The Christian and the Unredeemed Flesh - Part 1 (Romans 7:14-25)

INTRODUCTION:

            As long as the church has had the book of Romans there has been a controversy over the verses that we are going to look at this morning.  The controversy is whether the subject of this part of Scripture is an unbeliever or a believer and whether Paul is speaking about himself or if he is just using the first person figuratively to make his discourse more personal.

            I believe that Paul is speaking about himself and he is speaking about himself after his faith in Christ for salvation.  There are too many phrases in this passage that point to this being a Christian.  Paul in this passage speaks of his desire to obey God’s Law and his hatred for doing that which is evil.  Paul comes across as humble before God, noting that nothing good dwells in his humanness, he also speaks of sin being in him, but not all that is in him.  He gives thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ and speaks of serving Him with his mind.  In chapter one Paul had already taught us that none of this was true of the unbeliever.  The unbeliever hates God’s truth and righteousness and seeks to suppress them, the unbeliever rejects the natural evidence that we have of God and neither honors not gives thanks to God.  The unbeliever is completely dominated by sin and arrogantly disobeys God’s Law and also encourages others to do the same. 

            I believe Paul is describing for us the conflict that a believer continues to have with sin throughout his life.  The Christian that Paul is describing is a spiritually mature Christian who in honestly measuring himself against God’s Law, against His revealed standard of righteousness comes to understand that they cannot even come close to meeting the standard.  The more this mature Christian get closer to God, the more he sees his own sin.  The person described in this passage shows a level of spiritual insight, brokenness, regret and humility that characterizes a spiritually mature Christian, who before God has no trust in his own goodness and achievement.  Since Paul is using the first person it only makes sense that he is speaking of his own struggle with sin as a mature believer in Christ.  It should also be noted that in verses 7-13 Paul spoke in the first-person past tense, here beginning in verse 14 through the end of the chapter Paul speaks in the first person in the present tense.  He is describing his ongoing inner conflict with himself, one part of him pulling him one way and another part pulling him the opposite way.  This conflict that Paul describes is real and it is intense.  Let’s pray and then get into our passage for this morning.

--PRAY--

SCRIPTURE:

            Turn in your Bibles to Romans 7:14-25 where we will read of Paul’s conflict, this tension of sin against righteousness.  Please, stand if you are able in honor of the reading of the Word of God and follow along as I read.

     Romans 7:14-25,

            “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7:14–25, NASB95)[1]

THE BELIEVER IS OF FLESH (Romans 7:14)

            Paul begins this new section by affirming what he had just said in the former passage, the Law is not the problem, the Law is spiritual, it is holy, it is righteous, it is good, it is useful.  Paul is making clear that salvation by faith through grace does not replace the Law because this is the only way anyone can be saved from God’s wrath, the Law was never a means of salvation, it was to make us aware of our need for salvation so that by faith in Jesus Christ we can receive the gift of His grace in our lives and be forgiven, justified by God and reconciled to God.

            Paul then goes on and makes the statement that even though redeemed, even though justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, Paul writes that he is still of flesh.  In other words, Paul is stating that he is mortal, that he still possesses a physical body that is subject to death.  Notice though that Paul does not say that he is in the flesh, but of flesh.  He is no longer bound by or enslaved to the sinfulness of the flesh as he once was, so he is not in the flesh, but of the flesh.  Paul like all believers still possessed a remnant of the sinfulness that is a part of all human beings.  For those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, their spirit, their inner self is forever and completely cleansed of sin.  They are at death fully prepared to enter God’s presence in perfect righteousness and purity.  The moment that a person put his faith in Christ for salvation his spiritual rebirth occurs at that moment, at death, his flesh with its remaining sin is left behind.

            As a believer, as one who has by grace been saved through faith, you should be aware that your life falls far short of God’s standard of righteousness and that you fall back into sin with alarming regularity.  You are no longer a part of Satan’s family, you no longer love the world, and you are no longer sin’s slave, but you are still susceptible to sin’s deceitfulness and are still often drawn to the seeming pleasures it offers.  But as a believer, as a child of God you cannot be happy with sin because you know that it grieves the Holy Spirit and it is contrary to your new nature. 

            Paul goes on to say that not only is he of flesh, but that he is sold into bondage to sin.  This is one phrase that cause many to say, he must be speaking of an unbeliever, those are the only ones sold into bondage to sin.  But as we will see further into this passage Paul makes it clear that only his fleshly body is a prisoner of sin.  Paul’s body of flesh is unredeemed and is still sinful and makes war against his inner self, the new and redeemed part of him, that part, which is no longer sin’s prisoner, that part which is now the sworn enemy of sin.  Our flesh is not redeemed and is no more holy or sinless than it was before salvation.  We spoke last week of the wretchedness of sin and it is so powerful that even for the mature Christian it is still there and corrupts his living and hinders his inner desire to obey the will of God.

THE PROOF THAT THE BELEIVER IS OF FLESH (Romans 7:15)

            Paul goes on to declare the proof of this battle with sin that was still in his unredeemed flesh.  He states, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15, NASB95)[2] The word translated “understand” has the meaning of knowing something or someone beyond just the facts but knowing and approving of the something or the someone.  Paul says that he does not approve of what he is doing, because the very thing that he is doing he hates.  Paul is not saying that he is unable of doing anything good, but as a believer and now seeing the fullness and the glory of God’s Law, he understands that he cannot measure up to it.  Paul is expressing the turmoil that was going on inside him of not being able to fulfill the spirit of the Law as well as the letter of the Law, his heart’s desire was to glorify the Lord by living up to His perfect standard and he was unable to do it.  Paul’s inner man, the new creation created in the likeness of Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit could now with spiritual eyes see the holiness and goodness and gloriousness of God’s Law and he was grieved in his inner being at his least little failing in keeping it or of falling short of it.  Paul declares how wretchedly short of God’s Law he lives, even as a Spirit-indwelt believer and apostle of Jesus Christ.

            In Paul’s statement, “…for I am not practicing what I would like to do…” (Romans 7:15b, NASB95)[3] we see his humbleness as he confesses that he cannot be all that the Lord wants him to be, because he is unable to fulfill God’s perfect, righteous, and holy Law.  It is in frustration and sorrow that Paul says, “…but I am doing the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15c, NASB95)[4]

THE REASON THE BELIEVER CANNOT FULFILL THE LAW (Romans 7:16-17)

            Paul now begins to detail for us the reason for his inability to keep the Law perfectly, but before he does that he again stands up for the divine standard found in God’s Law, he again defends the goodness of the Law and teaches that the Law is not the problem.  He writes that even if he does the very thing that he does not want to do, this is not a reflection on the Law, this is not because the Law is at fault.  Instead he writes that he agrees with the Law, and confesses that it is good, my failure is not the Law’s fault.  Paul declares that he agrees with every detail of the Law.  Paul, in his inner self, the part of him that is redeemed and indwelt by Holy Spirit knows and understands that God’s Law is good.  In other words, Paul is voicing his desire, the desire of his redeemed being to honor the Law and to fulfill it perfectly.  This was Paul’s longing; this was the yearning of his heart.

            What about you?  What is the longing and the yearning of your heart?  Do you have a desire in your redeemed being to honor God’s Law and to seek to fulfill it?  This desire and longing comes with maturity, as you become more committed to the direction of the Holy Spirit in your life, as you fall deeper in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, as you come to more fully understand the holiness and majesty of God the Father you will have a greater longing and desire to keep God’s Law out of honor and reverence for the Lord.

            Paul after extolling the Law of God and declaring the goodness of it turns to the reason that he fails to live up to the standard of God’s perfect Law even though this is the longing and desire of his inner being.  Paul writes, “So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.” (Romans 7:17, NASB95)[5] What does Paul mean?  Paul certainly is not trying to make an excuse for what he is doing, he is not trying to pass the blame on to someone or something else.  Paul certainly is not trying to escape personal responsibility.  This belief that grace gives us a license to sin and live however we want because our physical body was going to be destroyed and our inner, spiritual person is good, and is untouched and not responsible for what the flesh does was not what Paul was teaching.  It was this heresy that he was teaching against.  So, what does Paul mean when he says that he is no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in him.

            Paul had already confessed his own personal responsibility in his sin when he said in verse 14, “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” (Romans 7:14, NASB95)[6]  If the “real” inner Christian is not responsible for sin in his life, then why would we be told to confess it and be forgiven for it.  1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NASB95)[7]  John goes on in the next verses and writes, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10, NASB95)[8] So Christians are commanded to confess their sins and be forgiven and cleansed and if we claim to be sinless that is the same as calling God a liar, that is what Satan through the serpent did in the garden, “Did God really say…”  If we claim to be sinless then God’s Word is not in us, because it would expose our sin to us, and we could never make that claim.  A true Christian is constantly recognizing and confessing his sin as he is made aware of it through the Scriptures.

            Paul so far in this chapter, especially beginning in verse 7 where we were last week where he first began to use his own testimony as the illustration spoke in a personal way, not using a lot of theological words and technical terms to describe his testimony first coming under the conviction of the Law and coming to faith in Jesus Christ and then today as he speaks of his conflict with sin and not doing what he wants to do.  But understand Paul was not teaching that the Christian has two natures as the NASB has the erroneous heading before this section, the NASB puts as the header to this section of Romans 7:14-25 the title: “The Conflict of the Two Natures.”  Paul is not teaching that we have two natures or two personalities.  When we speak of someone who is saved by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ, that person is just one person, just as before that person came to faith in Christ, he or she was one unsaved person.

            In verse 17 Paul gets more precise, more theological with what he says.  Paul speaks of a drastic change that has taken place in his life just as there has been in every person who has been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God through salvation.  This phrase translated “no longer” here in verse 17 is one word in Greek and it is what is called a negative adverb of time, this simply means that it is a complete and permanent change.  What does that mean?  Paul writes, “So now, no longer am I the one doing it…”(Romans 7:17a, NASB95)[9] Paul’s new “I” his new inner self, which is his new nature in Christ, not another nature but a completely new creation, this new inner self no longer approves of the sin that is still hanging onto to him through the flesh.  That he no longer approves of it is a complete and permanent change.  Before salvation his old nature, his old inner self approved of the sin that Paul committed, but his new inner self, that which is completely new, a new creation in no way approves of his sin, but strongly disapproves.  In Galatians 2:20 Paul told the Galatians believers the reason for this drastic change in his life, he writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NASB95)[10] Paul describes this drastic change that has taken place in his life as being crucified with Christ, no longer is his old inner self alive, it died and now Christ lives in Paul, Christ through the indwelling Holy Spirit is the newly created inner self of Paul.  Not two natures opposing one another, because the old nature is dead.  Paul said to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB95)[11]

            Back in Romans chapter 6 Paul had told us not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, in our old humanness that is not redeemed.  Sin like a overthrown and banished ruler, no longer the reigning king in a person’s life once we have put our faith in Christ and been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness, but sin is not dead, it survives, though it no longer sits on the throne of our life, it no longer resides in our innermost self, but finds a dwelling for itself in our flesh, in that part of us that is unredeemed, our unredeemed mortal body.  This unredeemed humanness is the only place from which sin can work and that will remain with us until we meet the Lord at the rapture or at death.  Paul spoke of this ongoing conflict with sin to the Galatians, he wrote in Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” (Galatians 5:17, NASB95)[12]  This conflict between our flesh and the indwelling Spirit will continue our whole life.  The only way in which we can live the victorious Christian life is to walk by Christ’s own Spirit and in His power, this is the only way in which we can live without carrying out the desires of the flesh.

CONCLUSION:

            I should have known that I would not get through this whole passage, but we got started on it this week.  I will try to finish it up this next week.  Do not let anyone tell you that you have two natures at war with one another inside you.  You are a single person just as you were before you put your faith in Christ.  Your old inner self died at the cross, when you were crucified with Christ and raised to newness of life in His resurrection.  You have a newly created inner self or nature if you want to call it that, this newly created inner self is indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, as a believer in Jesus Christ He is now the reigning Ruler in your life.  Sin has been disposed and banished but clings to your unredeemed flesh where it continually pits itself against your new Spirit.  So, through salvation you were saved from the penalty of sin, your new inner self is ready to meet the Lord in righteousness and purity because you were justified at salvation, the penalty of sin condemns you no longer it was paid by your substitute Jesus Christ.  You were also saved from the power of sin; it no longer reigns and rules your life.  It was disposed and banished from your inner self, and one day when you lay aside your mortal flesh and enter into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ you will see the final stage of your salvation when you are saved from the presence of sin.  O how I long for that day, no more struggle, no more conflict, finally able to completely and absolutely worship my Savior and Lord for the rest of eternity no longer frustrated and hindered by the presence of sin.

[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.