Romans 7: 13-25 - Introduction

 

•        This section of Romans is considered by some scholars to be the most controversial part of this letter.

 

•        The controversy is over whether Paul is describing the experience of

–       An unregenerate man (unbeliever, a non-Christian)

–       or

–       A regenerate man (a believer, a Christian)

 

•        Is Paul describing his experience as a Jew under the Law of Moses?

•        Or

•        Is Paul describing his Christian experience under the Law of Christ?

 

•        Things that seem to suggest that Paul is speaking as a Christian:

–       Paul shifts from the past tenses (of verses 7-13) to the present tense (in verses 14-25) perhaps indicating that he was describing his present Christian experience or perhaps he shifts to the present tense for dramatic effect.

–       Whereas the “mind” of people outside of Christ is universally presented by Paul as opposed to God and His will, Paul describes his mind in this text as wanting to do good and serve God:

•         Romans 7:16b - I agree that the law is good.

•         Romans 7:18b - For I have the desire to do what is good

•         Romans 7:21b -  I want to do good

–       Only the regenerate truly delight in God’s Law

•         Romans 7:22 - For in my inner being I delight in God's law;

•        Response to the above arguments:

–       Paul is depicting in these verses the frustration and struggle of the unbelieving Jew as he tries to keep the Mosaic Law in the power of the flesh.

–       The unbelieving Jews in Paul’s day, though they opposed God in many ways (e.g. in persecuting His people) were nevertheless sincere in their “delight” in the Law of Moses and would no doubt have agreed that the Law is “good”. Paul says this concerning them:

•         Romans 10:2 - For I can testify about them [the unbelieving Jews in Paul’s day] that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.

 

•        Things which show that Paul is speaking as a non-Christian Jew:

–       Paul throughout this passage struggles on his own without the aid of the Holy Spirit

•         Romans 7:25b -   I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

–       Paul describes himself as a “slave to sin” (verse 14b) a state from which every believer is released

•         Romans 6:18-22 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness . . . When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness . . . But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God.

–       Paul describes himself as a prisoner of the “law of sin” (verse 23), yet Christians are said to be free from the “law of sin and death”

•         Romans 8:2 - Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

–       While Paul makes it clear that believers will continue to struggle with sin, this passage is not just about a struggle with sin, but a defeat by sin.

–       In this passage, Paul struggles with the need to obey the Mosaic Law; yet Paul has already proclaimed that believers are not under the Law of Moses

•         Romans 7:6 - We have been released from the Mosaic Law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

 

•        Having stated that I do not believe that Paul is describing his personal struggle with sin as a Christian in Romans 7:13-25, I am not saying that Christians cannot or do not struggle with sin - they do!

 

•        There are numerous places in the Bible which teach that Christians do continue to struggle with sin, as the following Christians testify:

–       Job - Then Job answered the LORD: "I am unworthy-- how can I reply to you?” (Job 40:3-4 )

–       Isaiah - "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5 )

–       David - Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. (Psalm 51:5 )

–       James - We all stumble in many ways. (James 3:2)

–       John - If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8 )

–       Jesus - "No one is good-- except God alone.” (Luke 18:19)

 

•        However, what Paul has written in Romans 7:13-25 is a description of the struggle and frustration that an unbelieving Jew would have in trying to keep the Law of Moses - an experience to which Paul could relate.