Romans 7 | THE UNCONVERTED LIFE
Synopsis Romans 7 shows us that Christians are set free from the Law to live in the Spirit, but Paul takes a convoluted trip to get there showing us that the Law is good (7:7-13), sin uses the law for evil (7:14-20), and we need a savior (7:21-25). Romans 7 helps us understand the gospel—that we’ve been set free from sin (Romans 6), free from the obligation to the law (Romans 7), so that we can live by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8).
The reading for this week is Romans 7.
So here’s the win for this week:
1) To feel and remember the tension non-Christians struggle with. We can forget this tension, especially if we’ve grown up in the church, and it’s important to remember our powerlessness in the face of sin without the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
2) To ask ourselves if we’ve really encountered the grace of God. A clear question we face when wrestling through Romans 7 is, “Have we found peace from our sins or are we still struggling in helplessness?” It might not be a fun question to ask, but it’s important. In fact, our lives hang on the answer to this question—“Do we know God personally enough that we love his holiness and he overcomes sin through us?"
Was Paul Schizophrenic?
Read Romans 7
Romans 7 might be one of the most confusing chapters in the Bible. This is the “I do what I don’t want to do” chapter where Paul seems to paint the Christian life as constantly schizophrenic. One minute we’re wanting to worship God—the next, we might as well be taking body shots in Vegas. It’s a chapter that many Christians have used to justify a lifestyle of sin because they say, “See, I can’t help myself."
But that’s simply wrong! Romans 7 is not about an on-going struggle with sin. Believers may struggle with sin in our hearts (in fact, that’s outlined in Galatians 5), but we are no longer slaves to sin. We struggle against sin; we’re not enslaved to sin! If you’re a slave to sin, you have no choice but to sin; but if you’ve been set free, then you have spiritual power to overcome sin. Therefore, if we are struggling with a sin, we can have confidence that God will truly overcome it in our lives. Maybe not in a moment, but God certainly will overcome all sin and temptation in our lives—He will fill us with spiritual power to beat sin! And that’s the promise of Romans 8!
So, what is Romans 7 really all about then? Well, in short, Romans 7 wants us to know that we no longer follow the Law to get to God; our path to God runs through Jesus! The main reason Romans 7 is confusing is because in Romans 7:14-25 Paul keeps saying “I do what I cannot help doing,” making it seem like Paul’s whole life is in bondage to sin. But, as many commentators rightly point out, when Paul says “I”, he doesn’t actually mean himself. He’s imitating the life of a person who is trying to “prove themselves to God” and hasn’t yet met Christ.
Remember, Romans is a letter that’s meant to be read out-loud. In fact, it’s kind of like a sermon. And surely you can imagine a preacher pretending to play the part of a sinner. He might say, “I want to be good to my wife, but I’m tempted by this other woman. I want to honor God at school, but I keep on cheating.” We don’t get confused and think that he’s really describing his own life. We rightly recognize that he’s “playing the part” of a sinner.
Well, that’s what Paul is doing here. He’s “playing the part” of someone who knows the Law of God (given to Moses) but still can’t live up to them. And that person can’t live up to them because he hasn’t yet been set free through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sets us free from the power of sin (Romans 6), free from the obligation of the Law (Romans 7), and gives us power to live like Jesus (Romans 8).
If you read Romans as a full sermon and not just as “Romans 6” then “Romans 7” then “Romans 8,” then what Paul is saying makes a lot more sense. Here’s what I mean: if you understand that Romans 7 is an argument necessarily flowing out of Romans 6 and into Romans 8, it becomes difficult to imagine Paul is using the “I” to describe himself.
Or maybe look at this comparison between Romans 6 and 8 as to why the “I” in Romans 7 cannot be Paul’s present experience:
6:14 — “For sin will have no dominion 7:15 — "For I do not understand my over you, since you are not under law own actions. For I do not do what I but under grace." want, but I do the very thing I hate."
6:16 — “You are slaves either of … sin or of obedience." …
6:2 — “We died to sin, how can we still 7:19 — "For I do not do the good I want, live in it." but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." 8:13 — “but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body (implying you can), you will live."
6:6 — “We know that our old self was 7:23 " making me captive to the law of … crucified with him...so that we would no sin that dwells in my members." longer be enslaved to sin."
6:7 — “For one who has died has been set free from sin."
8:2 — “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death."
If Paul was really describing his struggle in Romans 7 rather than just impersonating someone that doesn’t know Christ, how can he so clearly say in Romans 6 and 8 that we have been set free from sin? That sin is not our master? That we have become slaves of God? That we can put sin to death? Either Paul is schizophrenic or he is imitating someone who has not been set free from sin. Obviously, therefore, Paul is imitating the life of a person who has not yet met Christ.
So, and maybe this will be most helpful, how does the argument flow in Romans 7?
Rom 7:1-6 — Freedom from the Law and Invitation to the Spirit Paul will continue his argument from Romans 6:15-23 that once we are united to Christ (Rom 6:1-4) we are dead to sin’s power over us (Romans 6) and dead to trying to follow the Mosaic Law to be accepted by God (Rom 7:1-6). He uses a strange analogy to show us this.
Paul tells us to imagine a marriage. Once a spouse has died in the marriage, the other is freed from the covenant-law of that marriage. They’re so free from it, they can go and marry another person because the law of marriage doesn’t bind them any longer.
In the same way, since Christ has come, the old way of proving ourselves to God by strictly obeying the Law, the 10 Commandments and all 613 commandments in the Old Testament, died when Christ died on the cross. Instead, the new way, the way of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, is now open to us.
Rom 7:7-13 — Proving that the Law isn’t Sin Paul then has to do something odd and show why the Law is good. You can imagine someone interrupting him and saying, “OK, Paul, if Jesus came to destroy the Law, then why did God give it to us in the first place? Why do we need the 10 commandments?
Paul’s answer is awesome! He says the purpose of the Law was to prove to us what sin was—the Law is like a compass needle that points to the sin in our hearts. Paul has already said this is Rom 3:19-20 but he wants to repeat himself for clarity.
Here’s where Paul slips into preacher imitation-mode (see above). He says, “if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin” (v7). In other words, the law helps us to know the holy nature of God and the sinful nature of our hearts. It shows us where we don’t line up with God. That’s exactly what Paul means in verse 8 when he says, “Sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness."
Rom 7:14-25 — Proving that Sin works through the Law Paul now has to tackle the same question from the other angle. Instead of focusing on the law, he focuses on ourselves before we met Jesus.
He reminds people that before Jesus, they might know that they shouldn’t do something like covent, but once they knew that, they couldn’t help but covet. Think about it like this—have you ever tried to lose a few pounds even setting up rules like “I won’t eat sweets” but then you realize you've got ice cream in your fridge? You know you don’t want to eat it, you’ve even made a rule to yourself you won’t eat it, but it’s all your mind can think about. Eventually, you rationalize it and say something like “Only one scoop one bowl the whole … … box!” You’ve eaten it all even though you didn’t want to and you had set up a rule not to eat ice cream.
That’s what Paul is saying. He’s in preacher-imitation mode again as a person who doesn’t have the Holy Spirit saying that he keeps doing “the very thing I hate” (7:15). Clearly he knows the law, the 10 commandments (or the rule not to eat ice cream in our example) and agrees that it’s a good rule, “For I delight in the law of God” (7:22). But he can’t seem to fulfill the law by following it: “It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (7:20).
That’s why the passage ends with Paul, again in preacher-imitation mode crying out to God. Only Jesus can save him from this state of being ruled by sin (7:24-25). And that will set up Romans 8 and the power of God to change our lives and overcome our desires so that we’re no longer slaves to sin.
Questions
In verses 2-3, Paul introduces an analogy about a widowed wife; when her husband has died, the woman no longer has an obligation to the marriage. What is the analogy between the Christian and the Law as it relates to the woman and her deceased husband?
Why is it important to realize that in Romans 7:15-20 Paul isn’t describing the normal Christian life?
How do you know in Romans 7:15-25 that Paul isn’t describing the normal Christian life?
What does Paul think is the purpose of the Law (hint: discuss 7:7-13, especially verse 12).
How does sin use the law to its own advantage?
How does Romans 7 relate to Romans 6? To Romans 8?
Application Questions
How do you “do accountability” without just telling people to “be better?” If we’re saved only by grace, how do we lean into grace during accountability?
Serious question—how do you overcome sin in your life?
What does it say about your relationship with God if you haven’t been able to overcome a certain sin, do you really have a relationship with Him?
Can you have a relationship with God and continue in sin?
Can you have a relationship with God and sin at all?
What’s the difference between struggling with sin and being enslaved to sin?
How does God give you spiritual power to overcome sin?
How do you treat your non-Christian friends when you find them struggling like the person described in Rom 7:14-25?
Maybe college students today aren’t racked with guilt over not being able to keep God’s perfect law, but students often do find themselves not able to live up to their parents’ expectations or their own future dreams. How might this passage give them comfort?
How does this passage impact your love of Jesus, knowing how far he’ll go to save sinners like us?
What’s the difference between a Christian obeying the moral God to please God and a non-believer trying to perform the law to make God love them?
Resource Toolbox
Ben Witherington on Romans 7 and Sin John Wesley's Thoughts on Romans 7 Douglas Moo - Encountering the Book of Romans