Paul abhors his Indwelling Sin & recognizes that
the Law cannot save from Sin
Romans
7:13-14 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that
it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that
sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. NKJV
Paul now says that it was not the holy, just, and
good Law of God that produced the corruption within him, but it was sin
dwelling in him that he discovered or recognized as the Holy Spirit opened his
spiritual eyes. Paul again says, “God Forbid” that he or anyone of us should accuse
the Law of God for his or our sin and sinning against God’s Law. All the Law
does is exposing to each of us the deep and dark gravity of our sin and
depravity within each one of us. The Law of God is perfect because it comes
from God who is perfect and there is nothing wanting in God’s Holy Law, but
rather our sin in the inner man or woman shows us that our whole person is
crippled because of the principle of sin and corruption still remaining in each
one of our inner man or woman needing to be subdued that the Law of God cannot
provide even in its purity and holiness. If we read the Amplified version of Romans 7:14 (AMP): “We know that the Law is
spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual], having been
sold into slavery under [the control of] sin.” Paul wanted all of those
followers of our Lord Jesus in Rome and everywhere else who would read this
letter to understand what happened to each one of us when Adam fell so that we
could see and understand that we all are totally incapable of meeting the
spiritual requirements of the Law of God in the inner man in the power of our
own human spirits.
Adam’s disobedience plunged us so deeply into the
slavery to sin that our old man that was crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6) still rises up within us through
our members often time involuntarily when we see an image or hear some words
that arouse unclean passion in each one of us, including Paul. The controversy
over the centuries regarding the interpretation of Romans 7:14-25 has been a cause of fierce battles in past
generations and even in our present day, but I want to say before I continue
that whether Paul was speaking of himself during his unregenerate state or his
regenerate state, it is clear and I pray will be made clear through his words
spoken from a sincere heart of love for our Lord Jesus and for the followers of
Christ in Rome that in no way was Paul living some openly sinful lifestyle
before the Spirit of God brought him into the revelation of Romans 8:2. Those who twist Paul’s
words to give themselves license to practice all forms of immorality, greed,
racism, selfishness, gluttony, etc. do it to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:14-18). When we read all of
Paul’s letters we find a man with a heart so sensitive to God the Father,
through our Lord Jesus, in the Holy Spirit’s Power that he wrote the following:
1 Corinthians 8:13 Therefore, if food
makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother
stumble. NKJV and 1 Corinthians 9:27
But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by
hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel
{and} things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test,
be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit]. Quick Bible Amplified Paul
would rather die than to live in such a way as to lead another person by his
words or actions washed from their sins in our Lord Jesus’ Blood into a
lifestyle willfully sinning against our Lord Jesus.
Romans
7:15-20 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I
do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to
do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no
longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is,
in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how
to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I
do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do
what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells
in me. NKJV
Paul now begins to speak personally of some of his
sin and he speaks with passion, frustration, and confusion in his tone. Paul
says that some of the things that he finds himself doing he hates them. Now I
spoke earlier above of the centuries of debate over whether Paul was speaking
of his unregenerate self or his regenerate self. I want to say that I gather
from his words here that he is speaking of his regenerate born again new creation
in Christ man because he says he finds himself doing “what I hate” and no
unregenerate natural man hates his sin at any time. The act of sinning is
natural to the natural man (1
Corinthians 2:14), but to the spiritual man sin is loathsome and he wants
his sin against our Lord to stop. Paul here is speaking as a believer in our
Lord Jesus Christ, a regenerate and born again son of the Living God. This was
Paul’s heart in these words as he discovered that he still had indwelling sin
present with him and he desperately wanted power over the sin that remained in
him to subdue it (1 John 1:8).
I believe the Apostle Paul had been walking with our
Lord Jesus since the Damascus road about 15 to 20 years when he wrote this
letter. Perhaps I am off some 5-10 years but I believe he had been walking with
our Lord Jesus for a while. Paul came to recognize that though he desired to do
that which was honoring to God at all times he still was unable to perform it
because of the sin that dwelled in him (1
John 1:10). Paul perhaps was speaking mostly of a violent temper and nature
that was a part of his great success as a persecutor of our Lord’s Body of
believers before he was converted (Galatians
1:13-14 & 1 Timothy 1:13). Paul comes to the conclusion that no unregenerate
man ever does and that is he through the Holy Spirit’s influence saw that
disposition still in him to sin and that in him dwells nothing good. We hear
just the opposite of this true internal assessment from the multitudes still in
the world and away from our Lord Jesus and His grace, as they often speak of
themselves and others as good people. Paul saw himself as every true believer
must as our Lord Jesus said of us with these words, John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the
branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me
you can do nothing.” NKJV
Romans
7:21-25 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do
good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see
another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I
am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God --- through Jesus
Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with
the flesh the law of sin. NKJV
Paul always wanted to be led by God the Holy Spirit
into all truth, even the truth that first brought him rebuke or reprimand and
then led him into freedom. Paul talks now of a law of evil being present with
him at all times and this again has to be the experience of a born again man
because I can speak of my own personal experience before coming to Christ in
repentance and faith and being regenerated, I never was concerned with, cared
about, or was conscience of evil present with me because I then did not desire
to do any good. It is only the redeemed of the Lord Jesus that the enemy prowls
about like a roaring lion trying to devour (1 Peter 5:8) because the unregenerate sinner or goat or Apostate
already belongs to him and he needs not prowl about those who are already under
his control. The unregenerate sinner or goat or Apostate never wills or desires
to do good (moral excellence or moral virtue) because their desire is evil
continually (Psalms 119:155).
Paul took pleasure and satisfaction in God’s Law as
it instructed him into the path he should walk from the very depths of his
soul. Paul desired to always obey the Word of God, but he found himself in
warfare with the members of his body without the power to be free or victorious
on every occasion (Galatians 5:17). This
is the heart cry of every true believer in our Lord Jesus Christ for the
unregenerate man cares not that he sins willfully at all. Paul recognizes the
indwelling sin and the battle with it for control of his mind and his thoughts and
this is why he would write these words to the Corinthian believers: 2 Corinthians 10:1-6 Now I, Paul,
myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ --- who in
presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. But I
beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by
which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked
according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war
according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal
but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and
every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing
every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to
punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. NKJV
It is Paul’s
desire for complete and total victory over the sin the dwelled in him that
activated his recognition of himself as a miserable man in the light of God’s
Holiness and Purity that led him to the great Law he will expound for us all in
the beginning of Chapter 8. Paul has walked so long with our Lord Jesus some 15
years and yet this raging battle continued to weigh him down as it does with
every true child of God until they like Paul come to the place that cries Oh!
God I am such a miserable failure before You but it is You Lord Jesus that can
deliver me and keep me delivered from the sin that dwells within me. Paul wrote
this letter to Roman believers around A.D. 56 or 57 and later he would write a
letter to brother Titus around A.D. 64 where he would write these amazing words
about God’s grace: Titus 2:11-15 For the
grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that,
denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and
godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing
of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He
might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own
special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke
with all authority. Let no one despise you. NKJV In our Lord Jesus Christ
we got not only salvation but sanctification that works in us moment by moment
every day as we remain here on the earth to purify our hearts from all of sins
corruption and captivity. Amen!
“You will find indwelling sin frequently
retarding you the most, when you are most earnest. When you desire to be most
alive to God - you will generally find sin most alive to repel you.” Charles Spurgeon
“Overcoming sin, blessed though it surely is, is but
the bare minimum of a believers experience. There is nothing astonishing in it.
Not to overcome sin is what ought to astonish us.” “Sins must be treated
progressively one by one until all have been eliminated.” Watchman Nee
“To struggle, battle, and fight against indwelling sin
is the birth mark of the true believer, because the unbeliever does not fight
sin, but he or she simply, sweetly, and surely yields to its call.” Clifford D.
Tate, Sr.
If you do not
know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your
heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus,
I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You
shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead
proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my
sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my
life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely
in Christ,
Clifford
D. Tate, Sr.
Author
of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and
Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into
Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s
Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod,
Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners,
Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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