.au/~gnaust/life/index-gr.html