In verses 13-25 Paul continued to describe his personal struggle with sin but with mounting intensity. The forces of external law and internal sin (i.e., his sinful nature) conflicted. He found no deliverance from this conflict except through the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 25). I believe what Paul was describing here was his own personal struggle as a Christian to obey the law and so overcome the promptings of his sinful nature (flesh) to disobey it. Note the present tenses in his testimony. Without God's help he could not succeed. I will say more in defense of this view later. However what he wrote here is not normal or necessary Christian experience. Paul experienced this struggle as a believer before he understood his new relationship to the Law as a believer in Christ, which he explained in this chapter.
7:13 Paul next explained the Law's relationship to death. The responsibility for death belongs to sin, not the Law. Sin's use of something good, the Law, to bring death shows its utter sinfulness.
7:14 As a foundation for what follows, the apostle reminded his readers that all the godly ("we") know that the Law is "spiritual"(Gr. pneumatikos). It came from God (cf. vv. 22, 25). Paul did not want his readers to understand what he was about to say about the Law as a criticism of God who gave it.
In contrast to the good Law, Paul was fleshly or unspiritual (Gr. sarkinos, made of flesh; cf. 1 Cor. 2:1). Man is essentially different from the Law because we have a sinful nature whereas the Law is itself sinless. Therefore there is a basic antagonism between people and the Law.
"Sold under sin' is exactly what the new convert does not know! Forgiven, justified, he knows himself to be: and he has the joy of it! But now to find an evil nature, of which he had never become really conscious, and of which he thought himself fully rid, when he first believed, is a second lesson' which is often more bitter than the first--of guilt.!"225
Paul's statement that he was then as a Christian the slave of sin seems to contradict what he wrote earlier in chapter 6 about no longer being the slave of sin.226However remember that in chapter 6 Paul did not say that being dead to sin means that sin has lost its appeal for the Christian. It still has a strong appeal to the Christian whose human nature is still sinful (6:15-23). He said that being dead to sin means that we no longer must follow sin's dictates.
In one sense the Christian is not a slave of sin (6:1-14). We have died to it, and it no longer dominates us. Nevertheless in another sense sin still has a strong attraction for us since our basic human nature is still sinful and we retain that nature throughout our lifetime. For example, a criminal released from prison no longer has to live within the sphere of existence prescribed by prison walls. However he still has to live within the confines of his human limitations. God has liberated Christians from the prison house of sin (6:1-14). Notwithstanding we still carry with us a sinful nature that will be a source of temptation for us as long as we live (7:14-25).
To minimize the difficulty of grasping this distinction Paul used different expressions to describe the two relationships. In chapter 6 he used "slaves,"but in chapter 7 he wrote "sold"(v. 14). In chapter 6 he spoke of the relationship of the new man in Christ (the whole person, the Christian) to sin. In chapter 7 he spoke of the relationship of the old nature (a part of every person including the new man in Christ) to sin. Adam sold all human beings into bondage to sin when he sinned (5:12, 14).
7:15 Paul's sinful human nature influenced him to such an extent that he found himself volitionally doing (approving) the very things that he despised intellectually. This caused him to marvel. We all identify with him.
"We must constantly remember throughout this struggle that it is not a description by the apostle Paul of an experience he was having when he wrote this Epistle! but an experience of a regenerate man before he knows either about indwelling sin, or that he died to sin and to the Law which gives sin its power; and who also does not know the Holy Spirit, as an indwelling presence and power against sin."227
7:16 The apostle's attitude toward the Law was not the reason for his dilemma.
7:17 Rather his problem was traceable to the sin that dwelt within him, namely his sinful nature. Paul was not trying to escape responsibility but was identifying the source of his sin, his sinful nature. "I"describes the new man Paul had become at his conversion (Gal. 2:20). Viewed as a whole person he was dead to sin. Nevertheless the source of sin within him was specifically his sinful human nature that was still very much alive.
It comes as a terrible discovery for a new believer, or an untaught believer, to realize that our problem with sin is complex. We are sinners not only because we commit acts of sin (ch. 3) and because, as descendants of Adam, we share guilt because of his sin (ch. 5). We are also sinners because we possess a nature that is thoroughly sinful (ch. 7). Jesus Christ paid the penalty for acts of sin, He removed the guilt of original sin, and He enables us to overcome the power of inate sin.
7:18 "In general, we may say that in verses 14-17, the emphasis is upon the practicing what is hated,--that is, the inability to overcome evil in the flesh; while in verses 18-21, the emphasis is upon the failure to do the desired good,--the inability, on account of the flesh, to do right.
"Thus the double failure of a quickened man either to overcome evil or to accomplish good--is set forth. There must come in help from outside, beyond himself!"228
Paul meant that sin had thoroughly corrupted his nature ("flesh"). Even though he was a Christian he was still a totally depraved sinner (3:10-18, 23). He knew what he should do, but he did not always do it.
7:19-20 These verses restate the idea of verses 15 and 17 respectively. Paul evidently repeated the ideas to heighten our appreciation for the sense of frustration that he felt.
7:21 The statement of this "principle"or "law"summarizes Paul's thought.229
7:22-23 Intellectually Paul argued that he should obey the Mosaic Law (v. 22), but morally he found himself in rebellion against what he knew was right. This natural rebelliousness was something he could not rid himself of.
"It is because people do not recognize their all-badness that they do not find Christ all in all to them."230
Happily Paul explained in chapter 8 that someone with infinite power can enable us to control our rebelliousness.
7:24 The agony of this tension and our inability to rid ourselves of our sinful nature that urges us to do things that lead to death come out even more strongly here. What Christian has not felt the guilt and pain of doing things that he or she knows are wrong? We will never escape this battle with temptation in this life. Eugene Peterson recast Paul's thought in this verse as follows.
"I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me?"231
7:25 The solution to this dilemma is not escape from temptation but victory over it.
"The source of Paul's wretchedness is clear. It is not a divided self' [i.e., old nature versus new nature], but the fact that the last hope of mankind, religion, has proven to be a broken reed. Through sin it is no longer a comfort but an accusation. Man needs not a law but deliverance."232
The last part of this verse is another summary. "I myself"contrasts with "Jesus Christ."Apparently Paul wanted to state again the essence of the struggle that he had just described to prepare his readers for the grand deliverance that he expounded in the next chapter.
There are two problems involving the interpretation of chapter 7 that merit additional attention. The first is this. Was Paul relating his own unique experience, or was he offering his own struggle as an example of something everyone experiences? Our experience would lead us to prefer the latter alternative. Certainly Paul must have undergone this struggle since he said he did. However every human being does as well because we all possess some knowledge of the law of God, general revelation if not special revelation or the Mosaic Law, and a sinful human nature.
The second question is this. Does the struggle Paul described in verses 14-25 picture the experience of an unsaved person or a Christian?
As mentioned previously, I believe the evidence for the saved view is stronger.233
The conflict described in verses 13-25 is not the same one that Paul presented in Galatians 5:16-23. The opponent of the sinful human nature in Romans 7 is the whole Christian individual, but in Galatians 5 it is the Holy Spirit. The condition of the believer in Romans is under the Law, but in Galatians it is under Law or grace. The result of the conflict in Romans is inevitable defeat, but in Galatians it is defeat or victory. The nature of the conflict in Romans is abnormal Christian experience, but in Galatians it is normal Christian experience.234
This chapter is very important for several reasons. It corrects the popular idea that our struggle with sin is only against specific sins and habits whereas it is also against our basic human nature. Second, it shows that human nature is not essentially good but bad. Third, it argues that progressive sanctification does not come by obeying laws, a form of legalism called nomism, but apart from law. It also proves that doing right requires more than just determining to do it. All these insights are necessary for us to appreciate what Paul proceeded to explain in chapter 8.
Related to the question of the believer's relationship to the law is the subject of legalism.
"Legalism is that fleshly attitude which conforms to a code in order to glorify self. It is not the code itself. Neither is it participation or nonparticipation. It is the attitudewith which we approach the standards of the code and ultimately the God who authored it."235
Legalism also involves judging the behavior of ourselves or others as acceptable or unacceptable to God by the standard of obedience to laws that we rather than God have imposed. Someone else has defined legalism (really nomism) as the belief that I can obtain justification and or sanctification simply by obeying rules.
