87) Don’t be foolish

Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

If the wretched man passage of Romans 7:7-25 is a description of Paul after his conversion, then he would be attempting to do the very thing he calls foolish in this passage. He would be trying to be perfected by the flesh through obeying the law. But here in Galatians 3:3 he makes it clear that believers begin by the Spirit and are sanctified by the leading of the Spirit. Believers do not begin by the Spirit and run to the law for sanctification. That is why Paul states in 2 Cor. 3:7-8 that the ministry of death carved on stone has been replaced by the ministry of the Spirit.

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86) Answer is in Christ and not I myself

Romans 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Paul gives the answer to his question of verse 24 and it is that God through Jesus Christ saves sinners from their body of death. This is grace and the true way to salvation rather than attempting to achieve salvation through the law. Paul states that he himself [before grace] served the law with his mind but with his flesh he served the law of sin. He was captive to sin and unable to obey the law of God. To believe that post-conversion Paul has been talking about his struggle with indwelling sin in verses 7-25 you have got to believe he has contradicted what he said in verse 6 when he said, “we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” How could he state that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code in verse 6 and then state he [after his conversion] still served the law of God with his mind in verse 25? He couldn’t, wouldn’t, and didn’t because verse 25 is referring to pre-conversion Paul. Post-conversion Paul clearly ruled out serving God through the law in verse 6 and his entire Epistle to the Galatians. In the next verse, Rom. 8:1, Paul begins to lay out the results of being in Jesus Christ through faith and goes on to describe the new way of serving in the Spirit.

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85) Jesus saves wretched men

Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Paul has been describing his pre-conversion state of being under law since verse 7 and he now asks the question, who will deliver me from this body of death? If he had been talking about his own indwelling sin after conversion, why would he ask who would deliver him from this body of death? He had already stated a deliverance from that which held him captive in verse 6 and indeed in all of chapter 6. Here he speaks of needing of a future deliverance when asks, “who will deliver me?” Are we to believe that Paul, as the mature Christian writing the epistle to the Romans, is still captive to sin and needing deliverance from the law of sin and death? Are we to believe that Paul’s statement in Romans 8:2 [For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.] has not yet happened to him? I don’t think so. No, Paul is talking about being delivered from an unsaved wretched man state to a saved state of being in Christ Jesus.

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84) Unbelievers are captive to the law of sin

Romans 7:21-23 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. (22) For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, (23) but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

Paul is still talking to his brothers [fellow Jews] and states that evil lies close at hand when he wants to do right and obey the law of God. This evil makes him captive to the law of sin that dwells in his members. Back in verse 6 he had told his brothers, “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” Why would Paul be talking about law keeping in his post conversion state when he had just said that believers are released from the law that held them captive and serve in the new way of the Spirit? He wouldn’t! Therefore, starting in verse 7, Paul has been explaining the futility of serving in the old way of the written code. He has been explaining the time before his conversion when he was trying to establish his own righteousness through keeping the law.

To believe that Paul in this passage is talking about indwelling sin in himself as a believer, you have to believe that he was released from the law and died to that which held him captive at conversion, but then matured to a point where he again served in the old way of the written code and again became captive to the law of sin. No, Paul is contrasting the law, sin, flesh, and death with grace, Spirit, and life. In chapter 8 of Romans he develops this theme more thoroughly.

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83) Unbelievers serve the sinful nature

Romans 7:19-20 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (20) Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Here in verses 19 and 20 Paul continues to repeat the same theme of being a slave to sin and the flesh. How can people who continually sin by doing evil have already been saved by grace? They can’t because once they are saved by grace they have been set free from sin and are able to bear fruit for God! Can a person saved by grace not have the ability to do the good they want? No! Once a person is saved they can do the good they want although not perfectly [Romans 7:4]. Therefore, Paul is not talking about someone saved by grace. He is talking about himself when he was unsaved and trying unsuccessfully to keep the law.

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82) The desire but not the ability

Romans 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

Paul concludes that he has the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out. He describes this condition as being in the flesh and he is talking about someone who is a slave to sin. This is not the condition of someone under grace that he described in Romans 6:22 “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” Therefore, he is still talking about a time before he had been set free from the power of sin and was trying to be a law keeper. Paul is driving home the point that attempting to be a law keeper is impossible because of the sinful nature.

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81) The sinful nature controls unbelievers

Romans 7:16-17 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. (17) So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Paul is talking about keeping the law in verses 14-17. Since Paul made it clear in Romans 6 through Romans 7:1-6 that believers have been set free from the law and serve in the new way of grace through the Spirit, he is obviously continuing his description in these verses of himself before his conversion. Although he agreed that the law is good, Paul was not able to keep the law because of his sinful nature that made him a slave to sin. Being a slave to sin is a condition of all human beings before they are born again through grace and the Spirit [Rom. 6:17-23].

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80) Sold under sin

Romans 7:14-15 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. (15) For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

Since Paul in verses 4 & 6 has stated that believers have died to the law and have been released from the law that held them captive, he is obviously still alluding to a time before conversion and before serving in the new way of the Spirit in this passage. He states that he was of the flesh with a heart of flesh and a sinful nature that had total control of his actions. Though being a zealous law keeping Jew, he did not understand his actions and could not obey the law of God. Just like the bad tree that couldn’t produce good fruit, Paul’s heart of flesh couldn’t produce obedience to the law. He was still trying to serve in the old way of the written code and had not yet been set free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death [Rom. 8:2].

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79) The law is Holy and good but cannot save

Romans 7:12-13 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. (13) Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

The law is holy and righteous and good. The law did not bring death to those under the Mosaic covenant. It was the sinful nature, producing sin through what is good, that was the killer. The law showed sin to be sin and, through the sin of coveting, revealed the sins of the heart to be sinful beyond measure. External law keeping through the power of the fallen sinful human will cannot subdue the sins of the human heart. Jesus said a bad tree couldn’t bear good fruit. The heart is the problem and the law is not the solution for the fallen sinful nature of man. That is why Paul stated in verse 6 that believers are released from the law that held them captive so they can serve in the new way of the Spirit.

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78) Sin is a killer of souls

Romans 7:10-11 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. (11) For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

Paul is still speaking of the time before being released from the law [verse 6]. He was a law keeping Jew and is referring to the tenth commandment that prohibited coveting. After his conversion Paul understood that coveting was a thought sin that required no actual physical sin on his part. Since thought sins originate in the heart and the hearts of men are wicked, the tenth commandment leaves human beings no chance at the perfect obedience required to merit eternal life that many erroneously thought was possible. Therefore, the tenth commandment proved to be death to Paul. Paul is making it very clear that man has no chance through self-effort to achieve the righteousness required to stand before God. The law was intended to show the unrighteousness of men and drive them to the redemption that is in Christ by grace.

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77) Sin is the problem

Romans 7:8-9 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. (9) I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.

Paul in verses 8 & 9 is still referring to the time before being released from the Law [verses 4 & 6]. The Law held sinners captive when Paul and his Jewish brothers served in the old way of the written code. Sin produced all kinds of covetousness and through human effort Paul was powerless to meet the demand of the commandment that condemned the desires of the human heart. The law had no power to save and in fact killed and that is why Paul referred to it as a ministry of death. The problem is sin and the sinful nature and the law only highlighted this problem.

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76) The Law exposes sin

Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

In this verse Paul goes back in time and refers to how the law informed him of sin. The law is not sin, but had it not been for the law Paul would not have known sin. He gives the tenth commandment as an example. He states if the law had not said, “You shall not covet” he would not have even recognized what it meant to covet. Coveting is a sin of thought and not action. It is a matter of the heart that flows from a person’s nature and it cannot be avoided by external law keeping. A person may not act on a desire to covet, but that is too late as the sin was committed the instant the desire became thought.

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75) Look to the NEW WAY and not the OLD WAY

Romans 7:6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Paul continues with the condition of Jewish believers in this verse. He restates what he said in verse 4 and that is Jewish believers have died to the law. In doing so they were released from the law, which had held them captive to sin and death. This obviously means the entire law as Paul defines the ministry of death in 2 Corinthians 3:7 as being the Ten Commandments. Now that Jesus Christ has come, believers in God are to serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. The message is to look to the NEW WAY of Jesus and the Spirit rather than the OLD WAY of the written code on tablets of stone.

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74) Before belonging to Christ

Romans 7:5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

Here in verse 5 Paul reminds his brothers of their prior condition of living in the flesh before they had faith in Christ. Before dying to the law, the sinful passions of Paul and his Jewish brothers were aroused by the law. Since the law was powerless to subdue the passions of the sinful nature, these sinful passions bore fruit for death. The fruit was sin and the wages of sin is death. Paul was explaining to his fellow Jews that the Law was a ministry of death that could not save anyone, and in fact condemned them to death. Verse 5 is the condition of a Jew under Law before his condition in verse 4 of being in Christ.

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73) Believers belong to Christ

Romans 7:4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Through the death of Christ, Jewish believers, who once were under the law, died to the law. They were once obligated to the demands of the law, but now they belong to another who has been raised from the dead. Through faith in Jesus Christ, those under law have suffered the curse of the law and paid their debt through the body of Christ on the cross. The blessings promised by the law have been secured by Jesus Christ’s perfect obedience to the law for not only Jews but also for Gentiles who believe. Having been raised from the dead in Christ, believers are empowered by the Holy Spirit to bear fruit for God.

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72) Jesus paid the bill for the free gift

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

All men are sinners at birth through their connection and representation with Adam, and this earns physical and spiritual death as all men become actual sinners. Due to God’s perfect justice, the wages of sin must be paid. However, God offers as a free gift eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. By being in Christ Jesus by faith, the wages of a person’s sin were placed on Jesus Christ. He received God’s justice on the cross of Calvary, and He provides the righteousness needed to stand before God for all who are in Christ Jesus by this faith. Believers should look to Christ for both salvation and sanctification.

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71) Believers have been set free from sin by grace

Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Grace not only saves sinners from the penalty of sin, it saves them from the power of sin. Believers are given a new nature that leads to a new focus and sanctification through the fruit of the Spirit. Instead of being slaves to sin and death, believers are slaves of God, and the end result is eternal life. While believers still struggle with sin, they are no longer captive to its power thanks to God’s grace. The Law has no power to defeat the slavery of sin and that is why Paul makes it clear that sanctification comes from the fruit of the Holy Spirit through grace and not from the Law carved on tablets of stone.

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70) Grace defeats the law of sin and death

Romans 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Grace came by Jesus Christ and it came with power. When Jesus came into the world full of grace and truth, more was provided than just satisfying the legal requirements for salvation. In addition to his atonement for sin, Jesus also provided believers with the indwelling Holy Spirit. Under the law sin had dominion and sinners were slaves to sin, but under grace the power of the Holy Spirit sets sinners free from the slavery of sin [Romans 8:2]. Not perfectly of course, but sin will no longer control the rudder and direction of all who are in Christ Jesus by faith. Grace earns the victory over the law through faith [1 John 5:4].

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69) Grace replaced law

John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

In the giving of the law, Moses gave the ministry of death [2 Cor. 3:7] to national Israel. The purpose of this ministry of death was to convict the Jews of sin and point them to a Messiah for mercy and redemption. Jesus Christ was this Messiah and He came into the world in human flesh full of grace and truth. The person and work of Jesus Christ fulfilled the promise of the Old Testament and paid the price for this amazing grace. Jesus rendered the Mosaic Covenant obsolete [Hebrews 8:13] by perfectly fulfilling it and suffering its curse for the redeemed [Galatians 3:13]. All who are in Jesus by faith have received Grace upon grace, and His truth abides forever.

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68) Don’t suppress the truth about humanity

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Many in churches today proclaim that man is basically good and announce to the world that God loves them unconditionally. They are suppressing the very truth that Paul reveals in this passage. While God is love and his grace and mercy abound in many ways to the human race, His anger and wrath against human unrighteousness and sin is revealed clearly by Holy Scripture. John the Baptist did not announce the coming of the Kingdom of God by telling people to continue on unchanged because God loves them unconditionally. No, he told them to repent for the forgiveness of sins. Through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ sinners can experience the redeeming love and mercy of God.

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