Romans 7:7-25
Help in the struggle with sin
Do you ever find yourself trapped in bad habits or sins that you want to break free from but find yourself unable to do so? Do you ever find yourself deciding that you will not do something and then doing it anyway?
Paul writes, ‘I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise’ (v.15, MSG).
He goes on, ‘It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge’ (vv.21–23, MSG).
Paul says, ‘I obviously need help!’ (v.18, MSG). He cries out: ‘What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?’ (v.24).
Having said (in yesterday’s passage) that you are free from the law (v.6), Paul anticipates the kind of questions that will be raised about what he is saying. Is he equating the law with sin? (v.7).
He shows that it is not the law that is sin. Quite the reverse. ‘The law code itself is God’s good and common sense, each command sane and holy counsel’ (v.12, MSG). It is we who are sinful. The law shows this by revealing what sin is, and that we cannot keep the law. Indeed, it even aggravates sin in us.
The next question follows from the previous ones. If the law is so good, why did it lead to my death? (v.13). ‘No,’ says Paul. It was not the law – but my sin – that led to death. If someone is condemned for a crime, it is not the law that causes the penalty. Rather it is the crime. All the law does is to set the standard.
Much ink has been spilled over this passage. The main debate is whether Paul is referring to his Christian or pre-Christian state. It is clearly autobiographical, but he is also talking generally about the condition of human beings living under the law.
Perhaps we should see this passage as describing the Christian not living in the fullness of the Spirit’s power, even though he or she desires to do so. It can be read as the human cry to live in the Spirit, heard again in the lives of Christians through the ages.
We know that God’s law is holy, righteous and good (v.12). We know that it is spiritual (v.14). Yet we find ourselves failing: ‘I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do’ (vv.14–15).
The difference between the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of becoming a Christian is not that before, I sinned, and that after, I was sinless. No – the difference is that before becoming a Christian, sin was in character; it did not really worry you or me. Whereas after becoming a Christian, it is utterly out of character; I do not want to do it. It causes me pain and regret when I do. Not so much because I have let myself down – although there is that. But because I want to be pleasing Christ – and I have failed him.
If you are like me, you know only too well this battle with sin. Please realise that that is a key mark of the genuine Christian believer.
As Paul cries out for help he already knows the answer to the question, ‘“Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!’ (vv.24–25).
Perhaps, the key to understanding this passage lies in the two words ‘I myself’ (v.25b). On our own we are slaves to the law of sin but this is not the end of the story. Paul goes on to speak about the great liberation that the Holy Spirit brings to our lives.
As I look at myself as a Christian in terms of belonging to Christ, I realise that I am not free to sin. As I look at myself as a Christian in the world, I realise that I am not free from sin either. But as I look at myself as a Christian empowered by the Spirit, I realise that I am free to overcome sin. To paraphrase John Newton:
‘I am not what I ought to be.
I am not what I wish to be.
I am not what I one day will be.
But, by the grace of God, I am not what I once was.’
Lord, I cry out to you for help. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit today. I really need the help of the Holy Spirit to lead the kind of life I know you want me to lead.