Posts tagged with “Romans 7”

Romans 7:14-15

Dr. Steven Lawson has been re-broadcasting his bible study of Romans and the current episodes have been over Romans 7. This week, he began by camping out in Romans 7:14-15, part of the section on the law and sin.

14 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.

Several commentaries and study bibles tend to have different interpretations regarding exactly who Paul is referring to here, from describing a general unregenerate/regenerate person, describing the experience of Israel under the Mosaic law, to Paul describing himself.

I am of the same mind as Dr. Lawson in this regard; Paul uses the pronoun I so many times in this section that in my mind, it is unmistakable that Paul is describing himself and his experiences here. Repetition in the bible is important and Paul uses I/me/my nearly 30 times in v7-20 alone.

Paul is describing the conflict between God's law and the corruption in our hearts. He wants to do what is right in God's view but no matter how much he wants or wills it, he still does the very thing he hates. Such it is with all of us; such it is with me, continually. As we become progressively sanctified, this process becomes easier, as we transition from doing the very things we hate to those pleasing to God. We will never reach a point where we do this perfectly, at least in this life. But our struggle is not in vain.

We can see the progression of Paul's conviction and sanctification throughout his epistles. In 1 Corinthians 15:9, he states "For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." Here, we see an admission of his humility that, personally, makes my heart grieve. I was such the same as Paul, in my youth. As an atheist, I didn't persecute to Paul's extent, but I still despised it, which isn't any better.

Fast forward a few years (~5 or so) to Paul's writing of Ephesians. In Ephesians 3:8, he states, "To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ..." -- to quote Lawson, "it's getting worse!" He's gone from being the least of the apostles to the least of all saints. His scope has expanded in his increasing sanctification.

After a few more years, in his epistle to Timothy (1 Timothy 1:15), the needle moves even further: "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." Talk about getting worse! He's gone from the least of the apostles, to the least of all saints, and ultimately to the chief of all sinners!

Does this mean Paul's faith and walk with Christ is going backwards? By no means! This is simply the increasing of humility as Paul's faith and knowledge of Christ increases over time. At first, he recognizes that out of all of the apostles, he is objectively the least, for his persecution of Christians was fairly extreme. Some might say that this is even worse than Peter denying Jesus thrice and a good argument can be made for that. Later, he has expanded his understanding of his condition to where he recognizes that, amongst all Christians, he is the least of these. Finally, Paul reaches the coda where he understands that, amongst everyone that has ever lived, he is the foremost sinner.

Now, all of us can't be the foremost sinner. That's not the point, however. The point is that we are to understand that all are sinners and that in this condition of sin, we are all equally accountable and condemnable outside of the grace and mercy of God. There is no one less a sinner nor anyone greater. We are all equal in sight of God.

If we understand and accept this humility, the more grace we will likely be given to understand how this station aligns with the rest of Scripture. It helps link together the compassion and love exhibited by Christ and exhorted all throughout the Bible. It helps reconcile and weave together the (seemingly contradictory) natures of a God that is both loving and vengeful depending on the needs and circumstances that only His omniscient view can discern. The same God that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah also said, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."