Romans 7:14-25: "The Battle Within"

This section of scripture has been hotly debated as to whether Paul is speaking of a Christian or an unbeliever. It has also been questioned whether he is speaking of himself in this section as well. Paul speaks of the demoralizing battle with sin he has in his members, he talks about "doing the very thing I hate", and he speaks of, "nothing good dwells in me". Taking into account all the Paul has spoken of previous to this section we must believe that Paul is speaking of himself as a believer. An unbeliever will not hate his sin, we have learned that he is a slave to sin and knows nothing else. An unbeliever will often think that if he does enough good he can get to heaven. He would be too self-righteous to say "nothing good dwells in me". If we take this passage in context to what had just previously been said by Paul, only a believer who has been crushed by the understanding of God's perfect standard, could understand the fullness of their depravity and sin. In fact, awareness of sin and the maturity of the believer often have an inverse relationship. Ironically, the more mature a believer is the acutely aware he is of his sin. I find this to be true in my own life. Before I was saved, I would try to do good, but it was a "good standard" I had created. This standard was quite low as I would try to tell myself I was good, or at least better than others. When I first became a believer, my awareness of sin was far greater as I desired to now compare myself to God's Holy standard. However, as I look back on that time in my life, most of those were behavioral and external things I wanted to change. As a more mature believer, I am now aware of sinful motives and attitudes and emotions that I was not aware of when I first became a believer. Each day the Holy Spirit is working on us, desiring to make us more like Christ. Often times this will lead us to understand more and more the depths of our sinfulness. All this is done in order to draw us back to Christ and realize our dependence on Him. MacArthur writes, "Beginning in verse 14 there is also an obvious change in the subject's circumstances in relation to sin. In verses 7-13 Paul speaks of sin as deceiving and slaying him. He gives the picture of being at sin's mercy and helpless to extricate himself from its deadly grasp. But in verses 14-25 he speaks of a conscious and determined battle against sin, which is still a powerful enemy but is no longer his master. In this latter part of the chapter Paul also continues to defend the righteousness of God's law and rejoice in the benefits of His law, which, although it cannot save from sin, can nevertheless continue to reveal and convict of sin in the believer's life, just as it did before salvation".

Paul begins this section as a continuation of his thoughts in the previous section. He is defending the scriptures saying that, "For we know that the Law is spiritual". Paul is saying the law is not the problem, for it is spiritual, it is the sin that is the problem. "But I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin". MacArthur points out an important point in this phrase, "It is important to note that the apostle does not say he is still in the flesh, but rather he is still of the flesh". Basically, Paul is saying that he is still bound in his mortal and sinful body, with a new heart and soul that has been saved by Christ. MacArthur again, "He has already explained that believers are no longer 'in the flesh' (7:5; cf. 8:8), no longer bound by and enslaved to its sinfulness as they once were. The idea is that, although believers are not still in the flesh, the flesh is still in them". The main idea to grasp from this is that a believer can never rid himself of sin while he is still in his human flesh, however, a Christian will never be happy and never be satisfied for his sin, and there will be a great desire to rid himself of this earthly body. Unbelievers live for the now. They live for instant gratification in everything they do. They want to get as much out of their time here on earth because they feel they need to have as much fun on earth as they can before they die. The believer has a more eternal perspective, knowing they will never be truly satisfied until they can get out of their human bodies and attain their glorified bodies. C.E.B. Cranfield said, "The more seriously a Christian strives to live from grace and to submit to the discipline of the gospel, the more sensitive he becomes to . . . the fact that even his very best acts and activities are disfigured by the egotism which is still powerful within him - and no less evil because it is often more subtly disguised than formerly".

Paul then gives an example of his previous statement by saying, "For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate". Paul was frustrated and upset by the fact that when he looked into God's Law and all that it said he could not measure up to it. MacArthur writes, "It was not that he was unable to do a particular good thing but that when he saw the fullness and grandeur of God's law, he was not able to measure up completely. It was not that he could never accomplish any good at all, nor that he could never faithfully obey God. The apostle was rather expressing an inner turmoil of the most profound kind, of sincerely desiring in his heart to fulfill the spirit as well as the letter of the law (see 7:6) but realizing that he was unable to live up to the Lord's perfect standards and his own heart's desire". This could not be said for an unbeliever. A man in bondage to sin and has not been saved by the blood of Christ would never say that he hates not being able to follow God's law.

Paul continues, "But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law". Someone who understands God's law and desires to follow it, will be saddened by sin. Paul is basically saying that because he hates sin and is upset when he transgresses against it, he is upholding that he agrees with what it says. Again, he is defending his respect for God's law, in fact, "confessing that it is good". Every Christian will have a deep rooted desire to obey and follow the law. Not for salvation, but for obedience to the one who saved us. Paul again shows us why we do in fact not always obey the law even though we desire to, "so now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me". Paul is not trying to escape personal responsibility for sin. He is dichotomizing and contrasting the two opposing forces in our life. By "no longer" Paul is speaking of his conversion. After conversion, Paul is given a new spirit, this spirit is still stuck with his old sinful flesh that still desires evil. There is a constant battle between these two, and the desire of the Christian is to "discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified" (I Cor. 9:27). MacArthur writes, "Whereas before his conversion his innerself approved of the sin he committed, now his inner self, a completely new inner self, strongly disapproves. He explains the reason for that change in his letter to the Galatians: 'I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20).

Paul goes on to say, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh". MacArthur explains, "In order that his readers will not misunderstand, the apostle explains that the me in whom nothing good dwells is not the same as the 'I' he has just mentioned in the previous verse and which referred to his new, redeemed, incorruptible, Christlike nature". Currently, as he lives as a Christian his sin still dwells in his flesh, which has not been glorified yet. Again Paul speaks of his sorrow of his inability to completely be obedient to all of God's law, "for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not". Paul's desire is to do good always, however, he is incapable (as we all are) at this time to do so. Again, we can see that the heart of an unbeliever would not have the "wishing" in which Paul speaks of. Paul again reiterates the same point, "For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish". MacArthur writes, "It is important to understand that this great inner struggle with sin is not experienced by the undeveloped and childish believer but by the mature man of God".

Paul now explains, once again, where the source of this comes from, "But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me". Before salvation it was the inner most of his being (all of him) agreeing and partaking in the sin. However, now it is his fallen flesh which allows sin to still be present. In Philippians 3:12 writes, "Not that I have already obtained this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me".

Paul begins to draw some conclusions, "I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good". He comments on what can be found true in ever believer's life, that is, the we still sin and transgress against God's perfect law, yet, our desire is still strong to obey Christ in all things. This may be a hard thesis to argue on paper, but a rather easy one to agree with for every believer, as we find ourselves falling into sin's deceptive trap, yet our desire is to honor and obey Christ. God told Cain in Gen. 4:7, "Sin is crouching at the door; and its desire for you, but you must master it". He goes on with another example of himself, "For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind". Again, the justified believer's inner man will uphold and revere God's holy law. Paul says in II Cor. 4:16, "Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day". In contrast to his inner man rejoicing in the law, his members (or unredeemed human body) are operating by a different law. MacArthur writes, "That opposing principle is continually waging war against the law of the believer's mind, a term that here corresponds to the redeemed inner man about whom Paul has been talking. Paul is not setting up a dichotomy between the mind and the body but is contrasting the inner man, or the redeemed 'new creature' (cf 2 Cor. 5:17), with the 'flesh' (Rom. 7:25), that remnant of the old man that will remain with each believer until we receive our glorified bodies (8:23)". Paul continues, "and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members". Again, Paul shows us the source of our inability to fully obey the law, and that is the "law of sin which is in my members". What we can take from this is as a believer we should constantly be looking to Christ. We should constantly be looking for Christ for sufficiency and strength against temptation while here on earth, and we should constantly be longing for our redeemed bodies in heaven where this "war" will no longer take place and we will have complete separation from our sinful flesh and dwell in our redeemed bodies.

After discussing his frustration with his inability to fully obey the law of God because of his sinful flesh, Paul exclaims, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" Paul's rich understanding of God's perfect law left him feeling completely wretched and sinful when compared to God's holy standard. This is exactly what God wants from us. David in his 51st Psalm writes, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise". Paul, here, is complaining of his flesh, he does not ask for his soul to be delivered (for that has already occurred in Christ), he is asking for his fallen, depreciating body that is only good for death, to leave him so that he might enjoy perfect fellowship with God. Paul asks a rhetorical question, "Who will set me free from the body of this death?" Obviously knowing the answer he cries, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" All his praise and worship for saving his should and one day his human flesh, Paul thanks God, who allowed all this to happen through Jesus Christ His Son. Paul can see the 'light at the end of the tunnel' as he knows one day he will be in his glorified state. MacArthur writes, "Frustrating and painful as a believer's present struggle with sin may be, that temporary earthly predicament is nothing compared with the eternal glory that awaits him in heaven".

Paul concludes the whole section with a summary of what has been said, "So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin". May we all long and yearn for the day when we no longer have to battle with our flesh, but partake in perfect fellowship with God as He has ordained it!!