The passage describes the internal struggle that Christians experience between their sinful desires and their desire to obey God. The author expresses this conflict by crying out "O wretched man that I am!" He feels trapped by his "body of death" - the sinful nature that remains even after becoming a Christian. However, he finds resolution and victory through Jesus Christ, who delivers believers from sin's power and death. In the end, Christians will be fully freed from sin when they receive their resurrected bodies in heaven.

1. JESUS WAS CHANGING WHAT MASTERS ME
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Romans 7:24-25 24Whata wretched man I am! Who
will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
25Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus
Christour LORD! So then, I myself in my mind am a
slaveto God's law, but in my sinful nature a slaveto
the law of sin.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
A Cry And Its Answer
Romans 7:24, 25
S.R. Aldridge
Strange language to issue from the lips of the greatapostle of the Gentiles!
from a chosenvesselunto honour, a man in labours abundant and most
blessed, with joy often rising to transport. Norwas it forced from him by some
momentary excitement or the pressure of some temporary trouble. Nor is
there any reference to outward afflictions and persecutions. Had he cried out
when under the agonizing scourge orin the dismal dungeon, we had not been
so surprised. But it is while he is enforcing truth drawn from his own inward
experience he so realizes the bitterness of the spiritual conflict, that his
language cannotbe restrained within the limits of calm reasoning, and he
bursts forth with the exclamation, "O wretched man," etc.!Some have been

2. so shockedas to callthis a miserable chapter, and have shifted the difficulty
by passing it on one side. Others have adopted the notion that he is here
describing, not his actual state, but the condition of an unregenerate man such
as he was once. Yet the expressionof the preceding verse, "I delight in the
Law of God," and the change of tense from the past to the present after the
thirteenth verse, indicate that we have here a vivid description of the struggle
that continues, though with better success, evenin the Christian who is
justified, but not wholly sanctified, whilst he is imprisoned in this "body of
death."
I. INQUIRE MORE CLOSELY INTO THE GROUND OF THIS
EXCLAMATION. What is it of which such grievous complaint is made? He
appeals for aid againsta strong foe whose graspis on his throat. The eyes of
the warriorgrow dim, his heart is faint, and, fearful of utter defeat, he cries,
"Who will deliver me?" We may explain "the body of this death" as meaning
this mortal body, the coffin of the soul, the seatand instrument of sin. But the
apostle includes still more in the phrase. It denotes sin itself, this carnalmass,
all the imperfections, the corrupt and evil passions ofthe soul. It is a body of
death, because it tends to death; it infects us, and brings us down to death.
The old man tries to strangle the new man, and, unlike the infant Hercules,
the Christian is in danger of being overcome by the snakes thatattack his
feebleness. How afflicting to one who loves God and desires to do his will, to
find himself thwarted at every turn, and that to succeedmeans a desperate
conflict! Attainments in the Divine life are not reachedwithout a struggle, and
non-successis not simply imperfection; it is failure, defeat, sin gaining the
mastery. This evil is grievous because it is so near and so constant. The man is
chained to a dead body. Where we go our enemy accompaniesus, ever ready
to assaultus, especiallywhen we are at a disadvantage from fatigue or
delusive security. Distantevils might be borne with some measure of
equanimity; we might have a signalof their approach, and be prepared, and
hope that, niter a sharp bout, they would retire. But like a sick man tormented
with a diseasedframe, so the "law of sin in the members" manifests its force
and uniform hostility in every place.

3. II. DERIVE CONSOLATION FROM THE EXCLAMATION ITSELF - from
the factof its utterance, its vehemency, etc.
1. Such a cry indicates the stirrings of Divine life within the soul. The man
must be visited with God's grace who is thus conscious ofhis spiritual nature,
and of a longing to shake off his unworthy bondage to evil. It may be the
beginning of better things if the impression be yielded to. Do not quit the fight,
lest you become like men who have been temporarily arousedand warned,
and have made vows of reformation, and then returned to their old apathy
and sleepin sin. And this attitude of watchfulness should never be abandoned
during your whole career.
2. The intensity of the cry discovers a thorough hatred of sin and a thirst after
holiness. It is a passionate outburst revealing the centraldepths. Such a
disclosure is not fit for all scenes and times; the conflictof the soul is too
solemn to be profaned by casualspectators. Yetwhat a mark of a renewed
nature is here displayed! What loathing of Corruption, as offensive to the
spiritual sense!Sin may still clog the feet of the Christian and sometimes cause
him to stumble, but he is never satisfiedwith such a condition, and calls aloud
for aid. Would that this sense ofthe enormity of sin were more prevalent;
that, like a speck of dust in the eye, there could be no ease till it be removed!
Sin is a foreignbody, a disturbing element, an intruder.
3. There is comfort in the very convictionof helplessness. The apostle sums up
his experience as if to say, "My human purposes come to nought. Betweenmy
will and the performance there is a sadhiatus. I find no help in myself." A
lessonwhich has to be learnt ere we really cry for a Deliverer, and value the
Saviour's intervention. Peter, by his threefold denial, was taught his weakness,
and then came the command, "Feedmy lambs" We are not prepared for
service in the kingdom until we confess our dependence on superhuman
succour.

4. III. THE CRY ADMITS OF A SATISFACTORYANSWER. A Liberator has
been found, so that the apostle is not in despair; he adds, "I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord." Christ assumedour body of death, crucified
it, and glorified it. Thus he "Condemnedsin in the flesh." He bruised the
serpent's head. Since our Leader has conquered, we shall share his triumph.
He quickens and sustains his followers by his Spirit. Strongeris he who is for
us than all againstus. His grace is the antidote to moral evil; by its power we
may contend victoriously. The indwelling Christ is the prophecy of ultimate,
complete victory. Eventually we shall quit this tabernacle of clay, and leave
behind us all the avenues to temptation, and the stings and infirmities of
which the body is the synonym. Clothed with a house from heaven, there shall
be no obstacle to perfect obedience - a service without wearinessand without
interruption. - S.R.A.
Biblical Illustrator
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Romans 7:24, 25
Soul despotism
D. Thomas, D. D.
I. THE SOUL'S OPPRESSIVE DESPOT. "The body of this death." What is
meant by this? Corrupt animalism. What is elsewhere calledthe flesh with its
corruptions and lusts. The body, intended to be an instrument and servant of
the soul, has become its sovereign, and keeps allits powerof intellect and
consciencein subjection. Corrupt animalism is the moral monarch of the
world. It rules in literature, in politics, in science, and even in churches. This
despot is death to all true freedom, progress, happiness.
II. THE SOUL'S STRUGGLE TO BE FREE. This implies —

5. 1. A quickenedconsciousnessofits condition. "O wretched man that I am!
"The vast majority of souls, alas I are utterly insensible to this; hence they
remain passive. Whatquickens the soul into this consciousness?"The law."
The light of God's moral law flashes on the conscienceand startles it.
2. An earnestdesire for help. It feels its utter inability to haul the despot
down; and it cries mightily, "Who shall deliver me?" Who? Legislatures,
moralists, poets, philosophers, priesthoods? No;they have tried for ages, and
have failed. Who? There is One and but One, and to Him Paul alludes in the
next verse and the following chapter. "Thanks be to God," etc.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
The cry of the Christian warrior
F. Bourdillon.
The cry not of "a chained captive" to be set free, but of a "soldierin conflict"
who looks round for succour. He is in the fight; he sees the enemy advancing
againsthim, with spearin hand, and chains ready to throw over him; the
soldier sees his danger, feels his weaknessand helplessness, yethas no thought
of yielding; he cries out, "Who shall deliver me?" But it is not the cry of a
vanquished but of a contending soldierof Jesus Christ.
(F. Bourdillon.)
Victory in the hidden warfare
Bp. S. Wilberforce.

6. To enter into the full meaning of these words, we must understand their place
in the argument. The greattheme is opened in Romans 1:16. To establish this,
Paul begins by proving in the first four chapters that both Jew and Gentile
are utterly lost. In the fifth he shows that through Christ peace with God may
be brought into the conscience ofthe sinner. In the sixth he proves that this
truth, instead of being any excuse for sin, was the strongestargument against
it, for it gave freedom from sin, which the law could never do. And then, in
this chapter, he inquires why the law could not bring this gift. Before the law
was given, man could not know what sin was, any more than the unevenness
of a crookedline can be known until it is placedbeside something that is
straight. But when the law raisedbefore his eyes a rule of holiness, then, for
the first time, his eyes were opened;he saw that he was full of sin; and
forthwith there sprang up a fearful struggle. Once he had been "alive without
the law";he had lived, that is, a life of unconscious, self-contentedimpurity;
but that life was gone from him, he could live it no longer. The law, because it
was just and good, wrought death in him; for it was a revelation of death
without remedy. "The law was spiritual," but he was corrupt, "sold under
sin." Even when his struggling will did desire in some measure a better
course, still he was beaten down againby evil. "How to perform that which
was goodhe found not." Yea, "whenhe would do good, evil was presentwith
him." In vain there lookedin upon his soul the blessedcountenance ofan
external holiness. Its angelgladness, ofwhich he could in no way be made
partaker, did but render darkerand more intolerable the loathsome dungeon
in which he was perpetually held. It was the fierce struggle of an enduring
death; and in its crushing agony, he cried aloud againstthe nature, which, in
its inmost currents, sin had turned into corruption and a curse. "O wretched
man that I am!" etc. And then forthwith upon this stream of misery there
comes forth a gleamof light from the heavenly presence;"I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord." Here is deliverance for me; I am a redeemed
man; holiness may be mine, and, with it, peace and joy. Here is the full
meaning of these glorious words.
I. THEY LIE AT THE ROOT OF SUCH EXERTIONS AS WE MAKE FOR
THOSE WHOM SIN HAS BROUGHT DOWN VERY LOW.

7. 1. They contain the principle which should lead us most truly to sympathise
with them. This greattruth of the redemption Of our nature in Christ Jesus is
the only link of brotherhood betweenman and man. To deny our brotherhood
with any of the most miserable of those whom Christ has redeemed, is to deny
our own capacityfor perfect holiness, and so our true redemption through
Christ.
2. Here, too, is the only warrant for any reasonable efforts fortheir
restoration. Without this, every man, who knows anything of the depth of evil
with which he has to deal, would give up the attempt in despair. Every
reasonable effortto restore any sinner, is a declarationthat we believe that we
are in a kingdom of grace, ofredeemed humanity. Unbelieving men cannot
receive the truth that a soul can be thus restored. They believe that you may
make a man respectable;but not that you can heal the inner currents of his
spiritual life, and so they cannot labour in prayers and ministrations with the
spiritual leper, until his flesh, of God's grace, comesagainas the flesh of a
little child. To endure this labour, we must believe that in Christ, the true
Man, and through the gift of His Spirit, there is deliverance from the body of
this death.
II. IT IS AT THE ROOT ALSO OF ALL REAL EFFORTS FOR
OURSELVES.
1. Every earnestman must, if he sets himself to resistthe evil which is in
himself, know something of the struggle which the apostle here describes;and
if he would endure the extremity of that conflict, he must have a firm belief
that there is a deliverance for him. Without this, the knowledge ofGod's
holiness is nothing else than the burning fire of despair. And so many do
despair. They think they have made their choice, and that they must abide by
it; and so they shut their eyes to their sins, they excuse them, they try to forget
them, they do everything but overcome them, until they see that in Christ

8. Jesus there is for them, if they will claim it, a sure power over these sins. And,
therefore, as the first consequence, letus ever hold it fast, even as our life.
2. Noris it needful to lowerthe tone of promise in order to prevent its being
turned into an excuse for sin. Here, as elsewhere,the simple words of God
contain their own best safeguardagainstbeing abused; for what canbe so
loud a witness againstallowedsin in any Christian man as this truth is? If
there be in the true Christian life in union with Christ for every one of us this
poweragainstsin, sin cannot reign in any who are living in Him. To be in
Christ is to be made to conquer in the struggle. So that this is the most
quickening and sanctifying truth. It tears up by the roots a multitude of secret
excuses. It tells us that if we are alive in Christ Jesus, we must be new
creatures. And herein it destroys the commonestform of self-deception— the
allowing some sin in ourselves, becausein other things we deny ourselves,
because we pray, because we give alms, etc. And this self-deceptionis put
down only by bringing out this truth, that in Christ Jesus there is for us, in
our struggle with "the body of this death," an entire conquest, if we will but
honestly and earnestlyclaim it for ourselves;so that if we do not conquer sin,
it must be because we are not believing.
3. This will make us diligent in all parts of the Christian life, because allwill
become a reality. Prayer, the reading of God's Word, etc., will be precious
after a new sort, because through them is kept alive our union with Christ, in
whom alone is for us a conquestover the evil which is in us. So that, to sum up
all in one blesseddeclaration, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus will
make us free from the law of sin and death."
(Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
The body of death

9. James Kirkwood.
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE BODYOF DEATH OF WHICH THE
BELIEVER COMPLAINS.
1. Indwelling sin is calledthe body of this death, as it is the effectand remains
of that spiritual death to which all men are subject in unregeneracy.
2. The remains of sin in the believer is calledthe body of this death, on
accountof the deadness and dulness of spirit in the service of God, which it so
often produces.
3. Remaining depravity is calledthe body of death, because it tends to
death.(1) It tends to the death of the body. As it was sin that brought us under
the influence of the sentence ofdissolution; as it is sin that has introduced into
the material frame of man those principles of decaywhich will bring it to the
grave;as it is sin which is the parent of those evil passions which, as natural
causes, waragainstthe health and life of the body, so it is the inbred sins of
the believerthat require his flesh to see the dust.(2) But this is not all.
Remaining depravity tends to spiritual and eternaldeath, and on this account,
also, is justly calledthe body of this death.
II. THE GRIEF AND PAIN WHICH REMAINING DEPRAVITY
OCCASIONS TO THE BELIEVER.
1. Remaining depravity is thus painful and grievous to the Christian, from his
acquaintance with its evil and malignant nature.
2. Remaining sin is thus painful to the Christian, from the constantstruggle
which it maintains with grace within the heart. Even in eminent saints the

10. contestis often singularly obstinate and painful; for where there is strong
grace there are also, sometimes, strong corruptions. Besides, where there is
eminent spirituality of mind, there is an aspirationafter a freedom from
imperfections which scarcelybelongs to the presentstate.
III. THE EARNEST LONGINGS AND CONFIDENT AND JOYFUL
ASSURANCE OF DELIVERANCE FROM INDWELLING SIN WHICH
THE CHRISTIAN ENTERTAINS.
1. Mark his earnestlongings — "Who shall deliver me?" The language
implies how wellthe Christian knows he cannot deliver himself from the body
of sin. This is the habitual desire of his soul — the habitual object of his
pursuit. For this end he prays, he praises, he reads, he hears, he
communicates. So earnest, in short, is his desire of deliverance, that he
welcomes withthis view two things most unwelcome to the feelings of nature
affliction and death.
2. Mark his confident and joyful assurance ofdeliverance. Weak in himself,
the Christian is yet strong in the Lord. All the victories he has hitherto
achievedhave been through the faith and by the might of the Redeemer. All
the victories he shall yet acquire shall be obtained in the same way.
3. Mark the gratitude of the Christian for this anticipated and glorious
deliverance. Sin is the cause ofall the other evils in which he has been
involved, and when sin is destroyed within and put forever away, nothing can
be wanting to perfecthis blessedness. Wellthen does it become him to cherish
the feeling and utter the language ofthankfulness.
(James Kirkwood.)

11. The spectre of the old nature
H. Macmillan, LL. D.
1. Some years ago a number of peculiar photographs were circulated by
spiritualists. Two portraits appearedon the same card, one clearand the
other obscure. The fully developedportrait was the obvious likeness ofthe
living person; and the indistinct portrait was supposedto be the likeness of
some dead friend, produced by supernatural agency. The mystery, however,
was found to admit of an easyscientific explanation. It not unfrequently
happens that the portrait of a personis so deeply impressed on the glass ofthe
negative, that although the plate is thoroughly cleansedwith strong acid, the
picture cannotbe removed, although it is made invisible. When such a plate is
used over again, the original image faintly reappears along with the new
portrait. So is it in the experience of the Christian. He has been washedin the
blood of Christ; and beholding the glory of Christ as in a glass, he is changed
into the same image. And yet the ghostof his former sinfulness persists in
reappearing with the image of the new man. So deeply are the traces of the
former godless life impressed upon the soul, that even the sanctificationof the
Spirit, carried on through discipline, burning as corrosive acid, cannot
altogetherremove them.
2. The photographer also has a process by which the obliterated picture may
at any time be revived. And so it was with the apostle. The sin that so easily
besethim returned with fresh power in circumstances favourable to it.
I. THE "BODYOF DEATH" IS NOT SOMETHING THAT HAS COME TO
US FROM WITHOUT, an infected garment that may be thrown aside
wheneverwe please. It is our own corrupt self, not our individual sins or evil
habits. And this body of death disintegrates the purity and unity of the soul
and destroys the love of God and man which is its true life. It acts like an evil
leaven, corrupting and decomposing everygoodfeeling and heavenly
principle, and gradually assimilating our being to itself. There is a peculiar

12. disease whichoften destroys the silkwormbefore it has woven its cocoon. It is
causedby a species ofwhite mould which grows rapidly within the body of the
worm at the expense of its nutritive fluids; all the interior organs being
gradually converted into a mass of flocculent vegetable matter. Thus the
silkworm, instead of going on in the natural order of development to produce
the beautiful winged moth, higher in the scale ofexistence, retrogradesto the
lowercondition of the inert senselessvegetable. And like this is the effectof
the body of death in the soul of man. The heart cleaves to the dust of the earth,
and man, made in the image of God, insteadof developing a higher and purer
nature, is reduced to the low, mean condition of the slave of Satan.
II. NONE BUT THOSE WHO HAVE ATTAINED TO SOME MEASURE OF
THE EXPERIENCE OF ST. PAUL CAN KNOW THE FULL
WRETCHEDNESS CAUSED BYTHIS BODYOF DEATH. The careless
have no idea of the agonyof a soul under a sense ofsin; of the tyranny which
it exercises andthe misery which it works. And even in the experience of
many Christians there is but little of this peculiar wretchedness.Convictionis
in too many instances superficial, and a mere impulse or emotion is regarded
as a sign of conversion;and hence many are deluded by a false hope, having
little knowledge ofthe law of God or sensibility to the depravity of their own
hearts. But such was not the experience of St. Paul. The body of corruption
that he bore about with him darkened and embittered all his Christian
experience. And so it is with every true Christian. It is not the spectre of the
future, or the dread of the punishment of sin, that he fears, for there is no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus;but the spectre of the sinful
past and the pressure of the present evil nature. The sin which he fancied was
so superficial that a few years' running in the Christian course would shake it
off, he finds is in reality deep rooted in his very nature, requiring a life long
battle. The fearful foes which he bears in his own bosom — sins of
unrestrained appetite, sins that spring from past habits, frequently triumph
over him; and all this fills him almost with despair — not of God, but of
himself — and extorts from him the groan, "O wretchedman that I am!" etc.

13. III. THE EVIL TO BE CURED IS BEYOND HUMAN REMEDY. The
various influences that act upon us from without — instruction, example,
education, the discipline of life — cannot deliver us from this body of death.
IV. THE WORK IS CHRIST'S AND NOT MAN'S. We are to fight the battle
in His name and strength, and to leave the issue in His hands. He will deliver
us in His own way and time. Conclusion:We can reverse the illustration with
which I began. If behind our renewedself is the spectralform of our old self,
let us remember that behind all is the image of Godin which we were created.
The soul, howeverlost, darkened, and defaced, still retains some lineaments of
the Divine impression with which it was once stamped. The image haunts us
always;it is the ideal from which we have fallen and towards which we are to
be conformed. To rescue that image of God, the Son of God assumedour
nature, lived our life, and died our death; and His Spirit becomes incarnate in
our heart and life, and prolongs the work of Christ in us in His own
sanctifying work. And as our nature becomes more and more like Christ's, so
by degrees the old nature photographed by sin upon the soul will ceaseto
haunt us, and the image of Christ will become more and more vivid. And at
length only one image will remain. We shall see Him as He is, and we shall
become like Him.
(H. Macmillan, LL. D.)
The body becoming a secondpersonality
D. Thomas, D. D.
The writer represents himself as having two personalities — the inner man,
and the outer man, i.e., the body. A word or two about the human body.
I. IT IS IN THE UNREGENERATE MAN A PERSONALITY. "I am
carnal," that is, I am become flesh. This is an abnormal, a guilty, and a
perilous fact. The right place of the body is that of the organ, which the mind

14. should use for its own high purpose. But this, through the pampering of its
own senses,and through the creationof new desires and appetites, becomes
such a powerover man that Paul represents it as a personality, the thing
becomes anego.
II. AS A PERSONALITYIT BECOMESA TYRANT. It is representedin this
chapter as a personality that enslaves, slays, destroys the soul, the inner man.
It is a "body of death." It drags the soul to death When man becomes
conscious ofthis tyranny, as he does when the "commandment" flashes upon
the conscience,the soul becomes intensely miserable, and a fierce battle sets in
betweenthe two personalities in man. The man cries out, "What shall I do to
be saved?" "Who shall deliver me?"
III. AS A TYRANT IT CAN ONLY BE CRUSHED BY CHRIST. In the fierce
battle Christ came to the rescue, and struck the tyrant down. In this Epistle
the writer shows that man struggled to deliver himself —
1. Under the teachings ofnature, but failed (see chap. Romans 1). He became
more enslavedin materialism.
2. Under the influence of Judaism, but failed. By the deeds of the law no man
was justified or made right. Under Judaism men filled up the measure of their
iniquities. Who, or what, then, could deliver? No philosophers, poets, or
teachers. Only one. "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ."
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
The body of death

15. R. H. Story, D. D.
1. St. Paul was not thinking with any fear of death. Indeed, toil worn and
heart weariedas he was, he often would have been glad, had it been the Lord's
will. There was something that to a mind like Paul's was worse than death. It
was the dominion of the carnalnature which strove to overrule the spiritual.
The body of sin was to him "the body of death." Who should deliver him from
it?
2. Now, is the feeling from which such a cry as Paul's proceeds a realand
noble feeling, or is it the mere outcry of ignorance and superstition? There are
not wanting those who would say the latter. "Why trouble ourselves," says
one of these apostles ofthe new religionof science,"aboutmatters of which,
howeverimportant they may be, we do know nothing, and can know nothing?
We live in a world full of misery and ignorance;and the plain duty of each
and all of us is to try and make the little corner he can influence somewhat
less miserable and ignorant. To do this effectually, it is necessaryto be
possessedof only two beliefs; that we can learn much of the order of nature;
and that our own will has a considerable influence on the course of events."
That is all that we need attend to. Any idea of God and a moral law belongs to
cloudland. But is there not an instinct within us which rebels againstthis cool
setting aside of everything that cannotbe seenor handled? And is that instinct
a low one? or is it the instinct of minds that come nearestto Divine?
3. Which is the higher type of man — which do you feel has gotthe firmer
grip of the realities of life — the man calmly bending over the facts of outward
nature, and striving to secure, as far as he can, conformity to them: or, the
man, like Paul, believing that there was a moral law of which he had fallen
short, a Divine order with which he was not in harmony — goodand evil, light
and darkness, Godand the devil, being to him tremendous realities — his soul
being the battlefield of a warbetweenthem, in the agonyand shock of which
conflict he is constrainedto cry out for a higher than human help? I should
say the man in the storm and stress of the spiritual battle; and I should say
that to deny the reality of the sense ofsuch a conflict was to deny facts which

16. are as obvious to the spiritual intelligence as the fact that two and two make
four is to the ordinary reason, and was to malign facts which are much higher
and nobler than any mere fact of science, as the life of man is higher and
nobler than the life of rocks orseas.
4. Minds wholly engrossedwith intellectual or selfish pursuits may be
unconscious ofthis conflict, and disbelieve its existence in other minds. So
may minds that have reachedthat stage which the apostle describes as "dead
in sin"; but to other minds, minds within which consciencestilllives, within
which exclusive devotion to one thought or interest has not obliterated every
other, this conflictis a stern reality. Who that has lived a life with any
spiritual element in it, and higher than the mere animal's or worldling's, has
not knownthat consciousness, andknown its terror and power of darkness
when it was roused into active life? it is of this consciousnessPaulspeaks.
Under the pressure of it he cries out, "Who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?"
5. And what answerdoes he find to that cry? Does the order of nature, or the
powers of his own will help him here? Does not the very sight of the unbroken
calm and steadfastregularity of the law and order of external nature add new
bitterness to the conviction that he has forgottena higher law and disturbed a
still more gracious order? Is not the very conviction of the weaknessofhis
own will one of the most terrible elements in his distress? Speak to a man
under this consciousnessofthe powerof sin about finding help to resist,
through studying the laws of that nature of which he is himself a part, and
through exercising that will, whose feeblenessappalls him, and you mock him,
as if you spoke to a man in a raging fever of the necessityof studying his own
temperament and constitution, and of the duty of keeping himself cool. What
is wanted in either case is help from some source ofenergy outside himself,
who should restore the wastedstrengthfrom his own fountains of life — who
should sayto the internal conflict, "Peace, be still." And that is what Paul

17. found in Christ. He found it nowhere else. It is not to be found in knowledge,
in science, in philosophy, in nature, in culture, in self.
6. Now, how did Paul find this in Christ? How may all find it? He was
speaking about something infinitely more terrible than the punishment of sin,
viz., the dominion of sin. What he wanted was an actualdeliverance from an
actualfoe — not a promise of exemption from some future evil. And it was
this that Paul realisedin Christ. To him to live was Christ. The presence and
the powerof Christ possessedhim. It was in this he found the strength which
gave him the victory over the body of death. He found that strength in the
consciousnessthathe was not a lonely soldier, fighting againstan
overpowering enemy, and in the dark, but that One was with him who had
come from heaven itself to reveal to him that God was on his side, that he was
fighting God's battle, that the struggle was neededfor his perfecting as the
child of God. It was in the strength of this that he was able to give thanks for
his deliverance from the "body of death."
7. The consciousnessofthis struggle, the engagementin it in the strength of
Christ, the victory of the higher over the lower, are in all the necessary
conditions of spiritual health and continued life. To deny the reality of that
conflict, and of the Divine life for which it prepares us, does not prove that
these are not real and true. I take a man who does not know the "Old
Hundredth" from "God Save the Queen," and play him a piece of the
sweetestmusic, and he says there is no harmony in it. I show a man who is
colourblind two beautifully contrastedtints, and he sees but one dull hue: but
still the music and the beauty of the colours exist, though not for him, not for
the incapable ear and the undiscerning eye. So with the spiritual life. It is for
the spiritual.
(R. H. Story, D. D.)

18. The body of death
E. Woods.
In Virgil there is an accountof an ancient king, who was so unnaturally cruel
in his punishments, that he used to chain a dead man to a living one. It was
impossible for the poor wretchto separate himself from his disgusting burden.
The carcasewas bound fast to his body, its hands to his hands, its face to his
face, its lips to his lips; it lay down and rose up whenever he did; it moved
about with him whithersoeverhe went, till the welcome moment when death
came to his relief. And many suppose that it was in reference to this that Paul
cried out: "O wretchedman that I am!" etc. Whether this be so or not, sin is a
body of death, which we all carry about with us. And while I do not wish to
shock your taste, yet I do wish to give you some impression of the unclean,
impure, offensive nature of sin. And think — if our souls are polluted with
such a stain — oh! think what we must be in the eyes of that God in whose
sight the very heavens are not clean, and who charges His angels with folly.
(E. Woods.)
The body of death
Doddridge thus paraphrases the latter half of this verse: "Who shall rescue
me, miserable captive as I am, from the body of this death, from this
continued burden which I carry about with me, and which is cumbersome and
odious as a dead carcasetiedto a living body, to be draggedalong with it
whereverit goes?"He adds in a note: "It is wellknown that some ancient
writers mention this as a cruelty practised by some tyrants upon miserable
captives who felt into their hands; and a more forcible and expressive image
of the sadcase representedcannotsurely enter into the mind of man." "Of
this atrocious practice one of the most remarkable instances is that mentioned
by Virgil when describing the tyrannous conduct of Mezentius: —
The living and the dead at his command

19. Were coupled, face to face, and hand to hand;
Till, chokedwith stench, in loathed embraces tied,
The lingering wretches pined awayand died. — (Dryden.)Doddridge is not by
any means singular in his opinion that the apostle derives an allusion from
this horrid punishment; although perhaps the text is sufficiently intelligible
without the illustration it thus receives. Philo, in an analogous passage, more
obviously alludes to it, describing the body as a burden to the soul, carried
about like a dead carcase, whichmay not till death be laid aside." (Kitto.)
During the reign of Richard I, the following curious law was enactedfor the
government of those going by sea to the Holy Land — "He who kills a man on
shipboard shall be bound to the dead body and thrown into the sea;if a man
be killed on shore the slayershall be bound to the dead body and buried with
it."
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ the Deliverer
H. Ward Beecher.
I. MAN'S NEED.
1. While man is, in specialorgans, inferior to one and anotherof the animals,
he is collectivelyby far the superior of everyone. And yet, large as he is, man
is not happy in any proportion to his nature, and to the hints and fore gleams
which that nature gives. He has, in being clothed with flesh, all the points of
contactwith the physical world that the ox or the falcon has. He is born; he
grows up with all the instincts and passions ofanimal life, and without them
he could not maintain his foothold upon the earth. But man is also a creature
of affections, which, in variety, compass and force, leave the lower creationin
a vivid contrast. He is endowed with reason, moralsentiment and spiritual

20. life; but he has learned but very imperfectly how to carry himself so that
every part of his nature shall have fair play. The animal propensities are
predominant. Here, then, begins the conflictbetweenman's physical life and
his moral life — the strife of gentleness,purity, joy, peace, and faith, against
selfishness, pride, and appetites of various kinds.
2. To all souls that have been raisedto their true life the struggle has been
always severe. To have the powerover our whole organisationwithout a
despotism of our animal and selfishnature is the problem of practicallife.
How can I maintain the fulness of every part, and yet have harmony and
relative subordination, so that the appetites shall serve the body, and the
affections not be draggeddown by the appetites;so that the moral sentiments
and the reasonshall shine clear and beautiful?
II. WHAT REMEDIESHAVE PROPOSED!
1. To give way to that which is strongest, has been one specialmethod of
settling the conflict. Kill the higher feelings and then let the lowerones romp
and riot like animals in a field — this gives a brilliant opening to life; but it
gives a dismal close to it. Forwhat is more hideous than a sullen old man
burnt out with evil? When I see men suppressing all qualms, and going into
the full enjoyment of sensuous life, I think of a party entering the Mammoth
Cave with candles enough to bring them back, but setting them all on fire at
once. The world is a cave. They that burn out all their powers and passions in
the beginning of life at last wander in greatdarkness, and lie down to mourn
and die.
2. Another remedy has been in superstition. Men have sought to coverthis
conflict, rather than to heal it.

21. 3. Others have compromised by morality. But this, which is an average of
man's conduct with the customs and laws of the time in which he lives, comes
nowhere near touching that radical conflict which there is betweenthe flesh
and the spirit.
4. Then comes philosophy, and deals with it in two ways. It propounds to men
maxims and wise rules. It expounds the benefit of good, and the evils of bad
conduct. And then it proposes certainrules of doing what we cannothelp, and
of suffering what we cannot throw off. And it is all very well. So is rosewater
where a man is wounded unto death. It is not less fragrantbecause it is not
remedial; but if regardedas a remedy, how poor it is!
5. Then comes scientific empiricism, and prescribes the observance ofnatural
laws;but how many men in life know these laws? How many men are so
placed that if they did know them, they would be able to use them? You might
as well take a babe of days, and place a medicine chestbefore it, and say,
"Rise, and selectthe right medicine, and you shall live."
III. What, then, is the final remedy? WHAT DOES CHRISTIANITY OFFER
IN THIS CASE?
1. It undertakes to so bring God within the reachof every being in the world,
that He shall exert a controlling power on the spiritual realms of man's
nature, and, by giving powerto it, overbalance and overbearthe despotismof
the radicalpassions and appetites. There is a story of a missionary who was
sent out to preachthe gospelto the slaves;but he found that they went forth
so early, and came back so late, and were so spent, that they could not hear.
There was nobody to preach to them unless he should accompanythem in
their labour. So he went and sold himself to their master, who put him in the
gang with them. For the privilege of going out with these slaves, and making

22. them feel that he loved them, and would benefit them, he workedwith them,
and suffered with them; and while they worked, he taught; and as they came
back he taught; and he won their ear; and the grace of God sprang up in
many of these darkenedhearts. That is the story over againof God manifest
in the flesh.
2. Many things can be done under personalinfluence that you cannot in any
other way. My father said to me, when I was a little boy, "Henry, take these
letters to the post office." I was a brave boy; yet I had imagination. I saw
behind every thicket some shadowyform; and I heard trees say strange and
weird things; and in the dark concave above I could hear flitting spirits. As I
stepped out of the door, Charles Smith, a greatthick-lipped black man, who
was always doing kind things, said, "I will go with you." Oh! sweetermusic
never came out of any instrument than that. The heaven was just as full, and
the earth was just as full as before; but now I had somebody to go with me. It
was not that I thought he was going to fight for me. But I had somebodyto
succourme. Let anything be done by direction and how different it is from its
being done by personalinspiration. "Ah! are the Zebedees, then, so poor?
John, take a quarter of beef and carry it down, with my compliments. No,
stop; fill up that chest, put in those cordials, lay them on the cart, and bring it
round, and I will drive down myself." Down I go;and on entering the house I
hold out both hands, and say, "Why, my old friend, I am glad I found you out.
I understand the world has gone hard with you. I came down to saythat you
have one friend, at any rate. Now do not be discouraged;keepup a good
heart." And when I am gone, the man wipes his eyes, and says, "Godknows
that that man's shaking my hands gave me more joy than all that he brought.
It was himself that I wanted." The old prophet, when he went into the house
where the widow's son lay dead, put his hands on the child's hands, and
stretchedhimself across the child's body, and the spirit of life came back. Oh,
if, when men are in trouble, there were some man to measure his whole
stature againstthem, and give them the warmth of his sympathy, how many
would be saved!That is the philosophy of salvationthrough Christ — a great
soul come down to take care of little souls; a greatheart beating its warm
blood into our little pinched hearts, that do not know how to get blood enough

23. for themselves. It is this that gives my upper nature strength, and hope, and
elasticity, and victory.Conclusion:We learn —
1. What is a man's depravity. When you saythat an army is destroyed, you do
not mean that everybody is killed; but that, as an army, its complex
organisationis broken up. To spoil a watchyou do not need to grind it to
powder. Take outthe mainspring. "Well, the pointers are not useless."
Perhaps not for another watch. "There are a great many wheels inside that
are not injured." Yes, but what are wheels worth in a watchthat has no
mainspring? What spoils a compass? Anything which unfits it for doing what
it was intended to do. Now, here is this complex organisationofman. The
royalties of the soul are all mixed up. Where conscienceoughtto be is pride.
Where love ought to be is selfishness. Its sympathy and harmony are gone. It
is not necessarythat a man should be all bad to be ruined. Man has lostthat
harmony which belongs to a perfectorganisation. And so he lives to struggle.
And the struggle through which he is passing is the cause ofhuman woe.
2. Why it is that the divinity of Christ becomes so important in the
development of a truly Christian life. As a living man, having had the
experiences ofmy own soul, and having been conversantwith the experiences
of others, what I want is power. And that is what they lack who deny the
Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. God can cleanse the heart. Man cannot.
And that God whom we canunderstand is the God that walkedin Jerusalem,
that suffered upon Calvary, and that lives again, having lifted Himself up into
eternal spheres of power, that He might bring many sons and daughters home
to Zion.
(H. Ward Beecher.)
The believer's gratitude to God through Christ

24. J. Stafford.
I. SOULS GROANING UNDER THE BODY OF SIN AND DEATH CAN
FIND NO RELIEF BUT THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. None but an almighty
Saviour is suited to the case ofa poor sinner. This doctrine reproves the
Church of Rome, and others, for directing men, not to Christ, but to
themselves;to their vows, alms, penances, andpilgrimages; or, to their
greaterwatchfulness and strictness in life. But as Luther observes, "How
many have tried this way for many years, and yet could get no peace." Now,
what is there in Christ that can relieve a soul?
1. The blood of Christ, which was shedas an atoning sacrifice forsin.
2. A perfectand everlasting righteousness. This our apostle, doubtless, had in
view: for he immediately adds (Romans 8:1). "Christ is made unto us of God,
wisdom and righteousness."
3. The Spirit of Christ which is given to all true believers, as an abiding
principle, teaching them to fight and war with sin.
II. THAT SOULS THUS EXERCISED, FINDINGRELIEF ONLY IN
CHRIST, WILL ACTUALLY RECEIVE AND EMBRACE HIM. None will
receive Christ, but they only who are taught to see their need of Him.
III. THEY, WHO SEE THIS RELIEF IN CHRIST, WHO RECEIVE AND
EMBRACE IT, MUST AND WILL GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR IT. The
angels, those disinterestedspirits, bringing the joyful news to our apostate
world, sung, "Gloryto God in the highest, for peace on earth, and goodwill
towards men." And surely, if we who are redeemedto God by His blood,
should hold our peace on so joyful an occasion, "the stones would immediately
cry out."

25. IV. ALL THOSE WHO HAVE RECEIVED CHRIST, AND HAVE GIVEN
THANKS TO GOD FOR HIM, WILL LOOK UPON HIM AS THEIR LORD
AND THEIR GOD.
(J. Stafford.)
Nothing can equal the gospel
T. De Witt Talmage.
There is nothing proposed by men that can do anything like this gospel. The
religion of Ralph Waldo Emersonis the philosophy of icicles;the religion of
Theodore Parkerwas a sirocco ofthe desert covering up the soul with dry
sand; the religion of Renan is the romance of believing nothing; the religionof
Thomas Carlyle is only a condensedLondon fog;the religion of the Huxleys
and the Spencers is merely a pedestalon which human philosophy sits
shivering in the night of the soul, looking up to the stars, offering no help to
the nations that crouch and groanat the base. Tellme where there is one man
who has rejectedthat gospelfor another, who is thoroughly satisfied, and
helped, and contented in his scepticism, and I will take the ear tomorrow and
ride five hundred miles to see him.
(T. De Witt Talmage.)
Victory through Christ
T. Oliver., J. Lyth, D. D.
I can wellremember a portion of a sermon which I heard when I was only five
years of age. I recollectthe castof the preacher's features, the colour of his
hair, and the tone of his voice. He had been an officerin the army, and was in
attendance on the Duke of Wellington during the greatbattle of Waterloo.

26. That portion of the sermonwhich I canso well remember was a graphic
description of the conflictwhich some pious souls have experiencedwith the
powers of darkness before their final victory over the fear of death. He
illustrated it by drawing in simple words a vivid descriptionof the battle at
Waterloo. He told us of the cooland stern nature of the "Iron Duke," who
seldom manifested any emotion. But the moments came when the Duke was
lifted out of his stern rut. For a short time the English troops wavered, and
showedsigns of weakness, whenthe Duke anxiously exclaimed, "I would to
God that Blucher or the night had come!" After a while a column of the
French was driven before the English guards, and another column was routed
by a bayonet charge of an Englishbrigade. Wellington then calculatedhow
long it would take to complete the triumph. Taking from his pockethis gold
watch, he exclaimed, "Twentyminutes more, and then victory!" When the
twenty minutes had passedthe Frenchwere completely vanquished. Then the
Duke, againtaking out his watch, held it by the short chain, and swung it
around his head again and again. while he shouted, "Victory! Victory!" the
watchflew out of his hand, but he regarded gold as only dust comparedwith
the final triumph. This graphic description made a powerful impressionon
my childish mind. Young as I was, I at once saw the aptness of the illustration.
I often dreamt about it, and told other lads the story. When I was a weeping
penitent, praying for pardon, and struggling with unbelief, the scene of
Waterloo came before me; but the moment the light of the Saviour's smile fell
upon my heart, I instinctively sprang to my feet and shouted, "Victory!
Victory!" Many times, since I have been exclusivelyengagedin conducting
specialservices, my memory has brought before me the preacherand the part
of the sermon which I heard when I was only five years of age, and this has
had its influence on me in my addresses to both old and young.
(T. Oliver.)
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law
of sin. —

27. I. OF WHOM DOES THE APOSTLE SPEAK? Of those —
1. Who are enlightened.
2. But still under the law.
II. WHAT DOES HE AFFIRM RESPECTING THEM?
1. That they naturally approve the law.
2. Yet serve sire
III. WHAT IS THE NECESSARYCONCLUSION?
1. That there is no deliverance by the law, or by personaleffort.
2. But by Christ only.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
Believers serve the law of God
J. Stafford.

28. I. THE LIFE OF A BELIEVER IS CHIEFLY TAKEN UP IN SERVING
THE LAW OF GOD. For this end the law is written upon his heart, and,
therefore, he serves God with his spirit, or with his renewedmind. His whole
man, all that can be calledhimself, is employed in a life of evangelicaland
universal obedience.
II. THE BELIEVER MAY MEET WITH MANY INTERRUPTIONSWHILE
HE IS AIMING TO SERVE THE LAW OF GOD. "With my flesh the law of
sin."
1. Had our apostle contentedhimself with the former part of this declaration,
it would doubtless have been matter of greatdiscouragementto the children
of God. But when we find that the apostle himself confessethhis weakness and
imperfection, whose heart would not take courage, andgo forth more boldly
to the conflict than ever?
2. After all the encouragementaffordedto the mind of a believer, yet this is a
very humbling subject. We may learn hence, how deeply sin is inwrought in
our nature.
III. ALTHOUGH THE BELIEVER MEETS WITH MANY
INTERRUPTIONS,YET HE HOLDS ON SERVING THE LAW OF GOD,
EVEN WHEN HE IS DELIVERED FROM ALL CONDEMNATION.I
ground this observationon the close connectionin which these words stand
with the first verse of the next chapter. They are delivered from
condemnation, and yet they serve the law of God, because they are delivered.
(J. Stafford.).

29. COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(24) So this intestine struggle goes onunceasinglyand reaches no decision, till
at last the unhappy man cries out, almost in despair, “Who shall deliver me
from the body of this death?” Who, that is, will help me to overcome these
fleshly desires, genderedby a corrupt human nature, which are dragging me
down to imminent destruction? The body is the cause ofsin, and therefore of
death. If only it could be releasedfrom that, the distractedsoul would be at
rest and free.
The body of this death.—Thu body (the slave of sin and therefore the abode)
of death. The words are a cry for deliverance from the whole of this mortal
nature, in which carnalappetite and sin and death are inextricably mingled.
To complete this deliverance the triple resurrection—ethical, spiritual, and
physical—is needed.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
7:23-25 This passagedoes notrepresent the apostle as one that walkedafter
the flesh, but as one that had it greatlyat heart, not to walk so. And if there
are those who abuse this passage, as theyalso do the other Scriptures, to their
own destruction, yet serious Christians find cause to bless God for having thus
provided for their support and comfort. We are not, because ofthe abuse of
such as are blinded by their own lusts, to find fault with the scripture, or any
just and wellwarranted interpretation of it. And no man who is not engaged
in this conflict, can clearly understand the meaning of these words, or rightly
judge concerning this painful conflict, which led the apostle to bemoanhimself
as a wretched man, constrainedto what he abhorred. He could not deliver
himself; and this made him the more fervently thank God for the way of
salvationrevealedthrough Jesus Christ, which promised him, in the end,

30. deliverance from this enemy. So then, says he, I myself, with my mind, my
prevailing judgement, affections, and purposes, as a regenerate man, by
Divine grace, serve andobey the law of God; but with the flesh, the carnal
nature, the remains of depravity, I serve the law of sin, which wars againstthe
law of my mind. Not serving it so as to live in it, or to allow it, but as unable to
free himself from it, even in his very best state, and needing to look for help
and deliverance out of himself. It is evident that he thanks God for Christ, as
our deliverer, as our atonementand righteousness in himself, and not because
of any holiness wrought in us. He knew of no such salvation, and disowned
any such title to it. He was willing to actin all points agreeable to the law, in
his mind and conscience, but was hindered by indwelling sin, and never
attained the perfectionthe law requires. What can be deliverance for a man
always sinful, but the free grace ofGod, as offered in Christ Jesus? The power
of Divine grace, andof the Holy Spirit, could rootout sin from our hearts even
in this life, if Divine wisdom had not otherwise thought fit. But it is suffered,
that Christians might constantly feel, and understand thoroughly, the
wretchedstate from which Divine grace saves them; might be kept from
trusting in themselves;and might ever hold all their consolationand hope,
from the rich and free grace ofGod in Christ.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
O wretched man that I am! - The feeling implied by this lamentation is the
result of this painful conflict; and this frequent subjectionto sinful
propensities. The effectof this conflict is,
(1) To produce pain and distress. It is often an agonizing struggle between
goodand evil; a struggle which annoys the peace, and renders life wretched.
(2) it tends to produce humility. It is humbling to man to be thus under the
influence of evil passions. It is degrading to his nature; a stain on his glory;
and it tends to bring him into the dust, that he is under the controlof such
propensities, and so often gives indulgence to them. In such circumstances, the
mind is overwhelmed with wretchedness,and instinctively sighs for relief. Can
the Law aid? Can man aid? Can any native strength of conscience orof

31. reasonaid? In vain all these are tried, and the Christian then calmly and
thankfully acquiesces in the consolations ofthe apostle, that aid can be
obtained only through Jesus Christ.
Who shall deliver me - Who shall rescue me; the condition of a mind in deep
distress, and conscious ofits own weakness, andlooking for aid.
The body of this death - Margin, "This body of death." The word "body"
here is probably used as equivalent to flesh, denoting the corrupt and evil
propensities of the soul; Note, Romans 7:18. It is thus used to denote the law
of sin in the members, as being that with which the apostle was struggling,
and from which he desiredto be delivered. The expression"body of this
death" is a Hebraism, denoting a body deadly in its tendency; and the whole
expressionmay mean the corrupt principles of man; the carnal, evil affections
that lead to death or to condemnation. The expressionis one of vast strength,
and strongly characteristic ofthe apostle Paul. It indicates,
(1) That it was nearhim, attending him, and was distressing in its nature.
(2) an earnestwish to be delivered from it.
Some have supposed that he refers to a custom practicedby ancient tyrants,
of binding a dead body to a captive as a punishment, and compelling him to
drag the cumbersome and offensive burden with him wherever he went. I do
not see any evidence that the apostle had this in view. But such a fact may be
used as a striking and perhaps not improper illustration of the meaning of the
apostle here. No strength of words could express deeperfeeling; none more
feelingly indicate the necessityof the grace ofGod to accomplishthat to which
the unaided human powers are incompetent.

32. Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
24. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?—The apostle speaksofthe "body" here with reference to "the law of
sin" which he had said was "in his members," but merely as the instrument
by which the sin of the heart finds vent in action, and as itself the seatof the
lowerappetites (see on [2218]Ro6:6, and [2219]Ro 7:5);and he calls it "the
body of this death," as feeling, at the moment when he wrote, the horrors of
that death (Ro 6:21, and Ro 7:5) into which it draggedhim down. But the
language is not that of a sinner newly awakenedto the sight of his lost state;it
is the cry of a living but agonized believer, weigheddown under a burden
which is not himself, but which he longs to shake off from his renewedself.
Nor does the question imply ignorance ofthe way of relief at the time referred
to. It was designedonly to prepare the wayfor that outburst of thankfulness
for the divinely provided remedy which immediately follows.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
O wretched man that I am! The word signifies one weariedout with continual
combats.
Who shall deliver me? It is not the voice of one desponding or doubting, but of
one breathing and panting after deliverance:the like pathetical exclamations
are frequent: see Psalm55:6. One calls this verse, gemitus sanctorum, the
groanof the godly.
From the body of this death; or, from this body of death; or, by a Hebraism,
from this dead body, this carcassofsin, to which I am inseparably fastened, as
noisome every whit to my soul as a dead carcassto my senses. This is another
circumlocution, or denomination of original sin. It is called the body of sin,
Romans 6:6, and here the body of death; it tends and binds over to death.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

33. O wretched man that I am,.... Not as consideredin Christ, for as such he was a
most happy man, being blessedwith all spiritual blessings, andsecure from all
condemnation and wrath; nor with respectto his inward man, which was
renewing day by day, and in which he enjoyed true spiritual peace and
pleasure;nor with regard to his future state, of the happiness of which he had
no doubt: he knew in whom he had believed; he was fully persuadednothing
could separate him from the love of God; and that when he had finished his
course, he should have the crownof righteousness laid up for him: but this
exclamationhe made on accountof the troubles he met with in his Christian
race;and not so much on accountof his reproaches, persecutions, and
distresses forChrist's sake;though these were many and great, yet these did
not move or much affect him, he rather took delight and pleasure in them; but
on accountof that continual combat between, the flesh and spirit in him; or by
reasonof that mass of corruption and body of sin he carriedabout with him;
ranch such a complaint Isaiahmakes, Isaiah6:5, which in the Septuagint is, ,
"O miserable I". This shows him to be, and to speak of himself as a regenerate
man; since an unregenerate man feels no uneasiness upon that score, ormakes
any complaint of it, saying as here,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? or "this body of death"; by
which some understand, this mortal body, or the body of flesh subjectto death
for sin; and suppose the apostle expresseshis desire to quit it, to depart out of
it, that he might enjoy an immortal life, being wearyof the burden of this
mortal body he carried about with him: so Philo the Jew (s) represents the
body as a burden to the soul, which "it carries about as a dead carcass", and
never lays down from his birth till his death: though it should be observed,
that when the apostle elsewhereexpressesan earnestlonging after a state of
immortality and glory, some sort of reluctance and unwillingness to leave the
body is to be observed, which is not to be discerned here; and was this his
sense, one should think he would rather have said, when shall I be delivered?
or why am I not delivered? and not who shall deliver me? though admitting
this to be his meaning, that he was wearyof the present life, and wantedto be
rid of his mortal body, this did not arise from the troubles and anxieties of life,
with which he was pressed, whichoftentimes make wickedmen long to die;
but from the load of sin, and burden of corruption, under which he groaned,

34. and still bespeakshim a regenerate man;for not of outward calamities, but of
indwelling sin is he all along speaking in the context: wherefore it is better by
"this body of death" to understand what he in Romans 6:6 calls "the body of
sin"; that mass of corruption that lodgedin him, which is called"a body",
because ofits fleshly carnal nature; because ofits manner of operation, it
exerts itself by the members of the body; and because it consists ofvarious
parts and members, as a body does;and "a body of death", because it makes
men liable to death: it was that which the apostle says "slew"him, and which
itself is to a regenerate man, as a dead carcass, stinking and loathsome;and is
to him like that punishment Mezentius inflicted on criminals, by fastening a
living body to a putrid carcass(t): and it is emphatically calledthe body of
"this death", referring to the captivity of his mind, to the law of sin, which
was as death unto him: and no wondertherefore he so earnestly desires
deliverance, saying, "who shall deliver me?" which he speaks notas being
ignorant of his deliverer, whom he mentions with thankfulness in Romans
7:25; or as doubting and despairing of deliverance, for he was comfortably
assuredof it, and therefore gives thanks beforehand for it; but as expressing
the inward pantings, and earnestbreathings of his soul after it; and as
declaring the difficulty of it, yea, the impossibility of its being obtained by
himself, or by any other than he, whom he had in view: he knew he could not
deliver himself from sin; that the law could not deliver him; and that none but
God could do it; and which he believed he would, through Jesus Christ his
Lord.
(s) De Agricultura, p. 191. (t) Alexander ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 5,
Geneva Study Bible
{14} O {d} wretchedman that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?
(14) It is a miserable thing to be yet in part subject to sin, which of its own
nature makes us guilty of death: but we must cry to the Lord, who will by

35. death itself at length make us conquerors, as we are already conquerors in
Christ.
(d) Wearied with miserable and continual conflicts.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Romans 7:24. The marks of parenthesis in which many include Romans 7:24-
25, down to ἡμῶν, or (Grotius and Flatt) merely Romans 7:25 down to ἡμῶν,
should be expunged, since the flow of the discourse is not once logically
interrupted.
ταλαίπωρος κ.τ.λ.]The oppressive feeling of the misery of that captivity finds
utterance thus. Here also Paul by his “I” represents the still unredeemed man
in his relation to the law. Only with the state of the latter, not with the
consciousnessofthe regenerate man, as if he “as it were” were crying ever
afreshfor a new Redeemerfrom the powerof the sin still remaining in him
(Philippi), does this wail and cry for help accord. The regenerate manhas that
which is here sighed for, and his mood is that which is opposite to the feeling
of wretchedness and death, Romans 5:1 ff., Romans 8:1 ff.; being that of
freedom, of overcoming, of life in Christ, and of Christ in him, of peace and
joy in the Holy Spirit, of the new creature, to which old things have passed
away. Comp. Jul. Müller, v. d. Sünde, I. p. 458 f., ed. 5. The objectionof
Reiche, that Paul would, according to this view, speak of himself while he was
thinking of men of quite an opposite frame of mind, is not valid; for that
longing, which he himself had certainly felt very deeply in his pre-Christian
life, and into whose painful feelings he transports himself back all the more
vividly from the standpoint of his blissful state of redemption, could not but,
in the consistentcontinuation of the idiosis, be here individualized and
realized as present through his ἐγώ. And this he could do the more

36. unhesitatingly, since no doubt could thereby be raisedin the minds of his
readers regarding his present freedom from the ταλαιπωρία overwhich he
sighs. Reiche himself, curiously enough, regards Romans 7:24 as the cry for
help of Jewishhumanity, to which “a redeemedone replies” in Romans 8:1;
Romans 7:25, standing in the way, being a gloss!
ΤΑΛΑΊΠ. ἘΓῺ ἌΝΘΡ.]Nominative of exclamation:O wretched man that I
am! See Kühner, II. 1, p. 41; Winer, p. 172 [E. T. 228].
ταλαίπ., Revelation3:17, very frequent in the tragedians:Plat. Euthyd. p. 302
B; Dem. 548. 12, 425. 11.
ῥύσεται] Purely future. In the depth of his misery the longing after a deliverer
asks as if in despair: who will it be?
ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τ. θανάτου τούτου]τούτουmight indeed grammatically be
joined to ΣΏΜΑΤΟς (Erasmus, Beza, Calvin, Estius, and many others,
including Olshausen, Philippi, Hofmann, and Th. Schott), since one may say,
ΤῸ ΣῶΜΑ Τ. Θ. ΤΟῦΤΟ;but the sense is againstit. For that which weighs
upon him, namely, the being dependent on the body as captive of the law of
sin, lies in the factthat the body belongs to this death, i.e. to the death
incurred by sin (which is not physical, but eternaldeath, comp. Romans 7:10
ff.), consequentlyto this shameful death, as its seat;not in the fact that this
relation takes place in the present body, or in a present time posited with the
quality of the earthly body. If the words of the person who exclaims should
amount to no more than “the hopeless wishto getrid of the body, in which he
is compelled to live,” without expressing, however, the desire to be dead
(Hofmann), they would yield a very confusedconception. Moreover, by
postponing the pronoun, Paul would only have expressedhimself very
unintelligibly, had his meaning been hoc corpus mortis, and not corpus mortis

37. hujus (Vulgate). Comp. Acts 5:20; Acts 13:26. The correctexplanation
therefore is: “Who shall deliver me, so that I be no longerdependent on the
body, which serves as the seatof so shameful a death?” or, in other words:
“Who shall deliver me out of bondage under the law of sin into moral
freedom, in which my body shall no longer serve as the seatof this shameful
death?” Comp. Romans 8:9, Romans 6:6, Romans 7:5; Romans 7:10 ff.;
Colossians 2:11. With what vivid and true plastic skill does the deeply-stirred
emotion of the apostle conveythis meaning! underneath which, no doubt,
there likewise lies the longing “aftera release from the sinful natural life” (Th.
Schott). In detail, τίς με ῥύσεται corresponds with the αἰχμαλωτίζ.με τῷ νόμῳ
τῆς ἁμ. in Romans 7:23; ἐκ τοῦ σώμ. with the τῷ ὄντι ἐν τοῖς μέλεσί μου in
Romans 7:23; and τούτου denotes the death as occasionedby the tragic power
of sin just described also in Romans 7:23; the genitive relation is the same as
in Romans 6:6. The rendering “mortal body” is condemned by the close
connectionof τούτου with θανάτου, whether(inconsistently enoughwith the
context, see Romans 7:23; Romans 7:25; Romans 8:1-2) there be discoveredin
the words the longing for death (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact,
Erasmus, Pareus, Estius, Clericus, Balduin, Koppe, and others), or, with
Olshausen(introducing what is foreign to the argument), the longing “only to
be redeemed from the mortal body, i.e. from the body that through sin has
become liable to perish, so that the Spirit may make it alive.” Finally, as in
Romans 6:6, so also here, those explanations are to be rejectedwhich, in
arbitrary and bold deviation from the Pauline usage, take σῶμα not of the
human body, but as “mortifera peccatimassa” (Calvin, Cappel, Homberg,
Wolf); or: “the system of sensualpropensities (σῶμα), which is the cause of
death” (Flatt); or: “deathconceivedas a monster with a body, that threatens
to devour the ἐγώ” (Reiche).
Expositor's Greek Testament
Romans 7:24. ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος·τίς με ῥύσεται;“a wail of anguish
and a cry for help”. The words are not those of the Apostle’s heart as he
writes; they are the words which he knows are wrung from the heart of the
man who realises thathe is himself in the state just described. Paul has
reproduced this vividly from his own experience, but ταλαίπωρας ἐγὼ
ἄνθρωπος is not the cry of the Christian Paul, but of the man whom sin and

38. law have brought to despair. ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου:“This
death” is the death of which man is acutely conscious in the condition
described: it is the same as the death of Romans 7:9, but intensely realised
through the experience of captivity to sin. “The body of this death” is
therefore the same as “the body of sin” in chap. Romans 6:6 : it is the body
which, as the instrument if not the seatof sin, is involved in its doom.
Salvationmust include deliverance from the body so far as the body has this
characterand destiny.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
24. O wretched man, &c.] Lit. Miserable man [am] I. The adjective indicates a
state of suffering; the pain of the inner conflict as felt by the regenerate
“mind[38].”
[38] In Lord Selborne’s Book ofPraise will be found a most remarkable
Hymn, (No. ccclxx), beginning “O send me down a draught of love.” The
whole Hymn forms a profound and suggestive commentaryhere.
from the body of this death] Better, perhaps, out of this body of death. The
Gr. admits either translation. The best commentary on this ver. is Romans
8:23, where the saints are said to “groan, waiting for the redemption of their
body.” Under different imagery the idea here is the same. The body, as it now
is, is the stronghold of sin in various ways, (see on Romans 6:6,) and is that
part of the regenerate manwhich yet has to die. The Apostle longs to be free
from it as such—as sinful and mortal; in other words, he “groans for its
redemption.” Cp. Php 3:21; 2 Corinthians 5:4; 2 Corinthians 5:8.
Such an explanation is surely preferable to that which makes “body” mean
“mass” or“load.” Some commentators, again, trace a metaphorical reference
to the cruelty of tyrants, (e.g. Virgil’s Mezentius,)who chained the living and

39. the dead together. But this is quite out of characterwith the severelysimple
imagery here.
Bengel's Gnomen
Romans 7:24. Ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος)[“O wretchedman that I am!”
Engl. Vers. But Beng.]wretchedme, who am [inasmuch as I am] a man! Man,
if he were without sin, is noble as well as blessed;with sin, he rather wishes
not to be a man at all, than to be such a man as man actually is: The man
[whom Paul personifies]speaks ofthe state of man in itself, as it is by nature.
This cry for help is the lastthing in the struggle, and, after that henceforth
convinced, that he has no help in himself, he begins, so to speak, unknowingly
to pray, who shall deliver me? and he seeks deliverance andwaits, until God
shows Himself openly in Christ, in answerto that who. This marks the very
moment of mystical death.[80]Believers to a certain extent continue to carry
with them something of this feeling even to the day of their death,[81]Romans
8:23.—ρύσεται, shalldeliver) Force is necessary. The verb is properly used;
for ρύεσθαι, is, ἐκ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΥ ἕλκειν (to drag from DEATH), Ammonius
from Aristoxenus.—ἐκ)from.—τοῦ σώματος, from the body of death) the
body being dead on accountof sin, ch. Romans 8:10. The death of the body is
the full carrying into execution of that death, of which Romans 7:13 treats,
and yet in death there is to be deliverance.—τούτου)σῶμα θανάτου τούτουis
said for σῶμα θανάτου τοῦτο,the body of this death, for, this body of death.—
Comp. Acts 5:20, note.
[80] The becoming figuratively dead in a spiritual sense to the law and to sin,
ver. 4.—ED.
[81] This longing for deliverance from the body of this death.—ED.
Vincent's Word Studies
Wretched(ταλαίπωρος)
Originally, wretched through the exhaustion of hard labor.

40. Who (τίς)
Referring to a personaldeliverer.
Body of this death (τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου)
The body serving as the seatof the death into which the soul is sunk through
the powerof sin. The body is the literal body, regardedas the principal
instrument which sin uses to enslave and destroy the soul. In explaining this
much-disputed phrase, it must be noted: 1. That Paul associatesthe dominion
and energyof sin prominently with the body, though not as if sin were
inherent in and inseparable from the body. 2. That he represents the service of
sin through the body as associatedwith, identified with, tending to, resulting
in, death. And therefore, 3. That he may properly speak ofthe literal body as
a body of death - this death, which is the certain issue of the abjectcaptivity to
sin. 4. That Paul is not expressing a desire to escape from the body, and
therefore for death. Meyerparaphrases correctly:"Who shall deliver me out
of bondage under the law of sin into moral freedom, in which my body shall
no longer serve as the seatof this shameful death?" Ignatius, in his letter to
the Smyrnaeans, speaksofone who denies Christ's humanity, as νεκροφόρος
one who carries a corpse.
Imyself
The man out of Christ. Looking back and summing up the unregenerate
condition, preparatory to setting forth its opposite in ch. 8. Paul says
therefore, that, so far as concerns his moral intelligence or reason, he
approves and pays homage to God's law; but, being in bondage to sin, made of

41. flesh, sold under sin, the flesh carries him its own way and commands his
allegiance to the economyof sin.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BRUCE HURT MD
Romans 7:24 Wretchedman that I am! Who will setme free from the body of
this death? (NASB: Lockman)
Greek:talaiporos ego anthropos;tis me rhusetai (3SFMI)ek tou somatos tou
thanatou toutou?
Amplified: O unhappy and pitiable and wretchedman that I am! Who will
release anddeliver me from [the shackles of]this body of death? (Amplified
Bible - Lockman)|
Barclay:O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this fatal
body? (Westminster Press)
Moule: Unhappy man am I. Who will rescue me out of the body of this death,
out of a life conditioned by this mortal body, which in the Fall became Sin’s

42. especialvehicle, directly or indirectly, and which is not yet (see Ro 8:23)
actually “redeemed”?
NLT: Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that
is dominated by sin? (NLT - Tyndale House)
Wuest: Wretchedman, I. Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
Young's Literal: Wretchedman that I am! Who will setme free from the
body of this death?
DEFEATED AND TAKEN PRISONER… WHAT WAS HIS ASSESSMENT
OF HIS CONDITION? WHAT WAS HIS CRY? WHO WAS THE
ANSWER?
WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM: Talaiporos egoanthropos:
Ro 8:26; 1Ki 8:38; Ps 6:6; 32:3,4;38:2,8, 9, 10; 77:3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; 119:20,81,
82, 83,131;Ps 119:143,176;130:1, 2, 3; Ezek 9:4; Mt 5:4,6;2Cor 12:7, 8, 9;
Rev 21:4
Romans 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Cranfield has a pithy note writing that "Many commentators, including—
surprisingly—not a few in the Reformed tradition (e.g., Denney), have stated
quite dogmatically that it cannot be a Christian who speaks here. But the
truth is, surely, that inability to recognize the distress reflectedin this cry as
characteristic ofChristian existence argues a failure to graspthe full
seriousnessofthe Christian’s obligationto express his gratitude to God by

43. obedience of life. The farther men advance in the Christian life, and the more
mature their discipleship, the clearerbecomes their perception of the heights
to which God calls them, and the more painfully sharp their consciousnessof
the distance betweenwhat they ought, and want, to be, and what they are. The
assertionthat this cry could only come from an unconverted heart, and that
the apostle must be expressing not what he feels as he writes but the vividly
remembered experience of the unconverted man, is, we believe, totally untrue.
To make it is to indicate—with all respectbe it said—thatone has not yet
consideredhow absolute are the claims of the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
The man, whose cry this is, is one who, knowing himself to be righteous by
faith, desires from the depths of his being to respond to the claims which the
gospelmakes upon him (cf. Ro 7:22). It is the very clarity of his understanding
of the gospeland the very sincerity of his love to God, which make his pain at
this continuing sinfulness so sharp. (Cranfield, C. E. B.. A Critical and
ExegeticalCommentaryon the Epistle to the Romans. London; New York:
T&T Clark International)
Wretched(5005)(talaiporos from tálas = suffering, wretchedor according to
A T Robertsonfrom tlao = to bear + poros = a callus) means afflicted,
miserable, in a distressedcondition, beaten down from from continued strain
and leaving a personliterally full of callouses(= deep misery). . Wretched
describes a very unhappy or unfortunate state in poor or pitiful
circumstances. Talaiporos is an expression usedin paganGreek drama to
express tragic misfortune and woe. Wretchedthrough the exhaustion of hard
labor. Paul is completely worn out and wretched because ofhis unsuccessful
effort to please God under the principle of Law.
Vincent writes that "Originally, wretchedthrough the exhaustion of hard
labor."

44. Paul recognizes thathe is in a helpless state of despair because he cannot rid
himself of his bent toward sinning.
Harry Ironside explains that Paul "Almost convincedthat the struggle must
go on during the entire course of his earthly existence he cried in anguish, "O
wretchedman that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
(Romans 7:24) He is like a living man chained to a polluted, because corrupt,
corpse, and unable to snap the chains. He cannot make the corpse cleanand
subject, no matter how he tries. It is the cry of hopelessnessso far as self-effort
is concerned. He is brought to the end of human resources. In a moment he
gets a vision by faith of the risen Christ. He alone is the deliverer from sin's
power, as well as the Savior from the penalty of guilt. "I thank God," he cries,
"through Jesus Christ our Lord"! He has found the wayout. Notthe law but
Christ in glory is the rule of life for the Christian.
Morris makes an interesting point - It is worth bearing in mind that the great
saints through the ages do not commonly say, ‘How goodI am!’ Rather, they
are apt to bewail their sinfulness.
Wiersbe explains that "The believer has an old nature that wants to keephim
in bondage; “I will getfree from these old sins!” the Christian says to himself.
“I determine here and now that I will not do this any longer.” What happens?
He exerts all his willpowerand energy, and for a time succeeds;but then when
he leastexpects it, he falls again. Why? Because he tried to overcome his old
nature with Law, and the Law cannot deliver us from the old nature. When
you move under the Law, you are only making the old nature stronger;
because “the strength of sin is the Law” (1Cor. 15:56). Instead of being a
dynamo that gives us power to overcome, the Law is a magnetthat draws out
of us all kinds of sin and corruption. The inward man may delight in the Law
of God (Ps. 119:35), but the old nature delights in breaking the Law of God.
No wonder the believer under Law becomes tired and discouraged, and

45. eventually gives up! He is a captive, and his condition is “wretched.” (The
Greek word indicates a personwho is exhausted after a battle.) What could be
more wretchedthan exerting all your energy to try to live a goodlife, only to
discoverthat the best you do is still not goodenough! (Wiersbe, W: Bible
Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)
Sanday and Headlam comment that Paul utters "A heart-rending cry from
the depths of despair.'
Websteradds that wretchedmeans "deeply afflicted, dejected, or distressedin
body or mind; extremely or deplorably bad or distressing;being or appearing
mean, miserable, or contemptible; very poor in quality or ability".
In the only other NT use of wretched in Rev 3:17-note Jesus describes the
church at Laodicea a church that has a reasonto be wretchedfor (although
there is difference of opinion) many able scholars feelthat this descriptionis
of a church of completely unregenerate people (Rev 3:20-note).
Becauseyou say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of
nothing," and you do not know that you are wretchedand miserable and poor
and blind and naked" (See note Revelation3:17)
Morris - It is worth bearing in mind that the greatsaints through the ages do
not commonly say, ‘How goodI am!’ Rather, they are apt to bewail their
sinfulness. (Morris, Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World Publishing)
McGee - This is not an unsaved man who is crying, “O wretched man that I
am”; this is a savedman. The word wretchedcarries with it the note of

46. exhaustion because ofthe struggle. “Who is going to deliver me?” He is
helpless. His shoulders are pinned to the floor—he has been wrestleddown.
Like old Jacob, he has been crippled. He is calling for help from the outside.
(Thru the Bible Commentary: Nashville:Thomas Nelson)
Spurgeon- This proves that he was not attacking his sin, but that this sin was
attacking him. I do not seek to be delivered from a man againstwhom I lead
the attack. It is the man who is opposing me from whom I seek to be delivered.
And so sometimes the sin that dwells in believers flies at us, like some foul
tiger of the woods, orsome demon, jealous of the celestialspirit within us.
Henry Alford - These words are most important to the understanding of the
whole passage.We must bear in mind that it had begun with the question, Is
the law sin? The apostle has proved that it is not, but is holy. He has shown
the relationit holds to sin; namely, that of vivifying it by means of man’s
natural aversionto the commandment. He has further shown, that in himself,
even as delivered by Christ Jesus, a conflict betweenthe law and sin is ever
going on: the misery of which would be death itself were not a glorious
deliverance effected. He now sums up his vindication of the law as holy; and at
the same time, sums up the other side of the evidence adduced in the passage,
from which it appears that the flesh is still, even in the spiritual man subject
(essentially, not practically and energetically)to the law of sin,—which
subjection, in its nature and consequences, is so nobly treated in chapter 8.
WHO WILL SET ME FREE:tis me rhusetai (3SFMI):
Dt 22:26,27;Ps 71:11;72:12;91:14,15;102:20;Mic 7:19; Zech 9:11,12;Lu
4:18; 2Cor1:8-10; 2Ti 4:18; Titus 2:14; Heb 2:15
Romans 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries

47. The body is the scene ofthis contest. Sin living in the members brings spiritual
death to the body, and man becomes awarethat he needs outside help. Paul
cries out not for deliverance from the body as such, but for deliverance from
the body characterizedby this spiritual death-the doing of that which is evil in
opposition to his desire to do that which is good.
Set free (4506)(rhuomai) means to draw or snatchto oneselfand invariably
refers to a snatching from danger, evil or an enemy. This basic idea of
rescuing from danger is pictured by the use describing a soldier’s going to a
wounded comrade on the battlefield and carrying him to safety(he runs to the
cry of his comrade to rescue him from the hands of the enemy). Rhuomai
emphasizes greatness ofperil from which deliverance is given by a mighty act
of power.
This verse is especiallymeaningful to Spurgeonwho wrote that…
I went to that same Primitive MethodistChapel where I first receivedpeace
with God through the simple preaching of the Word. The text happened to be,
"O wretchedman that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?" "There," I thought, "that's a text for me." I had gotas far as that,
when the minister beganby saying, "Paulwas not a believer when he said
this." I knew I was a believer, and it seemedto me from the context that Paul
must have been a believer, too. Now I am sure he was. The man went on to say
that no child of Godever did feel any conflict within. So I took up my hat and
left the place, and I do not think I have fre-quented such places since.
Such a cry takes us to the very place that the Lord Jesus beganthe Sermon on
the Mount…

48. “Blessedare the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3-
note).
One could paraphrase this as
“Blessedare the spiritually bankrupt… Blessedare the wretched.” . Blessedis
the man who has arrived at spiritual bankruptcy.
Why is such a one "blessed"?Becausethis is the point and if fact the only
point, where God's help is given and grace flows mostfreely for God is
opposedto the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6+). Paul even as
a believer learned through a personalaffliction to boast in his weaknessthat
the powerof Christ might be perfected in him. It is at such a spiritual low
state, when the individual realizes and confesseshis helplessness to live a life
that pleases to God that the Spirit of Christ engages that person. "I can't
God!" to which God answers "Inever said'YOU' could" but "I can(My
Spirit) and I always said I would".
Hendriksen writes that Paul…
The writer genuinely deplores the fact that due to the law of sin still operating
in him, he is unable to serve God as completely and whole-heartedlyas he
desires. The poignant grief here expressedis definitely that of a believer. No
unbeliever would ever be able to be so filled with sorrow because ofhis sins!
The author of the outcry is Paul, speaking forevery child of God. The cry he
utters is one of distress, but not of despair, as verse 25 proves. Paul suffers
agony, to be sure, the wretchedness broughtabout by strenuous exertion; that
is, by trying hard, but never satisfactorilysucceeding, to live in complete

49. harmony with God’s will but failing againand again. He is looking forward
eagerlyto the time when this struggle will have ended. (Ibid)
I like Leon Morris' comments on the wretchedcry in this verse…
Paul is expressing in forceful terms his dismay at what sin does to him. It is,
moreover, important that we understand this as applying to the regenerate. It
is all too easyto take our Christian status for granted. We so readily
remember our victories and gloss overour defeats. We slip into a routine and
refuse to allow ourselves to be disturbed by what we see as occasionaland
minor slips. But a sensitive conscienceanda genuine sorrow for every sin are
the prerequisites of spiritual depth. (Morris, L.. The Epistle to the Romans.
Grand Rapids, Mich.; Leicester, England:W. B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity
Press)
THOUGHT - Are you wretched? Are you miserable in your sin and the
repeatedattempts to overcome that habit, that sin that so easilyentangles?
Then join Paul and millions of others who have come to the end of their
strength and cried out to a Merciful God
"Wretchedman or woman that I am.
Have mercy on me O God!"
Guzik writes that…
Legalismalways brings a person face to face with their own wretchedness,
and if they continue in legalism, they will react in one of two ways. Either they

50. will deny their wretchedness andbecome self-righteous Pharisees, orthey will
despair because oftheir wretchedness andgive up following after God.
The entire tone of the statement(O wretchedman that I am!) shows that Paul
is desperate for deliverance. He is overwhelmed with a sense ofhis own
powerlessnessandsinfulness. We must come to the same place of desperation
to find victory. Your desire must go beyond a vague hope to be better. You
must cry out againstyourself and cry out unto God with the same desperation
Paul did.
Who will deliver me: Paul’s perspective finally turns to something (actually,
someone)outside of himself. Paul has referred to himself some 40 times since
Romans 7:13. In the pit of Paul’s unsuccessfulstruggle againstsin, he became
entirely self-focusedand self-obsessed. This is the place of any believer living
under law, who looks to self and personal performance rather than looking
first to Jesus. The words “Who will deliver me” show that Paul has given up
on himself, and asks “Who will deliver me?” Instead of “How will I deliver
myself?” (Romans 7 Commentary)
Matthew Poole writes that…
It is not the voice of one desponding or doubting, but of one breathing and
panting after deliverance.
One of the greatexpositors of Scripture in the last fifty years, Ray Stedman
offers some sage and practicaladvice concerning Romans 7:14-25…

51. If we think that we have got something in ourselves that we can work out our
problems with, if we think that our wills are strong enough, our desires
motivated enough, that we can control evil in our lives by simply determining
to do so, then we have not come to the end of ourselves yet. And the Spirit of
God simply folds his arms to wait and lets us go ahead and try it on that basis.
And we fail, and fail miserably -- until, at last, out of our failures, we cry, "O
wretchedman that I am!" Sin has deceived us, and the Law, as our friend, has
come in and exposedSin for what it is. When we see how wretched it makes
us, then we are ready for the answer, which comes immediately {Ro 7:25}
Who will deliver me from this body of death? The Lord Jesus has already
done it. We are to respond to the feelings of wretchedness anddiscouragement
and failure, to which the Law has brought us because ofsin in us, by
reminding ourselves immediately of the facts that are true of us in Jesus
Christ. Our feelings must be answeredby facts.
We are no longerunder the Law. That is the fact. We have arrived at a
different situation; we are married to Christ, Christ risen from the dead. That
means we must no longer think, "I am a poor, struggling, bewildered disciple,
left alone to wrestle againstthese powerful urges." We must now begin to
think, "No, I am a free sonof God, living a normal human life. I am dead to
sin, and dead to the Law, because I am married to Christ. His poweris mine,
right at this moment. And though I may not feel a thing, I have the powerto
say, "No!" and walk awayand be free, in Jesus Christ."(full sermonThe
Continuing Struggle)
FROM THE BODYOF THIS DEATH: ek tou somatos touthanatou toutou:
Ro 6:6; 8:13; Ps 88:5; Col 2:11
Romans 7 Resources- Multiple Sermons and Commentaries

52. The enemy who keeps the prisoner bound is here calledthe body of this death.
The body of death = the old sinful nature that lives in every man born in
Adam and also still lurks in the dying physical body of all who are born again
in Christ. Christ delivers both from the body of death. The body is the scene
of this contest. Sin living in the members brings spiritual death to the body,
and man becomes aware thathe needs outside help. Paul cries out not for
deliverance from the body characterizedby this spiritual death or the doing of
that which is evil in opposition to his desire to do that which is good.
Regarding the body of this death, C H Spurgeonwrites that "It was the
custom of ancient tyrants, when they wished to put men to the most fearful
punishments, to tie a dead body to them, placing the two back to back; and
there was the living man, with a dead body closelystrappedto him, rotting,
putrid, corrupting, and this he must drag with him wherever he went. Now,
this is just what the Christian has to do. He has within him the new life; he has
a living and undying principle, which the Holy Spirit has put within him, but
he feels that every day he has to drag about with him this dead body, this body
of death, a thing as loathsome, as hideous, as abominable to his new life, as a
dead stinking carcasswouldbe to a living man.
Wuest (favors Romans 7 as descriptionof a believer) writes that "The words
this death refer to the miserable condition of the Christian who is yet
dominated more or less by the evil nature which all the while he is desiring to
gain victory over. It is the death Paul speaks ofin verse 9. The body here is the
physical body, as that body in which the sinful nature dwells and through
which, when it is in the ascendancy, it operates. Vincent quotes Meyer, “Who
shall deliver me out of bondage under the law of sin into moral freedom, in
which my body shall no longerserve as the seatof this shameful death?” Paul
is not crying out for egress from his body but for deliverance from the
condition of defeatwhich his residence in his physical body makes a

53. possibility, and his lack of spiritual knowledge up to that moment, resulted in.
Paul answers his question as to who shall deliver him from the compelling
powerof the sinful nature by saying that that deliverance comes through
Jesus Christ, and he gives thanks to God for that fact. (Wuest's Word Studies
from the Greek New Testament:Eerdmans)
Godetwrites that "The innate power of evil, against which that of the law is
shattered, is a hereditary disease, a misfortune which only becomes a fault in
proportion as we consentto it personallyby not struggling againstit with the
aids appropriate to the economyin which we live. (Romans 7:7-25 The
Powerlessnessofthe Law to Sanctify)
The New Manners and Customs of the Bible writes that the body of death "is
a reference to the Roman method of punishment in which the body of the
murdered personwas chained to the murderer. The murderer was then
releasedto wander where he might, but no one was allowedto help or comfort
him upon penalty of suffering the same punishment. In the hot Easternsun
the dead body would soonbegin to decay, overwhelming the sentencedperson
not only with the smell but also with infection from the rotting flesh. It was
perhaps the most horrible of all sentences thatthe imaginary Romans ever
devised. To Paul our putrefying body of sinful flesh is like this, and only
Christ canrescue us from it. (Freeman, J. M., & Chadwick, H. J. (1998)s)
Vincent adds that "The body serving as the seatof the death into which the
soul is sunk through the powerof sin. The body is the literal body, regarded as
the principal instrument which sin uses to enslave and destroy the soul.
(Romans 7: Greek Word Studies)
Ray Stedman writes that "There are teachers who teachthat this passage in
Romans 7 is something a Christian goes through once, then he gets out of it

54. and moves into Romans 8 and never gets back into Romans 7 again. Nothing
could be further from the truth! This is a description of what every believer
will go through againand againin his experience because sinhas the power to
deceive us and to cause us to trust in ourselves, evenwhen we are not aware
we are doing it. The Law is what will expose that evil force and drive us to this
place of wretchedness that we might then, in poverty of spirit, cry out, "Lord
Jesus, it is your problem; you take it." And he will do so. (full sermon The
Continuing Struggle)
Get Off My Back - Roman emperors saw torture as a legitimate way to put
muscle and teeth into their laws. They were known to bind the body of a
murder victim to the back of his killer. Under penalty of death, no one was
allowedto release the condemned criminal. This terrible practice calls to mind
the words of the apostle Paulin Romans 7. It's as if he felt that something
dead was strapped to him and accompaniedhim whereverhe went.
As children of God, we long for purity and holiness, yet at times we feel
helplesslybound to the "dead body" of our flesh. Even though we are new
creatures in Christ and we know that the physical body itself is not evil, the
tendency to sin is always with us. This causesus to cry out with the apostle,
"Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Ro 7:24).
Paul answeredhis own cry in chapter8. He saidthat through the forgiveness
of Christ we are freed from eternal condemnation(v.1). Then by the strength
of the indwelling Holy Spirit we are empoweredto do the will of God (v.9).
And somedayin heaven these mortal bodies of ours will be redeemed(v.23).
We are not hopelesslybound by the flesh.

55. Praise God, Christ broke the power of sin! We canserve Him in newness of
life. —M De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand
Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
At times sin's powerwithin grows strong,
Too strong, it seems, for us to bear;
But Jesus says, "Lookunto Me.
I broke sin's power, so don't despair." —DDH
The flesh says do what you would do--
Just be what you would be;
But Christ says do what's right and true
If you would be like Me. --DJD
To overcome sin, starve the old nature (deny self) and feed the new.
Christ freed us from sin's penalty; the Spirit frees us from its power.
In Our Daily Homily F B Meyer writes about the wretched man that we all
are…
This chapter is very full of the personalpronoun. Me and I are the pivot
around which its argument revolves. The strenuous efforts which the soul
makes, not so much to justify as to sanctify itself, to realize its ideal, to walk
worthy of the Lord, are well-pleasing, and are described by a master hand.

56. Is there one of us who has not read these words repeatedly, and in
desperation? They have been so exactly true. We have longedwith passionate
sincerity that a new man might arise in us to free us from our old man, and
make us the men we fain would be. We have been conscious ofa subtle force
mastering our struggles, like the serpents overcoming Laocoonandhis sons;
we have realized that a corrupting carcasswas bound to our backs, as to the
Roman criminals of old, filling the air with miasma, and poisoning our life.
We have cried bitterly, O wretched man, who shall deliver?
The keyto the plaintive moan of this chapter consists in this. It is the result of
the endeavorto live a holy life apart from the power of the indwelling Savior,
and independently of the grace of the Holy Spirit. All such efforts are sure to
end in wretchedness.We canno more sanctify ourselves than we canjustify.
Deliverance from the powerof sin is the gift of God’s grace, as forgivenessis.
And it is only when we have come to the very end of all our strivings and
resolvings, and have abandoned ourselves to the Savior He should do in us
and for us what we cannot do for ourselves, that we are led to cry, “I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“All things are possible to God;
To Christ, the power of God in men,
To me, when I am all subdued,
When I, in Christ, am born again.”
The GreatOvercomer- Who is not inspired by the competitorwho makes a
comeback afterbeing down and seeminglyout of the running! The runner
who stumbles while coming off the starting blocks but moves gradually into
the leadstirs the imagination of us all. The team that can come from behind in

57. the lastmoments to win excites us even more than the team that constantly
wins by scoring big in the first part of the game.
Jesus made the most amazing comeback the world has ever seen. After being
humiliated, insulted, spit upon, whipped, beaten, and nailed to a cross, His
executioners claimedvictory and declaredHim dead. A military guard
securedHis tomb. How could anyone be more down and out than that?
Yet the struggle was not over; it was only the beginning. Three days later, He
rose from the grave and reappearedas the victor over sin, death, and hell—a
comeback like no other in all of history.
Are you feeling out of the running today? Have you stumbled badly? Think
about Jesus’ suffering. PonderHis resurrection. Ask Him to give you the
victory. Just imagine what He has to offer you, no matter how far down you
are now!
No one has overcome like our Lord. — Mart De Haan
The greatexample is our Lord
Of overcoming power;
The strength that brought Him from the grave
Gives hope in life’s dark hour. —Branon
Jesus died to save us and lives to keepus.

58. Romans 7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord ! 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. (NASB: Lockman)
Greek:charis de to theo dia IesouChristou tou kuriou hemon. ara oun autos
ego to men noi douleuo (1SPAI) nomo theou te de sarki nomo hamartias.
Amplified: O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One)
our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law
of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
Barclay:God will! Thanks be to Him through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Therefore with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my human nature
the law of sin. (WestminsterPress)
Moule: Thanks be to God, who giveth that deliverance, in covenantand in
measure now, fully and in eternalactuality hereafter, through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then, to sum the whole phenomenon of the conflict up, leaving
aside for the moment this glorious hope of the issue, I, myself, with the mind
indeed do bondservice to the law of God, but with the flesh, with the life of
self, wherever and whenever I “revert” that way, I do bondservice to the law
of sin.
NLT: Thank God! The answeris in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it
is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful
nature I am a slave to sin. (NLT - Tyndale House)

59. Wuest: Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself
with my mind serve the law of God but with my flesh the law of sin.
Young's Literal: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! 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.
THANKS BE TO GOD:charis de to theo:
Ro 6:14,17;Ps 107:15,16;116:16,17;Isa 12:1; 49:9,13;Mt 1:21; 1Cor15:57;
2Cor9:15; 12:9,10;Eph 5:20; Phil 3:3; 4:6; Col 3:17; 1Pet2:5,9
Romans 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Thanks (5485)(charis)is the word the NT translates "grace"but is used here
as an expressionof thankfulness. It is also a declarationof assurance thatHis
God will deliver him.
Paul could not answerthe question he had just askedwithout gratitude.
Thanks overwhelmedhim at the thought of salvationin Christ. Paul used
charis with a similar intent in his exclamation…
thanks (charis) be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. (1Cor 15:57)
Leon Morris feels that "ClearlyPaul’s words express gratitude for a present
deliverance, but it is likely that they also have eschatologicalsignificance(Ed
note: the believer's glorification, free finally even from the presence ofsin!).
The deliverance we have today is wonderful, but it is partial and incomplete.

60. It is but a first installment of greaterthings to come, and Paul looks forward
to that greatday with his burst of thanksgiving. (Morris, L. The Epistle to the
Romans. W. B. Eerdmans;Inter-Varsity Press)
In Our Daily Bread we read that about how we can't but He can - You Can
Do It! - A young boy was at the barbershop for a haircut. The room was filled
with cigarsmoke. The lad pinched his nose and exclaimed, "Who's been
smoking in here!"
The barber sheepishly confessed, "Ihave."
The boy responded, "Don't you know it's not goodfor you?"
"I know," the barber replied. "I've tried to quit a thousand times but I just
can't."
The boy commented, "I understand. I've tried to stop sucking my thumb, but
I can't quit either!"
Those two remind me of the way believers sometimes feel about their struggle
with sins of the flesh. Paul summed it up well by crying out,
"O wretchedman that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"
(Romans 7:24).

61. His spiritual battle might have left him in despair if he had not found the
solution. Following his agonizing question, he declaredwith triumph,
"I thank God -- through Jesus Christour Lord!" (Ro 7:25)
Are you struggling to break some stubborn habit? Like Paul, you can be an
overcomer. If you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, victory is possible
through the powerof the indwelling Holy Spirit. Confidently affirm with Paul,
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Php 4:13-note)
You can do it! --R De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries,
Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
I have tried and I have struggled
From my sin to be setfree;
Not by trying but through trusting,
Jesus gives the victory. --Complin
Think less of the powerof things over you and more of the power of Christ in
you.
THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD: dia IesouChristou tou kuriou
hemon:

62. Romans 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Romans 7:21-25 does not suggestthat you live a divided life because that is
impossible. You must choose your Master(Romans 6:15-23)and be true to
your Husband, Jesus Christ (Romans 7:1-6).
Paul comes to the conclusionthat only through Jesus Christour Lord can
come the necessarysupernatural enablement to live a life of holiness.
A Simple Study…
"Through Him"
Considerthe following simple study - observe and recordthe wonderful truths
that accrue through Him - this would make an edifying, easyto prepare
Sunday Schoollesson - then take some time to give thanks for these great
truths by offering up a sacrifice ofpraise… through Him.
Jn 1:3 [Jn1:3NIV reads "through Him"], Jn 1:7, John 1:10, Jn 3:17, Jn 14:6,
Acts 2:22, 3:16, Acts 7:25, Acts 10:43, Acts 13:38, 39, Ro 5:9 [note], Ro 8:37
[note], Ro 11:36 [note]; 1Co 8:6, Ep 2:18 [note], Php 4:13 [note], Col1:20
[note], Col 2:15 [note], Col3:17 [note], Heb 7:25 [note], Heb 13:15 [note], 1Pe
1:21[note], 1John 4:9
Would you like more study on the wonderful topic of through Him? Study
also the NT uses of the parallel phrase through Jesus (or similar phrases -
"through Whom", "through our Lord", etc) - John 1:17, Acts 10:36, Ro 1:4,
5- note; Ro 1:8-note, Ro 2:16-note, Ro 5:1-note; Ro 5:2-note Ro 5:11-note, Ro
5:21-note, Ro 7:25-note, Ro 16:27-note, 1Cor15:57, 2Cor1:5, 3:4, 5:18, Gal

63. 1:1, Eph 1:5-note, Php 1:11-note, 1Th 5:9-note; Titus 3:6-note, He 1:2-note;
He 2:10-note, Heb 13:21-note, 1Pe 2:5-note, 1Pe 4:11-note, Jude 1:25)
All things are from Him, through Him and to Him. To Him be the glory
forever. Amen.
Godetremarks that…
The specialfeature in the deliverance, of which the apostle is here thinking, is
not the pardon of sins through the blood of Christ, but victory over sin
through Christ crucified and risen, communicated to faith by the Holy Spirit
(Godet, F L: Commentary on Romans. Kregel. 1998)
SO THEN ON THE ONE HAND I MYSELF WITH MY MIND I AM
SERVING THE LAW OF GOD BUT ON THE OTHER WITH MY FLESH
THE LAW OF SIN : Ara oun autos ego to men noi douleuo (1SPAI) nomo
theou te de sarkinomo hamartias:
Ro 7:15-24; Gal5:17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Romans 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Cranfield says that here Paul "sums up with clear-sightedhonesty… the
tension, with all its real anguish and also all its real hopefulness, in which the
Christian never ceasesto be involved so long as he is living this present life."
(Ibid)
First, observe the striking contrasts…

64. Mind vs flesh
Law of God vs Law of Sin
Leon Morris observes that "Pauldoes not shrug off his responsibility; he does
not saythat his mind serves Godwhile his flesh serves sin. He uses the
emphatic pronoun “I”. It is what he has been saying all along. While there is
that in him which approves God’s way there is that in him also which follows
the paths of sin. (Ibid)
Henry Morris is relatively dogmatic - The final verse of this stressfulsoliloquy
of the apostle makes it certain that he is not referring to a spiritual struggle
before his conversion, but rather to the conflict betweenthe old and new
natures after his conversion. (Morris, Henry: Defenders Study Bible. World
Publishing)
So then (ara oun) introduces a logicalsummary of what Paul has been saying.
Mind (3563)(nous) refers to the organ of mental perceptionand
apprehension, of conscious life, of the consciousnesspreceding actions or
recognizing and judging them.
Serve (1398)(douleuo from doulos) means to be in the position of a servant, to
be subject to or to be in bondage to. (present tense = continually)
Law (3551)(nomos)in this context does not mean a standard (like the Mosaic
Law gave), but refers to “fundamental principle.” The “law of gravity” is a
statementof a fundamental principle of our experience -- we throw a ball in
the air and it falls to the ground. The “law of sin” is also a statementof a

65. fundamental principle of human experience:we do wrong, evenwhen we
don’t want to. (see also note above)
The mind here refers to the new nature from God and the flesh the old nature
from Adam. We cannotserve God with an old nature that is sinful (Ro 7:18-
note), but the Holy Spirit enables us to do His will as we yield to Him with our
mind.
Newellexplains the mind as representing…
All the spiritual faculties including, indeed, the soul - faculties of reason,
imagination, sensibility - which even now are "being renewed" by the Holy
Spirit, day by day (2Cor 4:16). I am subject to God's law or will - all new
creatures cansay this. But with the flesh sin's law. He saw it at last, and
bowed to it, that all he was by the flesh, by Nature, was irrevocably committed
to sin. So he gave up to see himself wholly in Christ (Who now lived in Him)
and to walk not by the Law, even in the supposedpowers of the quickened life
but by the Spirit only (Ga 5:16-note):in Whose powerAlone the Christian life
is to be lived. (Romans 7)
Vincent explains that "Paulsays therefore, that, so far as concerns his moral
intelligence or reason, he approves and pays homage to God’s law; but, being
in bondage to sin, made of flesh, sold under sin, the flesh carries him its own
way and commands his allegiance to the economyof sin.
Hendriksen notes that "it is with his inner being or mind that Paul wants to
do the will of God (Ro 7:15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22-see notes Ro 7:15, 16, 18, 20, 21,
22). The flesh is the intruder, who is being driven out and will certainly lose

66. the battle. That is due not to Paul’s goodnessbut to God’s grace, as the apostle
loudly and cheerfully proclaims by shouting (Ibid)
With my flesh (sarx) - my fallen anti-god tendencies inherited from Adam
(Click flesh = the evil disposition)
The law of sin - refers to our old nature prone to commit sins. This principle
of sin is every man's (here including believers)unredeemed and sinful
humanness.
Warren Wiersbe points out that "Everything the Bible says about the old
nature is negative:“no goodthing” (Ro 7:18+); “the flesh profiteth nothing”
(John 6:63); “no confidence in the flesh” (Php 3:3+). If we depend on the
energy of the flesh, we cannotserve God, please God, or do any goodthing.
But if we yield to the Holy Spirit, then we have the power neededto obey His
will. The flesh will never serve the Law of God because the flesh is at war with
God. But the Spirit can only obey the Law of God! Therefore, the secretof
doing goodis to yield to the Holy Spirit…The old nature knows no law and
the new nature needs no law. Legalismmakes a believer wretchedbecause it
grieves the new nature and aggravates the old nature! The legalistbecomes a
Pharisee whose outwardactions are acceptable, but whose inward attitudes
are despicable. No wonderJesus calledthem “whited sepulchers, which
indeed appearbeautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and
of all uncleanness”(Mt 23:27). How wretchedcan you get!The best is yet to
come!Romans 8 explains the work of the Holy Spirit in overcoming the bad
and producing the good. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989.
Victor)
The KJV Bible Commentary summarizes this sectionconcluding that
"Romans 7 is not a hypothetical case. It is an actualpicture of the internal

67. strife causedby the law of sin againstthe law of the Spirit in the Apostle Paul.
This need not be the normal Christian experience, for Paul has already
instructed us how to avert this internal strife. The preceding chapter presents
the proper way to sanctification;this chapter presents the improper way (cf.
D. M. Lloyd-Jones, Romans, pp. 1–13)(ED: I WOULD ADD ROMANS 8
AMPLIFIES THE "PROPER WAY TO SANCTIFICATION" = BY
RELYING ON THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT! - "by the Spirit you are
putting to death the deeds of the body," Ro 8:13+ - Lloyd-Jones calls Ro 8:13
the most important verse in the Bible regarding progressive sanctification -
listen to his Mp3 sermons below). To live a sanctified life we must know well
what Christ has accomplishedfor us in our justification, daily reckonthat we
have died with Him and are alive unto righteousness, andyield ourselves
completely to Him (see note Romans 6:11). (Dobson, E G, Charles Feinberg, E
Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV Bible Commentary:
Nelson)
RelatedResources:
The Way of Sanctification- Romans 8:12-13 - Mp3 by D. M. Lloyd-Jones
Sin and the Christian - Romans 8:12-13 - Mp3 by D. M. Lloyd-Jones
Sin and the Body - Romans 8:12-13 - Mp3 by D. M. Lloyd-Jones
Newellsums up this chapter writing…
I thank God, for deliverance through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ah! The answer
to Paul's self-despairing question, Who shall deliver me? is a new revelation, -
even identification with Christ in His death! For just as the sinner struggles in
vain to find forgiveness and peace, until he looks outside himself to Him who
made peace by the blood of His cross (Col1:20+), just so does the quickened
soul, struggling unto despair to find victory over sin by self-effort, look
outside himself to Christ in Whom he is, and in Whom (or with Whom) he

68. died to Sin (Ro 6;2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 -see notes Ro 6:2; 6:3; 6:4; 6:5; 6:6; 6:7) and to
law (see notes Romans 7:4; 7:5; 7:6)! Paul was not delivered by Christ, but
through Him; not by anything Christ then or at that time did for him; but
through the revelationof the fact that he had died with Christ at the cross to
this hated indwelling sin, and law of sin; and to God's Law, which gave sin its
power. It was a new vision or revelationof the salvationwhich is in Christ- as
describedin Ro 7:4, 6-notes Ro 7:4; 7:6.
The sinner is not forgiven by what Christ now does, but by faith in what He
did do at the cross, for, "The word of the cross is the powerof God." (1Cor
1:18) Just so, the believeris not delivered by what Christ does for him now;
but in the revelation to his soul of identification with Christ's death at the
cross:for again, "The word of the cross is the powerof God." (cf Col2:6+)
It will be by the Holy Spirit, that this deliverance is wrought in us; as we shall
see in Romans 8. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus (Ro 8:2+) is God's order.
To sum up Paul's Great Discoveriesin this Struggle of Chapter Seven:
1.Thatsin dwelt in him, though he delighted in God's Law!
2.Thathis will was powerless againstit.
3.Thatthe sinful self was not his real self.
4.Thatthere was deliverance through our Lord Jesus Christ!

69. I thank God for deliverance through Jesus Christour Lord! Paul had cried,
Who shall deliver me? The answeris, the discovery to his soulof that glorious
deliverance at the cross!of death to sin and Law with Him! So it is said,
"Through Jesus Christour Lord." The word of the cross-ofwhatChrist did
there, is the powerof God-whether to save sinners or deliver saints!
But ah, what a relief to Paul's soul-probably out yonder alone in Ara bia,
struggling more and more in vain to compel the flesh to obey the Law, to have
revealedto his wearysoul the secondglorious truth of the Gospel-thathe had
died with Christ-to sin, and to Law which sin had used as its power!And now
the conclusion-whichis the text of the whole chapter! So then-always a quod
erat demonstrandum with Paul! I myself, with the mind, indeed this is the real
renewedself, which the apostle has over and over said that "sin that dwelleth
in him" was not! (Romans 7)
Calvin calls Romans 7:25 "A short epilogue, in which he teaches us, that the
faithful never reachthe goalof righteousness as long as they dwell in the flesh,
but that they are running their course, until they put off the body." (Romans
7 Commentary)
The venerable pastor, Harry Ironside offers a word of encouragementto those
struggling with the power of sin in their life "If I am addressing any believer
who is even now in the agonizing throes of this terrific struggle, endeavoring
to subject the flesh to the holy law of God, let me urge you to acceptGod's
own verdict on the flesh and acknowledgethe impossibility of ever making it
behave itself. Do not fight with it. It will overthrow you every time. Turn away
from it; cease from it altogether;and look awayfrom self and law to Christ
risen. Israelof old wanted to find a short cut through Edom, type of the flesh,
but the children of Esaucame out armed to contesttheir way. The command
of God was to turn awayand "compass (go around) the land of Edom." (Nu

70. 21:4) And so with us; it is as we turn altogetherfrom self-occupationwe find
deliverance and victory in Christ by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 7 Commentary)
S Lewis Johnson concludes his expositionof Romans 7 noting that…
In the final verse of the sectionthe apostle breaks forth with a cry of victory,
"I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord." There IS such a man! Trust in
Him is the answerto the longing for deliverance. He says here what he will say
in an expanded way in the next chapter (cf. Ro 8:1-11+). The victory is found
in the continuing ministry of the Holy Spirit and in His final deliverance at the
resurrection.
The lastsentence of the chapter is a concluding statement in which he
summarizes the major point of the preceding section. The believer's struggle
is that betweenthe mind (he avoids the term spirit, although the mind is
closelyrelatedto the spirit, because there might be a tendency to refer that to
the new nature of the believer in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. That is
what he wishes to avoid. In chapter eight we do not have the mind at all) and
the flesh. These two entities within the believer struggle for controlso long as
the believeris in the flesh (Ed note: in his mortal body) and until the
resurrectionof the body.
Conclusion- The apostle has made plain the inability of the flesh in the
believer to give victory, even though the believer now possessesa new
principle of life in the new nature. God must do something for us, if we are to
be saved from the penalty of sin, and He must do something in us, if we are to
have deliverance in this life. And He must do something for us and in us at the
resurrection, if we are to have ultimate deliverance from sin and its
consequences. ThatHe has done, is doing, and will yet do, the Scriptures say.

71. It all adds up to the sufficiency of Jesus Christ and His saving work for our
inability, whether that of the unconverted man (cf. Ro 8:8+) or of the
convertedman (cf. Ro 7:24+). We do thank God through Jesus Christ, our
Lord.
This sufficiency is receivedonly when our inabilities are acknowledged. When
we give up. He takes up. May the Lord give us the desire to please Him in a
holy life and the will to give Him the reins of our hearts that He may produce
His overcoming life in and through us by the Spirit! (Discovering Romans:
Spiritual Revival for the Soul - SEE ALSO FOLLOWING NOTE)(Bolding
added for emphasis)
In his sermon (similar to the book above) S Lewis Johnson writes "that apart
from the ministry of the Holy Spirit, he (PAUL) is dominated by the flesh, and
we shall see he’s brought into defeatby the flesh constantly. He’s not master
in his own house. That’s what he’s really trying to say. I’m not masterin my
own house. I am a bond slave to sin even though I have been brought to the
forgiveness ofsins. (Romans 7:13-25 The Struggle)
Bishop Moule asks…Dowe closethe passagewith a sigh, and almostwith a
groan? Do we sighover the intricacy of the thought, the depth and subtlety of
the reasoning, the almost fatigue of fixing and of grasping the facts below the
terms “will,” and “mind,” and “inner man,” and “flesh,” and “I”? Do we
groanover the consciousnessthatno analysis of our spiritual failures can
console us for the fact of them, and that the Apostle seems in his last sentences
to relegate our consolationsto the future, while it is in the present that we fail,
and in the presentthat we long with all our souls to do, as well as to approve
the will of God?Letus be patient, and also let us think again. Let us find a
solemn and sanctifying peace in the patience which meekly accepts the
mystery that we must needs “waityet for the redemption of our body”; that
the conditions of “this corruptible” must yet for a seasongive ambushes and

72. vantages to temptation, which will be all annihilated hereafter. But let us also
think again. If we went at all aright in our remarks previous to this passage,
there are glorious possibilities for the present hour “readable betweenthe
lines” of St. Paul’s unutterably deep confession. We have seenin conflict the
Christian man, regenerate, yettaken, in a practicalsense, apartfrom his
Regenerator. We have seenhim really fight, though he really fails. We have
seenhim unwittingly, but guiltily, betray his position to the foe, by occupying
it as it were alone. We have seenalso, nevertheless, thathe is not his foe’s ally
but his antagonist. Listen; he is calling for his King.That cry will not be in
vain. The King will take a double line of actionin response. While his soldier-
bondservant is yet in the body, “the body of this death,” He will throw
Himself into the narrow hold, and wonderfully turn the tide within it, and
around it. And hereafter, He will demolish it. RatherHe will transfigure it,
into the counterpart — even as it were into the part — of His own body of
glory; and the man shall rest, and serve, and reign forever, with a being
homogeneous allthrough in its likeness to the Lord. (The Epistle of Paul the
Apostle to the Romans - Online)
Expositor's writes that…
Romans 7 performs a service by calling into question certain popular notions
that lack biblical foundation:
that the soul's struggle is essentiallyagainstspecific sins (somewhatakinto
the common vernacularused by many ~ a "demon of lust", a "demon of
gambling", etc) or habits (Paul talks here not of sins but of Sin);
that human nature is essentiallygood(cf. Ro 7:18+);
that sanctificationis by means of the law;
that if one will only determine to do the right, he will be able to do it.

73. These are some of the misconceptions that must be removed, and they might
not have been removed had the apostle proceededdirectly from chap 6 to Ro
8. Without Romans 7 we would not be able to appreciate to the full the truths
presentedin Romans 8. (Expositor's Bible Commentary) (Bolding added)
F B Meyer in Our Daily Walk (November 16) writes the following devotional
entitled "DailyRenewal"…
THIS SEVENTHchapter of Romans reflects, as in a mirror, the inward
conflict of the Christian soul, who has not yet learned to appropriate the full
powerof the Holy Spirit. It will be noticedthat the personalpronoun "I"
occurs frequently, while there is no word of the Holy Spirit who lusts or
strives againstthe flesh. It is the endeavor of a man to keeppure and holy in
the energyof his own resolutions, and by the putting forth of his own power
and will. But as Satan cannotcastout Satan, so the will of man is unable to
exercise its own evil.
We turn, thankfully, therefore to the eighth chapter, which is as full of the
powerof the Holy Spirit to overcome evil, as the seventh is full of human
endeavour. It is only when we learn to hand over our inner selfto the Spirit of
God that we can become more than conquerors through Him that loved us. As
long as the conflict is in our ownstrength, there is nothing for it but to
experience the up and down, fickle and faulty rife, which the Apostle
describes so graphically.
How is it that the soulof man is so full of evil, and that it is unable to deliver
itself by its resolutions which lack the necessarydynamic force, we cannot tell.
But we find this "law of sin and death warring in our members and bringing
us into captivity." It is a wretchedexperience, indeed, when we find the
current running so swiftly againstus, and carrying us down in spite of our

74. strenuous desire to stem and conquer it. Who has not, againand again,
experiencedfailure after the most earnestdesire to do right? The bitterness of
our origin overcomes the better choice, ofwhich in our noblest moments we
are conscious.
It is a greatcomfort to know that the Spirit of God is prepared to renew our
inward man day by day (2Cor4:16), and to make us free from the law of sin
and death. It is the daily renewalthat we need. Dayby day, and hour by hour,
it is necessaryto seek by faith a fresh infusion of the power of the Holy Spirit,
that we may be overcomers.
PRAYER: O God, may we live very near to Thee to-day, not in the energy of
our own resolution, but by the anointing and indwelling of the Holy Spirit,
who shall teachus to abide in Christ. If our wayward hearts tend to stray,
recallus before we have gone too far. AMEN.
Doing the Impossible - The Christian life really isn't hard to live--it's
impossible! In fact, only one person in history has actuallylived it perfectly--
Jesus Christ.
The situation isn't hopeless for us, however. When Jesus returned to His
Father in heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit to help us live in a supernatural way
(Jn. 14:15, 16, 17; Ro 8:2, 3, 4). Just as the Spirit gives us new life in Christ, so
also He enables us to live the Christian life as we walk in close fellowshipwith
Jesus (Jn 15:4, 5).
A church bulletin captured this reality in the following prayer: "So far today,
Lord, I've done all right. I haven't gossiped;I haven't lostmy temper; I
haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I'm very

75. thankful for that. But in a few moments, Lord, I'm going to getout of bed.
And from then on, I'm going to need a lot of help."
The goodnews is that we have God's help. Believers possess the Holy Spirit of
God! That leads to a probing question: "What's going on in your life that
could not go on without the Holy Spirit?" The answershould be:
"Everything!" The Christian needs the Holy Spirit for everything.
Whateveryou face today, you don't face alone. Christ's Spirit is there with
you. Count on it! --H W Robinson(Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC
Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
THINKING IT OVER:What does Romans 7:15-23 tell us about the apostle
Paul's attempt to live the Christian life? How did he find victory? (Romans
7:24, 25, 8:1).
What Jesus accomplishedfor us,
the Spirit works out in us.
John MacArthur closes outhis comments on Romans 7 noting that…
In the poem Maud (x. 5), one of Tennyson’s characters yearns,
Ah for a new man to arise in me,
that the man I am may ceaseto be!

76. The Christian can say that a new man has already arisenin him, but he also
must confess that the sinful part his old man has not yet ceasedto be. (Ibid)
Someone has written that
Sanctificationis a gradual process thatrepeatedly takes the believer through
this reoccurring sequence offailure through dependency upon self to triumph
through the indwelling Spirit
D. L. Moodyonce said…
When I was converted, I made this mistake:I thought the battle was already
mine, the victory already won, the crownalready in my grasp. I thought the
old things had passedaway, that all things had become new, and that my old
corrupt nature, the old life, was gone. But I found out, after serving Christ for
a few months, that conversionwas only like enlisting in the army--that there
was a battle on hand.
ALBERT BARNES
Verse 24
O wretched man that I am! - The feeling implied by this lamentation is the
result of this painful conflict; and this frequent subjectionto sinful
propensities. The effectof this conflict is,

77. (1) To produce pain and distress. It is often an agonizing struggle between
goodand evil; a struggle which annoys the peace, and renders life wretched.
(2) it tends to produce humility. It is humbling to man to be thus under the
influence of evil passions. It is degrading to his nature; a stain on his glory;
and it tends to bring him into the dust, that he is under the controlof such
propensities, and so often gives indulgence to them. In such circumstances, the
mind is overwhelmed with wretchedness,and instinctively sighs for relief. Can
the Law aid? Can man aid? Can any native strength of conscience orof
reasonaid? In vain all these are tried, and the Christian then calmly and
thankfully acquiesces in the consolations ofthe apostle, that aid can be
obtained only through Jesus Christ.
Who shall deliver me - Who shall rescue me; the condition of a mind in deep
distress, and conscious ofits own weakness, andlooking for aid.
The body of this death - Margin, “This body of death.” The word “body” here
is probably used as equivalent to flesh, denoting the corrupt and evil
propensities of the soul; Note, Romans 7:18. It is thus used to denote the law
of sin in the members, as being that with which the apostle was struggling,
and from which he desiredto be delivered. The expression“body of this
death” is a Hebraism, denoting a body deadly in its tendency; and the whole
expressionmay mean the corrupt principles of man; the carnal, evil affections
that lead to death or to condemnation. The expressionis one of vast strength,
and strongly characteristic ofthe apostle Paul. It indicates,
(1)That it was near him, attending him, and was distressing in its nature.

78. (2)an earnestwish to be delivered from it.
Some have supposed that he refers to a custom practicedby ancient tyrants,
of binding a dead body to a captive as a punishment, and compelling him to
drag the cumbersome and offensive burden with him wherever he went. I do
not see any evidence that the apostle had this in view. But such a fact may be
used as a striking and perhaps not improper illustration of the meaning of the
apostle here. No strength of words could express deeperfeeling; none more
feelingly indicate the necessityof the grace ofGod to accomplishthat to which
the unaided human powers are incompetent.
Verse 25
I thank God - That is, I thank God for effecting a deliverance to which I am
myself incompetent. There is a way of rescue, and I trace it altogetherto his
mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. What consciencecouldnot do, what the Law
could not do, what unaided human strength could not do, has been
accomplishedby the plan of the gospel;and complete deliverance can be
expectedthere, and there alone. This is the point to which all his reasoning
had tended; and having thus shown that the Law was insufficient to effectthis
deliverance. he is now prepared to utter the language of Christian
thankfulness that it can be effectedby the gospel. The superiority of the gospel
to the Law in overcoming all the evils under which man labors, is thus
triumphantly established;compare 1 Corinthians 15:57.
So then - As the result of the whole inquiry we have come to this conclusion.
With the mind - With the understanding, the conscience,the purposes, or
intentions of the soul. This is a characteristic ofthe renewednature. Of no
impenitent sinner could it be ever affirmed that with his mind he servedthe
Law of God.

79. I myself - It is still the same person, though acting in this apparently
contradictory manner.
Serve the law of God - Do honor to it as a just and holy law Romans 7:12,
Romans 7:16, and am inclined to obey it, Romans 7:22, Romans 7:24.
But with the flesh - The corrupt propensities and lusts, Romans 7:18,
The law of sin - That is, in the members. The flesh throughout, in all its native
propensities and passions, leads to sin; it has no tendency to holiness; and its
corruptions can be overcome only by the grace of God. We have thus,
(1)A view of the sadand painful conflict betweensin and God. They are
opposedin all things.
(2)we see the raging, withering effectof sin on the soul. In all circumstances it
tends to death and woe.
(3)we see the feebleness ofthe Law and of conscience to overcome this. The
tendency of both is to produce conflict and woe. And,
(4)We see that the gospelonly canovercome sin. To us it should be a subject
of everincreasing thankfulness, that what could not be accomplishedby the
Law, canbe thus effectedby the gospel;and that God has devised a plan that
thus effects complete deliverance, and which gives to the captive in sin an
everlasting triumph.

80. WAYNE BARBER
Verse 24: "Wretchedman that I am! Who will setme free from the body of
this death?" This led him to think of himself as a wretchedman needing
desperatelyto be setfree from this body of death. When we look at the law
and all it demands, and in our minds will to accomplishit with all our
strength, we will always fail. The law forces us back into bondage to the flesh.
Verse 25: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christour Lord! 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."
Always, with the flesh you and I serve the law of sin. It cannot save us, nor can
it sanctify us. The culprit is the flesh, which is always empoweredby the law.
Only when we put our trust in our flesh, signifying that we’re now back up
under law, do we see the futility of doing it our way. Paul told us in Romans
6:14: "Forsin shall not be masterover you, for you are not under law, but
under grace
WILLIAM BARCLAY
THE HUMAN SITUATION (Romans 7:14-25)

81. 7:14-25 We are aware that the law is spiritual; but I am a creature of flesh
and blood under the power of sin. I cannotunderstand what I do. What I
want to do, that I do not do; but what I hate, that I do. If what I do not want
to do I in point of fact do, then I acquiesce in the law, and I agree that it is
fair. As it is, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin which resides in me--I mean
in my human nature. To will the fair thing is within my range, but not to do it.
For I do not do the goodthat I want to do; but the evil that I do not want to
do, that is the very thing I do. And if I do that very thing that I do not want to
do, it is no longerI who do it, but the sin which resides in me. My experience
of the law, then, is that I wish to do the fine thing and that the evil thing is the
only thing that is within my ability. As far as my inner self is concerned, I
fully agree with the law of God; but I see another law in my members,
continually carrying on a campaign againstthe law of my mind, and making
me a captive by the law of sin which is in my members. O wretchedman that I
am! Who will deliver me from this fatal body? God will! Thanks be to him
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore with my mind I serve the law of
God, but with my human nature the law of sin.
Paul is baring his very soul; and he is telling us of an experience which is of
the very essence ofthe human situation. He knew what was right and wanted
to do it; and yet, somehow, he never could. He knew what was wrong and the
last thing he wanted was to do it; and yet, somehow, he did. He felt himself to
be a split personality. It was as if two men were inside the one skin, pulling in
different directions. He was haunted by this feeling of frustration, his ability
to see what was goodand his inability to do it; his ability to recognize what
was wrong and his inability to refrain from doing it.
Paul's contemporaries wellknew this feeling, as, indeed, we know it ourselves.
Seneca talkedof"our helplessness in necessarythings." He talked about how
men hate their sins and love them at the same time. Ovid, the Roman poet,

82. had penned the famous tag: "I see the better things, and I approve them, but I
follow the worse."
No one knew this problem better than the Jews. Theyhad solvedit by saying
that in every man there were two natures, calledthe Yetser(Hebrew #3336)
hatob (Hebrew #2896)and the Yetser (Hebrew #3336)hara'(Hebrew #7451).
It was the Jewishconviction that Godhad made men like that with a good
impulse and an evil impulse inside them.
There were Rabbis who believed that that evil impulse was in the very embryo
in the womb, there before a man was even born. It was "a malevolent second
personality." It was "man's implacable enemy." It was there waiting, if need
be for a lifetime, for a chance to ruin man. But the Jew was equally clear, in
theory, that no man need ever succumb to that evil impulse. It was all a
matter of choice.
Ben Sirachwrote:
"Godhimself createdman from the beginning.
And he left him in the hand of his own counsel.
If thou so desirestthou shalt keepthe commandments,
And to perform faithfulness is of thine own goodpleasure.

83. He hath set fire and water before thee,
Stretch forth thy hand unto whicheverthou wilt.
Before man is life and death,
And whichever he liketh shall be given unto him....
He hath commanded no man to do wickedly,
Neither have he given any man licence to sin."
(Sirach 15:11-20).
There were certain things which would keepa man from falling to the evil
impulse. There was the law. They thought of God as saying:
"I createdfor you the evil impulse; I createdfor you the law as
an antiseptic."
"If you occupy yourself with the law you will not fall into the

84. powerof the evil impulse..."
There was the will and the mind.
"When God createdman, he implanted in him his affections
and his dispositions; and then, over all, he enthroned the sacred,
ruling mind."
When the evil impulse attacked, the Jew held that wisdom and reasoncould
defeatit; to be occupiedwith the study of the word of the Lord was safety;the
law was a prophylactic; at such a time the goodimpulse could be called up in
defence.
Paul knew all that; and knew, too, that, while it was all theoretically true, in
practice it was not true. There were things in man's human nature--that is
what Paul meant by this fatal body--which answeredto the seduction of sin. It
is part of the human situation that we know the right and yet do the wrong,
that we are never as goodas we know we ought to be. At one and the same
time we are haunted by goodness andhaunted by sin.
From one point of view this passagemight be calleda demonstration of
inadequacies.

85. (i) It demonstrates the inadequacy of human knowledge. If to know the right
thing was to do it, life would be easy. But knowledge by itself does not make a
man good. It is the same in every walk of life. We may know exactly how golf
should be played but that is very far from being able to play it; we may know
how poetry ought to be written but that is very far from being able to write it.
We may know how we ought to behave in any given situation but that is very
far from being able so to behave. That is the difference betweenreligion and
morality. Morality is knowledge ofa code;religion is knowledge ofa person;
and it is only when we know Christ that we are able to do what we know we
ought.
(ii) It demonstrates the inadequacy of human resolution. To resolve to do a
thing is very far from doing it. There is in human nature an essential
weakness ofthe will. The will comes up againstthe problems, the difficulties,
the opposition--and it fails. Once Petertook a greatresolution. "Even if I must
die with you," he said, "I will not deny you" (Matthew 26:35); and yet he
failed badly when it came to the point. The human will unstrengthened by
Christ is bound to crack.
(iii) It demonstrates the limitations of diagnosis. Paulknew quite clearly what
was wrong;but he was unable to put it right. He was like a doctorwho could
accuratelydiagnose a disease but was powerless to prescribe a cure. Jesus is
the one person who not only knows what is wrong, but who canalso put the
wrong to rights. It is not criticism he offers but help.
-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

86. JOSEPHBEET
Again, Romans 7:14-25 absolutely contradictall that Paul and the N.T.
writers sayabout themselves and the Christian life. He here calls himself a
slave of sin, and groans beneath its bondage, a calamity-strickenman.
Contrastthis with Galatians 2:20, “I live, no longerI, but Christ lives in me;”
and with 1 John 3:14, “we know that we are passedout of death into life.” If
the words before us refer to a justified man, they stand absolutely alone in the
entire New Testament.
It has been objectedthat the language of Romans 7:14-25 is inapplicable to
men not yet justified. But we find similar language in the lips of Greek and
Roman pagans. Compare Seneca’sLetters no. 52: “whatis it that draws us in
one direction while striving to go in another, and impels us towards that
which we wish to avoid?” So Euripides, Hippolytus l. 379, “we understand
and know the goodthings, but we do not work them out;” and Medea l. 1078,
“I know what sortof evil things I am going to do, but passionis stronger than
my purposes:as it is to mortals a cause ofvery greatevils.” Also Xenophon,
Cyropædia bk. vi. 1. 41:“I have evidently two souls… for if I had only one, it
would not be at the same time goodand bad; nor would it desire at the same
time both honourable and dishonourable works, norwould it at the same time
both wish and not wish to do the same things. But it is evident that there are
two souls;and that when the good one is in powerthe honourable things are
practised; but, when the bad, the dishonourable things are attempted.” So
Ovid, Metamorphosesxvii. 17: “I desire one thing; the mind persuades
another: I see and approve better things; I follow worse things.” These
passagesdo not mention the Law of God, and therefore differ greatly from the
verses before us. But they prove that, apart from the historic revelations to
Israeland in Christ, men were sometimes carried along, againsttheir better
judgment, to do bad things; and thus prove that, apart from the pardon of
sins announced by Christ, there is in man an inward man which approves that
which the Law commands.

87. What Paul says elsewhere abouthis religious state before his conversion
confirms the description of himself here given. He was a man of blameless
morality, zealous for God, a Pharisee ofthe strictestsect, in ignorance
persecuting the Church: Philippians 3:6; Acts 22:3; Acts 26:5; 1 Timothy
1:13. Of such a man we have a picture here. Paul’s conscienceapproves the
Law: he makes everyeffort to keepit; but his efforts only prove his moral
powerlessness, andreveal the presence ofan enemy in whose firm grasphe
lies: he seeks to conquer inward failure by strict outward observance,and
perhaps by bloody loyalty to what he considers to be the honour of God. In
the conscientiousPharisee,we have a man who desires to do right but actually
does wrong. And the more earnestlya man strives to obtain the favour or God
by doing right, the more painfully conscious will he be of his failure. Thus the
harmony of this passagewith the characterofPaul is no small mark of the
genuineness ofthis epistle. At the same time it describes more or less correctly
all sinners, exceptperhaps some in whom long bondage to sin has almost
destroyedthe better principle.
That these verses describe the experience of many justified persons is no proof
or presumption that they describe Paul’s experience while writing this letter.
If our present state corresponds with that portrayed here, this only proves
that in us, as in the men referred to in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, the change is not
complete. On the other hand, there are thousands who with deep gratitude
recognise thatRomans 7:14-25, while describing their past, by no means
describe their present, state. Dayby day they are more than conquerors
through Him that loved them. And, though their experience be of little weight
to others, it is to themselves an absolute proof that these words do not refer to
Paul’s state while writing the epistle. For they are quite sure that what they
enjoy the greatapostle enjoyed in far higher degree.
Then why did Paul puzzle plain people by using a presenttense to describe a
past experience? This question may be answeredby attempting to rewrite this
paragraph in the pasttense: “I was a man of flesh, sold under sin. I did not

88. know what I was doing. I hated my own actions. I saw another law in the
members of my body carrying on war againstthe law of my mind. I cried,
Calamity-strickenone, who shall rescue me? “The life and strength of the
paragraph are gone. To realise past calamity, we must leave out of sight our
deliverance from it. The language ofRomans 7:9; Romans 7:11 made this
easy. Paul’s description of his murder by the hand of sin was so real and sad
that he forgot for the moment the life which followedit. When therefore he
came to describe the state in which that murder placed him, it was easyto use
the presenttense. Hence the transition from the past tense in Romans 7:11
describing the event of death to the present in Romans 7:14 describing the
abiding state of the murdered one. Similarly, in Romans 3:7 Paul throws
himself into the position of one guilty of falsehood, andsets up for himself an
excuse. In Romans 4:24, he stands by the writer of Genesis andlooks forward
to the justification of himself and his readers as still future. In Romans 5:1, he
urges them to claim peace with God through justification. In Romans 7:14,
after contemplating the reign of death from Adam to Moses,he looks forward
to the future incarnation of Christ. In Romans 6:5, he speaks inthe same way
of the resurrectionlife in Christ. We shall also find him, in Romans 8:30,
throwing himself into the far future and looking back upon the nearerfuture
as already past.
The past and present tenses are distinguished, not only in time, but as
different modes of viewing an action. The past tense looks upon it as already
complete;the present, as going on before our eyes. Consequently, when the
time is otherwise determined, the tenses may be used without reference to
time. In the case before us, the entire context, foregoing and following, tells
plainly to what time Paul refers. He is therefore at liberty to use that tense
which enables him to paint most vividly the picture before him. This mode of
speech, commonto all languages, is a conspicuous feature of the language in
which this epistle was written. So Kuehner, Greek Grammar § 382. 2: “In the
narration of past events the presentis frequently used, especiallyin principal
sentences,but not unfrequently in subordinate sentences,while in the
vividness of the representationthe pastis lookedupon as present. This use of
the presentis also common to all languages. Butin the Greek language it is

89. speciallyfrequent; and in the language of poetry appears not merely in
narration but also in vivid questions and otherwise, frequently in a startling
manner.”
It has been suggestedthat we have here a descriptionof one who has only
partly appropriated by faith the salvationoffered by Christ. Every defective
experience (and whose experience is not defective?)has elements in common
with that of those without Christ. Consequently the language of Romans 7:14-
25 is appropriate to many who have a measure of saving faith. But we have
here no hint of any salvationreceivedby faith in Christ. It is therefore better
to understand it as referring to a man yet justified.
CALVIN
Verse 24
24.Miserable, etc. He closes his argument with a vehement exclamation, by
which he teaches us that we are not only to struggle with our flesh, but also
with continual groaning to bewailwithin ourselves and before God our
unhappy condition. But he asks not by whom he was to be delivered, as one in
doubt, like unbelievers, who understand not that there is but one real
deliverer: but it is the voice of one panting and almostfainting, because he
does not find immediate help, (232)as he longs for. And he mentions the word
rescue, (233)in order that he might show, that for his liberation no ordinary
exercise ofdivine powerwas necessary.
By the body of death he means the whole mass of sin, or those ingredients of
which the whole man is composed;except that in him there remained only
relics, by the captive bonds of which he was held. The pronoun τούτου this,

90. which I apply, as [Erasmus ] does, to the body, may also be fitly referred to
death, and almostin the same sense;for Paul meant to teachus, that the eyes
of God’s children are opened, so that through the law of God they wisely
discern the corruption of their nature and the death which from it proceeds.
But the word body means the same as theexternal man and members; for Paul
points out this as the origin of evil, that man has departed from the law of his
creation, and has become thus carnaland earthly. Forthough he still excels
brute beasts, yet his true excellencyhas departed from him, and what remains
in him is full of numberless corruptions so that his soul, being degenerated,
may be justly saidto have passedinto a body. So God says by Moses,
“No more shall my Spirit contend with man, for he is even flesh,” (Genesis 6:3
:)
thus stripping man of his spiritual excellency, he compares him, by way of
reproach, to the brute creation. (234)
This passageis indeed remarkably fitted for the purpose of beating down all
the glory of the flesh; for Paul teaches us, that the most perfect, as long as they
dwell in the flesh, are exposedto misery, for they are subjectto death; nay,
when they thoroughly examine themselves, they find in their ownnature
nothing but misery. And further, lest they should indulge their torpor, Paul,
by his own example, stimulates them to anxious groanings, and bids them, as
long as they sojourn on earth, to desire death, as the only true remedy to their
evils; and this is the right object in desiring death. Despairdoes indeed drive
the profane often to such a wish; but they strangelydesire death, because they
are wearyof the present life, and not because they loathe their iniquity. But it
must be added, that though the faithful levelat the true mark, they are not yet
carried awayby an unbridled desire in wishing for death, but submit
themselves to the will of God, to whom it behoves us both to live and to die:
hence they clamor not with displeasure againstGod, but humbly deposit their

91. anxieties in his bosom; for they do not so dwell on the thoughts of their
misery, but that being mindful of grace received, they blend their grief with
joy, as we find in what follows.
Verse 25
25.Ithank God; etc. He then immediately subjoined this thanksgiving, lest any
should think that in his complaint he perversely murmured againstGod; for
we know how easyevenin legitimate grief is the transition to discontentand
impatience. Though Paul then bewailed his lot, and sighedfor his departure,
he yet confessesthat he acquiescedin the goodpleasure of God; for it does not
become the saints, while examining their own defects, to forgetwhat they have
already receivedfrom God. (235)
But what is sufficient to bridle impatience and to cherishresignation, is the
thought, that they have been receivedunder the protection of God, that they
may never perish, and that they have already been favored with the first-
fruits of the Spirit, which make certaintheir hope of the eternal inheritance.
Though they enjoy not as yet the promised glory of heaven, at the same time,
being content with the measure which they have obtained, they are never
without reasons forjoy.
So I myself, etc. A short epilogue, in which he teaches us, that the faithful
never reach the goalof righteousness as long as they dwell in the flesh, but
that they are running their course, until they put off the body. He again gives
the name of mind, not to the rational part of the soul which philosophers
extol, but to that which is illuminated by the Spirit of God, so that it
understands and wills aright: for there is a mention made not of the
understanding alone, but connectedwith it is the earnestdesire of the heart.
However, by the exceptionhe makes, he confesses,that he was devoted to God
in such a manner, that while creeping on the earth he was defiled with many
corruptions. This is a suitable passageto disprove the most pernicious dogma

92. of the Purists, (Catharorum ,) which some turbulent spirits attempt to revive
at the present day. (236)
He terms his innate sin “the flesh.” By the flesh, says [Pareus ], “is not meant
physically the muscular substance, but theologicallythe depravity of nature,
— not sensualityalone, but the unregeneratedreason, will, and affections.” —
Ed.
STEVEN COLE
The War Within (Romans 7:21-25)
RelatedMedia
I recently saw a bumper stickerwith the peace symbol around the border. It
showedtwo children with their arms around eachother. The caption was,
“All the arms we need.” I said to Marla, “What planet do these people live
on?” When we dwell on the new earth, when all sin is completely eradicated,
we won’t need arms to defend ourselves. Butas long as sin is in this world, we
need arms not only to hug one another, but also to fight againstenemies that
seek to destroy us. As unpleasant as it is, the reality of life in this fallen world
includes conflict.
That’s also true in the Christian life. We all want peacefullives. Perhaps you
came to Christ because someonetold you that in Him, you would find peace.
That’s true. In Christ, we experience peace with God (Rom. 5:1). Christ is the
basis for peace betweenbelievers (Eph. 2:14). As much as is possible, we are to
be at peace with all people (Rom. 12:18). And, in Christ we come to know a

93. sense ofinner peace, evenin the face of tribulation, that we lackedbefore
(John 16:33).
But while the Christian life is one of peace, it’s also one of constantwarfare.
As we serve Christ and seek to extend His kingdom, we’re at war with the evil
powers of darkness (Eph. 6:10-20). We’re engagedin the battle betweenGod’s
truth and the lies of Satan that captivate the minds of the unbelieving (2 Cor.
10:3-5). And, as every Christian knows, there is a fierce inner battle that goes
on betweenthe flesh and the spirit, the old man and the new (Gal. 5:17). If we
do not learn how to overcome the strong inner urge to gratify the flesh, sin
will take us captive and enslave us. Paul describes this war within in Romans
7:14-25.
As I explained in the previous two messages, some godlyscholars understand
these verses to be a description of Paul as an unbelieving Jew, striving but
failing to keepGod’s law. Others argue that Paul is describing the ongoing
battle that he was experiencing as he wrote. Even mature believers have to
fight this battle againstindwelling sin as long as they live.
While I agree that mature believers must fight a continual battle against
indwelling sin (the flesh or the old sin nature), I disagree that such a
description adequately explains these verses. Paulis not just describing a
battle here, but a losing battle. He describes himself as (7:14), “I am of flesh,
sold into bondage to sin.” He is not practicing what he would like to do, but
rather was doing the very thing he hated (7:15, 18, 19). He was a prisoner of
the law of sin (7:23). As I explained (in the last message), he was on the merry-
go-round of sin and he couldn’t get off.

94. We lookedatthe first two cycles (7:14-17, 18-20)ofsin and defeat. Now we
come to the third time around the merry-go-round, which follows the same
three-fold progression:Fact, proof, and conclusion:
Fact(7:21): “I find then the principle that evil is present in me ….”
Proof(7:22-23): “ForI joyfully concurwith the law of God in the inner man,
but I see a different law in my members, waging war…”
Conclusion(7:25): “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.”
I rejectthe view that Paul is describing his experience as an unbeliever
because he says things that are not true of unbelievers. I reject the view that
he was writing primarily about his struggle as a mature believer because
while mature believers struggle with sin and sometimes lose the battle, they do
not live in perpetual defeatand bondage to sin.
I contend that these verses primarily describe an immature believer who has
not yet come to understand that he is no longer under the law, but under
grace. He has not yet learned to rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit to overcome
the lusts of the flesh. (There is no mention of the Spirit here, but much is said
of the Spirit in chapter 8.) But at the same time, the war that Paul describes
here does go on, even for mature believers. The difference is that while sin is
winning the warin chapter7, Paul through the Holy Spirit is winning against
sin in chapter 8. While we can never in this life obey God’s law perfectly, we
can learn to obey God consistently. We do not have to yield repeatedlyto sin,
which is the frustrating cycle that Paul describes here. This third cycle teaches
us:

95. To win the war within, we must understand the magnitude of the inner
conflict so that in despair we cry out to God for deliverance.
In 7:24, Paul cries out in despair, “Wretchedman that I am! Who will deliver
me from the body of this death?” His exclamationin 7:25 gives us a ray of
hope, followedby a summary of the war within: “Thanks be to God through
Jesus Christ our Lord! 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.”
Chapter 8 goes onto unfold the deliverance that Godgives us over sin
through the indwelling Holy Spirit. I see three lessons in our text:
1. To win the war within, we must understand the nature and magnitude of
the conflictbetweenindwelling sin and the new man.
The Christian life is a constantbattle againstthe world, the flesh, and the
devil. Here the focus is on the flesh. “I find” implies that this was a discovery
that came to Paul after some painful failures. He discoveredthis truth in the
schoolof hard knocks.Eventhough Paul had experienceda dramatic
conversion, it didn’t immediately result in a life of consistentvictory over sin.
And so he portrays here the two combatants in this battle. We can picture
them as boxers:
A. IN THIS CORNER:THE REIGNING CHAMPION, THE OLD MAN,
WAGING WAR IN MY MEMBERS TO MAKE ME A PRISONER.
Paul uses severalterms here to describe the evil within. While they have
different nuances, they basicallydescribe the same thing: “the law that evil is
present in me” (7:21); “a different law … waging war” (7:23); “the law of sin”
(7:23, 25); “the body of this death” (7:24); and, “my flesh” (7:25). All of these
terms refer to the old man and its method of operation. The old man is not
eradicatedat conversion, but continues to be corrupted according to the lusts

96. of deceit (Eph. 4:22). As we saw lasttime, positionally the old man was
crucified with Christ, in order that our body of sin might be done awaywith
(Rom. 6:6). But practically, we have to reckonthis to be true in our daily
experience by putting it off (Rom. 6:11; Eph. 4:22-24). If we don’t learn to do
this, the old man will make us prisoners to the law of sin (7:23). Note how the
old man operates:
(1). THE OLD MAN (THE FLESH, INDWELLING SIN) OPERATES
ACCORDING TO A LAW.
The word translated “principle” (NASB, 7:21) is literally, “law.” Some
commentators argue that it refers to God’s law (as it does in 7:22 & 25), so
that in 7:21 the sense is, “I find then that in reference to [God’s] law, evil is
present in me .…” While that is possible, the fact that Paul specifies “the law
of God” in 7:22 indicates that he is distinguishing it from the law that he has
just mentioned in 7:21.
So he is probably using “law” ironically in 7:21, both to compare and contrast
the law of sin with God’s law. In this sense, it rules us and with authority tells
us how to live (although wrongly!). It promises rewards if we obey it: “You’ll
be happier and more fulfilled if you experience the pleasure of this sin.” It
threatens us with penalties if we do not obey it: “You’ll miss out on all the fun
if you don’t do what I say.” So indwelling sin is powerful. It operates as a law,
commanding us, threatening us, and enticing us. (I am indebted to Kris
Lundgaard, The Enemy Within [P & R Publishing], pp. 23-26 for some of
these insights about the law of sin.)
(2). THE OLD MAN OPERATESBY WAGING A CUNNING,
RELENTLESSWAR.
Paul says (7:23), “But I see a different law in the members of my body, waging
war ….” The war that the old man wagesis a guerilla war. It doesn’twear red

97. coats and come marching towards you in formation, so that you cansee it
coming. It uses snipers and land mines and hidden roadside bombs and
civilians posing as friends when really they’re enemies. In other words, sin is
subtle and cunning. It lures you into traps where you getambushed. And it’s
relentless. If it loses one battle, it doesn’t pack up and go home, conceding
defeat. It keeps coming at you until it brings you down.
(3). THE OLD MAN OPERATESTHROUGHOUR BODIES.
This law operates “inthe members of my body” (7:23). Paul laments “the
body of this death” (7:24), which refers to his physical body that is under the
curse of death. He contrasts the law of sin with “the law of my mind” (7:23).
We need to be careful here or we could fall into an error that became
prevalent in the early church. Gnosticismtaught that the body is inherently
evil, whereas the spirit is good. This led to two different extremes. Some said
that since the body is evil, we must treat it harshly by depriving ourselves of
food, comfort, and physical pleasure. This is asceticism, which Paul strongly
condemns (Col. 2:16-23). The other extreme was that some said that since the
body is evil anyway, you might as well indulge it. What the body does is
unrelated to the spirit. So you could indulge in sexualimmorality, but at the
same time claim that your spirit was not in sin.
Since Paul elsewhere clearlydenounces these errors, we would be mistaken to
take his teaching here in that way. Rather, he is saying that the law of sin
works through his physical body and manifests itself in evil deeds. But it takes
his entire personcaptive (7:23, “making me a prisoner”). In this sense, by his
members, Paul means his flesh (7:18), which is the old sin nature. Temptation
always begins in our minds, but it appeals to and works its wayout through
our bodies. Thus one strategyagainstsin is to make it your aim always to
glorify Godwith your body (1 Cor. 6:20).

98. (4). THE OLD MAN OPERATESTHROUGHSTRONG COMPULSIONOR
FEELINGS, NOT THROUGHREASON ALONE.
Sin uses reason, howeverfaulty, to appeal to us. Satanreasonedwith Eve that
God surely would not impose the death penalty for eating a little piece of fruit.
He also used faulty reasoning to get her to doubt God’s goodnessin imposing
the command. The fall brought our minds as wellas our bodies into captivity
to sin.
But in addition to reason, temptation always appeals to our feelings. Leon
Morris (The Epistle to the Romans [Apollos/Eerdmans, p. 294)refers to it as
“the compulsion to do evil.” It’s not purely rational. In fact, sin is usually
irrational. If we were to stop and think about the consequences both for us
and for others, we’d resist the temptation. Don Kistler pointed out the
irrationality of sin when he astutely observed (in “Why Readthe Puritans
Today?” referring to JeremiahBurroughs’ thesis in The Evil of Evils), “Sin is
worse than suffering; but people will do everything they canto avoid
suffering, but almostnothing to avoid sin.”
So, in the first corner, we have the reigning champion that has dominated the
human race eversince the fall: the old man.
B. IN THE OTHER CORNER:THE NEW CHALLENGER, THE INNER
MAN, JOYFULLY CONCURRING WITHTHE LAW OF GOD.
Paul wants to do good(7:21). He says (7:22), “ForI joyfully concur with the
law of God in the inner man.” He says that with his mind he is serving the law
of God (7:25). This must refer to the mind of a regenerate man. So by the
inner man and my mind, Paul is referring to the new man, which through the
new birth “has been createdin righteousness andholiness of the truth” (Eph.
4:24). Leon Morris (p. 295)calls this “the real Paul.” F. F. Bruce (Romans

99. [IVP/Eerdmans], rev. ed., p. 146)identifies it as “the ‘new nature’ in Christ
that is daily being renewedin the Creator’s image.” He adds (ibid.), “In light
of 8:7-8 it is difficult to view the speakerhere as other than a believer.”
One of the marks of the new birth is that God gives you new desires. You have
a new love for Christ, who gave Himself on the cross for you. You love God’s
Word and desire it like a newborn babe desires his mother’s milk (1 Pet. 2:2).
You long to be holy, just as Jesus is holy. You hate your own sin. You love to
be with God’s people and talk about the things of God. And yet, at the same
time, you know that in your flesh there is still a strong desire to do evil. In new
believers, the desires of the old nature (the reigning champion) often win out
over the new desires of the new nature (the new challenger)until the new
believer learns how to fight.
That’s the picture of Paul here. He has a new nature that joyfully concurs
with God’s law in the inner man, but he’s still dominated by the old nature.
Unbelievers do not have two natures warring againsteachother and they do
not joyfully love God’s law in their hearts. But mature believers have learned
to put on the new man and put off the old, so that they experience consistent
victory over sin. But before we begin to see consistentvictory, we often
experience frustrating defeats becauseofthe powerof the reigning champion,
the old man. Let’s examine what deliverance from the old nature looks like:
2. Deliverance in this conflictconsists of consistentvictory over sin in this life
and perfect, permanent victory in the resurrection.
In addition to Paul’s dramatic use of the present tense, one strong argument
that he is describing mature believers here is that even mature believers
identify with the struggle pictured here. Even after we’ve learnedto overcome
temptation on a consistentbasis and after we’ve walkedin obedience to the
Lord for years, we still find ourselves sinning. We lash out in angerat our

100. loved ones. We act selfishly with no regard for others. We see a seductive
woman and lust floods into our thoughts.
But I do not see Pauldescribing here a lack of perfection, but rather a lack of
obedience. He is not doing what he knows to be right. He is practicing what he
knows to be wrong. He is failing completely. I agree with Martyn Lloyd-Jones
(Romans:The Law: Its Functions and Limits [Zondervan], p. 222), who
argues that Paul’s cry of anguish (in 7:24) is not causedby the factthat he is
in conflict againsthis old nature, but rather by his persistent defeatin yielding
to that old nature (7:23). So let me make three observations to try to picture
what deliverance looks like:
A. DELIVERANCE DOES NOT REFERTO A STATE OF SINLESS
PERFECTIONIN THIS LIFE, BUT TO CONSISTENT VICTORYOVER
SIN.
In this life, I will never love God as completely as I should, with my entire
heart, soul, mind, and strength. I will never love others as much as I love
myself (Mark 12:30-31). I will always fall short of these commands. But a lack
of perfection is not the same as persistent disobedience. As a new creature in
Christ, by God’s Spirit, I can choose to love God by spending time with Him
eachday in His Word and in prayer, by gathering with His people to worship
Him eachweek, andby honoring Him with the money He entrusts to me. I can
love my wife, my children, and others in a self-sacrificing manner. The
deliverance that Paul is crying out for (in 7:24) may include the perfection
that will come when we get our resurrectionbodies. But he wants to be freed
from his presentenslavement to sin (7:23). He wants to obey God consistently,
even if such obedience cannever be perfectin this life.
B. DELIVERANCE FROM SIN ALWAYS CREATES TENSION WITH
THE GROWING AWARENESS OF YOUR MANY SINS AND
SHORTCOMINGS.

101. There is an irony in the Christian life: As you walk more consistently in
obedience to God and grow closerto the light of His holy presence, you see all
the more how dirty you really are. When Isaiah saw God in His holiness, he
immediately saw how sinful he was (Isa. 6:5). Paul’s cry here may have
stemmed partly from this awarenessofhis sinful imperfection. In that sense,
it’s a cry that we will continually echo as we grow in Christ.
But it seems to me that Lloyd-Jones is right when he connects Paul’s cry in
this contextmainly with his disobedience and defeat, not just with his
imperfection (7:24 follows 7:23). Yet at the same time, growing to know Christ
and obey Him more always leads to a greaterawareness ofhow sinful you still
are. Deliverance from sin’s power does not eliminate this tension of how far
short you fall.
C. DELIVERANCE FROM SIN MEANS CONSISTENT VICTORYOVER
IT, BUT IT DOES NOT ELIMINATE THE LIFELONG STRUGGLE
AGAINST IT.
After Paul’s jubilant exclamation(7:25), you’d expect him to move on to talk
about victory over sin. But instead, he summarizes the war he has just
described, in which with his mind he serves the law of God, but with his flesh,
the law of sin. It leaves you with the feeling that sin is still consistently
winning. Victory doesn’t come until chapter 8. Bishop Lightfoot (Notes on
Epistles of St. Paul [Baker], p. 305)says that while Paul’s thanksgiving is out
of place, he can’t endure to leave the difficulty unsolved, so he gives the
solution parenthetically, even though it interrupts his argument.
But while the struggle againstsin is a lifelong battle, when we do learn that we
can’t win it in our own strength and when we learn to walk in the Spirit, we
can experience consistentvictory, which is the flavor of chapter 8. But even
when we walk in the Spirit, the daily struggle againstsin goes on. The war
within of chapter 7 is never eradicatedin this life, but the difference is,

102. chapter 7 pictures persistentdefeat, whereas chapter8 pictures consistent
triumph and victory, even in the face of severe trials. By God’s grace, we can
put the defeat of chapter 7 in the pastand experience the consistentvictory of
chapter 8.
3. To experience consistentvictory over sin, we must despairover our sin and
cry out to God for deliverance.
As I cited my friend Bob Deffinbaugh lastweek, the problem with many
Christians is not their despair, like that of Paul, but their lack of it. They
don’t feel the anguish of their persistentdisobedience. Theyavoid the
struggle, often by minimizing their sin as a “personalityquirk” or as “just
being human.” They excuse it as normal: “Everyone has his faults.”
But you will not gain consistentvictory over sin until you first see God’s holy
standard and realize how often you’re disobeying that standard. You must
also realize, often through repeatedfailures, that you cannot obey God in your
own strength. Then, in despair, you cry out, “Wretchedman that I am! Who
will setme free from the body of this death?” As you searchGod’s Word for
answers, youlearn that “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has setyou
free from the law of sin and death” (8:2). You learn to walk not according to
the flesh, but according to the Spirit (8:4). You begin to experience consistent
victory over sin in your daily walk, beginning on the thought level.
Conclusion
Dwight Eisenhoweronce said, “Waris a terrible thing. But if you’re going to
get into it, you’ve gotto get into it all the way.” Underestimating the powerof
the enemy is a sure way to lose. The war within will be with us as long as we
live in these fallen bodies. It is winnable, not perfectly or permanently, but
consistently. But we can’t be half-hearted. If we fully engage the battle using
God’s resources, we canconsistentlywin!

103. THOMAS CONSTABLE
Verse 24
The agonyof 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 PetersonrecastPaul"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?" [Note:Eugene H. Peterson, The
Message, p317.]
Verse 25
The solution to this dilemma is not escape fromtemptation but victory over it.
"The source of Paul"s wretchednessis clear. It is not a "divided self" [i.e, old
nature versus new nature], but the factthat the lasthope of mankind, religion,
has proven to be a broken reed. Through sin it is no longera comfort but an
accusation. Manneeds not a law but deliverance." [Note:Barrett, p151.]
The lastpart of this verse is another summary. "I myself" contrasts with
"Jesus Christ." Apparently Paul wanted to state againthe essenceofthe

104. struggle that he had just describedto prepare his readers for the grand
deliverance that he expounded in the next chapter.
There are two problems involving the interpretation of chapter7 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? Ourexperience would leadus to prefer the latter
alternative, and the text supports it. Certainly Paul must have undergone this
struggle, since he said he did. Howeverevery human being does as well
because we all possesssome knowledge ofthe law of God, natural (general)
revelation if not specialrevelationor the Mosaic Law, and a sinful human
nature.
JAMES DENNY
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Romans 7
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107. Chapter Specific
Verses 1-6
Romans 7:1-6. For ἢ ἀγνοεῖτε, cf. Romans 6:3. Chap. 6 contains the argument
which is illustrated in these verses, andthe question alludes to it: not to accept
the argument that the Christian is free from all legalobligations leaves no
alternative but to suppose the persons to whom it is addressedignorant of the
principle by which the duration of all legalobligations is determined. This
they cannot be, for Paul speaks γινώσκουσι νόμον= to people who know what
law is. Neither Roman nor Mosaic law is speciallyreferred to: the argument
rests on the nature of law in general. Evenin ὁ νόμος, though in applying the
principle Paul would think first of the Mosaic law, it is not exclusively
referred to.
Verse 2
Romans 7:2 f. An illustration of the principle. It is the only illustration in
which death liberates a personwho yet remains alive and canenter into new
relations. Of course there is an inexactness, for in the argument the Christian
is freed by his own death, and in the illustration the wife is freed by the
husband’s death; but we must discount that. Paul required an illustration in
which both death and a new life appeared. κατήργηται ἀπό:cf. Romans 7:6,
Galatians 5:4 : she is once for all discharged (or as R.V. in Gal. “severed”)
from the law of the husband: for the genitive τοῦ ἀνδρός, see Winer, 235.
χρηματίσει = she shall be publicly designated:cf. Acts 11:26. τοῦ μὴ εἶναι
αὐτὴνμοιχαλίδα κ. τ. λ.: grammatically this may either mean (1) that she may
not be an adulteress, though married to anotherman; or (2) so that she is not,
etc. Meyer prefers the first; and it may be argued that in this place, at all
events, the idea of forming another connectionis essential:cf. εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι
ὑμᾶς ἑτέρῳ, Romans 7:4 (Gifford); but it is difficult to conceive ofinnocent
remarriage as being formally the purpose of the law in question, and the
secondmeaning is therefore to be preferred. Cf. Burton, Moods and Tenses,§
398.

108. Verse 4
Romans 7:4. ὥστε καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐθανατώθητε τῷ νόμῳ: the inference is drawn
rather from the principle than from the example, but καὶ ὑμεῖς means “you as
well as the womanin the illustration,” not “you Gentiles as well as I a Jew”.
The last, which is Weiss’s interpretation, introduces a violent contrastof
which there is not the faintest hint in the context. The meaning of
ἐθανατώθητε is fixed by reference to chap. Romans 6:3-6. The aorist refers to
the definite time at which in their baptism the old life (and with it all its legal
obligations)came to an end. διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ χτοῦ:Weiss rejects as
opposedto the context the “dogmatic” reference to the sacrificialdeath of
Christ as a satisfactionforsin; all the words imply, according to him, is that
the Christian, in baptism, experiences a ὁμοίωμαofChrist’s death, or as it is
put in Romans 6:6 is crucified with Him, and so liberated from every relation
to the law. But if Christ’s death had no spiritual content—ifit were not a
death “for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3), a death having the sacrificial
characterand atoning virtue described in Romans 3:25 f.—there would be no
reasonwhy a sinful man should be baptised into Christ and His death at all,
and in point of fact no one would be baptised. It is because Christ’s death is
what it is, a sin-expiating death, that it draws men to Him, and spiritually
reproduces in them a reflex or counterpart of His death, with which all their
old relations and obligations terminate. The object of this is that they may
belong to another, a different person. Paul does not say ἑτέρῳ ἀνδρί: the
marriage metaphor is dropped. He is speaking of the experience of Christians
one by one, and though Christ is sometimes spokenofas the husband or
bridegroom of the Church, there is no Scripture authority for using this
metaphor of His relation to the individual soul. Neither is this interpretation
favoured by the use of καρποφορήσωμεν;to interpret this of the fruit of the
new marriage is both needless and grotesque. The word is used frequently in
the N.T. for the outcome of the Christian life, but never with this association;
and a reference to Romans 6:21 shows how natural it is to the Apostle without
any such prompting. Even the change from the secondperson( ἐθανατώθητε)
to the first ( καρποφορήσωμεν)shows thathe is contemplating the end of the
Christian life quite apart from the suggestionsofthe metaphor. Christ is

109. describedas τῷ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγερθέντι, because we canonly belong to a living
person. τῷ θεῷ is dat comm God is the person interestedin this result.
Verse 5
Romans 7:5. Contrastof the earlier life. “ ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ” is materially the same
as “ ὑπὸ τὸν νόμον”;the same state of the soul is describedmore from within
and more from without. The opposite would be ἐν τῷ πνεύματι, or ὑπὸ χάριν.
τὰ πὰπαθήματατῶνἁμαρτιῶνare the passions from which acts of sin
proceed:Galatians 5:24. τὰ διὰ τοῦ νόμου:it is through the law that these
passions become actualised:we would never know them for what they are, if it
were not for the law. εἰς τὸ καρποφορῆσαι τῷ θανάτῳ:there is no allusion to
marriage here any more than in Romans 7:4. Deathis personified here as in
Romans 5:17 : this tyrant of the human race is the only one who profits by the
fruits of the sinful life.
Verse 6
Romans 7:6. νυνὶ δὲ as things stand, considering what we are as Christians.
κατηργήθημεν:cf. Romans 7:2. We are dischargedfrom the law, by our death
to that in which we were held. But what is this? Mostexpositors, saythe law;
Philippi even makes τοῦ νόμου the antecedentof ἐν ᾧ, rendering, we have
been delivered, by dying, from the law in which we were held. This
constructionis too artificial to be true; and if we supply τούτῳ with
ἀποθανόντες, something vaguerthan the law, though involving and involved
by it (the old life in the flesh, for instance) must be meant. ὥστε δουλεύειν κ. τ.
λ.: “enabling us to serve” (S. and H.): for ὥστε with inf in N.T., see Blass,
Gramm. des N.T. Griech., § 219. ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος κ. τ. λ. = in a new
way, which only the possessionofthe spirit makes possible, not in the old way
which alone was possible when we were under the letter of the law. For the
Pauline contrastof πνεῦμα and γράμμα, see 2 Corinthians 3; for οὐ in this
expression, see Burton, § 481.

110. Verses 7-13
Romans 7:7-13. The actualworking of the law. A very close connection
betweenthe law and sin is implied in all that has preceded:especiallyin
Romans 6:14, and in such an expressionas τὰ παθὴματα τῶνἁμαρτιῶντὰ διὰ
τοῦ νόμου in Romans 7:5. This connectionhas to be examined more closely.
The objectof the Apostle, according to Weiss, is not to answera false
inference from his teaching, viz., that the law is sin, but to conciliate for his
own mind the idea of liberation from the law with the recognitionof the O.T.
revelation. But the difficulty of conciliating these two things is not peculiar to
the Apostle; it is because we all feelit in some form that the passageis so real
to us. Our experience of law has been as tragic as his, and we too ask how this
comports with the idea of its Divine origin. The much discussedquestion,
whether the subjectof this passage(Romans 7:7-24)is the unregenerate or the
regenerate self, orwhether in particular Romans 7:7-13 refer to the
unregenerate, and Romans 7:14-24 to the regenerate,is hardly real. The
distinction in its absolute form belongs to doctrine, not to experience. No one
could have written the passagebut a Christian: it is the experience ofthe
unregenerate, we may say, but seenthrough regenerate eyes, interpretedin a
regenerate mind. It is the Apostle’s spiritual history, but universalised; a
history in which one stage is not extinguished by the next, but which is present
as a whole to his consciousness, eachstageallthe time determining and
determined by all the rest. We cannot date the things of the spirit as simply as
if they were mere historicalincidents. τί οὖγ ἐροῦμεν, cf. Romans 6:1 : What
inference then shall we draw? sc. from the relations of sin and law just
suggested. Is the law sin? Paul repels the thought with horror. ἀλλὰ τὴν
ἁμαρτίανοὐκ ἔγνων: ἀλλὰ may continue the protest= On the contrary, I
should not have known sin, etc.;or it may be restrictive, abating the
completeness ofthe negationinvolved in the protest. The law is not sin—God
forbid; but, for all that, there is a connection:I should not have known sin but
by the law. The last suits the context better: see Romans 7:21. On οὐκ ἔγνων
without ἄν, see Winer, 383:it is possible, however(Gifford), to render simply,
I did not know sin exceptthrough the law; and so also with οὐκ ᾔδειν. διὰ
νόμου:of course he thinks of the Mosaic law, but the absence ofthe article
shows that it is the legal, not the Mosaic, characterofit which is in view; and

111. it is this which enables us to understand the experience in question. τήν τε γὰρ
ἐπιθυμίανκ. τ. λ.: the desire for what is forbidden is the first conscious form
of sin. For the force of τε here see Winer, p. 561. Simcox, Language ofthe
N.T., p. 160. In the very similar constructionin 2 Corinthians 10:8 Winer
suggestsananacoluthon: possibly Paul meant here also to introduce
something which would have balancedthe τε (I should both have been
ignorant of lust, unless the law had said, Thou shalt not lust, and ignorant of
other forms of sin unless the law had prohibited them). But the one instance,
as he works it out, suffices him. It seems impossible to deny the reference to
the tenth commandment (Exodus 20:17)when the words οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις are
quoted from “the law”;but the specialmodes of ἐπιθυμία prohibited are of no
consequence,and it is beside the mark to argue that Paul’s escape from
pharisaism beganwith the discoverythat a feeling, not an outward act only,
might be sinful. All he says is that the consciousnessofsin awoke in him in the
shape of a conflictwith a prohibitive law, and to illustrate this he quotes the
tenth commandment. Its generality made it the most appropriate to quote.
Verse 8
Romans 7:8. ἀφορμὴνλαβοῦσα means “having received,” not “having taken”
occasion. ἡ ἁμαρτία is sin as a powerdwelling in man, of the presence of
which he is as yet unaware. How it “receivesoccasion” is not stated; it must be
by coming face to face with something which appeals to ἐπιθυμία;but when it
has receivedit, it avails itself of the commandment (viz., the one prohibiting
ἐπιθυμία)to work in us ἐπιθυμία of every sort. It really is the commandment
which it uses, for without law sin is dead. Cf. Romans 4:15, Romans 5:13 : but
especially1 Corinthians 15:56. Apart from the law we have no experience
either of its characteror of its vitality.
Verse 9
Romans 7:9. ἐγὼ δὲ ἔζων χωρὶς νόμου ποτέ: this is ideal biography. There is
not really a period in life to which one canlook back as the happy time when

112. he had no conscience;the lost paradise in the infancy of men or nations only
serves as a foil to the moral conflicts and disorder of maturer years, of which
we are clearly conscious. ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς ἐντολῆς κ. τ. λ. In these words, on
the other hand, the most intensely real experience is vividly reproduced.
When the commandment came, sin “came to life again”:its dormant energies
woke, and “I died”. “There is a deep tragic pathos in the brief and simple
statement; it seems to point to some definite period full of painful
recollections”(Gifford). To say that “death” here means the loss of
immortality (bodily death without the hope of resurrection), as Lipsius, or
that it means only “spiritual” death, is to lose touch with the Apostle’s mode
of thought. It is an indivisible thing, all doom and despair, too simply felt to be
a subject for analysis.
Verse 10
Romans 7:10. The result is that the commandment defeats its Own intention;
it has life in View, but it ends in death. Here also analysis only misleads. Life
and death are indivisible wholes.
Verse 11
Romans 7:11. Yet this result is not due to the commandment in itself. It is
indwelling sin, inherited from Adam, which, when it has found a base of
operations, employs the commandment to deceive (cf. Genesis 3:13)and to
kill. “Sin here takes the place of the Tempter” in Genesis (S. and H.).
Verse 12
Romans 7:12. The conclusionis that the law is holy (this is the answerto the
question with which the discussionstartedin Romans 7:7 : ὁ νόμος ἁμαρτία;),
and the commandment, which is the law in operation, holy and just and good.
ἁγία means that it belongs to Godand has a charactercorresponding;δικαία
that its requirements are those which answerto the relations in which man

113. stands to God and his fellow-creatures;ἀγαθή that in its nature and aim it is,
beneficent; man’s weal, not his woe, is its natural end. There is no formal
contrastto ὁ μὲν νόμος, such as was perhaps in the Apostle’s mind when he
beganthe sentence, and might have been introduced by ἡ δὲ ἁμαρτία;but a
real contrastis given in Romans 7:13.
Verse 13
Romans 7:13. The description of the commandment as “good” raises the
problem of Romans 7:7 in a new form. Can the goodissue in evil? Did that
which is goodturn out to be death to me? This also is denied, or rather
repelled. It was not the goodlaw, but sin, which became death to the Apostle.
And in this there was a Divine intention, viz., that sin might appear sin, might
come out in its true colours, by working death for man through that which is
good. Sin turns God’s intended blessing into a curse;nothing could more
clearly show what it is, or excite a strongerdesire for deliverance from it. The
secondclause with ἵνα ( ἵνα γένηται καθʼὑπερβολὴν ἁμαρτωλὸς ἡ ἁμαρτία)
seems co-ordinate with the first, yet intensifies it: personified sin not only
appears, but actually turns out to be, beyond measure sinful through its
perversion of the commandment.
Verse 14
Romans 7:14. ὁ νόμος πνευματικός:the law comes from God who is Spirit,
and it shares His nature: its affinities are Divine, not human, ἐγὼ δὲ σάρκινός
εἰμι, πεπραμένος ὑμὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν:I, as opposedto the law, am a creature of
flesh, sold under sin, σάρκινος is properly material = carneus, consisting of
flesh, as opposedto σαρκικός, whichis ethical=carnalis. Pauluses it because
he is thinking of human nature, rather than of human character;as in
opposition to the Divine law. He does not mean that there is no higher element
in human nature having affinity to the law (againstthis see Romans 7:22-25),
but that such higher elements are so depressedand impotent that no injustice
is done in describing human nature as in his own person he describes it here.

114. Fleshhas such an exclusive preponderance that man can only be regarded as
a being who has no affinity for the spiritual law of God, and necessarilykicks
againstit. Not that this is to be regarded as his essentialnature. It describes
him only as πεπραμένος ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν:the slave of sin. To speak ofman
as “flesh” is to speak of him as distinguished from God who is “Spirit”; but
owing to the diffusion of sin in humanity, and the ascendencyit has acquired,
this mere distinction becomes anantagonism, and the mind of “the flesh” is
enmity againstGod. In σάρκινος there is the sense ofman’s weakness,and
pity for it; σαρκικός wouldonly have expressedcondemnation, perhaps a
shade of disgustor contempt. Weiss rightly remarks that the present tense
εἰμι is determined simply by the ἐστιν preceding. Paul is contrasting the law of
God and human nature, of course on the basis of his own experience;but the
contrastis workedout ideally, or timelessly, as we might say, all the tenses
being present; it is obvious, however, on reflection, that the experience
describedis essentiallythat of his pre-Christian days. It is the un-regenerate
man’s experience, surviving at leastin memory into regenerate days, and read
with regenerate eyes.
Verses 14-25
Romans 7:14-25. The last sectionof the chapter confirms the argument in
which Paul has vindicated the law, by exhibiting the power of sin in the flesh.
It is this which makes the law Weak, and defeats its goodintention. “Hitherto
he had contrastedhimself, in respectof his whole being, with the Divine law;
now, however, he begins to describe a discord which exists within himself”
(Tholuck).
Verse 15
Romans 7:15. Only the hypothesis of slavery explains his acts. Forwhat I do
οὐ γινώσκω, i.e., I do not recognise itas my own, as a thing for which I am
responsible and which I can approve: my actis that of a slave who is but the
instrument of another’s will. οὐ γὰρὃ θέλω κ. τ. λ. There is “an

115. incomprehensible contradictionin his action”. κατεργὰζεσθαι is to effect, to
bring about by one’s own work;πράσσειν is to work at, to busy oneselfwith, a
thing, with or without success, but with purpose; ποιεῖν is simply to make or
produce.
Verse 16
Romans 7:16. ὃ οὐ θέλω takes up ὃ μισῶ the negative expressionis strong
enough for the argument. In doing what he hates, i.e., in doing evil againsthis
will, his will agreeswith the law, that it is good. καλός suggests the moral
beauty or nobility of the law, not like ἀγαθή (Romans 7:12) its beneficial
purpose.
Verse 17
Romans 7:17. νυνὶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτό. ἐγὼ is the true I, and
emphatic. As things are, in view of the facts just explained, it is not the true
self which is responsible for this line of conduct, but the sin which has its
abode in the man: contrastRomans 8:11 τὸ ἐνοικοῦναὐτοῦ πνεῦμα ἐν ὑμῖν.
“Paulsaid, ‘It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me,’ and ‘I live,
yet not I but Christ that liveth in me’; and both these sayings of his touch on
the unsayable” (Dr. John Duncan). To be savedfrom sin, a man must at the
same time own it and disown it; it is this practicalparadox which is reflected
in this verse. It is safe for a Christian like Paul—it is not safe for everybody—
to explain his failings by the watchword, Not I, but indwelling sin. That might
be antinomian, or manichean, as well as evangelical. A true saint may sayit in
a moment of passion, but a sinner had better not make it a principle.
Verse 18
Romans 7:18. It is sin, and nothing but sin, that has to be takenaccountof in
this connection, for “I know that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no
good”. Forτοῦτʼἔστιν see on Romans 1:12. ἐν ἐμοὶ = ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου = in me,

116. regardedas a creature of flesh, apart from any relationto or affinity for God
and His spirit. This, of course, is not a complete view of what man is at any
stage ofhis life. τὸ γὰρ θέλειν παράκειταί μοι:θέλειν is rather wish than will:
the want of will is the very thing lamented. An inclination to the goodis at his
hand, within the limit of his resources, but not the actualeffecting of the good.
Verse 19
Romans 7:19. In this verse there is a repetition of Romans 7:15, but what was
there an abstractcontrastbetweeninclination and action is here sharpened
into the moral contrastbetweengoodinclination and bad action.
Verse 20
Romans 7:20. The same conclusionas in Romans 7:17. If the first ἐγὼ is right,
it must go with οὐ θέλω: Paul distinguishes himself sharply, as a personwhose
inclination is violated by his actions, from the indwelling sin which is really
responsible for them.
Verses 21-23
Romans 7:21-23 summarise the argument. εὑρίσκω ἄρα τὸν νόμον … ὅτι:
most commentators hold that the clause introduced by ὅτι is the explanation
of τὸν νόμον. The law, in short, which Paul has discoveredby experience, is
the constantfactthat when his inclination is to do good, evil is present with
him. This sense of law approximates very closelyto the modern sense which
the word bears in physical science—so closelythat its very modernness may
be made an objectionto it. PossiblyPaul meant, in using the word, to convey
at the same time the idea of an outward compulsion put on him by sin, which
expresseditself in this constant incapacityto do the goodhe inclined to—
authority or constraintas wellas normality being included in his idea of the
word. But ὁ νόμος in Paul always seems to have much more definitely the
suggestionofsomething with legislative authority: it is questionable whether

117. the first meaning given above would have occurred, or would have seemed
natural, except to a reader familiar with the phraseologyof modern science.
Besides, the subject of the whole paragraph is the relation of “the law” to sin,
and the form of the sentence is quite analogousto that of Romans 7:10, in
which a preliminary conclusionhas been come to on the question. Hence I
agree with those who make τὸν νόμον the Mosaic law. The constructionis not
intolerable, if we observe that εὑρίσκω ἄρα τὸν νόμον τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοὶ κ. τ. λ.
is equivalent to εὑρίσκεται ἄρα ὁ νόμος τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοὶ κ. τ. λ. “This is what I
find the law—orlife under the law—to come to in experience:when I wish to
do good, evil is present with me.” This is the answerhe has alreadygiven in
Romans 7:7 to the question, Is the law sin? No, it is not sin, but nevertheless
sin is most closelyconnectedwith it. The repeatedἐμοί has something tragic in
it: me, who am so anxious to do otherwise.
Verse 22
Romans 7:22 f. Further explanation: the incongruity betweeninclination and
actionhas its roots in a division within man’s nature. The law of God
legislates forhim, and in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16) he delights in it. The
inner man is not equivalent to the new or regenerate man; it is that side of
every man’s nature which is akin to God, and is the point of attachment, so to
speak, for the regenerating spirit. It is calledinward because it is not seen.
What is seenis described in Romans 7:23. Here also νόμος is not used in the
modern physical sense, but imaginatively: “I see that a powerto legislate, ofa
different kind (different from the law of God), asserts itselfin my members,
making war on the law of my mind”. The law of my mind is practically
identical with the law of Godin Romans 7:22 : and the νοῦς itself, if not
identical with ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος, is its chief organ. Paul does not see in his
nature two normal modes in which certain forces operate;he sees two
authorities saying to him, Do this, and the higher succumbing to the lower. As
the lowerprevails, it leads him captive to the law of Sin which is in his
members, or in other words to itself; “ofwhom a man is overcome, ofthe
same is he brought in bondage”. The end therefore is that man, as a creature

118. of flesh, living under law, does what Sin enjoins. It is the law of Sin to which
he gives obedience.
Verse 24
Romans 7:24. ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος·τίς με ῥύσεται;“a wail of anguish
and a cry for help”. The words are not those of the Apostle’s heart as he
writes; they are the words which he knows are wrung from the heart of the
man who realises thathe is himself in the state just described. Paul has
reproduced this vividly from his own experience, but ταλαίπωρας ἐγὼ
ἄνθρωπος is not the cry of the Christian Paul, but of the man whom sin and
law have brought to despair. ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου:“This
death” is the death of which man is acutely conscious in the condition
described: it is the same as the death of Romans 7:9, but intensely realised
through the experience of captivity to sin. “The body of this death” is
therefore the same as “the body of sin” in chap. Romans 6:6 : it is the body
which, as the instrument if not the seatof sin, is involved in its doom.
Salvationmust include deliverance from the body so far as the body has this
characterand destiny.
Verse 25
Romans 7:25. The exclamation of thanksgiving shows that the longed-for
deliverance has actually been achieved. The regenerate man’s ideal
contemplation of his pre-Christian state rises with sudden joy into a
declarationof his actualemancipation as a Christian. διὰ ἰ. χ. τοῦ κυρίου
ἡμῶν Christ is regarded as the mediator through whom the thanksgiving
ascends to God, not as the author of the deliverance for which thanks are
given. With ἄρα οὖν αὐτὸς ἐγώ the Apostle introduces the conclusionof this
whole discussion. “So then I myself—that is, I, leaving Jesus Christ our Lord
out of the question—canget no further than this: with the mind, or in the
inner man, I serve a law of God (a Divine law), but with the flesh, or in my
actualoutward life, a law of sin.” We might say the law of God, or of sin; but

119. the absence ofthe definite article emphasises the characterof law. αὐτὸς ἐγὼ:
see 2 Corinthians 10:1; 2 Corinthians 12:13.
JOHN GILL
Verse 24
O wretched man that I am,.... Not as consideredin Christ, for as such he was a
most happy man, being blessedwith all spiritual blessings, andsecure from all
condemnation and wrath; nor with respectto his inward man, which was
renewing day by day, and in which he enjoyed true spiritual peace and
pleasure;nor with regard to his future state, of the happiness of which he had
no doubt: he knew in whom he had believed; he was fully persuadednothing
could separate him from the love of God; and that when he had finished his
course, he should have the crownof righteousness laid up for him: but this
exclamationhe made on accountof the troubles he met with in his Christian
race;and not so much on accountof his reproaches, persecutions, and
distresses forChrist's sake;though these were many and great, yet these did
not move or much affect him, he rather took delight and pleasure in them; but
on accountof that continual combat between, the flesh and spirit in him; or by
reasonof that mass of corruption and body of sin he carriedabout with him;
ranch such a complaint Isaiahmakes, Isaiah6:5, which in the Septuagint is, ω
ταλας εγω, "O miserable I". This shows him to be, and to speak of himself as
a regenerate man; since an unregenerate man feels no uneasiness upon that
score, ormakes any complaint of it, saying as here,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? or "this body of death"; by
which some understand, this mortal body, or the body of flesh subjectto death
for sin; and suppose the apostle expresseshis desire to quit it, to depart out of
it, that he might enjoy an immortal life, being wearyof the burden of this

120. mortal body he carried about with him: so Philo the JewF19represents the
body as a burden to the soul, which νεκροφορουσα,"itcarries about as a dead
carcass", and never lays down from his birth till his death: though it should
be observed, that when the apostle elsewhereexpresses anearnestlonging
after a state of immortality and glory, some sort of reluctance and
unwillingness to leave the body is to be observed, which is not to be discerned
here; and was this his sense, one should think he would rather have said, when
shall I be delivered? or why am I not delivered? and not who shall deliver me?
though admitting this to be his meaning, that he was wearyof the present life,
and wanted to be rid of his mortal body, this did not arise from the troubles
and anxieties of life, with which he was pressed, which oftentimes make
wickedmen long to die; but from the load of sin, and burden of corruption,
under which he groaned, and still bespeaks him a regenerate man; for not of
outward calamities, but of indwelling sin is he all along speaking in the
context: wherefore it is better by "this body of death" to understand what he
in Romans 6:6 calls "the body of sin"; that mass of corruption that lodged in
him, which is called"a body", because ofits fleshly carnalnature; because of
its manner of operation, it exerts itself by the members of the body; and
because it consists ofvarious parts and members, as a body does;and "a body
of death", because it makes men liable to death: it was that which the apostle
says "slew" him, and which itself is to a regenerate man, as a dead carcass,
stinking and loathsome;and is to him like that punishment Mezentius
inflicted on criminals, by fastening a living body to a putrid carcassF20:and it
is emphatically calledthe body of "this death", referring to the captivity of his
mind, to the law of sin, which was as death unto him: and no wonder therefore
he so earnestlydesires deliverance, saying, "who shall deliver me?" which he
speaks notas being ignorant of his deliverer, whom he mentions with
thankfulness in Romans 7:25; or as doubting and despairing of deliverance,
for he was comfortably assuredof it, and therefore gives thanks beforehand
for it; but as expressing the inward pantings, and earnestbreathings of his
soul after it; and as declaring the difficulty of it, yea, the impossibility of its
being obtained by himself, or by any other than he, whom he had in view: he
knew he could not deliver himself from sin; that the law could not deliver
him; and that none but God could do it; and which he believed he would,
through Jesus Christ his Lord.

121. Verse 25
I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord,.... There is a different reading of
this passage;some copies read, and so the Vulgate Latin version, thus, "the
grace ofGod, through Jesus Christ our Lord"; which may be consideredas
an answerto the apostle's earnestrequestfor deliverance, "who shall deliver
me?" the grace ofGod shall deliver me. The grace ofGod the Father, which is
communicated through Christ the Mediatorby the Spirit, the law of the Spirit
of life which is in Christ, the principle of grace formed in the soulby the Spirit
of God, which reigns in the believer as a governing principle, through
righteousness unto eternallife, will in the issue deliver from indwelling sin,
and all the effects ofit: but the more generalreading is, "thanks be to God",
or "I thank God";the objectof thanksgiving is God, as the Fatherof Christ,
and the God of all grace:the medium of it is Christ as Mediator, through
whom only we have access to God; without him we canneither pray to him,
nor praise him aright; our sacrifices ofpraise are only acceptable to God,
through Christ; and as all our mercies come to us through him, it is but right
and fitting that our thanksgivings should pass the same way: the thing for
which thanks is given is not expressed, but is implied, and is deliverance;
either past, as from the powerof Satan, the dominion of sin, the curse of the
law, the evil of the world, and from the hands of all spiritual enemies, so as to
endangereverlasting happiness; or rather, future deliverance, from the very
being of sin: which shows, that at present, and whilst in this life, saints are not
free from it; that it is God only that must, and will deliver from it; and that
through Christ his Son, through whom we have victory over every enemy, sin,
Satan, law, and death; and this shows the apostle's sure and certain faith and
hope of this matter, who concludes his discourse on this head thus:
so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law
of sin; observe, he says, "I myself", and not another; whence it is clear, he
does not representanother man in this discourse ofhis; for this is a phrase
used by him, when he cannot possibly be understood of any other but himself;

122. see Romans 9:3; he divides himself as it were into two parts, the mind, by
which he means his inward man, his renewedself; and "the flesh", by which
he designs his carnalI, that was soldunder sin: and hereby he accounts for his
serving, at different times, two different laws;"the law of God", written on
his mind, and in the service of which he delighted as a regenerate man; "and
the law of sin", to which he was sometimes carriedcaptive: and it should be
takennotice of, that he does not say "I have served", as referring to his past
state of unregeneracy, but "I serve", as respecting his present state as a
believer in Christ, made up of flesh and spirit; which as they are two different
principles, regard two different laws:add to all this, that this last accountthe
apostle gives of himself, and which agreeswith all he had saidbefore, and
confirms the whole, was delivered by him, after he had with so much faith and
fervency given thanks to God in a view of his future complete deliverance
from sin; which is a clinching argument and proof that he speaks of himself,
in this whole discourse concerning indwelling sin, as a regenerate person.
HALDANE
Verse 24
O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
O wretched man that I am — This language is suitable only to the regenerate.
An unregenerate man is indeed wretched, but he does not feel the
wretchedness here expressed. He may be sensible of misery, and he may be
filled with anxious fears and dreadful foreboding; but the person here
describedis wretchedonly from a sense ofthe evil principle which is in his
members. Such a feeling no unregenerate man ever possessed. An
unregenerate man may wish to be delivered from danger and punishment; but
instead of wishing to be delivered from the law of his nature, he delights in

123. that law. He has so much pleasure in indulging that law, that for its sake he
risks all consequences. The body of this death. — Some understand this of his
natural body, and suppose the exclamationto be a wish to die. But this would
be a sentiment totally at variance with the principles of the Apostle, and
unsuitable to the scope of the passage.It is evidently an expressionof a wish to
be free from that corrupt principle which causedhim so much addiction. This
he calls a body, as before he had calledit his members. And he calls it a body
of death because its demerit is death. It causes deathand everlasting ruin to
the world; and had it not been for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, it must
have had the same consequenceswith respectto all.
Verse 25
Ithank 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.
I thank God. — Some suppose that this expresses thanks for the victory as
already obtained. But this cannot be the meaning, as, in the same breath, the
apostle speaks ofhis wretchedness becauseofthe existence of the evil.
Some, again, supposing that it refers to present deliverance, explain it to be
the freedom from the law spokenof in the preceding part of the chapter.
But this would make the Apostle speak entirely awayfrom the purpose.
He is discoursing of that corruption which he still experiences. Besides,the
form of the expressionrequires that the deliverance should be supposed
future, — who SHALL deliver me. I thank God through Jesus Christ. — The
natural supplement is, He will deliver me. At death Paul was to be entirely
freed from the evil of his nature. The consolationofthe Christian againstthe

124. corruption of his nature is, that although he shall not getfree from it in this
world, he shall hereafter be entirely delivered. So then. — This is the
consequence whichPaul draws, and the sum of all that he had saidfrom the
14th verse. In one point of view he served the law of God, and in another the
law of sin. Happy is the man who can thus, like Paul, with conscious sincerity
say of himself, — ’With the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the
flesh the law of sin.’ Here he divides himself, as it were, into two parts, — the
mind by which he means his inward man, his renewedself; and the flesh, by
which he designs his carnal nature, or the old man, that was soldunder sin;
and thus he accounts for his serving two different laws — the law of God
written on his mind, and in the service of which he delighted as a regenerate
man; and the law of sin by which he was sometimes carriedcaptive. Beyond
this no child of God can go while in this world; it will ever remain the
characterof the regenerate man. But this fully ascertains thatPaul himself, in
his predominant disposition and fixed purpose, serves God, although he is
compelled to acknowledge thatthe powerof the old man within him still
subsists, and exerts itself; while it is his earnestdesire daily to put him off,
Ephesians 4:22, and to be transformed by the renewing of his mind.
In every believer, and in no one else, there are these two principles, — sin and
grace, fleshand spirit, the law of the members and the law of the mind.
This may be perverted by the opposerof Divine truth into a handle against
the Gospel, and by the hypocrite to excuse his sin. But it gives ground to
neither. It is the truth of God, and the experience ofevery Christian. If any
man will pervert it to a wickedpurpose, he shall bearhis sin. We are not at
liberty to pervert the word of Godin order to preserve it from a contrary
perversion. Many, no doubt, wrestthe Scriptures to their owndestruction. I
serve. — Employing, as he does, through the whole of this passage, the present
tense, Paul does not say, I have served, as referring to his state of
unregenerate, but ‘I serve,’as respecting his present state as a believer in
Christ, composedof flesh and spirit, which, as they are different principles,

125. regard two different laws. It is further to be observed, that this last account
which he gives of himself, and which agrees withall he had saidbefore, and
confirms the whole, is delivered by him, after he had, with so much faith and
fervency, given thanks to God in view of his future and complete deliverance
from sin. This, as Gill well remarks, is a conclusive argument and proof that
he speaks ofhimself, in this whole discourse concerning indwelling sin, as a
regeneratedperson.
As if to render it altogetherimpossible to imagine that the Apostle was
personating another man, he here, in conclusion, uses the expressionI myself,
which cannot, if language has a meaning, be applied to another person. It is a
phrase which againand againhe employs, — Romans 9:3; 2 Corinthians 10:1,
and 12:13.
On the whole, then, we here learn that the Apostle Paul, notwithstanding all
the grace with which he was favored, found a principle of evil operating so
strongly in his heart, that he denominates it a law always presentand always
active to retard him in his course. He was not, however, under its dominion.
He was in Christ Jesus a new creature, born of God, renewedin the spirit of
his mind. He delighted in the holy law of God in all its extent and spirituality,
while at the same time he felt the influence of the other hateful principle —
that tendency to evil which characterizes the old man, — which waged
perpetual war againstthe work of grace in his soul, impelling him to the
commissionof sin, and constantly striving to bring him under its power.
Nothing can more clearlydemonstrate the fallen state of man, and the entire
corruption of his nature, than the perpetual and irreconcilable warfare which
that corruption maintains in the hearts of all believers against‘the Divine
nature’ of which they are made partakers;and nothing canmore forcibly
enhance the value of the Gospel, and prove its necessityin order to salvation,
or more fully illustrate the greattruth which Paul had been illustrating, that
by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in the sight of God.

126. When, in the hour and powerof darkness, the prince of this world came to
assaultthe Redeemer, he found nothing in Him — nothing on which his
temptations could fix or make an impression; but how different was it when
he assailedthe Apostle Peter!Him he overcame, and to such an extent as to
prevail on him to deny his Lord and Master, notwithstanding all the firmness
and sincerity of his previous resolutions. Had not the Lord interposedto
prevent his faith from entirely failing, Satanwould have taken full possession
of him, as he did of Judas. In the same way, it was only by grace that the
Apostle Paul was what he was, 1 Corinthians 15:10;and by that grace he was
enabled to maintain the struggle againsthis old corrupt nature, until he could
exclaim, in the triumphant language of victory, ‘I have fought a goodfight, I
have finished my course, I have kept the faith.’ ‘My grace,’saidJesus to him,
‘is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfectin weakness.’
The whole concluding part of this chapter is most violently perverted by Dr.
Macknight, and Mr. Stuart, and Mr. Tholuck. In his explanation of this last
verse, Dr. Macknight, by first converting the assertionit contains into a
question, and then boldly adding to it, makes the Apostle saypreciselythe
reverse of what he actually affirms. ‘Do I myself then as a slave, serve with the
mind the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin?BY NO MEANS.’
Mr. Tholuck, after denying all along that the Apostle, in the conclusionof this
chapter, describes his own experience, and affirming that he is speaking in the
name of a legalist, arrives at the 25th verse, in the first clause ofwhich, though
not in the last, he judges that the Apostle must be speaking in his own person.
‘After the struggle of the legalist,’he says, ‘with the wretchedness arising
from his sense ofinward schismhas in this description been wrought up to the
highest pitch, Paul comes forwardto a sudden in his own person, and breaks
forth in thankfulness to God for having delivered him by the redemption from
that miserable condition.’ A more unfounded interpretation cannot be
imagined.

127. Mr. Tholuck considers the position in which, according to his view, Paul has
thus placedhimself to be so awkward, that he does not allow it to pass
unnoticed. ‘As this sally of gratitude, however, interrupts,’ he adds, ‘the
course of the argument, and is quite involuntary, inasmuch as Paul meant still
to draw his inference from all that he had previously said, he finds himself
compelled, in a waynot the most appropriate, after the expressionof his
gratitude, still to append the conclusion, which is intended briefly and
distinctly to show the state of the legalist.’Can any Christian be satisfiedwith
this manner of treating the Scriptures? Can any sober-minded man acquiesce
in such an interpretation? This is a ‘sally of gratitude,’ and worse, it is -
involuntary! Did Paul utter thingspar INCOHERENTLY? He finds himself
compelled in a way NOT THE MOST APPROPRIATE, to append the
conclusion. Is this a reverent manner of speaking ofthe dictate of the Holy
Ghost? In the proper and obvious sense ofthe expression, as employed by the
Apostle, it is most appropriate; yet Mr. Tholuck affixes to it a ludicrous
import! 38
The warfare betweenthe flesh and the spirit, described in this chapter, has
greatly exercisedthe ingenuity of men not practicallyacquainted with its
truth. Few are willing to believe that all mankind are naturally so bad as they
are here represented, and it is fondly imagined that the best of men to much
better than this description would prove them to be. Every effort of ingenuity
has accordinglybeen resortedto, to divert the Apostle’s statements from the
obvious conclusionto which they lead, and so to modify his doctrine as to
make it worthy of acceptanceby human wisdom. But they have labored in
vain. Their theories not only contradict the Apostle’s doctrine, but are
generallyself-contradictory. Every Christian has in his own breasta
commentary on the Apostle’s language.
If there be anything of which he is fully assured, it is that Paul has in this
passagedescribedhis experience;and the more the believer advances in
knowledge and holiness, the more does he loathe himself, as by nature a child

128. of that corruption which still so closelycleaves to him. So far is the feeling of
the powerof indwelling sin from being inconsistentwith regeneration, that it
must be experienced in proportion to the progress of sanctification. The more
sensitive we are, the more do we feel pain; and the more our hearts are
purified, the more painful to us will sin be. Men perceive themselves to be
sinners in proportion as they have previously discoveredthe holiness of God
and of His law.
The conflict here describedby Paul, his deep convictionof sin consisting with
delight in the law of God, and this agreementof heart with its holy precepts,
are peculiar to those only who are regeneratedby the Spirit of God. They who
know the excellence ofthat law, and earnestlydesire to obey it, will feel the
force of the Apostle’s language. It results from the degree ofsanctificationto
which he had attained, from his hatred of sin and profound humility. This
conflict was the most painful of his trials, compelling him in bitterness to
exclaim, ‘O wretchedman that I am!’ — an exclamationnever wrung from
him by all his multiplied persecutions and outward sufferings. The proof that
from the 14th verse to the end of the chapter he relates his own experience at
the time when he wrote this Epistle, is full and complete.
Throughout the whole of this passage, insteadof employing the past time, as
he does from the 7th to the 14th verse, Paul uniformly adopts the present,
while he speaksin the first personabout forty times, without the smallest
intimation that he is referring to any one else or to himself at any former
period. His professedobject, all along, is to show that the law can effect
nothing for the salvationof a sinner, which he had proved to be the character
of all men; and, by speaking in his ownname, he shows that of this every one
who is a partakerof His grace is in his best state convinced.
In the end he triumphantly affirms that Christ will deliver him, while in the
meantime he experiences this painful and unremitting warfare;and closes the

129. whole by saying, ‘So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but
with the flesh the law of sin.’
Can it be supposed that in saying, ‘I myself,’ the Apostle meant another man;
or that, in using the present time, he refers to a former period? Of what value
is language, if it can be so tortured as to admit of an interpretation at direct
variance with its obvious meaning? To suppose that another, and not the
Apostle himself, is here designed, is contrary to every principle of sound
interpretation.
Paul, in this chapter, contrasts his former with his present state. Formerly,
when ignorant of the true import of the law, he entertained a high opinion of
himself. ‘I was alive without the law once.’Accordingly he speaks in other
parts of his writings of his sincerity, his religious zeal, and his irreproachable
moral conduct before his conversion. Afterwards, when the veil of self-
delusion was removed, he discoveredthat he had been a blasphemer, a
persecutor, injurious, and in unbelief; so that, when he was an Apostle, he
calls himself the chief of sinners. If he owns convincedthat he had been a
sinner, condemned by the law, it was whenthe Lord Jesus was revealedto
him; for till then he was righteous in his own esteem.
Before that time he was deadin trespasses andsins, having nothing but his
original corrupted nature, which he calls sin. He had no conviction that he
was radically and practicallya sinner, of which the passagebefore us proves
he was now fully conscious.Fromthis period, the flesh, or sin, which he
elsewhere calls ‘the old man,’ remained in him. Though it harassedhim much,
he did not walk according to it; but, being now in the spirit, the new nature
which he had receivedpredominated. He therefore clearlyestablishes, in this
chapter, the opposition betweenthe old man and the working of the new
nature. This is according to the uniform language ofhis Epistles, as wellas of
the whole of Scripture, both in its doctrinal and historicalparts. In

130. consistencywith this, he exhorts the saints at Ephesus to ‘put off the old man,
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;’ and calls on the faithful
brethren at Colosse to mortify their members which are upon the earth. All
his instructions to ‘them that are sanctifiedin Christ Jesus’proceedon the
same principle. And why were they cautionedby him even againstthe grossest
sins, but because there was still in them a principle disposedto every sin?
There are three circumstances in this passagewhichare of themselves decisive
of the fact that Paul here recounts his own present experience.
The first is, that the Apostle hates sin. He hates it, because it is rebellion
againstGod, and the violation of His law. This no unconverted man does, or
can do. He may dislike the evil effects of sin, and consequentlywish that he
had not committed it; but he does not, as the Apostle here declares ofhimself,
hate sin. Hating sin is the counterpart of loving the law of God.
The secondcircumstance in proof that the Apostle is here referring to the
present time, is, that he delights in the law of God after the inward man.
Now it is only when sin is dethroned, and grace reigns in the heart, that this
can be a truth. ‘I delight,’ says the Psalmist, ‘to do Thy will, O my God; yea,
Thy law is in my heart.’ ‘I will delight myself in Thy commandments, which I
love,’ Psalm40:8, <19B916> 119:16,24, 35, 47, 92, 97, 174. Delightin His law
and the fear of God cannot be separated. The Holy Spirit pronounces such
persons blessed. ‘Blessedis the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth
greatly in His commandments,’ <19B201> Psalm112:1. ‘Blessedis the man
that walkethnot in the counselof the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of
sinners, nor sitteth in the seatof the scornful; but his delight is in the law of
the Lord, ’ Psalm 1:1. Thus the man that delights in the law of the Lord is
blessed;and who will affirm that an unconverted man is blessed? Farfrom

131. delighting in the law of God, which the first commandment enjoins, — ’Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,’ — ’the carnal mind is enmity
againstGod; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed canbe.’
Such is the state of every unconverted man. And if, as all Scripture testifies,
enmity againstGodbe the characteristic ofthe wicked, and delight in God
and His law be the characteristic ofa regenerate man, by what perversionof
language, by what species ofsophistry, can it be affirmed that the Apostle,
while describing his inward delight in God, is to be regarded as portraying
himself in his originalunconverted state? So far was he, while in that state,
from delighting in God, either inwardly or outwardly, that his carnal mind
was enmity againstJehovah, and his zeal was manifested in persecuting the
Lord of glory.
The third circumstance which incontestablyproves that Paul is here relating
his presentpersonalexperience, is his declarationthat he expects his
deliverance from Jesus Christ. Is this the language ofa man dead in trespasses
and sins — of one who is a strangerto the truth as it is in Jesus, andto whom
the things revealedby the Spirit of God are foolishness? 1 Corinthians 2:14.
‘No man,’ says Jesus, ‘cancome to Me, exceptthe Father, which hath sentMe,
draw him,’ John 6:44. ‘No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy
Ghost,’Corinthians 12:3. How, then, shall an unconverted man look to Him
for deliverance?
In another place already referred to, the Apostle describes the internal
warfare experiencedby Christians betweenthe flesh and the spirit, or the old
and new man, in language preciselysimilar to what he here employs
concerning himself; ‘The flesh lusteth againstthe spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannotdo the
things that ye would,’ Galatians 5:17.

132. In the midst of his apostolic labors, where he is endeavoring to animate those
to whom he wrote, Paul represents himself engagedas here in the same
arduous struggle. ‘I keepunder my body, and bring it into subjection, lest
that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a
castaway,’1 Corinthians 9:27. Having there a different objectin view, he
refers to his successin the struggle;while, in the chapter before us, his design
is to exhibit the powerof the enemy with whom he has to contend. But in both
caseshe speaks ofa severe contestwith an enemy within, striving to bring him
into captivity to sin and death. In another place, addressing those at Ephesus,
whom he describes as ‘quickenedtogetherwith Christ,’ and including himself,
whilst speaking in the characterof ‘an Apostle of Jesus Christby the will of
God,’ he uses the following unequivocal and energetic language — ’For we
wrestle not againstflesh and blood, but againstprincipalities, againstpowers,
againstthe rulers of the darkness of this world, againstspiritual wickednessin
high places.’He therefore calls on those to whom he wrote to ‘take the whole
armor of God, that they may be able to withstand and to quench the fiery
darts of the wickedone,’Ephesians 6:12. Does not this describe a conflict
equally severe as that in which, in the passage before us, he represents himself
to be engaged?Doesnot this imply that evil existed in himself, as well as in
those to whom he wrote, without which the fiery darts of the devil could have
takenno more effectthan on Him in whom the prince of this world when he
came found ‘nothing’? And what is the purpose of the Christian armor, but to
fit us to fight with flesh and blood, namely, our corruptions, as well as other
enemies, againstwhich Paul says, we wrestle?
Was the Apostle Peter chargeable withthe sin of dissimulation, and did the
Apostle Paul experience no internal struggle with the old man which caused
the fall of his fellow Apostle? Did Paul call upon other saints to put off the old
man, and was there not in him an old man? Did he admonish all his brethren,
without exception, to mortify their members which were upon the earth, and
had he no sins to mortify? And why was it necessaryfor the Lord to send him
a thorn in the Flesh, the messengerofSatan to buffet him, to curb the pride of
his nature and prevent him from being exalted above measure, had it not been
for the remaining corruption of his nature working powerfully in his heart,

133. which from this it appears all his other severe trials and afflictions were
insufficient to subdue? This alone determines the question. Was it not
incumbent, too, on Paul, as on all other believers, to pray daily for the
forgiveness ofhis sins? Was it not necessaryforhim, like David, to pray that
his heart might be enlarged, that he might run the way of God’s
commandments? <19B932> Psalm119:32.
All that Paul says in this chapter concerning himself and his inward
corruption, entirely corresponds with what we are taught both in the Old
Testamentand the New respecting the people of God. The piety and
devotedness to God of the holiest men did not prevent the evil that was in
them from appearing in many parts of their conduct; while at the same time
we are informed of the horror they expressedon accountof their
transgressions. Goddeclares thatthere was no man like Job on the earth, a
perfect and an upright man, one that fearedGod and eschewedevil; and by
God Himself Job is classedwith two others of His most eminent saints, Ezekiel
14:14. Yet Jobexclaims, ‘Behold, I am vile; what shall I answerThee? I will
lay mine hand upon my mouth.’ ‘I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the
ear; but now mine eye seethThee:wherefore I abhor myself in dust and
ashes,’Job40:4, 42:5, 6. ‘My soul,’says the Psalmist, in the same Psalm in
which he so often asserts that he delights in the law of God, — ’my soul
cleavethunto the dust;’ while in the preceding sentence he had declared, ‘Thy
testimonies also are my delight:’ and again, ‘I will delight myself in Thy
commandments, which I have loved;’ ‘O how I love Thy law! it is my
meditation all the day;’ ‘My soul hath kept Thy testimonies; and I love them
exceedingly;’ yet he says, ‘Mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy
burden; they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink and are corrupt, because
of my foolishness;’‘My loins are filled with a loathsome disease, andthere is
no soundness in my flesh;’ ‘My groaning is nothing from Thee;’ ‘I will declare
mine iniquity.’ Yet in the same PsalmDavid says, ‘In Thee, O Lord, do I
hope.’ ‘They also that render evil for goodare mine adversaries, becauseI
follow the thing that is good. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.’
‘Iniquities,’ he says, ‘prevail againstme,’ while he rejoices in the forgiveness
of his sins. ‘Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.’‘Woe is me,’ exclaims the

134. Prophet Isaiah, ‘for I am a man of uncleanlips,’ Isaiah 6:5. ‘Who can say, I
have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?’ Proverbs 20:9. God
promised to establishan everlasting covenantwith Israel, Ezekiel16:63;and
the consequencewas to be, that they should loathe themselves and be
confounded when God was pacified towards them. The complaints of the
servants of God all proceededfrom the same source, namely, their humiliating
experience of indwelling sin, at the same time that, after the inward man, they
delighted in the law of God.
And could it be otherwise in men who, by the Spirit of God, were convincedof
sin? John 16:8. There is not a man on earth that delights in the law of God
who does not know that his soul cleavethunto the dust.
Comparing himself with the law of God, Paul might well lament his remaining
corruption, as the Apostle Peter, experiencing the same consciousnessofhis
sinfulness, exclaims, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord;’ or as
the Apostle James confesses, ‘In many things we all offend.’ Both Peter and
James here declare that they themselves, although Apostles of Christ, had sin
in them. Was then Paul an exception to this? and if he had sin, is it not a just
accountof it, when he says that there was a law within him warring against
the law of his mind; in short, a contestbetweenwhat he elsewherecalls the
new and the old man? If, on the other hand, on accountof anything done
either by him or in him, of any zeal, excellency, orattainment, Paul, or any
man, should fancy himself in a state of sinless perfection, the Holy Ghost, by
the mouth of the Apostle John, charges him with self-deception. ‘If we’
(Apostle or others) ‘say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us,’ 1 John 1:8. Whence, then, is there any difficulty in
admitting that in the accountof the internal struggle in the passagebefore us,
Paul describedhis own warfare with indwelling sin, or that it portrays a state
of mind incompatible with that of an Apostle? Did Paul’s sanctificationdiffer
in kind from that of other believers, so as to render this incredible, or, in as
far as it may have exceeded that of most other believers, did it differ only in

135. degree? There is then no ground whateverfor denying that he here related his
own personalexperience, according to the plain literal, and obvious import of
the expressions he employs. Were Paul, when judged at the tribunal of God, to
take his stand on the bestaction he ever performed in the midst of his
apostolic labors, he would be condemnedforever.
Imperfection would be found to cleave to the very best of his services;and
imperfection, even in the leastpossible degree, as it respects the law of God, is
sin. ‘Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in
the book of the law to do them.’ And who is the mere man that, since the fall,
came up for one moment to the standard of this holy law, which says, ‘Thou
shalt love the Lord with all thy heart?’
It was on a ground very different from that of his own obedience, that Paul,
when about to depart from the world, joyfully exclaimed, ‘Henceforth there is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, whichthe Lord the righteous Judge
shall give me at that day.’ Yes, it will be a crownof righteousness, because
Christ, having been made of God unto him ‘wisdom,’ Paul had renounced his
own righteousness,that so being found in Him he might possess‘the
righteousness whichis of God by faith.’ He was therefore coveredwith the
robe of righteousness, eventhe righteousness ofour Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, — Jehovahour righteousness, — who is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth. And thus, in the judgment of strict
justice, Paul, with all believers, notwithstanding all his and their sins and
shortcomings, shallbe pronounced ‘righteous,’ — a charactertwice givento
those who shall appear on the right hand of the throne, Matthew 25:37-6, —
in that day when the ‘righteous servant’ of Jehovah shall judge the world in
righteousness. Thus, too, when the greatmultitude of those who have washed
their robes in the blood of the Lamb shall stand before the throne, the full
import of the words of Paul, with which in the fifth chapter of this Epistle he
closes the accountof the entrance of sin and death, and of righteousness and
life, will be made gloriouslymanifest. ‘That as sin hath reigned unto death,

136. even so might grace reignthrough righteousness unto eternallife by Jesus
Christ our Lord.’ That greattruth, which Paul has also declaredwill then be
fully verified, that the Gospelis the power of God unto salvation, because
therein is the righteousness ofGod revealed.
With carnality, then — the corruption of his nature — Paul the Apostle was
chargeable;and of this, at all times after his conversion, he was fully sensible.
Conscious thathe had never for one moment attained to the perfectionof
obedience to the law of God, and knowing, by the teaching of the Spirit of
God, that there was a depth of wickednessin his heart which he never could
fathom, — for who but God canknow the heart, which ‘is deceitful above all
things, and desperatelywicked’? Jeremiah17:9, — well might he designate
himself a ‘wretchedman,’ and turn with more earnestnessthan ever to his
blessedLord to be delivered from such a body of death. With what holy
indignation would he have spurned from him such perverse glossesas are put
upon his words to explain awaytheir obvious import, by men who profess to
believe the doctrines, and to understand the principles, which form the basis
of all he was commissionedby his Divine Masterto proclaim to the fallen
children of Adam. He would have warned them not to think of him above that
which is written, 1 Corinthians 4:6. And most assuredly they who cannot
persuade themselves that the confessions andlamentations in the passage
before us, strong as they undoubtedly are, could possibly be applicable to the
Apostle Paul, do think of him above what is declaredin every part of the word
of God to be the characterof every renewedman while he remains in this
world.
In Mr. Toplady’s works it is statedthat some of Dr. Doddridge’s lastwords
were, ‘The best prayer I ever offered up in my life deserves damnation.’ In
this sentiment Dr. Doddridge did not in the smallestdegree exceedthe truth.
And with equal truth Mr. Toplady says of himself, ‘Oh that ever such a
wretch as I should be tempted to think highly of himself! I that am of myself
nothing but sin and weakness.In whose flesh naturally dwells no goodthing; I

137. who deserve damnation for the bestwork I everperformed,’ vol. 4:171, and 1-
41. These are the matured opinions concerning themselves of men who had
been taught by the same Spirit as the Apostle Paul.
Every man who knows ‘the plague of his own heart,’ whatevermay be the
view he has takenof this passage, knows forcertain that even if the Apostle
Paul has not given here an accountof his own experience at the time when he
wrote this Epistle such was actuallythe Apostle’s experience day by day. He
also knows that the man who is not daily constrainedto cry out to himself, ‘O
wretchedman that I am,’ from a sense ofhis indwelling corruption and his
shortcomings, is not a Christian. He has not been convincedof sin by the spirit
of God; he is not one of those who, like the Apostle Paul, are forced to confess,
‘We that are in this tabernacle do groan,’ 2 Corinthians 5:2,4; or to say, ‘We
ourselves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves,
groanwithin ourselves,’Romans 8:23. The Apostle’s exclamationin the
passagebefore us, ‘O wretchedman that I am,’ is no other than this groaning.
And every regenerate man, the more he is convincedof sin, which in his
natural state never disturbed his thoughts, the more he advances in the course
of holiness, and the more nearly he approaches to the image of his Divine
Master, the more deeply will he groanunder the more vivid conceptionand
the strongerabhorrence of the malignity of his indwelling sin.
It is easyto see how suitable it was that the author of this Epistle should detail
his ownexperience, and thus describe the internal workings of his heart, and
not merely refer to his external conduct. He speaks ofhimself, that it might
not be supposedthat the miserable condition he describeddid not concern
believers;and to prove that the most holy ought to humble themselves before
God, since God would find in them a body of sin and death; guilty, as in
themselves, of eternaldeath. Nothing, then, could serve more fully to illustrate
his doctrine in the preceding part of it, respecting human depravity and guilt,
and the universality of the inveterate malady of sin, than to show that it was
capable, even in himself, with all the grace of which he was so distinguished a

138. subject, of opposing with such force the principles of the new life in his soul.
In this view, the passagebefore us perfectly accords with the Apostle’s design
in this chapter, in which, for the comfort of believers, he is testifying that by
their marriage with Christ they are dead to the law, as he had taught in the
preceding chapterthat by union with Him in His death and resurrectionthey
are dead to sin, which amounts to the same thing. As, in the concluding part of
that chapter, he had shown by his exhortations to duty, that, by affirming that
they were dead to sin he did not mean that they were exempt from its
commission, so, in the concluding part of this chapter, he shows, by detailing
his ownexperience, that he did not mean that by their being dead to the law
they were exempt from its violation. In one word, while, by both of these
expressions, deadto sin, and dead to the law, he intended to teachthat their
justification was complete, he proves, by what he says in the concluding parts
of both chapters, that their sanctificationwas incomplete.
And as, referring to himself personally, he proves the incompleteness ofthe
sanctificationof believers, by looking forward to a future period of
deliverance, saying, ‘Who shall deliver me? ‘so, referring to himself
personally in the beginning of the 2nd verse of the next chapter, he proves the
completeness oftheir justification by speaking of his deliverance in respectto
it as past, saying, ‘The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death.’
The view which the Apostle here gives of his own experience clearly
demonstrates that the pain experiencedby believers in their internal conflicts
is quite compatible with the blessedand consolatoryassuranceofeternal Life.
This he also proves in those passages above quoted, Corinthians 5:1, ‘We
know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a
building of God, an house not made with hands, eternalin the heavens. Forin
this (tabernacle)we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our
house, which is from heaven.’And in chapter 8:23, where he says, ‘Ourselves

139. also which have the first fruits of the Spirit; even we ourselves groanwithin
ourselves.’
It was, then, to confirm the faith of the disciples, and furnish a living
exhibition of their spiritual conflict, that Paul here lays open his ownheart,
and disclosesthe working of those two warring principles, which to a greater
or less extent contend for the mastery in the bosom of every child of God.
Every perversion, then, of this highly important part of the Divine testimony
ought to be most strenuously opposed. It is not an insulated passage;it
contains the cleardevelopment of a greatgeneralprinciple which belongs to
the whole of Divine revelation, and is essentialto its truth, — a principle of the
utmost importance in Christian experience. ‘Blessedbe God,’ says Mr.
Romaine, ‘for the seventh chapter of the Romans.’
The wisdom discoveredin making the present experience of Paul the object of
contemplation, ought to awakenin our hearts feelings of the liveliest
gratitude. Had we been presented with a spectacleofthe internal feelings of
one less eminently holy, the effectwould have been greatlyweakened. But
when this Apostle, whose life was spent in laboring for the glory of God; when
he, whose blameless conductwas such as to confound his enemies who sought
occasionagainsthim; when he, who finished his course with joy, having
fought a goodfight, and kept the faith; when he, whose conscience enabled
him to look back with satisfactiononthe past, and forward with joy to the
future; when he, who stoodready to receive the crownof righteousness which,
by the eye of faith, he beheld laid up for him in heaven, — when one so
favored, so distinguished, as the greatApostle of the Gentiles, is himself
constrained, in turning his eye inward upon the rebellious strivings of his old
nature, to cry out, ‘O wretchedman that I am!’ — what a wonderful
exhibition do we behold of the malignity of that sin, which has so deeply
poisonedand corrupted our original nature, that death itself is needful in
order to sever its chains and destroy its power in the soul!

140. This passage, then, is peculiarly fitted to comfort those who are oppressed
with a sense ofindwelling sin in the midst of their spiritual conflicts, unknown
to all exceptthemselves and the Searcherof hearts.
There may be some believers, who, not having examined it with sufficient
care, or being misled by false interpretations, mistake its natural and obvious
meaning, and fearto apply the words which it contains to Paul as an Apostle.
When these shall have viewedthis portion of the Divine word in its true light,
they will bless God for the instruction and consolationit is calculatedto
afford; while the whole of the representation, under this aspect, will appear
foolishness to all who are Christians only in name, and who never experienced
in themselves that internal conflict which the Apostle here describes. It is a
conflict from which not one of the people of God, since the fall of the first
man, was everexempted, — a conflictwhich He alone never experiencedwho
is called‘the Son of the Highest,’ of whom, notwithstanding, it has of late been
impiously affirmed that He also was subjectedto it.
PROLOGUE TO PRISON
Paul's Epistle to the ROMANS
by Richard C. Halverson
- 1954 -
CowmanPublishing Company, Inc. California
Chapter 13 -
THE BANKRUPTCY OF MAN'S BEST
Romans 7:15-25

141. In the last half of the fifth chapter the apostle spoke of two men, the first man,
Adam (Genesis
1:26), and JESUS CHRIST whom he calls the secondAdam, eachthe
progenitor of a race.
The first Adam transmitted sin and death to all of his descendants by his
original disobedience in
the Gardenof Eden; JESUS CHRIST, the secondAdam, transmits
righteousness andeternal life
to all who receive Him. Romans 6, 7 and 8 instruct us how to live as heirs of
JESUS CHRIST, as
members of the new race, rather than heirs of Adam, as members of the old
race;how to
overcome the old Adamic nature and engage the new nature receivedwhen
JESUS CHRIST
became our SAVIOUR. In the words of 5:20-21, how to allow grace to reign in
our lives rather
than sin. He is expanding his theme to show how "the just shall live by faith."
Paul wants it understood that the law given through Moseswas not
extraneous to this theme. It
was Jewishpresumption concerning the law which led her to spiritual
impasse. Having the law
was meaningless if it were not obeyed, and the Jew who had the Ten
Commandments was not
exempt from obedience any more than the Gentile who has the same law
engravedon his
conscience. It is the doer of the law who is justified before GOD, and no man
keeps the law;

142. therefore, he concludes, by the law shall no flesh, Jew or Gentile, be justified.
This raises the question, What purpose then the law that GOD gave Moses?
He answers (5:13),
"sin is not imputed when there is no law," and (5:20) "Moreoverthe law
entered, that the
offence might abound." The purpose of the law was to expose sin, as, for
example, x-ray
exposes disease. This exposure of sin by the law was not unto condemnation
and death any more
than the exposure by the x-ray is to death. The x-ray is in order to diagnose;
thus GOD gave the
law that man might recognize his sin and find the cure in JESUS CHRIST;in
Paul's words (5:20-
21), "Moreoverthe law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin
abounded,
grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so
might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternallife by Jesus Christ our Lord." As
the old Adamic
nature reignedunto death, now let the new CHRIST nature reign unto life! As
you were a slave
to your Adam nature, now become a servantto the new CHRIST nature since
you have been
regenerated.
Romans 7 is a commentary on the 20th verse of chapter 5, "Moreoverthe law
entered, that the

143. offence might abound." Romans 8, the first seventeenverses, amplifiestthe
secondhalf of the
principle, "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as
sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reignthrough righteousness unto eternal
life."
Speaking to those who know the law, Paul opens Romans 7 (verses 1-6) using
marriage to
illustrate the principle of death which he discusses in chapter 6. Who does he
mean by "I speak
to them that know the law?" He certainly does not mean only the Jew, for he
has already
pointed out the Jew and Gentile are in the same condition. No, he is speaking
now to the
Christian as contrastedto the non-Christian, Jew or Gentile. Those who are
not Christian do not
know the law, a very significant fact, by the way. Paul says in the seventh
chapter, "I was alive
without the law once:but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I
died." When
was Paul alive without the law?
Recallhis testimony in Philippians, chapter 3, for example, "If any other man
thinketh that he
hath whereofhe might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcisedthe eighth day,
of the stock
of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews;as touching the
law, a

144. Pharisee;Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness
which is in
the law, blameless." Fromhis childhood he knew the law. He knew it better
than his
contemporaries, took it more seriouslythan they, struggleddesperatelyto
keepit, declaredin
fact, that insofar as the law was concerned, he was blameless.
Now this same man cries out in the end of chapter 7, "O wretched man that I
am! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?." Indeed he says as much in the
testimony in
Philippians, "whatthings were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea
doubtless,
and I count all things but loss." Whatare the "allthings" he is talking about?
His religious
achievements, his moral and ethicalachievements. "Forthe excellencyof the
knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them
but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness whichis
of God by faith."
In other words, until Paul met JESUS CHRIST on the road to Damascus,he
did not know the

145. law; he only thought he did. We have his modern counterpart in the Gentile
who says rather
smugly, the Sermon on the Mount is my religion, or, the Golden Rule is my
religion. One man
said in a service club meeting some time ago, "Justgive me the Sermon on the
Mount and the
Golden Rule, and you can throw awaythe rest of the Bible!" You can almost
feel the smugness,
the complacency, the egotisticalsatisfactionofa man who talks like that.
What is wrong with such thinking? The same thing was wrong with Paul
before he met CHRIST
on the road to Damascus. It is self-deception. It reveals that one does not know
the law nor
understand it. I have never met a man yet who lives up to the Golden Rule,
have you? He boasts
of it as his religion in exactly the same waythe Jew boastedin the law! They
did not keepit, but
that seemedto be unimportant; they had it! I have the Golden Rule, but do I
live up to it? No
man does!"The Sermon on the Mount is my religion." Have you ever really
consideredthe
Sermon on the Mount? Just take one verse out of it, "Blessedare the pure in
heart: for they
shall see God." Purity within, not conduct, nor conversation, JESUS talked
about an inward
condition. How many times have our hearts held desires that we would never
dare to share with a

146. most intimate friend? Anyone who embraces the Sermon on the Mount, who
takes it seriously
and tries to live up to it, will be led to despair.
Occasionally, he may achieve some virtue and be proud of it, but then pride is
the rootsin; most
of the time he will be filled with despair over failure. Who does not pillow his
head night after
night with this sense ofself-failure! We will not even make New Year's
resolutions any more
because they are meaningless after the first twenty-four hours! Before
conversion, virtue to Paul
was relative as he compared himself with others; he felt he was doing as well
as any, better than
most. So we, comparing ourselves with ourselves, conclude that we are doing
pretty well!
Having been raisedin what we call the Christian ethic or roughly, the
Christian culture, we feel
that we are managing our lives as well as the average. There are some who
may live better than
we, but we do as well as most, and we settle for a comfortable average in
morals and ethics. But
the average is tragicallylow.
To illustrate further, for every personthat is in church on an average Sunday
morning, there are
five or ten who are not. Why are they not in church? One reason is that they
observe the lives of

147. church-goers and cannot see any difference. They reasonconsciouslyor
unconsciously, "I can't
understand why a man wants to waste an hour and fifteen minutes sitting in a
pew on Sunday
morning when he could be reading the paper or playing golf or raking the
lawn or just sleeping
in. Why should a man getup for church every Sunday!"
You may have heard of the little boy who said, "Mother, I am eight feet tall!"
"Eight feettall," she said, "how did you measure yourself?" He showedher a
six-inch ruler.
We measure ourselves with our little six-inch rulers and are quite self-
satisfied;but when we
perceive the perfectlaw of GOD and measure ourselves againstit, we are
reduced to size. That is
what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus. "The law entered... sin
revived, and I died."
That must happen to every man, Jew or Gentile, before he understands law or
grace. Up until
that moment he will live his life more or less satisfiedwith his own virtue.
Paul says, I am writing to Christians who know the law. He is instructing
Christians; this
instruction is not for non-Christians. In giving the place of the law he uses the
analogyof
marriage. A woman is bound to her husband according to the law of marriage
as long as the
husband is alive. When he dies, she is free to marry another; but as long as the
husband lives,

148. should she marry another, she commits adultery. We were, so to speak,
married to the law in the
old Adamic nature. We did not know it, perhaps, and were complacent;
nevertheless, we were
under it. Even in the pre-law days, from Adam to Moses, sinand death
reigned over those who
did not have the law.
Now (Romans 6:14) we are no longerunder the law but under grace. We are
no longer bound by
the law;we are bound by grace. We are no longerenslaved by the law;we are
enslavedby grace,
which is exactlythe phrase he uses at the end of the sixth chapter, "But now
being made free
from sin, and become servants to God." In other words, yield yourselves to
this new nature
which you receivedin JESUS CHRIST, inasmuch as you are no longer
enslavedby the old
nature which you receivedfrom Adam.
But he goes a step further. He points out that the law not only exposes sin, it
actually triggers sin,
aggravatessin. In verse 5 he says, while we were living in the flesh, our sinful
passions aroused
by the law were at work in our members to bearfruit for death. Then verse 8,
but "But sin,
taking occasionby the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. For

149. without the law sin was dead." Apart from the law sin may be inactive, but
somehow the law
excites sin, induces it. Verse 11, "Forsin, taking occasionby the
commandment, deceived
me, and by it slew me." And finally verse 21, "I find then a law, that, when I
would do good,
evil is present with me." Paul is simply saying this: there is that about human
nature which,
when you tell it it cannot, it wants to!
There was Adam in the Garden, placedby GOD in a perfect environment and
told, everything is
yours except the tree of the knowledge ofgoodand evil, don't touch it. That
prohibition
immediately became the centralpreoccupationin the midst of their perfect
freedom, and the fruit
became a necessity. You as parents know that the surest way to getyour
children to do some?
thing is to tell them they cannot. Wise the parent who has learned this. This is
the Adamic
nature, and this is the reasonthat law cannothelp us; it just aggravates this
nature.
The law is incapable of saving, and the reasonfor this is discussedin the last
half of the chapter;
it is the Adam nature. "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth
no goodthing:
for to will is presentwith me; but how to perform that which is goodI find
not. For the

150. goodthat I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I
do that I
would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
How many, many times have you been tempted; you knew it was wrong; you
did not want to do
it; you thought of the consequences,but you did it. "ForI know that in me
(that is, in my
flesh,) dwelleth no goodthing." Now when he says "flesh" he is not referring
merely to the
physical body but to this Adamic nature, man's sinful nature; the
contradictory streak which
makes a man do what he abhors, fail to do what is right. "Forthe good that I
would I do not:
but the evil which I would not, that I do." I can will what is right but I cannot
do it. You might
as well give up on New Year's resolutions.
"Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in
me. I find
then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight
in the law of
God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring
againstthe law
of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members."
There it is. This is the frustration of man, from the first generationto this, in
spite of all of the
devices, the schemes he invents by which to ignore this fact in his life.

151. This is one reasonfor alcoholism, the escape fromreality. This is one reason
men keep
inordinately busy; they do not want to think about themselves. This is one
reasonpeople escape
into pleasure, into society, to for? getself; and when they are no longerable to
hide, if they can
afford it, they go to a psychiatrist. Or they may take their life, which is not an
escape, forthey
just change their location. Paul is describing what man is like in the old
Adamic nature, but he is
also showing us we need not any longerbe bound; we have been released,
emancipatedby the
powerof GOD in JESUS CHRIST.
The late Dr. Cyril E. M. Joadwas one of Britain's famous and popular free-
thinking
philosophers. He had a reputation for "cynicaldissectionofman's pride and
accomplishments."
He was one of the most zealous church-baiting agnostics in Britain. He
testified:
"Sin and evil I dismissed as the incidental accomplishment of man's imperfect
development. The
evil in man was due, I had been taught, either to economic circumstancesor
psychological
circumstances. Forwere not psychoanalysts telling me that all of the
regressive, aggressive, or
inhibited tendencies of human nature were due to the unfortunate
psychologicalenvironment of

152. one's early childhood? The implications were obvious. Remove the
circumstances and trust
children to psychoanalyzed nurses and teachers, then virtue would reign."
The solution to the problem - war, racialtensions, managementand labor
strife, divorce, crime,
juvenile delinquency, drug addiction, alcoholism - is to expose children to
psychoanalyzed
nurses and teachers. He goes on,
"I have come flatly to disbelieve all of this. I see now that evil is endemic in
man (that's what
Paul is saying in Romans 7) and that the Christian doctrine of original sin
expresses deepand
essentialinsight into human nature. Once I gotas far as this it seemedthere
was nothing to be
lost and everything to be gainedby going the whole way. What better hope
was offeredthan by
the Christian doctrine that GOD sent His Soninto this world to save sinners."
Paul is talking about three kinds of people, those who know not the law. They
may know about
the law, may say"the Sermon on the Mount or the Ten Commandments or
the GoldenRule is
my religion." Keeping the law is immaterial; having the law is religion. What
a shallow,
transparent, defensive device is this; yet men hold it, goodmen, intelligent
men. They do not
know the law; they do not understand the Sermon on the Mount or the
Golden Rule; they do not

153. have the slightestcomprehensionof the Hebrew-Christian ethic, of the
morality of GOD; they
settle for mediocrity in the moral realm, mere respectability. They are moral,
ethical vegetables.
Secondly, those who have been quickened by the grace ofGOD to understand
the law, who
realize they are sinners and cannotsave themselves, who recognize in JESUS
CHRIST their
solution and acceptthe grace ofGOD in CHRIST as a remedy and live daily
on this basis.
Whenever such a one finds sin asserting itselfin his life, he knows it is useless
to resistin his
own strength, which is the Adam nature; he acknowledgeshis weakness, the
bankruptcy of the
old nature transmitted through Adam and the adequacyof the new nature
transmitted in JESUS
CHRIST. He submits himself to the new nature, allowing it to reign in grace
and righteousness
to eternal life.
The third kind is the man who has been illuminated by the law and knows
that he is a failure; but
instead of coming to the Lord JESUS CHRIST, he either takes pride in his
failure, boasts of his
sin, becomes an articulate infidel and pagan; and the only defense he makes
againstfailure is to
act as if it does not bother him. (What a bully, what a loudmouth and what a
profane man he

154. becomes!); or, having been made aware ofhis failure; and either because he is
uninstructed or
though instructed, because ofpride or some other reason, he will not come to
CHRIST for
forgiveness and cleansing.
Yet he cannot stand the sense of failure so he escapes, maybe into more sin or
liquor, or
busyness working night and day, or he runs off to conventions and
conferencesorloads his life
with pleasure. He labors to stop the gnawing guilt. If he canafford it, he may
consult a
psychiatrist and may be told this guilt is artificial, false, adolescent.
Perhaps someone reading this fits this description. The law has illuminated
your heart and you
know that you are a sinner; you are living a defeatedlife, not because ofyour
sin but because
some? how, for some reason, you will not let grace reign in your heart through
JESUS CHRIST.
I invite you to move rapidly from Romans 7:25 into the experience Paul
describes in the first
four verses of Chapter 8.
HODGE
Verse 24

155. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
The burden of indwelling sin was a load which the apostle could neither cast
off nor bear. He could only groan under its pressure, and long for deliverance
by a power greaterthan his. ταλαίπωρος, (nearlyallied to ταλαπείριος, from
τλάω and πεῖρα, much tried,) wretched, Revelation3:17, where it is connected
with ἐλεεινός, compare James 5:1; James 4:9. Who shall deliver me? this is
the expression, not of despair, but of earnestdesire of help from without and
above himself. "Nonquaerit," says Calvin, "a quo sit liberandus, quasi
dubitans ut increduli, qui non tenent unicum esse liberatorem:sed vox est
anhelantis et prope fatiscentis, quia non satis praesentemopem videat." That
from which the apostle desired to be delivered is the body of this death, τίς με
ρύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου. The demonstrative τούτου may
be referred either to σώματος, this body of death, or to θανάτου, body of this
death. It is not unusual, especiallyin Hebrew, for the demonstrative and
possessive pronouns to be connectedwith the noun governed, when they really
qualify the governing noun; as "idols of his silver," for his silver idols;
"mountains of my holiness," formy holy mountains. If this explanation be
here adopted, then the meaning is, this body which is subject to death, i.e., this
mortal body. Then what the apostle longed for was death. He longed to have
the strife over, which he knew was to last so long as he continued in the body.
But this is inconsistent, both with what precedes and with what follows. It was
the "law in his members," "the law of sin," which pressedon him as a
grievous burden. And the victory for which he gives thanks is not freedom
from the body, but deliverance from sin. To avoid these difficulties, death may
be taken in the sense of spiritual death, and therefore including the idea of sin.
"This body of death," would then mean, this body which is the seatof death,
in which spiritual death, i.e. reigns. It is, however, more natural to take the
words as they stand, and connect τούτου with θανάτου, this death. Then the
body of this death may mean the natural or material body, which belongs or
pertains to the death of which he had been speaking. This agrees nearlywith
the interpretation last mentioned. This supposes that the body is the seatof sin
— ‘who shall deliver me from this death which reigns in the body?' It is not,
however, Paul's doctrine that the body is evil, or that it is the seator source of
sin. It is the soul which is depraved, and which contaminates the body, and
perverts it to unholy use. It is, therefore, better to take σῶμα (body) in a

156. figurative sense. Sin is spokenof figuratively in the context as a man, as "the
old man," as having members, and, in Romans 6:6, as a body, "the body of
sin." The meaning, therefore, is, ‘Who will deliver me from the burden of this
death?' or, ‘this deadly weight.' Calvin explains it thus: "Corpus mortis vocat
massampeccativel congeriem, ex qua totus homo conflatus est." The body
under which the apostle groanedwas mortifera peccatimassa. This
exclamationis evidently from a burdened heart. It is spokenout of the
writer's own consciousness,and shows that although the apostle represents a
class, he himself belongedto that class. It is his ownexperience as a Christian
to which he gives utterance.
Verse 25
The burden of sin being the greatevil under which the apostle and all other
believers labor, from which no efficacyof the law, and no efforts of their own
can deliver them, their case wouldbe entirely hopeless but for help from on
high. "Sin shall not have dominion over you," is the language of the grace of
God in the gospel. The conflictwhich the believer sustains is not to result in
the victory of sin, but in the triumph of grace. In view of this certainand
glorious result, Paul exclaims, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is evidently the expressionof a strong and sudden emotion of gratitude.
As, however, his object is to illustrate the operationof the law, it would be
foreign to his purpose to expatiate on a deliverance effectedby a different
power; he, therefore, does not follow up the idea suggestedby this
exclamation, but immediately returns to the point in hand. Insteadof the
common text εὐχαριστῶ τῶ θεῶ, I thank God!, many editors prefer the
reading χάρις τῶ θεῷ, thanks be to God. Some manuscripts have ἡ χάρις τοῦ
θεοῦ. Then this verse would be an answerto the preceding. ‘Who shall deliver
me from this burden of sin?' Ans. ‘The grace ofGod.' For this reading,
however, there is little authority, external or internal. Through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Paul does not only render thanks to God through the mediation of
Christ, but the great blessing of deliverance for which he gives thanks, is

157. receivedthrough the Lord Jesus Christ. He does for us what neither the law
nor our own powers could effect. He is the only Redeemerfrom sin.
So then, ἄρα οὖν, wherefore. The inference is not from the preceding
expressionof thanks. ‘Jesus Christ is my deliverer, wherefore I myself,' etc.
But this is an unnatural combination. The main idea of the whole passage,the
subject which the apostle laboredto have understood, is the impotence of the
law — the impossibility of obtaining deliverance from sin through its
influence or agency. The inference is, therefore, from the whole preceding
discussion, especiallyfrom what is said from Romans 7:14, onward. The
conclusionto which the apostle had arrived is here briefly summed up. He
remained, and so far as the law is concerned, must remain under the power of
sin. ‘With the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.'
Deliverance from the powerof sin the law cannot accomplish. I myself, αὐτὸς
ἐγώ. The αὐτὸς here is either antithetical, placing the ἐγώ in oppositionto
some expressedor implied, or it is explanatory. If the former, the opposition is
to diá ιησοῦ χριστοῦ, I alone, without the aid of Christ. So Meyer and others.
But the idea thus expressedis not in accordance withthe context. Paul had not
been teaching what his unrenewed, unaided nature could accomplish, but
what was the operation of the law, even on the renewedman. The αὐτός is
simply explanatory, I myself, and no other, i.e. the same Ego of which he had
spokenall along. It is very plain, from the use of this expression, that the
preceding paragraphis an exhibition of his own experience. All that is there
said, is summarily here said emphatically in his own person. ‘I myself, I, Paul,
with my mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.' The
antithesis is betweenνοι ̈́̀, and σαρκί; the one explains the other. As σάρξ is not
the body, nor the sensuous nature, but indwelling sin, Romans 7:18, so νοῦς; is
not the mind as opposedto the body, nor reasonas opposedto the sensual
passions, but the higher, renewedprinciple, as opposedto the law in the
members, or indwelling corruption. This interpretation is sustained by the use
of the word in the preceding verses. Paulserved the law of God, in so far as he
assentedto the law that it is good, as he delighted in it, and strove to be
conformed to it. He served the law of sin, that is, sin consideredas a law or
inward power, so far as, in despite of all his efforts, he was still under its

158. influence, and was thereby hindered from living in that constantfellowship
with God, and conformity to his will, that he earnestly desired.
Having gone through the exposition of this passage, it is time to pause, and
ask, Of whom has Paul been speaking, ofa renewedor unrenewed man? Few
questions of this kind have been more frequently canvassed, ormore
intimately associatedwith the doctrinal views of different classes of
theologians. The history of the interpretation of the latter part of this chapter,
is one of the most interesting sections of the doctrinal history of the Church. A
brief outline of this history may be found in the DissertationofKnapp, before
referred to, and somewhatmore extended in the Commentary of Tholuck. It
appears that during the first three centuries, the Fathers were generally
agreedin considering the passage as descriptive of the experience of one yet
under the law. Even Augustine at first concurred in the correctnessofthis
view. But as a deeperinsight into his own heart, and a more thorough
investigationof the Scriptures, led to the modification of his opinions on so
many other points, they produced a change on this subjectalso. This general
alterationof his doctrinal views cannotbe attributed to his controversywith
Pelagius, becauseit took place long before that controversy commenced. It is
to be ascribedto his religious experience, and his study of the word of God.
The writers of the middle ages, in general, agreedwith the later views of
Augustine on this, as on other subjects. At the time of the Reformation, the
original diversity of opinion on this point, and on all others connectedwith it,
soonbecame manifested. Erasmus, Socinus, and others, revived the opinion of
the Greek Fathers;while Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon, Beza, etc., adhered to
the opposite interpretation. At a later period, when the controversywith the
Remonstrants occurred, it commencedwith a discussionof the interpretation
of this chapter. The first writings of Arminius, in which he broached his
peculiar opinions, were lectures on this passage. All his associatesand
successors, as Grotius, Episcopius, Limborch, etc., adopted the same view of
the subject. As a generalrule, Arminian writers have been found on one side

159. of this question, and Calvinistic authors on the other. This is indeed the
natural result of their different views of the scriptural doctrine of the natural
state of man. Mostof the former class, going much farther than Arminius
himself ever went — either denying that the corruption consequenton the fall
is such as to destroythe powerof men to conform themselves to the law of
God, or maintaining that this power, if lost, is restoredby those operations of
the Holy Spirit which are common to all — found no difficulty in considering
the expressions, "Iconsentto" and "delight in the law of God after the inward
man," as the language ofa person yet in his natural state. On the other hand,
those who held the doctrine of total depravity, and of the consequentinability
of sinners, and who rejectedthe doctrine of "common grace,"couldnot
reconcile with these opinions the strong language here used by the apostle.
Although this has been the generalcourse of opinion on this subject, some of
the most evangelicalmen, especiallyon the continent of Europe, have agreed
with Erasmus in his view of this passage. This was the case with Francke,
Bengel, etc., ofa previous age;and with Knapp, Flatt, Tholuck, etc., of our
own day; not to mention the distinguished writers of England and our own
country, who have adopted the same view. There is nothing, therefore in this
opinion, which implies the denial or disregardof any of the fundamental
principles of evangelicalreligion. Still, that the view of the passagewhichso
long prevailed in the Church, and which has been generallyadopted by
evangelicalmen, is the correctone, seems evident from the following
considerations.
I. The onus probandi is certainly on the other side. When the apostle uses not
only the first person, but the present tense, and says, "I consentto the law that
it is good," "I delight in the law of God," "I see another law in my members
warring againstthe law of my mind," etc., those who deny that he means
himself, even though he says I myself, or refuse to acknowledgethat this
language expresseshis feelings while writing, are surely bound to let the
contrary very clearly be seen. Appearances are certainly againstthem. It

160. should be remembered that Paul uses this language, notonce or twice, but
uniformly through the whole passage,and that too with an ardor of feeling
indicative of language coming directly from the heart, and expressing its most
joyful or painful experience. This is a considerationwhich cannotbe
argumentatively exhibited, but it must impress every attentive and susceptible
reader. To suppose that the apostle is personating another, either, as
Grotius‹30›supposes, the Jew first before the giving of the law, and then after
it; or as Erasmus thinks, a Gentile without the law, as opposedto a Jew under
it; or as is more commonly supposed, an ordinary individual under the
influence of a knowledge ofthe law, is to suppose him to do what he does
nowhere else in any of his writings, and what is entirely foreign to his whole
spirit and manner. Insteadof thus sinking himself in another, he can hardly
prevent his own individual feelings from mingling with, and molding the very
statementof objections to his own reasoning;see Romans 3:3-8. One great
difficulty in explaining his epistles, arises from this very source. It is hard to
tell at times what is his language, andwhat that of an objector. If any one will
examine the passagesin which Paul is supposedto mean another, when he
uses the first person, he will see how far short they come of affording any
parallel to the case supposedin this chapter.‹31›In many of them he
undoubtedly means himself, as in 1 Corinthians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 4:3, etc.;in
others the language is, in one sense, expressive ofthe apostle's realsentiments,
and is only perverted by the objector, as in 1 Corinthians 6:12; while in others
the personationof another is only for a single sentence. Nothing analogousto
this passageis to be found in all his writings, if indeed he is not here pouring
out the feelings of his own heart.
II. There is no necessityfordenying that Paul here speaks ofhimself and
describes the exercisesofa renewedman. There is not an expression, from
beginning to the end of this section, which the holiest man may not and must
not adopt. This has been shown in the commentary. The strongest
declarations, as, forexample, "I am carnal, and sold under sin," admit,
indeed, by themselves, ofan interpretation inconsistent with even ordinary
morality; but, as explained by the apostle, and limited by the context, they
express nothing more than every believer experiences. WhatChristian does

161. not feelthat he is carnal? Alas, how different is he from the spirits of the just
made perfect! How cheerfully does he recognize his obligationto love God
with all the heart, and yet how constantly does the tendency to selfand the
world, the law in his members, war againstthe purer and better law of his
mind, and bring him into subjection to sin! If, indeed, it were true, as has been
asserted, that the person here described"succumbs to sin in every instance of
contest,"‹32›the description would be inapplicable not to the Christian only,
but to any other than the most immoral of men. It is rare, indeed, even in the
natural conflict betweenreasonand passion, or conscienceandcorrupt
inclination, that the better principle does not succeed, notonce merely, but
often. There is, however, nothing even approaching to the implication of such
a sentiment in the whole passage. Paulmerely asserts thatthe believer is, and
ever remains in this life, imperfectly sanctified; that sin continues to dwell
within him; that he never comes up to the full requisitions of the law, however
anxiously he may desire it. Often as he subdues one spiritual foe, another rises
in a different form; so that he cannot do the things that he would; that is,
cannot be perfectly conformed in heart and life to the image of God.
It must have been in a moment of forgetfulness, that such a man as Tholuck
could quote with approbation the assertionof Dr. A. Clarke:"This opinion
has most pitifully and shamefully, not only loweredthe standard of
Christianity, but destroyed its influence and disgracedits character." What
lamentable blindness to notorious facts does such language evince!From the
days of Job and David to the present hour, the holiest men have been the most
ready to acknowledgeand deplore the existence and power of indwelling sin.
Without appealing to individual illustrations of the truth of this remark, look
at masses ofmen, at Augustinians and Pelagians, Calvinists and
Remonstrants:in all ages the strictestdoctrines and the sternestmorals have
been found united. It is not those who have most exaltedhuman ability, that
have most advantageouslyexhibited the fruits of its power. It has been rather
those who, with the lowestviews of themselves, and the highest apprehensions
of the efficacyof the grace of God, have been able to adopt the language of
Paul, "WhatI would, that do I not;" and who, looking awayfrom themselves

162. to him through whom they can do all things, have shown the Divine strength
manifested in their weakness.
III. While there is nothing in the sentiments of this passage which a true
Christian may not adopt, there is much which cannot be assertedby any
unrenewed man. As far as this point is concerned, the decisiondepends, of
course, on the correctinterpretation of the severalexpressions employedby
the apostle.
1. What is the true meaning of the phrases "inward man" and "law of the
mind," when opposed to "the flesh" and "the law in the members?" The sense
of these expressions is to be determined by their use in other passages;or if
they do not elsewhere occur, by the meaning attached to those which are
obviously substituted for them. As from the similarity of the passages, it can
hardly be questioned, that what Paul here calls "the inward man" and "law of
the mind," he, in Galatians 5:17, and elsewhere,calls "the Spirit;" it is plain
that he intends, by these terms, to designate the soul consideredas renewed, in
opposition to the "flesh," or the soul consideredas destitute of Divine
influence.
2. It is not in accordancewith the scriptural representationof the wicked, to
describe them as consenting to the law of God; as hating sin, and struggling
againstit; groaning under it as a tyrant's yoke;as delighting in the law of
God, i.e., in holiness:doing all this, not as men, but as men viewedin a
particular aspectas to the inward or new man. This is not the scriptural
representationof the natural man, who does not receive the things of the
Spirit of God, and cannot know them, 1 Corinthians 2:14. On the contrary,
the carnalmind is enmity againstGod and his law. They therefore who are in
the flesh, that is, who have this carnalmind, hate and oppose the law, Romans
8:7, Romans 8:8. The expressions here used by the apostle, are such as,

163. throughout the Scriptures, are used to describe the exercises ofthe pious,
"whose delightis in the law of the Lord," Psalms 1:2.
3. Notonly do these particular expressions show that the writer is a true
Christian, but the whole conflicthere described is such as is peculiar to the
sincere believer. There is, indeed, in the natural man, something very
analogous to this, when his conscienceis enlightened, and his better feelings
come into collisionwith the strong inclination to evil which dwells in his mind.
But this struggle is very far below that which the apostle here describes. The
true nature of this conflict seems to be ascertainedbeyond dispute, by the
parallel passagein Galatians 5:17, already referred to.
It cannot be denied, that to possess the Spirit is, in scriptural language, a
characteristic mark of a true Christian. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
spirit, if so be that the Spirit of Goddwell in you. Now if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Romans 8:9. Those, therefore, who have
that Spirit, are Christians. This being the case,it will not be doubted that the
passagein Galatians, in which the spirit is representedas warring againstthe
flesh, and the flesh againstthe spirit, is descriptive of the experience of the
true believer. But the conflict there describedis identical with that of which
the same apostle speaksin this chapter. This is evident, not merely from the
fact that one of the antagonistprinciples is, in both cases,calledflesh, but
because the description is nearly in the same words. In consequence ofthe
opposition of the flesh and spirit, Paul tells the Galatians they cannot do the
things that they would; and he says here of himself, that in consequenceofthe
opposition betweenthe flesh and the law of his mind, what he would he did
not. The same conflict and the same bondage are described in eachcase;and
if the one be descriptive of the exercises ofa true Christian, the other must be
so also.

164. IV. The context, or the connectionof this passagewith the preceding and
succeeding chapters, is in favor of the common interpretation. The contrary
is, indeed, strongly assertedby those who take the opposite view of the
passage. Tholuck seemsto admit that, were it not for the context, the whole of
the latter part of the chapter might well be understood of the believer: see his
remarks on Romans 7:14. And ProfessorStuart says, "I repeatthe remark,
that the question is not, whether what is here said might be applied to
Christians; but whether, from the tenor of the context, it appears to have been
the intention of the writer that it should be so applied. This principle cannot
fail to settle the question concerning such an application." P. 558. It may be
proper to pause and remark, that such statements involve a renunciation of
the arguments derived from the inapplicability to the real Christian, of what
is here said. Everything is here admitted to be in itself applicable to him, did
but the context allow it to be so applied. Yet every one is aware that no
argument is more frequently and strongly urged againstthe common
interpretation, than that the description here given is, in its very nature,
unsuitable to Christian experience. On the same page which contains the
passagejust quoted, ProfessorStuart says, "As, however, there is no denying
the truth of these and the like declarations,‹33›and no receding from them,
nor explaining them awayas meaning less than habitual victory oversin; so it
follows, that when Romans 7:14-25 are applied to Christian experience, they
are wrongly applied. The person representedin these verses, succumbs to sin
in every instance of contest." This is certainly an argument againstapplying
the passage in question to the Christian, founded on the assumption that it is,
from its nature, entirely inapplicable. And the argument is perfectly
conclusive, if the meaning of the passagebe what is here stated. But it is
believed that this is very far from being its true meaning, as shownabove.
This argument, however, it appears, is not insisted upon: everything is made
to depend upon the context.
Many distinguished commentators, as Alfonso Turrettin, Knapp, Tholuck,
Flatt, and Stuart, considerthis chapter, from Romans 7:7 to the end, as a
commentary upon Romans 7:5, in which verse the state of those who are in
"the flesh" is spokenof; and the first part of the next chapter as a

165. commentary on Romans 7:6, which speaks ofthose who are no longer under
the law. Accordingly, verses 7-25 are descriptive of the exercises ofa man yet
under the law; and 8:1-17, of those of a man under the gospel, or of a believer.
It is said that the two passages are in direct antithesis;the one describes the
state of a captive to sin, Romans 7:23; and the other the state of one who is
delivered from sin, Romans 8:2. This is certainly ingenious and plausible, but
is founded on a twofoldmisapprehension; first, as to the nature of this
captivity to sin, or the real meaning of the former passage, Romans 7:14-25;
and, secondly, as to the correctinterpretation of the latter passage, or8:1-17.
If Romans 7:14-25 really describes such a captivity as these authors suppose,
in which the individual spokenof "succumbs to sin in every instance," there
is, of course, an end of this question, and that too without any appealto the
context for support. But, on the other hand, if it describes no such state, but,
as Tholuck and ProfessorStuartadmit, contains nothing which might not be
said of the Christian, the whole force of the argument is gone;verses 7-25 are
no longer necessarilya comment on Romans 7:5, nor 8:1-17 on Romans 7:6.
The antithesis of course ceases,if the interpretation, to which it owes its
existence, be abandoned. The matter, after all, therefore, is made to depend on
the correctexpositionof the passage(Romans 7:14-25)itself. A particular
interpretation cannotfirst be assumed, in order to make out the antithesis;
and then the antithesis be assumed, to justify the interpretation. This would
be reasoning in a circle. In the secondplace, this view of the context is
founded, as is believed, on an erroneous exegesisof8:1-17. The first part of
that chapter is not so intimately connectedwith the latter part of this; nor is it
designedto show that the Christian is delivered from "the law of sin and
death" in his members. For the grounds of this statement, the reader is
referred to the commentary on the passagein question. Even if the reverse
were the fact, still, unless it can be previously shownthat Romans 7:14-25 of
this chapter describe the state of a man under the law, there is no ground for
the assumption of such an antithesis betweenthe two passagesas is supposed
in the view of the contextstated above. Both passagesmight describe the same
individual under different aspects;the one exhibiting the operationof the law,
and the other that of the gospelon the renewedmind. But if the exposition
given below of 8:1-17, is correct, there is not a shadow of foundation for the

166. argument derived from the context againstthe common interpretation of
Romans 7:14-25.
The whole tenor of the apostle's argument, from the beginning of the epistle to
the close ofthis chapter, is not only consistentwith the common
interpretation, but seems absolutelyto demand it. His greatobjectin the first
eight chapters, is to show that the whole work of the sinner's salvation, his
justification and sanctification, are not of the law, but of grace;that legal
obedience cannever secure the one, nor legalefforts the other. Accordingly, in
the first five chapters, he shows that we are justified by faith, without the
works of the law; in the sixth, that this doctrine of gratuitous justification,
instead of leading to licentiousness, presents the only certainand effectual
means of sanctification. In the beginning of the seventh chapter, he shows that
the believeris really thus free from the law, and is now under grace;and that
while under the law he brought forth fruit unto sin, but being under grace, he
now brings forth fruit unto God. The question here arises, Why is the holy,
just, and goodlaw thus impotent? Is it because it is evil? Far from it; the
reasonlies in our own corruption. Then, to show how this is, and why the
objective and authoritative exhibition of truth cannot sanctify, the apostle
proceeds to show how it actuallyoperates on the depraved mind. In the first
place, it enlightens conscience,and in the second, it rouses the opposition of
the corrupt heart. These are the two elements of conviction of sin; a
knowledge ofits nature, and a sense of its power overourselves. Hence the
feeling of self-condemnation, of helplessness and misery. Thus the law slays.
This is one portion of its effect, but not the whole;for, even after the heart is
renewed, as it is but imperfectly sanctified, the law is still unable to promote
holiness. The reasonhere againis not that the law is evil, but that we are
carnal, Romans 7:14. Indwelling sin, as the apostle calls it, is the cause why
the law cannot effectthe sanctificationevenof the believer. It presents,
indeed, the form of beauty, and the soul delights in it after the inward man;
but the corrupt affections, which turn to selfand the world, are still there:
these the law cannot destroy. But though the law cannot do this, it shall
eventually be done. Thanks to God, through Jesus Christ, our case is not
hopeless.

167. The apostle's objectwould have been but half attained, had he not thus
exhibited the effectof the law upon the believer's mind, and demonstrated
that a sense oflegalbondage was not necessaryto the Christian, and could not
secure his sanctification. Having done this, his objectis accomplished. The
eighth chapter, therefore, is not so intimately connectedwith the seventh. It
does not commence with an inference from the discussionin vv. 7-25, but from
the whole preceding exhibition. "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to
them that are in Christ Jesus." Why? Becausethey are sanctified? No; but
because they are not under the law. This is the main point from first to last.
They are delivered from that law, which, howevergood in itself, can only
produce sin and death, Romans 7:2. In view of this insufficiency of the law,
God, having sent his Sonas a sacrifice forsin, has delivered them from it, by
condemning sin in him, and has thus securedthe justification of believes.
Through him they satisfythe demands of the law, and their salvation is
rendered certain. This, however, implies that they do not live after the flesh,
but after the Spirit agreeablyto the doctrine of the sixth chapter; for salvation
in sin is a contradictionin terms.
There is, therefore, no such antithesis betweenthe seventhand eighth
chapters, as the opposite interpretation supposes. It is not the designof the
latter to show that men are delivered from indwelling sin; or that the conflict
betweenthe "law in the members" and "the law of the mind," betweenthe
flesh and Spirit, ceases whenmen embrace the gospel. But it shows that this
consummation is securedto all who are in Christ, to all who do not
deliberately and of choice walk after the flesh, and make it their guide and
master. In virtue of deliverance from the law, and introduction into a state of
grace, the believer has not only his acceptancewith God, but his final
deliverance from sin secured. Sin shall not triumph in those who have the
Spirit of Christ, and who, by that Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body.

168. If, then, the context is altogetherfavorable to the ordinary interpretation; if
the passage is accuratelydescriptive of Christian experience and analogous to
other inspired accounts of the exercises ofthe renewedheart; if not merely
particular expressions, but the whole tenor of the discourse, is inconsistent
with the scriptural accountof the natural man; and if Paul, in the use of the
first personand the present tense, cannot, without violence, be considered
otherwise than as expressing his own feelings while writing, we have abundant
reasonto rest satisfiedwith the obvious sense ofthe passage.
JOHN MACARTHUR
The Believerand Indwelling Sin, Part 2
Sermons Romans 7:18–25 45-53 Mar13, 1983
A + A - RESET
Romans chapter 7, and we are studying verses 14 through 25. And we’ll read
those in just a moment so that you’ll have the flow of this particular
important text. A rather flippant sort of scoffing young man askeda preacher
in a mocking fashion, “You say that unsaved people carry a greatweight sin.
Frankly,” he said, “I feel nothing. How heavy is sin? Ten pounds? Fifty
pounds? Eighty pounds? A hundred pounds?” The preacherthought for a
moment and gently replied, “If you laid a 400 pound weighton a corpse,
would it feelthe load?” The young man was quick to say, “Of course not, it’s
dead.” To which the preacherreplied in driving home the point, “The spirit
that knows not Christ is equally dead. And though the load is great, he feels
none of it.”
But may I suggestto you that the believer is not so indifferent to the weight of
sin as the unbeliever is? But rather on the other hand, the believer is hyper
sensitive to sin. And having come to Jesus Christ, his senses are awakenedto
the reality of sin. Such awakening beganin his very salvationand is not

169. lessenedsince he has been redeemed, but rather continues to become intense
as he grows and matures.
Such sensitivity prompted a saint as greatas Chrysostomto say, “I fear
nothing but sin.” An unbeliever, when confronted of the message ofsalvation
by grace, free in Christ, said, “If I believe that doctrine, that salvation was
free and gracious andit was only a matter of faith, if I could be sure that I
could be so easilyconverted, I would believe and then take my fill of sin.” To
which the gospelmessengerreplied, “How much sin do you think it would
take to fill a true Christian to satisfaction?” The answerto that is just a little
bit is more than we can stand.
Coming to Jesus Christ brings the sense ofsin to the heart and mind. And I
believe that a true Christian feels that weightof sin in a way that an
unbeliever does not feel at all. And in case you wonderwhether, in fact, they
are dead to that weight, remind yourselves of Ephesians 2:1, “And you hath
He made alive who were dead in trespassesandsins.”
But a true Christian feels sensitive to sin, hates the evil that is in him, seeks
not to fill up his life with sin under grace, but rather seeksto empty his life of
sin, so distasteful to him is it.
Now when you look at the New Testament, ofcourse the believer becomes
more sensitized to that. We find, for example, in Ephesians 4:30 that when we
sin the Holy Spirit is grieved. And we seek not to grieve the Holy Spirit. In 1
Corinthians 9:27, we find that when we are involved in sin, our life becomes
powerless. That’s whatmade Paul saythat I have this tremendous fear that
in preaching to others I myself would become a castaway, oruseless.
And even the Psalmist said, “Praise is fitting for the upright.” Consequently
when in sin, we find that we are even unacceptable in our praise to God. And
none of us wishes to have unacceptable praise. Jeremiahadded in Jeremiah
5:25 these very poignant words. “Your sins have withheld good things from
you.” And no Christian would choose to have the blessing of God withheld, if
really given the opportunity and the concentrationto think about it.

170. And further, the Psalmistin Psalm 51, when confronted with his own sin
askedGodto restore to him the - what? - the joy of his salvation. In Hebrews
chapter 12 we find that when a believersins, he is chastenedby God. In 1
Corinthians 3 we find that when a believersins, he is hindered in his spiritual
growth so that the apostle says, “I can’t feed you what I’d like to feed you
because you’re so fleshly.” In 2 Timothy 2:21, Paul says we must have pure
lives in order to be vessels fit for the Master’s use. And so, when sin is there
in our lives, it renders our service limited and useless. In 1 Corinthians 10
and 11 we find that sin in the life of a believer pollutes the fellowship. And
that’s why the apostle says, “Beforeyou come to the Lord’s table, make sure
you cleanse yourown heart before God.”
We also find that in 1 Corinthians 11:30, and in 1 John 5:16, and I think also
in James chapter 1, the indication is made there that a believer in sin is in
danger of losing his life. To say nothing of the fact, the supreme factof all
facts that 1 Corinthians 6 says, “Don’tyou know that your body is the temple
of God?” In other words, if you bring your body into contactwith sin, you
are dishonoring God.
Which of us choosesto grieve the Holy Spirit? Which of us deep down in our
hearts as believers really wants to grieve the Holy Spirit? Or wants to have
unansweredprayer? Or desires to have a powerless life? Or wants to be
offering inappropriate praise? Which of us, when really looking deep within
ourselves as redeemedpeople, choosesto have the blessing of God withheld,
joy removed, chastening in their place, growth hindered, service limited,
fellowship polluted, and our life in danger? Which of us as believers would
long to dishonor God?
Quite the contrary, as the Psalmistsaidin Psalm42:1, “As the hart - ” or the
deer “ - pants after the waterbrooks, so pants my soul after Thee, O God.”
I believe that when an individual comes to Jesus Christ, there is planted
within that individual a new creation, a new nature, a new essence,a new self,
a new man. And that the great heartbeat, and passion, and cry of that new
creationis a longing for the things of God. And over againstthat, a

171. resentment and a hatred of sin. And that indeed is the spirit of the Apostle
Paul as he writes in our text, look at it, beginning at verse 14.
“Forwe know that the law is spiritual: but I am fleshy, sold under sin. For
that which I do I understand not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I
hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consentunto the law that
it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For
I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no goodthing: for to will is
present with me; but how to perform that which is goodI find not. Forthe
goodthat I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I
do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
“I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I
delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see anotherlaw in my
members, warring againstthe 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
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank Godthrough Jesus
Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but
with the flesh the law of sin.”
Now there’s a man in conflict in that text, a man in serious conflict. There’s a
man in that text who loathes sin, who hates sin, who despises sin, and who
loves righteousness, andwho longs for the law of God. This cannot be an
unredeemed man, for according to our Lord in John chapter 3, the
unredeemed love darkness and hate righteousness. This is a man who loves
righteousness andhates sin.
In Psalm 119 - and I’m going to be referring back to that Psalmso you might
want to mark it somewhere in your Bible. We’re going to go back to it a few
times. But in Psalm119:104, we have a very similar statementin one simple
verse. And here the Psalmistwonderfully reflecting on the Word of God says,
“Through Thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false
way.”
There is the essenceofthe redeemedman who longs for the understanding of
the Word of God, who longs for the fulfillment of the Word of God, and who
hates every false way. Thomas Watson, the wonderful man of God of the

172. Puritan era, in his very significantbook calledThe Body of Divinity, said this.
“A sign of sanctificationis an antipathy againstsin. A hypocrite may leave
sin, yet love it as a serpent sheds its coat, but keeps its sting. But a sanctified
person cansay he not only leaves sin, he loathes it. God has changedthy
nature and made thee as a king’s daughter, all glorious within. He has put on
thee the breastplate of holiness, which though it may be shot at cannever be
shot through.”
So, there is a struggle. And I believe the struggle is presentedto us here in
Romans chapter 7, a classicpassagedescribing the graphic poignant picture
of the pain of indwelling sin in the life of a Christian.
Now you need to remember that in the 7th chapter of Romans, Paul is
basicallytalking about the place of the law. And he is trying to demonstrate
that because he preaches salvationby grace through faith does not mean that
he sees no place for the law. That is not to sayto Jews who esteemthe law
that he does not esteemit, he is simply giving it its proper function, and its
proper function is not to save people, or to sanctify people, but to convict them
of sin and show them, as verse 13 indicates, the exceeding sinfulness of sin.
And he is pointing out that even as a believer, the law continues to have the
function of demonstrating to the Christian the exceeding sinfulness of sin.
When he sees the law of God, which his heart longs to fulfill, and in
comparisonsees the sin in his life, he loves the law and loathes the sin.
Now in the midst of this conflict we find the pouring out of the heart of the
Apostle Paul in the first person, I, I, I, me, me, me. This is his testimony and
ours, as well. And the testimony of his own struggle spiritually with
indwelling sin is given in three laments. It’s a very sadpassage. It’s a very
remorseful passage. It’s a very poignant passage, because itisn’t often that
we get this kind of deep insight into the apostle Paul’s struggle. And it isn’t
often that he repeats it so many times. In fact, as I read that, you probably
noted the repetition of the text. There are three laments, and they all three
basicallysay the same thing. He laments his situation. He weeps overit. He
sorrows overit. His heart is grieved over it. He’s broken over it.

173. And eachlament has three parts: The condition in which he’s finding himself,
the proof of that condition, and the source of that condition. Look at the first
lament by way of review. We went into it lastweek. Verses 14-17. The
condition is in verse 14. “We know the law is spiritual: but I am fleshy, sold
under sin.” The law is spiritual. That is, it proceeds from the Holy Spirit. It
is energized by the mind, and the heart, and the will of God. It is holy, just
and good, says verse 12. But I am, in contrast, unspiritual. The law is
spiritual, and I’m unspiritual.
Now you say, “Cana Christian saythat?” Yes, in a perspective. Thatis one
perception that we rightly should have of our own lives. We are not all that
we should be, right? The law of God is spiritual but we are fleshly, we’re
unspiritual. We are carnal. And here he’s looking at the battle. He’s looking
at his humanness. He’s not talking about all that is renewedin him. He’s
talking about what is not renewedin him. His humanness is still there and it
stares him right in the face. He finds himself soldunder sin. He says in verse
23, he is “brought into captivity to the law of sin which is operating in his
members.” He finds himself still being victimized by sin, eventhough he’s
redeemed. This is his condition, condition of struggle.
In fact, in Philippians 3:12, Paul puts it this way, “Notas though I had already
attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may
apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended: - ” in other words, I haven’t gotit yet
“ - but this one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and
reaching forth unto the things which are before, I press towardthe mark for
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
What he’s saying is, “I know I haven’t gottenthere yet.” And that’s all you
have here in Romans 7 is a recognitionof what he isn’t. It’s a perspective.
It’s not all that could be said about him, but it is something that could be said
about him. It isn’t all that could be said about me to say I am unspiritual, but
it is true about me to say I am unspiritual. I have not yet become fully what I
will become, right? It is a non-technicalview. It is a perspective. It is the
same perspective that made Paul say “I am chief of sinners,” 1 Timothy 1:15.

174. And what do you say gives that perspective? Well, listenvery carefully. It is
an understanding of the pure, holy, just, goodlaw of God. And when you see
yourself againstthat law, you are very much aware of how sinful you are.
Now when you see a Christian, calls himself a Christian - or herself - and they
appear to be very content with where they are spiritually, and they want to
make sure you know how really holy they are, and how pious they are, that is
not to indicate to you that indeed they are holy, but rather indeed they don’t
understand the Word of God. Thatis evidence not of their holiness, but an
evidence of their ignorance of God’s holy law. Forthe better we understand
the infinite perfection of God’s holy law, the better we will understand our
own imperfection, true? And so I submit to you that what we have in Romans
chapter 7 is not only the testimony of a Christian, but a very mature one, and
a very insightful one, and a very spiritually-minded one.
After giving us the condition in verse 14, he gives us the proof in verse 15.
Here’s the proof that he’s still not all that he should be, that he’s unspiritual.
“Forthat which I do, I understand not - ” or I know not, or I don’t love, or I
don’t choose to do “ - for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that I
do.” Now that’s the proof. The proof that I’m still fleshy is that I’m
frustrated because Isee the infinite glory of God’s law, I see the magnificent
holiness of His standard, and I can’t live up to that standard. And I’m not
satisfiedwith how far along I am, I’m only dissatisfiedwith how far along I’m
not.
That is a very mature perspective. It’s a very immature thing to think you’ve
really arrived spiritually. The apostle Paul says, “Ihaven’t obtained. I
haven’t apprehended that. But I - ” what? “ - press towardthe mark. I see
the goaland I’m moving. I’m not there.”
That’s the humility that comes from right spiritual perception. Instead of
congratulating ourselves about how holy we are, if we really understand
God’s law, we’re going to see ourselves as falling far short. And that’s where
he is. And that’s why this, again, takes us back to the brokenness, andthe
humility, and the contrition that marks the true followerof the Savior.

175. Then he talks about the source. Because ifyou say, “Well, Paul, you’re saved.
You’re redeemed. I mean, where is this coming from?” Verses 16 and 17 give
us the answer. “Ifthen I do that which I would not, I consentunto the law
that it is good.” Nothing wrong with the law. BecauseI can’t keepit doesn’t
mean it’s wrong. What’s your problem, Paul? “Now thenit is no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
Now my condition is I’m in a struggle. The proof of it is that I can’t always do
what I want, and do sometimes what I really don’t want in my deepestself.
And the source of it all is sin that is in me. And now the “I” and the “me” in
verse 17 become technical. He says “I” in verse 14, very generally. “I’m
unspiritual.” But now he makes sure we understand what he means in verse
17. “Now then it is no more I,” and the “no more,” you remember we talked
about that, de ouketi, no more, no more since when? Since salvation. Since
I’ve been saved, no longer is it I, the real me, the renewedme, the recreated
me, that does it but it is - what? - it’s sin that dwells in me. And we went into
that in some detail. The “I” then becomes a technical term.
Now what is the conflict, then? The conflict in the life of a believer is a
conflict betweena new creationwhich is holy, which is createdfor eternity,
which is the eternal seed, which cannotsin, and that is in you, that is the real
you, that is the basic you, the recreatedyou. The conflict is betweenthat
redeemedyou and your unredeemed mortality, your unredeemed humanity,
which is still present. And that’s where his struggle lies. And that’s his
lament.
And I believe that every child of God who really is walking in obedience with
the mind of the Saviorlaments the reality of his sin. I see the believer in 1
John 1:8-10, and he will not deny his sin, he will - what? - confess his sin. I
hear him in Psalm38:18 saying, “ForI will declare my iniquity; I will be
sorry for my sin.” I hear him in Psalm 97:10. “Ye who love the Lord hate
evil.” I think the truly regeneratedpersonhates sin and faces the fact that
even though he’s been recreatedand there’s a new nature there, that new
nature is still encased, as it were, in humanness, and therein lies the struggle.

176. So even though we’re redeemed, sin hangs on in our flesh, our mortality, our
unredeemed humanity, and disallows us from seeing fulfillment of the deep
heart longing that pants after the perfectionof God’s law. And sometimes
this doesn’t only show up before you sin, but it shows up afterward, and it
shows up in your guilt, and your sense ofsorrow, and your sense of contrition.
Let’s look at the secondlament, and it’s just like the first. Verse 18. The
pattern here is identical. Here comes the condition. “ForI know that in me -
” now what me are you talking about? Just the generalyou, the whole you, the
new you, the new creation? No, no. “In me.” That is which part of me? My
what? “My flesh.” And he gets technical. He doesn’t want us to lose the
distinction that he just made in verse 17 about that it’s not really him, it’s the
sin that dwells in him.
And then in verse 18 he says, “The sin dwells in my flesh.” So it’s not really
me, not the new me, not the recreatedme, not the divine, incorruptible nature
planted in me, not the eternal seedwhich cannot sin. It’s not that me, it’s, it’s
my flesh. So “that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no goodthing.”
I don’t see any goodthing in my unredeemed humanity. And so he says, “In
me,” but the he particularizes which part, “that is in my flesh.” And therein, I
believe, he locates interms the seatof sin. Sin is seatedin the flesh. And we
have said before, and sayagain, that that flesh is our humanness. It isn’t
necessarilyin and of itself evil, but it’s where sin finds its base of operation.
I might just put it this way. Paul limits the area of corruption in the believer
to the flesh, to the unredeemed mortality. That is why, beloved, when you die
and leave this body, no change needs to be made for you to enter into eternal
glory, because allyou need to be fitted for that is not the addition of
something but the subtraction. And so he limits the area of sin to the
fallenness of his unredeemed mortality.
Now would you notice he says “that is, in my flesh.” He is no longer in the
flesh, as we’ll find out in chapter 8:5-8, but the flesh is – what? - in him, still
there. And, by the way, unsaved people are only flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh,
flesh, and nothing else.

177. Now the proof of this condition is given in verse 18 again. And this is a sad
song. And that’s why he laments it over and overagain. Look at verse 18.
Here’s the proof, middle of the verse, “For - ” in other words, here’s how I’m
going to demonstrate it “ - to will is present with me.” In other words, there’s
something in me that wants to do what’s right. “But how to fully perform
that which is goodI find not.”
Now please don’t misunderstand him here. He’s not saying, “I can’t figure
out how to do anything right any time,” because that isn’t true. But what he’s
saying is, “I can’t do it to the extent that my heart longs to do it.” You
understand? “I can’t perform it in the way that I want to perform it.”
If you look at your own Christian life and you see the flow of growth, I think if
you sit down and are honestabout it, even though you cansee growth in your
Christian life, you’re going to have a greaterhatred for your sin now than you
did long ago whenyou were way down here on the growth line, and you really
didn’t understand how serious sin was, and you hadn’t had such a vast
comprehensionof the majesty and the holiness of God, and the infinite purity
of His holy Word. You see, as that escalates, so does your sensitivity to sin.
And though while we’ve taught and we affirm again that spiritual growth
involves the decreasing frequencyof sin, along with the decreasing frequency
of sin is a heightened sensitivity to it. And that is Paul’s experience. The will
is present with me, the realme down inside wants to do what God wants, but I
can’t perform the thing the way I want to.
And then verse 19, he says similarly as he said in verse 16, “Forthe goodthat
I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” I want it. I just
can’t do it.
You know, if you look back, for example, in the Old Testamentand you see
David, and you’ll find David as a friend of God, right? Sweetsingerof the
Psalms of Israel, wonderful man of God, exalted. Jesus Christis glorified in
being called “the Sonof David,” isn’t He? Wonderful, wonderful. And yet if
you read the Old Testament, you will not find any writer in the Old Testament
who is more overawed, who is more contrite, who is more sensitive to his sin
than David.

178. It is David who cries out to God through the Psalms, particularly Psalm 32
and 51, but not only those Psalms. Who cries out to God for mercy, who cries
out to God for loving kindness, who cries out to God for compassionin the
midst of his sinfulness. And it was David who was so near to the heart of God
that any sin in his life became cause for him to have a broken heart. So, the
struggle here to me is clearlythe struggle of the regenerate man. Unsaved
people don’t even understand this kind of attitude.
Then he comes to the source againin verse 20. The condition, the proof, and
the source. “Now, ifI do the things I don’t want to do, it is no more I that do
it but - ” what? “ - sin that dwells in me.” Exactlywhat he saidin verse 17.
It’s no more I. What do you mean “no more”? There’s that “no more” again.
No more since when? Since what? Salvation. Before salvation - you know,
unsaved people can’t be in this chapter because there’s “no more” for them.
There’s no “no more.” There never was a change. There’s neverbeen a time
that things have been different. What would “no more” mean in an
unbeliever? There isn’t any “no more.” It’s always been the same.
But since he’s redeemed, there is a “no more.” And since that redemption, it
is no more that recreatedI, that real self that’s doing these things, but it is sin
that dwells there. And so we fight, says Paul, and we lose. And the losses
seemso much more overwhelming because ofthe perfection of God’s holy
law.
So, if I can just reachback and add a little addition to your list that you may
have been accumulating through Romans 5, 6, and 7, add this to your list of
results of justification by faith. The first one we saw in chapter 5 was security.
The secondwe saw in chapter 6 was holiness. And then in chapter 7 we saw
freedom, fruitfulness, and service. And a fourth one in this chapter,
sensitivity to sin. That is a result of justification. Paul’s still talking about the
doctrine of justification by grace through faith, and one of its results is a
heightened sensitivity to sin.
Now at this point you might figure Paul’s going to give up. And he made the
point, right? He’s sort of like me, he labors the point. But let’s look at the
third lament. And it’s just like the rest. But this is one way to get the point

179. across,isn’t it, of how sorrowfulhe is so that he goes overit and over it and
over it. And here come the same three things.
First the condition, verse 21. “I find then a law, that, when I would do good,
evil is present with me.” Now here we come back to the same condition. He
says “I find a law.” And by that he means a principle. He’s using the word
“law.” It’s a literary device again, so he stays with that term. There’s the law
of God. And then I see another law, he says. Another principle, another
standard that makes demands on me, another inflexible law that drives me to
conformity.
“I see another law in me - ” another principle operating, another source of
commands, another standard, “ - that when I would do good, evil is present
with me.” Literally it says “evil lies close athand.” It’s right there. It’s
battling every goodthought, every goodintention, every goodmotive, every
goodword, every gooddeed, every goodact. It isn’t way away. It isn’t far
off. It has never been eradicated, as some theologians wouldtell us, that you
get to the point where your sin nature is eradicated. And then they say from
then on you don’t sin, you just make mistakes. Paulsays, “It’s right there.
It’s right at hand. It isn’t the real me but, boy, it isn’t far away.” And the
condition is one of conflict again.
And then the proof, verse 22. How can you prove this again? Well, “I delight
in the law of God after the inward man.” That’s one side of the conflict. In
his inward man he delights in God’s law. And againI would draw you to
Psalm119, which I think is the best Old Testamentparallelto Romans 7. I
don’t know if anybody’s ever said that before, but I’d like to suggestthat.
Psalm119:77. “LetThy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: - ”
listen to this “ - for Thy law is my delight.” And it may well have been that
Paul had in mind that very passage. And when he says “I delight in the law in
the inward man,” he’s affirming the heart of the Psalmist.
In Psalm 119:111 andothers - but just look at 111. “Thy testimonies have I
takenas an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.” Again,
his delight. In verse 20 of that same Psalm, just one other, “My soul breaks
for the longing that it has unto Thine ordinances at all times.” Oh, what a

180. tremendous verse. My heart actually breaks at the longing that it has to
Thine ordinances at all times.
And what is the mark of the truly spiritual man in Psalm 1:2? “His delight is
in the - ” what? “ - Law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and
night.” The regenerate manis marked by a love of the Word of God, a love of
the law of God, a delighting in that law after the inward man.
Now I want you to notice that phrase “afterthe inward man.” It really says,
“from the bottom of my heart.” That’s the meaning. From the deepestpart
of me. And the deepestpart of him, the bottom of his heart, the inward man,
the inner man, the real inside guy hungers, and longs, and delights, and loves
the law of God. The deepestjoy, the truest expressionof personhoodis to
delight in God’s law.
I believe the inner man or the inward man is that renewed, redeemednature.
And even though - Paul says to the Corinthians, “eventhough the outer man
is perishing, the inward man is being - ” what? “ - renewedday by day.” 2
Corinthians 4:16. And we are “strengthenedby might by His Spirit,”
Ephesians 3:16, and the Spirit does His work “in the inner man.” That’s the
area of the new creation. That’s the real self, the centerof redeemed
personhood.
But then the proof of the conflict takes us to verse 23. “But I see anotherlaw,
another principle.” And where is this one? Where is it? In his what? “In - ”
what? “ - in members.” And what did we saythe “members” are? They are
the human factors, the bodily factors, the flesh, humanness, unredeemed
mortality. And his use of terms is completely consistent.
So he sees in verse 23 another law, and this law isn’t in his real self, his deeper
self, his inner man. It’s in his outer man, isn’t it? It’s in his members. It’s in
his humanness. And it is “warring againstthe law of my mind.” And the law
of his mind is the same as that which is the law of God, that which is the inner
man. So the mind is equated with the inner man. And he sees the war. And
sometimes he confesses the law in my members wins againstthe law of my
mind, and thus “brings me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members.” He makes a very cleardistinction.

181. Listen, beloved, if this were an unbeliever here, the law of his mind would be
just as rotten as the law of his members. Forthe carnalmind is enmity
againstGod. But his mind, which is his inner man, his truest self, his
redeemedcreation, longs for the law of God, and is warring againstthe law of
his members which, of course, as we said, is his humanness. And notice again,
verse 23, sometimes the battle goes in favor of the law of his members and -
watchthis - brings him into captivity.
Listen. That would have to be a redeemedperson because unredeemedpeople
can’t be brought into captivity. Why? They’re already there. But when sin
wins the victory in the spiritual struggle, then the believer is brought into
captivity to that sin and becomes captive to that sin.
And so, he demonstrates againthe condition in verse 21, and then proves it.
The conflict betweenthe law of his mind, which is his inner man, longing for
the things of God, and the law in his members. And keepin mind that
consistentlythrough chapter 6 verses 12, 13, 19, chapter7 verse 5 and all
through this part of it, in all of those places he always puts sin in the members.
The bodily parts is what it refers to. That does not just mean the flesh. That
means the mind, the thoughts, the emotions, all that goes with our humanness.
And there is a war going on.
Now I want you to go back to Psalm119. And I don’t know if you ever
noticed this about Psalm119, but I see the Psalmisthaving the same war. And
I want to show you that. Let’s go back to where we left off, Psalm119:20, and
I want to pick up that great verse and then I want to take you right through
the Psalm, maybe ten or twelve verses. And they’re very brief, but follow
closely.
“My soul breaketh- ” that's a very, very intense language. “Mysoul breaketh
for the longing that it hath unto Thine ordinances at all times.” Oh, that’s a,
you say, “That’s a spiritual person with that kind of heartbreaking longing for
the things of God.” Then look at verse 70. It talks about the proud. “Their
heart is as fat as grease.” Prettyvivid. “But I delight in Thy law.”
Go to verse 81. “My soulfainteth for Thy salvation: but I hope in Thy word.
Mine eyes fail for Thy word, saying, When wilt Thou comfort me? For I am

182. become like a wineskinin the smoke;yet do I not forgetThy statutes.” I’m
drying out. I need Your law so desperately. I feel so cut off from it. And here
is this heart panting after God’s law.
Verse 92. “Unless Thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished
in mine affliction.” Verse 97 sums it up. “O how I love Thy law! it is my
meditation all the day.” Verse 113. “I hate vain thoughts: but Thy law do I
love.” So vivid. Verse 131. “Iopen my mouth, and panted:” You say, “You
been running a long ways?” No. “Ilongedfor Thy commandments.” Thatis
- do you experience that? That’s a profound hunger for the commandment.
You have little question about the spirituality of this man.
Verse 143. “Trouble and anguish have taken hold of me: yet Thy
commandments are my delight.” Verse 163. “Ihate and abhor lying: but
Thy law do I love.” Verse 165. “Greatpeace have they who love Thy law:
and nothing shall offend them.” Verse 174. “I have longedfor Thy salvation,
O Lord; and Thy law is my delight.”
Now by the time you getto 174 you sayto yourself, “This guy is so spiritual,
it’s, you know, intimidating.” And then you’re literally knockedoverby the
last verse in the Psalm. What does it say? “I have gone astraylike a lost
sheep; seek Thyservant; for I do not forgetThy commandments.”
You say, “Wait a minute, this guy is really riding the crest. What are you
doing ending a thing like that?” You know what he says? “Ilove Thy law.”
And at the very end he says, “ButI’ve gone astray.” See, he was right where
Paul was, wasn’the? Same conflict. It’s no different. Now let’s go back to
Romans 7.
What’s the source? The proof is in the first part of verse 23, where he says “I
see anotherlaw in my members, warring againstthe law of my mind, and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Whatis
the source? Well, it’s right there in that same verse. “Bringing me into
captivity to the law of - ” what? “ - sin which is in my members.”
Why do you sin? Why do you sin? Because Goddidn’t do a goodjob when
He saved you? Cause your new nature isn’t complete? Becauseyou’re not

183. prepared for heaven yet and you’ve still got to earn your way in? No. Why
do you sin? Becausewhat? Sinis still there in your humanness. And this has
to be a believer because unbelievers aren’t brought into the captivity of sin.
They’re already there. And your members, your humanness, includes your
mind, and your emotion, your feeling, your body, and all those things.
In 2 Corinthians 10:3. “Forthough we walk in the flesh, we do not war after
the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of strong holds;)” I love that. He says, “Youknow,
though we have to walk around in this flesh, when you getto the real us, it’s
really not flesh at all, is it? The weapons with which we fight are not fleshly.
They’re spiritual.”
Three laments, and they emphasize the condition of the believer. It’s a
condition of conflict. They emphasize the proof of that, inability to do God’s
will to the extent we know we ought to. And they emphasize the source of
that, indwelling sin. The true believer, the spiritual believer, the Godly
believer cries out for deliverance from this. And if three laments aren’t
enough, he lets out a wail in verse 24, a wail that exceeds the other laments, a
wail that goes beyondanything he said. He just cries out in the distress and
the frustration and says, “O wretched man that I am.”
And you sayto yourself, “Canthis be the apostle Paul? Can this be a
Christian?” And the wonderful and God-blessedcommentatorof years and
years ago, Haldane says, “Menperceive themselves to be sinners in direct
proportion as they have previously discoveredthe holiness of God and His
law.” And he’s right. This is a believer who says, “O wretchedman that I
am.” He wants to be all that God wants him to be.
The Psalmistcries out in Psalm6, “O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger,
neither chastenme in Thy hot displeasure. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for
I am weak: O Lord, healme; for my bones are vexed. My soul is very vexed -
” terrified, it means “ - but Thou, O Lord, how long? Return, O Lord, deliver
my soul: save me for Thy mercies’sake. Forin death there is no
remembrance of thee: in Sheolwho shall give Thee thanks? I am weary with
my groaning;all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couchwith my

184. tears.” And what the Psalmistis saying is, “I’m so sick and tired of not being
everything I ought to be.”
In Psalm 38, “O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy wrath: neither chastenme in
Thy hot displeasure,” says David. “ForThine arrow stick fast in me, and Thy
hand press me greatly. There is no soundness in my flesh because ofThine
anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because ofmy sin.” And David
says, “Formine iniquities are gone over mine head: like an heavy burden
they are too heavy for me. My wounds are repulsive and corrupt because of
my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all
the day long. And my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is
no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and very broken: I have roared by
reasonof the disquieting of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before Thee.”
You say, “If all your desire is before Him, how could you be in that mess?”
That’s the battle, isn’t it? And David is saying little else than what Paul is
saying. “O wretched man that I am. My heart panteth. My strength faileth
me.” He wantedto be more than he was, and he found himself debilitated by
his humanness.
In Psalm 130, “Outof the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord. Lord, hear
my voice: let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. If Thou,
Lord, shouldestmark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is
forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord, my
soul doth wait, and in His Word do I hope.” Here again, crying out of sin by
one who is godly. This is the way of the redeemed. “O wretchedman that I
am.”
And then he asks a question in verse 24. “Who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?” Would you keepin mind again, where is his problem? It is in
his – what? - his body. And it is a body of - what? - death. The word
“deliver” is the word “rescue.” It’s used to denote the actof a soldier who
runs to his comrade in the midst of a battle, and he rescues him from the
enemy. And the body of death is very interesting. It literally refers to “the
body which is subjectto sin and death.” It is the unredeemed mortality,

185. again. And again, the terms are consistent. It’s the body, the members, the
flesh.
It has been reported that near Tarsus where Saul was born there was a tribe
of people who inflicted the terrible penalty upon a murderer. When a person
murdered someone, itwas their custom to fasten the dead corpse to the
murderer face to face, nose to nose, chestto chest, thigh to thigh, foot to foot.
That was the punishment until the decayof the dead body had killed the
murderer. So tight were the bonds that he could not free himself. And a few
days is all it took for the corruption of death to pass to the living and take his
life. And Paul looks athimself and he sees that in his own case, and senses
that he is face to face, chestto chest, thigh to thigh to something that is dead
and corrupt and killing, and cries, “O wretchedman that I am, who shall
deliver me?”
Is there any hope? There’s hope. Verse 25. “I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord.” That sounds like triumph to me, doesn’t it to you? That is
assurance. Whatare you saying, Paul? Is this some mystical kind of thing?
How do you get deliverance from the conflict? Through Jesus Christ our
Lord. What would he have in mind? I believe what he has in mind is
expressedin the 8th chapter of Romans.
Look at verse - let’s start at verse 18, and we’ll getinto this later. “ForI
considerthat the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory which shall be revealedin us.” And then he talks
about the creationwaiting for the full manifestation. Drop down to verse 23.
“And not only they - ” that is, not only the creationgroans and travails
waiting for its glory “ - but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the
Spirit.”
In other words, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit. We have the new
creation. We have the eternalseed. We have the divine nature. And it’s
there in us, but “we also groanwithin ourselves waiting for the adoption, that
is the redemption of our - ” what? “ - of our body.” You see, we’re waiting for
the final phase of salvation, for we are savedin hope. We’re still hoping for
that day when we fully are freed and redeemedin body as well as soul.

186. And I believe that’s what Paul’s looking forward to in verse 7:25. “I thank
God - ” he says, that the end of the conflictis going to come “ - through the
Lord Jesus Christ.” And it’s going to come when He appears and when we
are glorified, or when we enter into His presence and are glorified. That’s
when the end comes, the end of the battle.
You want to hear it in the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 15? Here it is.
“When this corruptible shall have put on - ” what? “ - incorruption, and when
this mortal shall have put on - ” what? “ - immortality.” That’s when, he says
in verse 57, “thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.” Almost the same phrase he uses in Romans 7:25.
And here he says, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And it’s the
same day that he sees whenthis mortal shall put on immortality, and this
corruption shall put on incorruption. So he’s looking aheadat the time of
redemption and he says, “I see it and it’s coming, and I’m living in hope that
indeed it will come.” It’s the same thing he had in mind in 2 Corinthians 5:4
when he says, “We that are in this tabernacle do groan- ” why? “ - because
we’re burdened - ” with our humanness, and “ - we would like to be not
unclothed, but clothed upon, when mortality is swallowedup by life.” Great
truth.
We look for that day. It’s the same day he had in mind in writing to the
Philippians, when we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
change our lowly body, that it may be fashionedlike His glorious body.
That’s a triumphant hope, isn’t it?
Meanwhile, verse 25, until then, “with my mind I serve the law of God; but
with the flesh the law of sin.” You know what he’s saying? Until that day, the
battle - what? - goes on, and it goes on as long as we remain in the flesh. And
we continue to cry with Tennyson, “Ah for a [new] man to arise within me
[and subdue the man that I am].”
So, the battle isn’t going to be over till Jesus gives us immortality and
incorruption. Full deliverance awaits glorification. That’s the point. But,
that is not to saythat we can’t experience victory here and now, right? And

187. that’s chapter 8, and that’s for two weeks from tonight. But betweennow and
then the Holy Spirit will help you. Let’s bow in prayer.
I want you to just have a silent word of prayer with me for a moment. And I
want you to do a couple of things. First, I want you to thank God for the new
creationthat you are. Would you do that? That you’ve been made new in
Christ, fit for heaven. Would you thank Him for that?
And then would you confess to Him that though you love His law and you long
to do it, there’s something in you that wars againstthat? And would you just
confess that to Him with sorrow in your heart and ask that He would give you
victory until Jesus comes to free you from this lowly body and give you a body
fashionedlike His own?
DearFather, we thank You that You’ve let us into the heart of this beloved
apostle and into the heart of the Psalmist, for both of them have articulated
the cries of our own hearts. We want to be so right. We want to be all that
other people need. We want to minister the way we should. We want to love
the wayYou love. We want to be always dedicatedand committed. We want
always to speak the truth, always to have integrity, character. We want to
have the purity, and the gentleness, andthe meekness. We wantto have the
strength of character. We want to always saythe fitting word. We always
want to bring strength to weakness.
But, Lord, so often we just don’t. We’re indifferent to people. We’re selfish,
self-indulgent, critical, unfaithful to promises made, and we just fall short.
And as we lament that power of indwelling sin, help us to know, Father, that
even in such admission we’re saying more. We’re saying that we know
You’re a holy God who has given us a just, and holy, and goodlaw.
And so, even in our sensitivity to sin, and evenin the sense of sorrow that we
have, there is a hope for it speaks ofone redeemed, it speaks ofone moving
along in spiritual growth, seeing sin for what it really is, and the law of God
for what it is. And it’s even comforting, Father, to know that we hunger for
those things that are holy, just, and good, even though we don’t always
perform them.

188. Thank You for that reverse effectthat in our sorrow we find a measure of joy.
Help us to have our hearts filled with hope for the coming of Jesus Christ.
And in the meantime, to be delivered from defeatby the power of the Spirit in
us.
We thank You for our fellowship this day and we pray now for those who may
be here who do not know Jesus Christ, in whom there is no conflict, who like
the scofferdo not feel the weight of sin because they’re dead, and a dead man
feels nothing. May they awake as Pauldid in Romans chapter 7 and see face
to face the law of God, and see their sin, and come to the Savior. Our Father,
You bring those that You would desire to come. Touchevery heart. Bless the
counselors as they share and give You praise in Christ’s name. Amen.
ALAN CARR
PAUL'S SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY - PART 2
Intro: This is one of the easiestpassagesin the Bible for me to identify with. It
tells the absolute truth about the life of the believer!
Some commentators feel that Paul is describing the life of a carnalChristian.
That he is telling us how savedmen who refuse to yield to the Spirit of God
live their lives. Yet, I read these verses and to me they are intensely personal.
It is as if Paul rips the covers back from his life and gives us an intimate
portrait of himself and of how he struggles through life.

189. No, this isn't a description of a carnalbeliever! This is a portrait of a
maturing saint! It is the waylife is for the child of God; describedwith no
punches pulled and no holds barred. This is how life was for Paul.
However, most of us, if we were honest, could say that we can identify with
everything Paul says in these verses. While Paul is writing his own
autobiography, he is, at the same time, writing about our lives as well. Let's
look into these verses this evening and see ourselves,as we are portrayed in
this passage.
I. V. 14 PAUL STATES THE FACTS
A. The Law Is Spiritual - Paul has just stated in the previous verses that there
is a problem betweenhimself and the Law of God. The problem is not the
Law, the problem is Paul. He reminds us that the Law of God is spiritual in
nature. The Law is a goodthing and it lays down rule for proper living. The
very fact that it originatedwith God is proof positive that it is not bad. The
problem does not lie with the Law, but with man!
B. The FleshIs Sinful - The word "carnal" means "fleshly". While the Law
would teach man how to live godly, Man's flesh is only interestedin that
which is sinful!
(Ill. What Paul is telling us here is that there is a part of him that is still under
bondage to sin! The old nature, that is to be reckoneddead indeed unto sin, is
in fact alive and well! There is a part of us that cannotsin! Our spirit has been
redeemedand has been forever sealedfrom sin. We cannot sin in that part of
our beings!However, this flesh is as wickedas it everwas!It is as mean as it
ever was and it still possessesallthe same old, ungodly, worldly appetites that

190. it has always had. It is as Paul states here "soldunder sin". It always has been
and ever will be the slave of sin! The flesh is wicked!
(Ill. Sin is so wretched and powerful in the life of even the redeemedperson
that it contaminates everything he touches and is ever striving to dominate all
of life! We are lockedin a battle this evening that is difficult, but it is one that
is described in detail in these verses!)
I. Paul States The Facts
II. V. 15-20 PAUL STATES HIS FAILURES
A. V. 15-16 The Contest - Paul describes the struggle that exists within every
believer this evening. The word "allow" in verse 15 means "to know". Paulis
saying that he does not even know why he does what he does!He wants to live
right, he wants to saythe right things and think the right things, but before he
knows what has happened, he has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The simplest way to understand what the Apostle is saying is that there is a
part of him that affirms the Law. That new man, who came to life on the Road
to Damascus, wants to do the will of the Lord and strives to do so, but at the
same time, there is another part of Paul that yearns for everything the Law
denies. When Godsays something is good, the flesh wants just the opposite.
When the Law says something is bad, the flesh says that it is good. It is a
contestbetweenthe old man and the new man, Gal. 5:17.
B. V. 18-19 The Contestants - Paul tells us that there are two "Pauls". One
wants to do right and the other wants to do wrong. These two men share one

191. body and they fight over everything. He finds that he is hindered when it
comes time to do the right thing and he is helped when it comes time to do the
wrong thing.
(Ill. How many of us can identify with this tonight? There is a part of us that
wants to please Godin everything we do, but there is another part of us that
fights us at every turn. Friends, this can be a very frustrating way to live life!)
C. V. 17, 20 The Conclusion - Twice in these verses, Paultells us that the
problem is his old sin nature. The goodnews is that it isn't the saved, new
Paul that is constantly doing the evil and avoiding the good. It is the old Paul,
who still longs for wickedness thatis at fault here.
(Ill. Paul isn't making excuses forhis sins! Paul isn't throwing up his hands
and saying, "Oh well, why fight it? If it feels gooddo it!" That isn't his
attitude at all, and that will become clearin a moment. However, that is the
attitude that has been adopted by many believers this evening. Many people
grow weary from the struggle and give in to the will of the flesh. There will
never be victory when that happens! No!Paul's statementis not one of
resignation, it is one of victory! He is telling us that there is a new man living
in his body and that new man is above that old sinful lifestyle. That new man
loves the Lord and that new man will fight until the day he is delivered from
the fight and from the body of sin and evil!)
I. Paul States The Facts
II. Paul States His Failures

192. III. V. 21-23 PAUL STATES HIS FINDINGS
A. V. 21 A Companion - Paul's discoveryis that every time he tries to do the
good, evil is always there! Every goodword, every gooddeed, every good
thought, every goodmotive and every good thing is challengedby evil. If we
are able to any goodthing, it is always the result of a battle!
(Ill. Isn't it true that when we would do good, there is always the temptation to
do evil? Isn't it hard to keepyour motives pure? Isn't it difficult to control the
thought processes so thatgoodwins out? Sure it is! The only people who do
not struggle with a sinful nature are those people who are lost in sin! They are
following the course of nature, Eph. 2:1-3. However, when a person tries to go
againstthe grain of the flesh and the world, there will always be a struggle!
Sin is a constant, wickedcompanion!)
B. V. 22 A Confession - Paul now lets us in on a secretconcerning himself. He
loves the Law! WhateverGod has said in His Word is a delight to the new
Paul!
(Ill. This is true for every savedindividual! If you are savedby the grace of
the Lord, you love His Word! When the Lord reveals His will to you, you are
delighted and want to do it with all your heart. That is a goodsign! If a person
hears the Word of God and hates the thoughts of doing things God's way, that
tells me that a person is not saved. However, when the Word of God is our
delight and the standard for living, that is a sign that we are dealing with a
savedindividual!)
(Ill. I praise the Lord for His Word! I want to do it with all my heart, don't
you? However, this flesh that I live in just does not like the Word! There is a

193. battle raging in me that will endure until the end of this earthly life. The same
is true for you as well, isn't it?)
C. V. 23 A Captivity - Although Paul's heart is seton doing the will of God,
there is another part of himself that fights him at every turn and seeks to
bring him into captivity! As Jesus Himself said, "The spirit indeed is will, but
the flesh is weak.", Matt. 26:41.
(Ill. Again, this is a situation with which all of us canidentify. The inner man
wants God, the fleshly man wants the world! Thankfully, there was nothing
wrong with Paul's salvation, and there is nothing wrong with yours! Even
though Paul struggledwith his flesh, he was still right with God. In fact, at the
instant of salvation, the believer is as right with the Lord as he will ever be,
and that state cannever change!We are justified by faith and the condition of
the flesh cannever change that truth. Now, that is not a license to sin, that is a
motivation for holiness!)
Paul's problem is that the flesh is ever trying to bring him into bondage. That
is a problem we all face day to day. If we are not diligent in our struggle with
the flesh, we will be defeatedby our sin! If we do not take our stand against
the flesh, it will win the day! Paul fought his flesh, 1 Cor. 9:25-27;1 Cor. 6:12-
13. While we are saved by grace, and that salvationis forever, we must fight
sin every moment of our lives. It is a battle that will never end!
I. Paul States The Facts
II. Paul States His Failures

194. III. Paul States His Findings
IV. V. 24-25 PAUL STATES HIS FAITH
A. V. 24 Paul's Problem - Paul expresses his desire to be free from his
decaying, fleshly nature. He wants to be free. I think he was frustrated and
defeatedby his own inability to overcome evil. He wants to be free! Ill. That is
the desire of all of God's children this evening! How many of us are truly
pleasedwhen we face the truth of how we actually live? The answeris that
none of us canbe pleasedwith the way we are. We need to be free!
(Ill. Paul's description of himself! Paul calls himself a "wretchedman" Surely,
this doesn'tdescribe the greatApostle does it? I think so!I believe that as a
Christian matures in the Lord and learns more about God, that person
becomes more keenly aware ofjust how wickedhe really is. I know that has
been my experience!The older I grow in the Lord, the worse I look beside
Him. We are a wretchedpeople!)
B. V. 25a Paul's Prospect - Here Paul states where his victory is coming from.
He reminds his readers that the day is coming when the children of God will
be delivered from the wretched bodies. When the Lord comes for His own,
whether it be by the clods or by the clouds, we will leave this flesh behind
when we leave this world behind. I long for that day! How about you?
(Ill. However, I think there is anothermeaning in view here! I believe the
Apostle is praising the Lord for the victory he has right now, in the midst of
his battle. Even though we fail and fall into sin, even though we come short so
often, there are times when we grow in the Lord. There are times when we get
His will right. There are times when we love like He does, live like He does

195. and look like He does. Those are victorious times! Even in the middle of my
worstday, Jesus is still working on the clay and He is making me in His
image! That is a victory, no matter how it is sliced!)
C. V. 25bPaul's Proposal - This verse is not a declarationof Paul's defeat. He
is not saying that he will just keepwanting to do what is right in his heart
while he keeps doing what is wrong with his body. What he is saying is that he
is not giving up the fight! There will be gooddays and there will be bad days,
but he is going to staythe course!He is not giving up, he is resolving to fight!
(Ill. What a lessonfor the children of God! Instead of rolling over and making
it easyfor the flesh to gain its victory, let us fight and take our stand for God.
Fight the flesh, fight sin, fight the will to do wrong. Determine this evening to
renew the fight againstevil and to live for the Lord.)
Conc:Have you seenyourself in these verses? Well, I have! I have seenthe
same struggle in my life that Paul wrote about, and I am encouraged!I will
leave you with the request that you examine your life right now and see how
well you are fighting the fight. Are you giving in too easily? Are you allowing
the flesh to gain the upper hand without a fight? If the flesh will make inroads
into your life and mine, let's determine that it will not do so without a fight!
LIVING IN THE SEVENTHOF ROMANS
Dr. W. A. Criswell

196. Romans 7:7-25
9-26-54 7:30 p.m.
Now tonight, I’m preaching on Living in the Seventh of Romans, and I
suppose that means practically nothing to everybody. But by the time I get
through with this sermon, I hope you’ll never forgetit: what it is to live in the
seventh of Romans. So turn with me tonight to the seventh chapter of the
Book ofRomans, and we’re going to read from the seventh verse to the end of
the chapter.
Are you ready? The seventhverse of the seventh chapter – you follow it as I
read the Book:
What shall we saythen? Is the law sin? Godforbid! Nay, I had not known
sin but by the law. For I had not knownlust exceptthe law had said, "Thou
shalt not covet."
But sin, taking occasionby the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. Forwithout the law sin was dead.

197. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin
revived and I died.
And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
For sin, taking occasionby the commandment, deceivedme, and by it slew
me.
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good.
Was then that which is goodmade death unto me? Godforbid! But sin, that
it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I – I am carnal, sold under sin.
For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not; but what I
hate, that do I.
If, then, I do that which I would not, I consentunto the law that it is good.
Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

198. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no goodthing; for to will
is present with me, but how to perform that which is goodI find not.
For the goodthat I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in
me.
I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
But I see anotherlaw in my members, warring againstthe law of my mind,
and bringeth me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
O wretched man – wretched, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me
from the body of this 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.
[Romans 7:7-25]

199. That is the seventh of Romans. There is a whole library – I mean a whole
library written about that passage. It is the introduction to one of the great
chapters of the Bible. The eighth chapter of the Book of Romans is one of the
greatchapters of the Bible. The eighth chapter of Romans is the habitat of
the Christian. It’s the life in Christ raisedto its sublime highest, but before
the eighth chapter of the Book ofRomans is the seventh; and the seventh is
the introduction to it. Now I say there’s a whole library written about it – a
whole library. And these men who are theologians and scholars and
commentators, how vastly do they differ about this seventh chapter of the
Book ofRomans.
Do you know many times he says "I, I, I" here? All through that passage –
"I." "That which I do, I allow not; but what I would, that do I not; but what I
hate, I do" [Romans 7:15]. I. I. "ForI know that in me the goodwhich I do
not, but the evil which I would not, I do. If I do that I would not" [Romans
7:18, 19]. "I" all the way through.
Now, just to take two of the opposite extremes as they try to interpret this
passagein the Book ofRomans. Charles G. Finney stands at one extreme –
incomparable evangelistand preacherand Christian author, theologianof a
century ago. Charles G. Finney says this. He says that this seventh chapter of
Romans is a picture of an unregeneratedman. It is a picture of Paul before
his conversion. It is a picture of Paul in the days when he lived under the
Law. It is a picture of an unregeneratedand unconverted man; and he says
the only reasonthat Paul uses the "I" here is by way of illustration, but it is
nothing personalat all [Lecture XXXVIII, Systematic Theology, Charles G.
Finney, 1878].

200. And then Charles G. Finney says this, "If this seventh chapter of the Book of
Romans is a picture of you," this is his exactwords, "then," he says, "you are
unregeneratedand damned and going to hell." That’s what Charles G.
Finney says about this passage. Ifthis is you in the seventh chapter of the
Book ofRomans, you’re lost, you’re damned, you have never been saved,
you’ve never knownthe Lord, and you’re going to hell. That’s what Charles
G. Finney says.
Now another extreme. Diednot long ago, a wonderful theologianand a
matchless interpreter of the Scriptures is A. C. Gaebelein. A. C. Gaebelein
says that this seventh chapter of Romans is a picture of every Christian as he
struggles againstthe principle of sin in his soul and in his life [fromThe
Annotated Bible, A.C. Gaebelein, 1919]. Now those are the two extremes.
"WellPastor, what do you think about the seventh chapter of the Book of
Romans and the picture that Paul has written here?" Well this is what I
believe. I believe the seventh chapter of the Book ofRomans is a universal
experience of all mankind everywhere, everywhere. You, I, we, they, close by,
abroad, yesterday, today, the generations past, the generations to come. It is a
picture of humanity, and it is an experience, I say, common to all mankind. It
was the experience of the Apostle Paul in the days when he lived under the
Law; and by struggle, and by fight, and by warring, he was trying to do right
before God and failed in it ingloriously and miserably and finally found
salvationin Jesus Christ. He found deliverance in the Law, in the Lord,
which is the glorious eighth chapterof the Book of Romans.
Now, it is a picture of you, of us, of all of us before we were converted. We
tried. We failed; and we took our defeat to Jesus, and He savedus. And it is
also a picture of all of us who have been saved. The principle of this warfare
betweenthe flesh and the spirit still goes on;and we fight, and we war, and we

201. battle, and we fail. And then we take it, wretchedpeople, defeatedas we are,
we take it to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that war goes overand over, again
and again, in the day and the night, yesterday, today; tomorrow we face it
anew.
It’s a picture of all mankind. It’s a universal picture of all the people
everywhere;a picture of the saved;a picture of the lost – "for I find a law that
when I would do good, evil is presentwith me" [Romans 7:21]; and it never
varies, and it never leaves. I never get so holy; I never get so good;I never get
so high up; I never get so close to God; I never get so nigh to heaven but that
always evil is ever there right by my side, here in this pulpit. I’m not only
referring to these close by me here. I mean the principle everywhere – and I
mean it in you all too – in you all too. There’s nobody I have around me that’s
holy. They all are sinners – every last one of them – and they fall into mistake
and into error, and they fall into a lot of things. They all do. They all do.
There’s just nobody that I’ve ever seenthat is sanctifiedand holy and above
the principle of evil that surrounds him and is in him. It’s a universal
experience – the saved and the lost.
It is the experience of the young. Before he goes to school, he battles against
that thing of evil in his heart. And it’s the experience of the old man with a
lifetime and a background;he fights it too. It’s the experience of the civilized
man with all of his culture and his education, and it’s the experience of the
heathen before the missionary comes to tell him the name of the true God.
It’s the experience of the learned and the unlearned, of the high churchman
and the low churchman and the no-church man.
Humanity is divided by many geographicaldivisions, and we have different
creeds and different races and different colors and different kinds. But, there
is one common denominator under which all of us gather, and there’s one
common plane upon which all of us move and that is this: "that when I would

202. do good, evil is present with me," [Romans 7:21] always in us and around us.
We touch hands with all the generations ofall of the centuries in this seventh
chapter of the Book ofRomans.
Howeverthings may be on the outside and howevercircumstances may
change, I still have to live with myself; and on the inside of me, there is a
principle of evil. There is a flesh; and howeverthe outside may change,
howevercultured or learned or scholarlyor dedicated I am, that thing of me
is still on the inside. Christina Rosettione time wrote of it like this,
God strengthen me to bear myself;
That heaviestweight of all to bear,
Inalienable weightof care.
All others are outside myself;
I lock my door and bar them out
The turmoil, tedium, gad-about.

203. I lock my door upon myself,
And bar them out; but who shall wall
Self from myself, most loathed of all?
If I could set aside myself,
And start with lightened heart upon
The road by all men overgone!
Myself, arch-enemy to myself;
My hollowestfriend, my deadliestfoe,

204. My clog down whateverroad I go.
[from "Who Shall Deliver Me?" Christina Rosetti, 1876]
I can shove them out and shove them out and shove them out and lock them
out, but I can’t lock myself from myself. When I lock myself in, there I am;
and with me is this principle of evil serving the flesh.
So Paul says in the seventh chapter of the Book ofRomans there are two
spirits that war on the inside of every man. "There is a law in my members,
warring againstthe law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin . . . So then, with my mind," my spiritual highest soul, "I serve the law
of God, but with the flesh the law of sin" [Romans 7:23, 25]. And those two,
Paul says, waron the inside; and that experience is a universal experience and
a continuing experience, and it doesn’t change when you become a Christian.
"Preacher, I’m going down that aisle tonight and give you my hand and my
heart to God. And I’m going to settle forever this thing of the devil, and he’ll
never touch me, and he’ll never bother me, and he will never come to me
again. I’m going down that aisle and win that battle forever!" So you come
down that aisle and give me your hand and your heart to God. And brother, I
want to tell you something. You have just enrolled to fight. That’s all you’ve
done. You’ve just gotin the war, that’s all.
One of these preachers one time stood up, and he’s talking to a bunch of little
children. And he said, "Now you little children, now you little ones." He said,

205. "You listen to me. Now, you little children, when you give your heart to Jesus,
why, Godgives you a lamb’s heart. What you’ve got now," he said, "is a pig’s
heart. You’ve got a pig’s heart. But you give your heart to Jesus, and in place
of a pig’s heart, God will give you a lamb’s heart; and you’ll have a lamb’s
heart, little children." Oh, wouldn’t that be sweetif it were so? Wouldn’t
that be heavenly if it were true – if when I gave my heart to Jesus, He’d give
me a lamb’s heart, and that’s all I had on the inside of me was a lamb’s heart?
Now what that preachershould have said is this: "My little children, my little
children, when you come to Jesus, you’ve gota pig’s heart; and when you
come to Jesus, He’s going to give you a lamb’s heart. But, my little children,
you still got the pig’s heart! And the pig’s heart and the lamb’s heart, they
just go to war on the inside; and from then on it’s civil battle." That’s what it
is. That’s the wayit is. That’s the way it is. When you come to the Lord,
you’ve just enrolled in the army. You just getting ready to fight [Philippians
2:25; 2 Timothy 2:3-4; Philemon 1:2].
Now, I know there are a whole lot of people, there are a whole lot of people
who say, "I’m removed above that. I’m sanctified, I am. I’ve gotten above
sin, and I have come to that holiest state where I live without defilement and
transgression. I’ve had the blessing. I’ve been set aside, and I live in that
holiest state far and removed." Well that’s great. That’s great.
And some of the greatpreachers of all time like John Wesley, like John
Wesley, like all of those old Methodist preachers, everyone of them was a
holiness preacher. Every one of them, the old Methodist, was a holiness
preacher. John Wesleywas a holiness preacher. They said they lived above
sin. They’d gottenabove the place where they ever sinned.

206. Now I say that’s wonderful thing. That’s a marvelous thing, and I would
glory in a man who could stand up here before this congregationand say, "I
have come to the place in my Christian life where I no longerever sin."
Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
There’s only one thing about that that scaresme and frightens me and that’s
this: you know, the greatsin above all sin is the sin of the Pharisee. It’s the sin
of the self-righteous;it’s the sin of the self-proud. It’s the sin that, "I have
achieved." It’s the sin that, "Thank God, I’m not like other men. They do
this, they do that; they do everything! But, I don’t do this, and I don’t do that,
and I don’t do the other thing" [Luke 18:9-14]. And it isn’t long until the
sense ofpride and self-righteousnesscomes into our lives; and we gather our
robes around ourselves, and we wouldn’t be brushed, and we wouldn’t be
touched by those ungodly and defiled people on the outside. And so we build
our walls around ourselves, andwe have little circles of friends around
ourselves;and we look on all others as being vile transgressors while we in our
self-righteousness, that’s up there to see, we live separate and apart and look
down upon all others.
My brother, I am persuadedthat as long as we live in this flesh and as long as
we live in this body of death that we have that fight going on in the seventh
chapter of the Book ofRomans. And I came across a godly, godly man who
wrote here a thing that I think is the heart of all of us who have given our lives
to the Lord Jesus and who pride ourselves on the fact that we don’t go out
here and live like the world lives. We’ve pulled awayfrom it. They couldn’t
invite us to a shindig on Sunday night, and take a bottle of liquor with us, and
go out with an old something and spend the night in revelry and in
drunkenness and debauchery and iniquity like thousands are doing on
Sunday night and Saturday night. We don’t live that way. We’re not like
that, but that doesn’t mean that the principle of evil and sin is not also in us
too.

207. And I sayone of these godly men, a greatChristian and goodman, wrote
these lines. You listen to him: a godly Christian man. What he’s talking
about is that even though he doesn’t go out here and do these abominable and
indescribable things, yet on the inside of his heart – well, let him speak for
himself. Listen to him.
It is not what my hands have done,
That weighs my spirit down,
That casts a shadow on the sun,
And over earth a frown:
It is not any heinous guilt,
Or vice by men abhorred;
For fair the frame that I have built,
A fair life’s just reward;

208. And men would wonder if they knew,
How sad I feelwith sins so few!
Alas! they only read in part,
When thus they judge the whole: –
They cannot look upon the heart, –
They cannot read the soul:
But I survey myself within,
And mournfully I feel,
How deep the principle of sin,
Its roots may there conceal,
And spread its poisonthrough the frame,

209. Without a deed that men may blame.
[from "What The Year Has Left Undone," Henry Ware, Jr., 1847]
A righteous man above the tentacles of the Law, living like a fine and good
citizen and a member of the church, but when you get close to God, on the
inside of your soul, there is that shortcoming again. Don’tmeasure up. "O
God, how far, how far short." And I’ve always felt the neareryou get to God,
the more of that way you feel. "Master, I am not worthy to stand in Thy
sight. Departfrom me. I am a sinful man."
F. B. Meyersaid he was out calling on his parishioners, and one of the
members of his church was a washerwoman. And she had out there on the
line a beautiful, beautiful white string of laundry that she’d done – a washing
she’d put out there on the line. And he complimented her on it and saidhow
fine it lookedand how she’d done a wonderful thing – that pure white wash.
And it pleasedthe old washerwoman, and she askedthe pastor inside for a
cup of tea. So they went inside for a cup of tea.
And while they talked and visited togetherdrinking the cup of tea, while they
were there, the heavens frowned and it crowdedand it came a sudden
snowstorm. And when the pastorleft, the ground was white with snow and he
lookedat the clothesline. And looking at it he said, "Well, it looks as if your
laundry is not so white now, is it?" And the old washerwoman replied and
said, "Pastor, there’s nothing wrong with that laundry. It’s just that there’s

210. nothing that canstand againstGodAlmighty’s white." And that’s right. And
that’s right.
You compare yourself with another man, and you may be pretty good. Yes
sir, you’re all right. But you compare yourself againstGod Almighty’s white,
and you’ll fall to your knees:"Lord, it isn’t with me as I thought it was.
Masterhave mercy upon me too; me too; me too."
And I saythis battle goes allthrough our lives, all through our lives. In
youth: the sins of passion, the drive of a hot heart, the fire that’s in the stream
– the sins of youth. The sins of manhood and of womanhood: the sins of
pride, and self-righteousness,and achievement. And the sins of age, the most
despicable sins of all, the sins of age: the sins of littleness and cynicism and
criticism, the sins of looking askance,the sins of failing to encourage, the sins
of trying to hang on to a yesteryearand to destroy the presentand the now –
the sins of old age. And you never get beyond it. You never getbeyond it.
There are some things you fight when you’re young. There are some things
you fight when you’re in manhood. There are some things you fight in age.
And as long as you live in this body of death, you have this cry of the seventh
chapter of the Book ofRomans:"O wretchedman, O wretchedman that I
am, what shall I do and where shall I turn? Who shall deliver me from this
body of this death?" [Romans 7:24]
Thank God there’s another chapter. I haven’t got time to preachabout it
tonight. All I cando is just show it to you, and then next Sunday we start
again. Thank God there’s another chapter. "O wretchedman that I am.
Wretchedman that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
Long as I live in it – this house of clay, this flesh, this principle of sin, always

211. there and always with me. "O wretchedman that I am! Who shall deliver me
from the body of this death?" [Romans 7:24]
And there’s an answer:"I thank God through Jesus Christour Lord!"
[Romans 7:25] Deliverance and victory, consummating salvation, never
comes from ourselves. We’re never equal to it. But it comes – a victory, a
triumph, a glorious deliverance. It comes through Jesus Christour Lord. It
is a gift of God. It’s in Christ. It’s in Him. Not by any superficial means will
a man win this thing on the inside of his soul. Not by culture, not by training,
not by education, not by his own strength or his own power, but a man wins it.
A man wins it in the powerand in the strength and in the righteousness andin
the presence andin the glory of Jesus Christour Lord.
"I thank God through Jesus Christour Lord;" and He – He who could touch
the eyes of the blind and they could see;touch the ears of the deafand they
could hear; touch the foulest loathsome leper and he was cleanagain;touch
the feveredbrow and they were well again; touch the dead and they could live
again[Matthew 8:14-15, 11:15]. He that could do that can touch a man’s soul
and a man’s life and deliver him forever and forever. "I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord!" That’s the gospel. That’s the Book. This is the real
thing.
That’s what we invite you to come to tonight. Not to a system, not to an
organization, not to a culture, not to a development, but an invitation to come
to the Lord and King who, enthroned in a man’s soul and in the center of a
man’s heart and in the very depths of a man’s life, He never lets us down. He
will see us through. Now will you take Him? Will you do it? Will you do it?
"Lord I’m not equal, and I don’t say I am; but I believe God is equal and I
entrust my soul and my destiny and my life in God’s hands. And here I am

212. Preacher, and here I come. It’s for God. It’s to God. It’s God’s." Would
you? Would you? Any other way the Lord shall put into your heart to come
– put your life in the church with us; any way the Spirit shall saythe word,
point the way, would you make it now? Would you make it now?
In the balcony around, in the greatpress of people on this lower floor,
"Pastor, here I come. Here’s my family." Or just one somebody you, "Here I
am, Preacher, and this is my friend." However God shall press home to your
heart the appealwhile we sing, will you come while we stand and while we
sing?
Romans:The Believer’s Struggle with Sin (1)
Sermon by J. Ligon Duncan on June 3, 2001
Romans 7:13-25
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The Believer's Struggle with Sin (pt1)
Romans 7:13-25
If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to Romans 7. As
we do so, let me just make three or four introductory remarks about this great
passage. Paul, so far in Romans 7, especially in verses 7-12 has made it clear

213. that the believer's attitude towards the law as a gauge of the vitality and
reality of his faith and that the believer's view of the law has to have two
parts. Every believer has to look at the law in both of these ways
simultaneously. First of all, every believer needs to understand that the law is
not the solution to his or her sin. Indeed, we need to be rescuedfrom the
condemnation of the law. But secondly, the believer must understand that the
law is goodand it is designedfor his benefit. Now Paul has been speaking in
this greatpassageaboutthe role of the law and indeed the role of the law for
the believer.
In this passage, we come to what most commentators quickly confess is the
most controvertedportion of all of the book of Romans. It may be the hardest
sectionto understand in all the book of Romans. Becauseofthat, I am going
to do something a little bit different today. Something that I don't normally
do. And that is, I am going to do a verse-by-verse expositionof the passage.
We are going to walk through, verse-by-verse, and simply see if we can follow
Paul's argument. The reasonI am doing that is, first of all, I think this will
become apparent to you as I read this aloud, if it hasn't alreadybecome
apparent to you, as you read this to yourself, that Paul's argument can sound
or can look at first glance or at first hearing convoluted. He repeats himself.
And you wonder, well, does that relate back to what he just said three verses
ago. How did it relate to that? What exactly is he saying? He uses terminology
that is difficult to get into. And if I outline for you what Paul says and you are
not convincedthat you cansee that that is how Paul says it and that is what he
is in fact saying, then you will have less confidence in the comforting
application of this truth. And so, we are going to look at this passagetwice.
Today we will just walk through it verse by verse, so that you canfollow
Paul's argument for yourself, because though it is hard in some ways, it is not
impossible. You don't have to be a rocketscientistto appreciate what Paul is
saying here. The other reasonI do this is because it is so important for the
Christian life. And I will make my argument for that in just a few moments.
But just remember this, as we walk through this passage, today, Paul's
generalsubject in Romans 7, is how the believer is free from the law, and of
what the role of the law is in the believer's experience. If you will bear that in

214. mind, it will help you greatly in understanding Paul. With that as
introduction, let's look at Romans chapter 7, beginning in verse 13. This is
God's word.
"Therefore, did that which is goodbecome a cause of death for me? May it
never be, rather it was sin in order that it might be shown to be sin by
affecting my death through that which is good, that through the
commandment, sin might become utterly sinful. For we know that the law is
spiritual. But I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 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 that I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not
wish to do, I agree with the law, confessing that it is good. So now, no longer
am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. ForI know that nothing good
dwells in me that is in my flesh. Forthe wishing is present in me, but the doing
of the good, is not. For the goodthat I wish, I do not do, but I practice the very
evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing that I do not wish, I
am no longerthe one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then, the
principle that evil is present in me. The one who wishes to do good. ForI
joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law
in the members of my body, waging waragainstthe law of my mind, and
making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched
man that I am, who will setme free from the body of this death? Thanks be to
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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."
Amen. Thus ends the reading of God's holy word. May he add his blessing to
it. Let's pray.
Our Lord and our God, we need Your help. We confess with Peterthat some
of what Paul says is often hard to understand. And at the same time, we

215. confess that you did not give us Your word to confuse us or confound us. You
meant it to be understood. So by the Spirit open our eyes that we might
understand what Paul is saying, what You are saying to us. And then give us
some inkling of just how important it is and its specific relevance to our own
day and age and our daily lives. These things we ask in Jesus'name. Amen.
A famous and godly man climbed up the steps to the pulpit of a Bible college
chapel and he beganto preach a sermon in which he promoted to the students
and commended to them the view that believers ought to live a higher life, a
victorious life, in which they get a victory over sin, which sets them free from
conscious sin, and in the course of his sermon, he said to this gathered
assembledgroup of students, "I have not sinned in three years." And in the
group of the people who were attending that particular message were two
young folks. They had just been married for about a year. They had met at
the Bible college.Theywere both committed to the Lord. They wantedto go
into missions. Both of them had come to that desire before they ever met one
another. When they met one another they both had a desire to go the mission
field. They very quickly fell in love with one another and they got married and
in the course of their studies, they were preparing to go togetherto the
mission field. But like many Christians they were struggling with sins, sins
from their past, sins that were impacting their relationship and giving them
enormous struggles. As they satthere and they heard this man say that he had
not sinned in three years, they heard him go on to say this: "And if you’re still
struggling with sin, it is because you don't have enough faith. If you only had
enough faith, you would have the victory over sin, and you could live the
higher life, the blessedlife and experience perfect love." They beganto ask
some of their friends who were at the message, "Have you experiencedthis
higher life? Have you found victory over sin?" "Oh, yes," they were assured
by their friends around them. They beganto wonder, "Is there something
wrong with us? Are we the only people struggling on this mundane plain with
sin? Have we just because ofa lack of faith failed to achieve the higher life?"
That is the impression that they got from their teachers and from their
classmates. Theycame to ReformedTheologicalSeminarya year later under
enormous, enormous emotionaland psychologicalpressure from the sense

216. that they were somehow failing God, because they were continuing sin in their
life. They were muchly relieved to find that this teaching that they had heard
was not in accordwith the Scriptures, and that the Scriptures’ teaching
actually liberated them from the false guilt they had, in order to deal with the
real guilt that they needed to deal with. And so, you cansee how an
understanding of the believer's life and the ongoing struggle with sin in the
believer's life is far from an academic question. We are not going off to the
Ivory Towerof the theologians todayto pick nits. This is something that hits
you where you are and it hits all of us where we are everyday.
And by the way, there are many variations on the theme that that particular
chapel speakergave in that chapelmessagethat day. For instance, imagine
this scene. A daughter who has had a difficult relationship with her mother
over the years goes home to confront that particular mom about some of those
issues with the desire of clearing the air, dealing with sin, and having the kind
of relationship that the two of them have always wantedto have, but which
has been obstructedbecause of unconfessedsin. The daughter, with fearand
trepidation, raises some ofthe issues which have brought a barrier between
her and betweenher mother. But unfortunately her mother has imbibed
teaching basedupon Romans 7:13-25, which says, that she is no longer a
sinner. She doesn't sin; it is the flesh that sins. And so, when her daughter
raises these things, she says, "WellI don't sin. It is the flesh that sins in me.
You can't ask me to ask you for forgiveness becauseI didn't do it. The flesh
did it." The daughter is crushed because she was fearfully raising these
questions with a genuine desire of restorationand yet she is sidesteppedby
her mother who claims that she didn't do it and that it was the flesh in her and
she appeals to the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 7 for support for her
particular view.
Or perhaps worse, we could imagine this scene. A Bible teacherhas collecteda
group of people to follow him, and in the course of teaching them, he explains
to them, that he in fact no longersins, because it is no longer he who lives, but

217. Christ who lives in him, and he no longersins. And the group is somewhat
confusedby that, but compelledby his personality and they are lead astray in
their teaching. Or perhaps it is someone who comes to this passage, andsays,
you see, if Paul had only understood that he was free from the law, he
wouldn't have bothered with sin. His consciencewouldn't have bothered him.
The fact of the matter is that Paul is still trapped under a sense that he needs
to obey the law. That is why he has a guilty conscience.Well, my friends, there
are a thousand different permutations on misunderstanding of this passage.
And those misunderstandings directly impact the way that we live as
Christians. And so it is well worth our time to work through this passage
togetherand appreciate what Paul is teaching.
As we do so, all I want to do is two things today. I want to stress two
applications and I want to walk you through the passage.The two applications
are this, and I am going to tell them to you at the outset, because I am not
going to finish this. The two applications are this. First of all, believers still
sin. Mature believers still sin. Godly, growing, not backsliding believers still
have an ongoing struggle with sin in life. Paul makes that amply clearhere.
Secondly, the law is not the answerto the believer's struggle with assurance. It
is not the answerto the problem of salvationor assurance.And indeed apart
from Christ, it is part of the problem. And therefore, the believer must run
some place else other than to the law in order to find true assurance. Now
those are the applications that I am going to make for the passage. Butwhat I
would like to do is walk through the passagewithme and just follow Paul's
argument.
Now before we do that, let me sayjust one lastword of preface. We know that
Paul in this passageis a mature Christian for at leastthree reasons. Firstof
all, because in verses 13-25, unlike verses 7-12, Paulspeaks in the present
tense. He speaks looking back to the pastin 7-12. In verses 13-25,he speaks in
the presenttense. Notice over and over again, how he says this. "I am of the
flesh." Verse 15, "for that which I am doing, I do not understand. I am not

218. practicing, I am doing the very thing, I do the very thing, I do not wish to do. I
agree with the law. I confess it as good. It is no longerI who am doing it, but
the sin. I know that nothing gooddwells in me. The good that I wish, I do not
do. I practice the evil that I do not wish" and so and so on. He is speaking in
the presenttense. He is not looking back to the misty past. He is speaking in
the presenttense.
Secondly, we know that this is a mature Christian Paul because ofhis
estimation of the law. He calls the law spiritual and he calls the law good. Now
both of those are signs that he has come to view the law like God views the
law. The law is spiritual and the law is good, and this is an indication that
Paul is speaking as a mature Christian believer. And finally we see that he is a
mature Christian believer in this passage. If you will look at verses 22 and 25,
because ofhis description of his relationship to the law. How does he describe
himself as relating to the law? Well this is what he says, I joyfully concur with
the law in the inner man. Now ever met a Paganwho said that? That he
joyfully concurredwith the law in the inner man? And then he goes on to say,
that he is serving the law in his mind. Now only a Christian can do those
things. Only a Christian canserve the law of God in the very depths of his
being.
And so for all these reasons, the apostle Paul it is clear, is speaking of himself
as a mature believer. Why do I say that? Becausemany interpreters argue
that Paul here is speaking as an unconverted man. Or as a man under
conviction of sin but prior to conversion. And some even suggestthatthis is an
immature backsliding apostle Paulat the beginning of his Christian
experience but not as a mature believer. And I want you to understand that
that is a major mistake in the approach to this passage foreachof those three
reasons. Iwell remember one of the godliestmen I know, Robert Rayburn,
standing up at a chapeland preaching on this passageand saying, "If the
apostle Paul is not a mature Christian in this passage,then I am not a
Christian." It made a real impact on all those present. And I appreciate that

219. particular indication, because ofthe importance of that to understanding this
passageforus today. So, let's walk through it verse by verse togetherand see
if we canfollow Paul's argument.
Verse 13, Paul says, therefore did that which is goodbecome a cause ofdeath
for me? May it never be. Ratherit was sin in order that it might be shownto
be sin by effecting death, my death through that which is good, so that the
commandments, through the commandments sin would become utterly sinful.
Now Paul is telling you two things in that verse. First, Paul is telling you that
the law of God was not the cause of his death. Sin was. The law of God was
not the cause of his death. Sin was. And Paul is telling you that not just
because he wants you to know something autobiographical, not just because
he wants to tell you a human interest story, but because that is the case for
everyone. For everybody, it is not the law that kills you, it is sin. The law is not
the cause ofour death, sin is.
Secondly, he wants you to understand this. That the very sinfulness of sin is
seenby the fact that it uses something so good, the law of God, as a weapon
againstus. We see the sinfulness of sin, the insidiousness of sin, that it takes
something goodand holy and honorable and pure like the law and uses it
againstus. By the way, isn't it interesting that Satanand the flesh will take
this goodlaw of God and use it as a weaponagainstus? And it might seem, as
it were, to overthrow God's plan. But think of this my friends; God shows His
sovereigntyin overruling even sin and using that for the goodof His people.
Think of it, the most wickeddeed ever performed in the history of humanity
was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and it was God's stratagemto conquer sin.
So if Satan uses the law to thwart the purposes of the law that is life in order
to promote sin and death, Godtrumps him by using even evil, for ends which
are ultimately for His glory and for His people's good.

220. At any rate, Paul's argument continues in verse 14. We know that the law is
spiritual, he says, but I am of flesh. Again, Paul is telling you two things in this
passage. First, he is telling you that the law of God is spiritual. That is capital
‘S’ my friends. In other words, it is of the Holy Spirit. The law of God is of the
Holy Spirit. It is the product of God, the Holy Spirit. It is not derived from
man, it comes from God Himself. It is a reflectionof His character. Secondly,
however, this is how he characterizes himself. Paul says, I am of the flesh.
Now I want to say two things about that. Paul is not saying here, I am fleshly
and immature, like he uses a similar word in the book of I Corinthians. Paul is
saying here that he still has a human nature. A sinful human nature. When he
says, "I am of the flesh, I am sold into the bondage of sin," he is saying, you
need to know two things about me: I have died to sin, and I have been raised
to newness in Christ and I still have a sinful nature. You remember he has
already told you the first thing in Romans chapter 6. Now he says, let me tell
you one more thing about me. I still have a sinful human nature. I am not
entirely sanctified. I am not completely perfected. I am not without sin. I still
struggle with sin. So when Paul says, I am of the flesh, he is not telling you
everything about him, because he has already told you that he is a new man in
Jesus Christ in Romans 6, but he is telling you something else about him that
you might have been tempted to overlook or deny if you only had heard what
he said about himself in Romans chapter6. So the law of God is spiritual and
Paul still has a sinful human nature. That is what he tells us in verse 14.
Then in verse 15, he says this, "for what I am doing, I do not understand. For
I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very things
that I hate." Again, two things that Paul is telling in verse 15. He is
complaining here, first, that his actions are not in accordwith that new heart,
that new mind, that new spirit that God had given him. We have all died to sin
in Christ. We have all been raised to newness oflife. And the apostle Paul is
saying here, my actions are not consistentwith my being a new creation. They
are out of accordwith it. That is why he can even say, I don't understand
them. It doesn't make sense.

221. Secondly, he is saying, that the fact is that some of these deeds that he is doing,
these sinful deeds are out of accordwith what he really desires to do in his
heart of heart. The things that he really wants to do and the things that he
really doesn't want to do don't necessarilyreflectthemselves in what he ends
up doing or not doing. In other words, Paul is showing you that he is a new
man from the factthat he has a desire to do what is right. But he is showing
you again, experientially, that he has a sinful nature, because he doesn't
always do that which he knows he ought to do and that which he really wants
to do.
In verse 16, he expands on this. He says, "if I do the very thing that I do not
want to do, I agree with the law, confessing it as good." Now you may be
looking at the verse and saying, "Well, help me understand how I am
confessing the law to be good by sinning." Well, here is the argument. First of
all, it is crystal clearthat Paul is saying here that the law is good. If Paul
wanted to argue that the law was the problem this was his chance. In this
verse, he could have said, "you see the whole problem was, you see, I still care
about the law. And if I would just forget about the law and I would go on just
having a goodpersonalrelationship with Jesus Christ, everything would be
solved." But Paul doesn't do that. He says not, "the law is good. There is
nothing wrong with the law." The law is right when it says that is right and
that is wrong. And I have got to deal with that. But look this is how he gets
there. He indicates that his conscienceactuallybears witness to the fact that
the law is good, by reminding him of the difference betweenwhat he knows
that he ought to do and what he really wants to do on the one hand, and on the
other hand, what he actually ends up doing. In other words, Paul says, every
time I don't do what I know that I ought to do and what I want to do in my
heart of hearts, I am being reminded againthat God's law is good, and I am
the problem.
In verse 17, he expands on this. And by the way, friends, in verses 17-20,Paul
is going to work the same theme over and over and over again. So don't get

222. confused. In fact, verse 20 is a recapitulation of verse 17. But this is a very
important verse because everyheretic for the lasttwo thousand years has
hopped on verse 17 and verse 20 to come up with some crazy doctrine, so
listen closely. Verse 17, "so now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which
dwells within me." Now Paul is not trying to gethimself off the hook here. He
is not making excuses.It is not that someone has come to him and said, "Paul
you have sinned," and he said, "ah, the devil made me do it." He is not saying,
"oh, that wasn't me, that was someone else.Thatwas the old man still in me."
You know, sort of as if there was this autonomous being within him creating a
split personality. That is not what Paul is saying. His point is not to gethimself
off of the hook.
Why is he telling you this? Well, for three reasons. Look atthe three things
that he asserts. First, he is asserting the new creationand he has already said
that every believer is a new creationin Jesus Christ and we are raisedto
newness oflife, Romans chapter6. He says the sin which is still in him, is not
the product of that new creation. He says, whenyou look at me, and you see
me still sinning, you need to understand this; that sin doesn't come from the
work of the Holy Spirit in me, in which I came to saving union with Jesus
Christ. That is not where that sin comes from. That is the first thing that he
wants you to understand.
Secondlyhowever, he wants you to understand that there continues to be a
sinful nature in him. He does go on sinning. And the presence ofthat new man
does not mean that he does not sin. And third and finally, he wants you to
understand where that sin comes from. It is the continuing product of the
sinful nature. That nature does not representhis truest self. It doesn't
representthe deepestpart of his being, which has been impacted by the new
man, but it is still there. And so Paul affirms all three things in verse 17.

223. Then in verse 18, he says, "I know that nothing gooddwells in me, that is in
my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the goodis not."
Paul here, again, makes it clearthat his still sinful nature leads him to affirm
that nothing gooddwells in him. You all remember the quote from Augustine
in The Confessions, he is going along in The Confessionsand he pauses with a
little prayer to the Lord. He says, "Lord, the goodin me, You wrought. The
rest is my fault." That is how he sums up his whole life. "The goodin me, You
did. The rest is my fault." That is a little bit of what Paul is saying here. He is
affirming that nothing gooddwells in him. But again, he is not characterizing
his deepestself;the new creationbecause he says there is nothing goodthat
dwells in me, that is in my flesh. And so Paul doesn'tsay, well, there is no good
in me in the inner man, because he knows that God in His grace has wrought
goodin him.
For example, Paul says, "I want to do the good, but I don't." This is an
evidence of the flesh, the ongoing sinful nature, and thus, of his lack of
ultimate goodness.Thatis how he proves that there is nothing goodin his
flesh, because he wills to do right, but he doesn't end up doing it.
Then in verse 19, he goes onto say this. "For the goodthat I want, I do not do,
but I practice the very evil that I do not want." In other words, he says, you
can see my lack of goodnessin two ways. Through sins of omissionand
commission. I don't do the things that God tells me to do, I do, do the things
that God tells me not to do. And so both in my not doing those things that I
ought, and in doing those things that I ought not, I show that I lack goodness.
Then in verse 20, he says," if I am doing the very thing that I do not want,
then I am not longer the one doing it, but the sin which dwells in me." Now
again, he is going right back to what he said in verse 17, and he is elaborating
on it. And what is he telling you? Well, two things. First, the very fact of the
presence ofsin in his life is proof that there are two principles at work in the

224. believer. His deepestself is the product of God, and grace and union with
Christ. And is characterizedby Christ and the Spirit and the law of God. But
on the other hand, the flesh, the sinful nature, is characterizedby sin. That is
the first thing that Paul makes clear.
Secondly, notice how he refers to sin here. It is almost as if it is an alien force.
He is not, again, doing that in order to try and gethimself off of the hook;he
is doing that to indicate that it doesn't make sense, it doesn't go with and it is
not produced by the new creationthat Jesus Christhas wrought in us. And so
he goes on to elaborate on this in verses 21-23.
Now look at verse 24. In verse 24, he cries the cry, "Wretchedman that I am,
who will setme free from this body of death?" Because ofhis feelings of
bondage to sin, he cries out in misery. Notice the believer can never ever be
complacentabout sin. The believer, when confronted with sin, can never say,
"Nah, who cares, big deal." Paul is miserable, because the believer just
doesn't want to be forgiven; the believer wants to be rid of sin. The believer
wants to live in a state in which we are free not only from the domination of
sin, but from the presence of sin.
The problem is that some believers think that happens now. But it doesn't
happen until glory. And so the apostle Paul cries out, "Wretchedman that I
am," and I want you to see that in crying this, he once againproves that the
law cannotgive you salvationor assurance. Think of it. What is the big
struggle that Paul is having? The struggle is this. He knows whathe ought to
do, but he is not doing it. Now help me here. How can the law help him with
that? You know, Paul comes in to your office, he sits down, he says, you have
got to give me some counsel. I am frustrated here. I know what I ought to do,
but I can't do it. And your answeris, "Well, just obey the law." Paulsays to
you, "No, I don't think you understand. That is my problem. I know what the
law says, and I am not doing it." "Well, just obey the law, then you will

225. assurance ofsalvation." Paulsays, "Thatcan't be the answer. Thatcan't be."
And notice what his answeris, verse 25:"But thanks be to God, through Jesus
Christ our Lord." In other words, the answerto my salvationand my
assurance is not my law keeping;it is God's grace through the Lord Jesus
Christ. So Paul, even in reminding you of the ongoing struggle of the believer
with sin, is also reminding you again that salvationhas to be by grace. And so
does assurance.Becauseour law keeping will never ever measure up to what
we know the law demands.
And so in this passage, Paulsummarizes for us these two greatprinciples.
First, believers, mature believers, still struggle with sin. Secondly, the law isn't
the answerto that problem. In fact, it is part of the problem, when we are
apart from Christ. It is part of the weaponry of sin againstus. So there must
be some other answer. Whatis that answer? Jesus Christ. Now pull back one
more time, friends. Remember the big topic he has been talking about?
Freedomfrom the law. It makes perfect sense. Paulis telling you, my friends,
if your freedom and your salvationand your assurance andyour salvation,
depended upon the law, look where even I would be, a wretched man. But
thanks be to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, I am savedby grace. And so
Paul, even in the present experience of the believer has showedyou againhow
the grace ofGod brings you freedom from the law and we will apply that
truth next week. Let's pray.
Our Lord and our God, we thank you for Your word, and we ask that by
Your Spirit, that You would help us to come to a sure graspof its truth and
rest in its comforts, in Jesus'name. Amen.
The Struggle

226. Romans 7:13-25
Dr. S. Lewis Johnsonexpounds the Apostle Paul's famous expressionof
struggling with the sinful nautre.
SLJ Institute > Pauls Epistles > Romans > The Struggle
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[Message]Now we have come to the time in our service in which we read the
Scripture, and so if you have your Bibles there will you turn with me to
Romans chapter 7, and I want to read verses 13 through 25 of the 7th chapter
of the Epistle to the Romans.
Now we have come to this particular text, verse 13, in our expositionof the
book. And the apostle has been outlining some of the results of union with
Christ. He has spokenabout how we have died with respectto sin, and we
have died with respectto law. And sense that raised some questions, the
apostle is answering them. One of those was, is the law sin? And Paul answers,
no the law is not sin. The law is holy, just, and good. One might ask then well

227. then Paul, if the law is not sin, if it’s holy, just, and good, why this death then
of which you have been speaking? And so the apostle will answerthe question
now. Was that which is goodmade death unto me? Was the law responsible
for my death? And he will go on to sayno, it’s not really the law. Our problem
is indwelling sin. That’s the real problem.
So will you listen now as we read verses 13 through 25? The apostle says,
“Was then that which is goodmade death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that
it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good;that sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful. Forwe know that the law is
spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I understand
not.”
Now let me stop for just a moment here. You will remember that when you
read the Bible that you are reading a translation. You are reading a
translation of a text in the New Testament, a Greek text; in the Old Testament
primarily a Hebrew text. And you will also recognize and many of you in this
congregationknow that there are many manuscripts of the Greek New
Testament. And consequently, it’s the task of textual criticism to examine the
materials of textual criticism according to the principles of textual criticism
and arrive at an edited text which is translated into English.
Now it is possible for errors to occur in this sense that the textual critics might
selectthe wrong variant reading, and then it is also possible for translators to
error because they don’t understand the context.
Now when we read here, “Forthat which I do I understand not,” literally the
text might read, occurredby a cursory reader of the Greek text, “Forthat

228. which I do I do not know.” But the word “know” has a broad usage. And it is
clearfrom the contextthat Paul knows preciselywhat he is doing. In fact, he
gives us here, perhaps, one of the most incisive, perceptive pictures of what
transpires in the heart of a Christian man found in all literature. I think it’s
the most perceptive. Augustine’s Confessionsis, perhaps, next to it. So it’s
clearthat Paul does understand.
Now there is another meaning for the word “know,” andwe have it in the
New Testamentand it’s surely the meaning here. It’s approve. “So that which
I do I do not approve,” and the following context shows that’s the meaning.
Incidentally, the New International Version of which I had a part in
translating is also wrong in this spot. I’m sure they’re going to change this,
ultimately. But it has “I do not know what I’m doing.” Of all people, Paul is
the one who knows what he’s doing. It’s clearthat the translators at this point
didn’t know what they were doing. That was the problem.
“Forthat which I do I do not approve: for,” Paul explains, “for what I would,
I do not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I
consentunto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin
that dwelleth in me.”
And I must make one further comment. The apostle uses the term, I, about
thirty times in this section. You will be confusedin reading this if you don’t
understand. In one slight distinction the apostle uses the word “I” in a
comprehensive sense mostfrequently. The comprehensive sense is the sense of
the personactuatedboth by the Holy Spirit or the new nature and sin because
we are one personbut we have an indwelling sin and we also have been given
a new nature having believed in Christ. So that’s the comprehensive I. But
occasionally, the apostle uses “I” in a very limited sense. Thatis the person
actuatedonly by his new nature.

229. Now if we bearthat in mind, we won’t have any difficulty. And we have one of
these limited forces in verse 17.
“Now then it is no more I (in the comprehensive sense it is still I. But in the
limited sense)it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me. ForI know
that in me that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no goodthing: for to will is present
with me; but how to perform that which is goodI find not. For the goodthat I
would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. (Can you identify
with that? Mostof us can.)Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I
(limited I) no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law,
that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of
God after the inward man (that’s another expressionfor the limited I, the
inward man.) I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see
another law in my members, warring againstthe law of my mind, (still
another term for the limited I, the law of my mind) and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretchedman that I am!
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Perhaps, this body of
death?) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (And then a summary
statementconcludes the section.)So then with the mind (that is the limited I) I
myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
May God bless this reading of his word.
[Message]Oursubject this morning in the continuation of our exposition of
the Epistle to the Romans is a very simply one, but I hope a very meaningful
one. It’s simply, “The Struggle.” The Christian life is the impossible life for its
element is the supernatural, and this is true in both its inception and in its
continuation. In its inception we must learn that religion, it does not avail. We
must learn that goodworks do not save. “Forby grace are ye savedthrough
faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lestany man
should boast.” We must learn also that even sincerity will not avail. The

230. apostle in this greatEpistle to the Romans in the 10th chapter in the first
verse expresses the greatsincerity that one might have and yet be lost for he
said, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they
might be saved. ForI bear them record that they have a zealfor God, but not
according to knowledge.”
So here are zealous individuals with a zealfor God attestedby an apostle, but
nevertheless, his prayer is that they might be saved. So consequently, we must
learn that religion, goodworks, andsincerity do not save. We are under sin,
and therefore, something must be done for us. When we hear the gospelof
Jesus Christ we learn that something is done for us in the saving work that he
accomplishedwhen he died as the sin sacrifice on the cross at Calvary. But
then as we enter into the Christian life we have another greatlessonthat we
need to learn, and that is that in its continuation the Christian life is the
impossible life for it is a supernatural life. It’s discouraging as a new Christian
to feel that your determination to please the Lord God melts away when trials
and troubles come. It’s discouraging and it’s defeating to see your resolves
which you have so earnestly brought before the Lord God melt awaywhen
some trial faces you.
And it’s certainly discouraging to discoverthat in the Christian life you find
yourself doing the very thing that you hate to do. And so the things that you
want to do you can not do, and the things that you hate to do you find yourself
doing them. The tendency is to try all forms of Christian legalism, introduced
taboos. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Don’t do the other thing. And that will be
pleasing to the Lord, and you will be victorious in your Christian life. Or
resolve even harder with your will. Perhaps, evenspend more time in prayer
or witnessing, giving out the gospel. These things surely are the means by
which we may find merit before the Lord God. But we discoverthat Christian
legalismwill not do in the Christian life. We discoveras Paul has told us here
in this passagethat we’ve read in our Scripture reading that we are slaves to
indwelling sin, and something must be done in us now.

231. So the gospelof the Lord Jesus Christ is the unfolding of something done for
us and something done in us. Christ dies for our sins on the cross, and the
Holy Spirit is sentinto our hearts to complete the work of redemption by
doing something in us; something that is not completed until the time of the
resurrection, but something that is going on constantly.
So the glory of the gospelis that while the struggle is always there Jesus Christ
not only saves but he through the Spirit also sanctifies. And looking to him we
may please God.
Now the writer to the Epistle to the Hebrews has put that in a very vigorous
way in the 12th chapterof his greatunfolding of the high priestly ministry of
Jesus Christ. He has said,
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed aboutwith so greata cloud of
witnesses letus lay aside every weightand the sin that dost so easily besetus
and let us run with patience the race that is setbefore us looking unto Jesus
the author and finisher of faith who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross.”
If I were to look for some illustration of the Christian life in the New
Testamentas something supernatural, I think, one of the most pertinent
illustrations is Peter’s walking upon the water. That was something that was
supernatural. It was certainly impossible, but Peterdid the impossible as long
as his eyes were upon the Lord Jesus Christ. But when his eyes strayed as he
came into the presence ofthe Lord, to the winds and waves and saw their
boisterous nature, he became afraid and began to sink.

232. Now it is very comforting to see that eventhough his faith has wavered, the
Lord Jesus reaches outand saves him and preserves him even in the midst of
his unbelief. But Peterwalkedon the water. He did the supernatural. He did
the impossible, because ofthe virtue that came from Jesus Christ as he looked
as the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews said, as he lookedunto him. The
virtue that came from the Lord Jesus Christ enabled him to do the impossible.
Now Paul has arguedthat as a result of the factthat Jesus Christ is our
covenantalhead and we are united to him that in his death we have died with
respectto sin. He arguedthat in chapter 6. In chapter 7, he has arguedthat
we have died with respectto the law. We’re like a wife whose first husband
has died and has married to another. She’s no longer under the law of the first
husband, but now married to another. So are we. Formerly married to the old
man, our relationship in Adam, now as a result of what Christ has done and
the faith God has given us, we are married to the risen Christ. We are
delivered from the Law of Moses.
Now that raisedquestions. Is the law then sinful, Paul? You said we have died
to sin. You’ve said we’ve died to law. Are you saying that the law is sinful? No,
no. Paul says the law is not sinful. The law is holy, just, and good. Then what
is the cause ofthis death in me? And Paul will now show that it is indwelling
sin. And that is the thing he will show that causes this how of verse 18 to burst
from his mouth. “How to perform that which is goodI find not.”
Now if we will pay attention we will discoverhow to perform that which is
good. Now the apostle has a very simple method of developing his thought
here in a passagethat is not easy, but nevertheless, it is simple. There are
three cycles. One cycle concludes in verse 17 with the statement, “Now then it
is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me.” The secondcycle ofhis
thought concludes in verse 20 with this statementalmost identical, “Now if I
do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”

233. And the final cycle concludes with the laststatement of verse 25, “So then with
the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin.” He
wants to show that believers are divided persons, and it is important for us to
recognize that.
Now when we look at this passage andwe study it a little bit it is not long
before we discoverthat believers have differed over the interpretation of it.
One of the most interesting things about it historically is that this was the
passagethat James Arminius, the father of Arminianism, first beganto
expound in an aberrant way that led, ultimately, to questions about his
orthodoxy in the Reformed Church in Holland. It was his expositions of
Romans chapter 7 in which he departed from that which was generally the
standard teaching on Romans chapter 7 and causedhis teaching to come into
question. James Arminius died a Reformedtheologian, but his followers,
ultimately, broke from Reformedteaching severelyand originated what we
know as Arminianism, another interpretation of Christianity. But this is the
chapter in which Arminius beganto differ from the Calvinistic teaching in
which he had been taught.
Now you study this and immediately you will discoverthat there are
differences of opinion concerning this particular section. There are some who
say that Paul is not reasoning as a Christian man here, but as a non-Christian
man. That is he is reasoning as a man who is simply trying to keepthe law
apart from the faith of a redeemed man. And then there are some other
positions as well.
Now we don’t have time in a sermon on Sunday morning to deal with the
history of the interpretation or with the fine points of the positions which I
just mentioned, for example. I only say this, as far as I’m concernedit seems
to me quite plain though there are strong arguments one might bring up for a
different opinion that the apostle is really speaking as a savedman and he’s

234. drawing on his own experiences. And I will give for you what I considerto be
the more significantarguments. In the first place, the generalflow of the
argument of the Epistle to the Romans suggeststhat because the apostle has
already discussedthe doctrine of sin and justification. Now he’s moved on into
the discussionofwrath and sanctification, and so it would be natural for this
to have reference to Christian life teaching rather than teaching about
justification and how to become a Christian. So the flow of thought in the
epistle would suggestthat Paul is speaking as a savedman.
In the secondplace, I’d like to remind objectors to this view that the burden
of proof rests upon them to prove their point rather than upon me to prove
mine, because the apostle is using the first person. He say, I, I, I. And when a
man uses the first person and when he uses the presenttense, you will notice
that he uses the presenttense throughout this section, then we are to assume
that he is speaking of his own feelings at the time of his writing unless one can
demonstrate plainly and clearlyotherwise. And this is the more important
when one remembers that he uses this language uniformly throughout the
section. In the immediately preceding verses, he used the past tense. But now
he uses the present tense. And so the fact that he uses the present tense with
the “I” suggests I’m writing as a Christian man, and I’m telling you the
experiences that I have had as a Christian man and the experiences thatI go
on having.
Therefore, I think we’re led irresistibly to the conclusionin the preceding
sectionwe have historicalfacts concerning how he came to understand the
nature of the law, how it brings conviction of sin, and actually increases the
sin that dwells with us by stirring it up; whereas here, he is talking about his
present experiences. Furthermore, it is very difficult for me to see how an
unsaved man could diagnosis his case so perfectly. I’ve never known one to
diagnosis his case so perfectly. He has a clearview of himself. He says, “I
know in me that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no goodthing.” He has a noble
view of the law of God. He hates sin. He delights in the law of God. He looks to

235. deliverance from Jesus Christ. How can that be the language ofan unsaved
man?
So I’m inclined to think then that the apostle is arguing as a savedman. He is
drawing upon his own experiences, andwith that we will move on to the
passageitself. And let me just comment on some things that I think are
somewhatimportant in it. In the 14th verse he says, “Forwe know that the
law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.”
Now he wants to show us in this sectionthis cycle that the believer is a bond
slave to sin. He says we know that the law is spiritual. By that he means the
law is something that has been given from heaven. In Rabbinic literature it
was often said that the law was spiritual and the meaning of the contexts
usually is that the law is something given by God on Mount Sinai.
So when he says we “know that the law is spiritual,” he means the law has
been given to us by God in heaven, and thus, it is holy, just, and good. “But I
am carnal, sold under sin,” I am fleshly.
Now it is, I think, important to note that he is talking about the partial
bondage of an imperfectly sanctifiedman, not the total bondage of an unsaved
man. That is evident in the context, and we’ll point out in a moment some
further evidence of that. So when he says, “Iam carnal, sold under sin,” he’s
talking about the partial bondage of the imperfectly sanctified.
Now the New TestamentspeaksofChristians as carnalindividuals. William
G. T. Shedd has commented in his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans
that a regenerate manmay be calledcarnal is proved by 1 Corinthians 3:1
and 3. So the apostle calls himself carnal, sold under sin. He means that apart

236. from the ministry of the Holy Spirit, he is dominated by the flesh, and we shall
see he’s brought into defeat by the flesh constantly. He’s not master in his own
house. That’s what he’s really trying to say. I’m not master in my own house.
I am a bond slave to sin eventhough I have been brought to the forgiveness of
sins.
Now some people have affirmed on the basis of the next verse that Paul was a
golfer. There’s a story about a very dedicated preacherwho was playing golf
and on the thirteenth hole, finally after having topped a few and hit a few into
the trees, finally go onto the greenand putted up near the hole on his first putt
and had just a little short two foot putt and missedthat. Well he picked up his
ball and he threw it as far as he could, broke two clubs, and sat down in
frustration. I want you to know that I have experiencedthat same thing, that
identical thing. And in fact, before I was savedthere was a few other things
that I did on the golf course when I missedputts like that. So he saidI’ve got
to give it up. I’ve got to give it up. “Give up golf?” saidthe caddy. “No, the
ministry,” he said. [Laughter]
Now there was a preacher, a Lutheran preacher, by the name of Roger
Prescottwho was pastorof Saint Mark’s Lutheran Church in Fargo, North
Dakota. He used to have days on the golf course in which it looks as if his
avocationwas going to drive him from his vocation. Well there was a fellow
clergyman with whom he played, and this man showedhim how to deal with
the frustrations of the golf game. When his fellow clergyman showedhim the
way to deal with it, it made it a whole lot easierfor him. He noticedthat on
one hole the fellow clergyman hit a very weak drive out there and then he got
up to his ball he pulled out the club that he thought that he’d reachthe green
with and he settled himself down into his position and he drew back and
shankedit off into the trees over to the right and he jumped up and down and
said, “Romans 7:15!Romans 7:15!” And the blood vessels onhis head were
popping out like this and he thought that was a very nice wayto swearbut he
didn’t know what Romans 7:15 said, and so when he gothome that night the

237. first thing he did was to look it up and in his Bible it read, “I don’t understand
my ownactions, for I do not want I want but I do the very thing I hate.”
[Laughter]
So on the basis of this some have affirmed that Paul was probably a golfer.
[Laughter] Now you know you never cantell what will happen in Believers
Chapel, but this morning after I finished the message one ofour wits in the
audience out there, we have better wits in the audience than in the pulpit, I
assure you. He said, “We know that Paul was a golferbecause he said I have
finished my course.”[Laughter] And that proves it.
So anyway the apostle writes here, “Forthat which I do I do not approve.”
The apostle surely understood exactly what he was talking about. It’s the
translators that don’t understand Paul. “Forthat which I do I do not approve
for to explain what I wish that I do not do but what I hate that do I. If then I
do that which I would not I consentunto the law that it is good.” And he
concludes the first cycle by saying, “Now then it is no more I that do it but sin
that dwelleth in me.” Isn’t it an interesting thing that even when we are in our
most holy moments, our holiesttimes, sin intrudes.
Have you ever gottendown upon your knees and said I need a more intensive
prayer life? And so you pray very fervently, but even in the midst of your
prayer to the Lord Godhimself, you are in his presence, anunholy thought
will flit into your mind and you will suddenly stop thinking about praying to
the Lord and you’ll think about that thought. That thought will come into
your mind just like a buzzard through the sky. And then if that doesn’t
happen you will pray very earnestly and you will getup and you will say I
surely am making an advance in the spiritual life. [Laughter] It won’t be long
before they’ll be asking me to be a deaconor an elder at Believers Chapel. I’m
so earnestin my prayer life. Even in the midst of our affirmations of desires to

238. please the Lord and even in our aspirations sin intrudes. We are bond slaves
to sin or ourselves.
Now in the next cycle the apostle turns to the negative, stressesthe negative
and inward side of things. He says in verse 18, “ForI know that in me, that is,
in my flesh,” that qualifying limited clause, incidentally, shows us that he
writes as a Christian. If he was writing as an unsaved man he would just
simply sayI know that in me there is nothing good. That would be true of the
unsaved man, but the fact that he says, “I know that in me, that is, in my
flesh,” shows that there is an aspectof him that is good. So he writes as a
Christian. “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good
thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is goodI
find not. For the goodthat I would I do not: but the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me.” He’s speaking in the limited “I” sense. So he distinguishes
betweenhimself and the flesh. He’s a divided person. The flesh is utterly
corrupt. It cando nothing for God.
Many years ago whenI was in the insurance business in Birmingham,
Alabama, and had just been converted Lewis Sperry Chafercame to
Birmingham, Alabama and conducted a weekendseries ofmeetings. Why I
had a friend who was a graduate of Dallas Seminary and I went to the
meetings at his invitation, and I enjoyed Dr. Chaferand listened to every one
of the messagesthat he gave. I remember one of the messages particularly
because it was on Romans chapter 7. And Dr. Chaferwas a man who was
sixty-two years of age at that time, just a little man, a very nice face and a very
fine teacherof the word. I listened to every word that he said. He was very
quiet. Some people I know went to sleep. They use to complain about that
around the country so they told me later, but I always found him most
interesting. Well in the midst of one of his messageshe said now Campbell
Morgan, who has traces of Arminianism in his teaching, changeda verse of a
well knownhymn that we often sing. We actually sang it this morning. I did

239. not tell Mr. McCrackenabout this. I don’t know if he had heard a tape
previously or what, maybe it was just the providence of Godthat we sang that
hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, this morning. Dr. Chafer said,
“Campbell Morganhad traces ofArminianism.”
Now I heard that. I didn’t know exactly what that meant but it sounded bad.
[Laughter] And so I paid attention. He said, “I know that hymn has a verse in
it that reads, ‘Prone to wanderLord I feelit; prone to leave the God I love.'”
But he said, “CampbellMorganwho has traces of Arminianism changedit to
‘Prone to worship, Lord I feelit. Prone to serve the God I love.'” And then Dr.
Chafer turned to the audience and he said, “Now how many of you think that
Campbell Morganwas right?”
Well we heard that clause, “thathas traces ofArminianism,” and that
sounded bad and so nobody raisedtheir hand. He said, “How many of you
think the hymn writer was correct? Prone to wander?” And so we all raised
our hands, and that little smile came over Dr. Chafer’s face. He was a man
before his time. He had a mustache. Anyway, a smile came over his face and
he said, “Bothwere right.” And of course, he was right because it is true there
is an aspectofeachone of us as believers that is prone to wander. And there is
also an aspectof us as a result of our conversionthat is prone to worship. We
are divided persons. One of the things that the Holy Spirit attempts to do it
seems to me in the lives of eachof us and does at his sovereignwill at a
particular point is to bring us to the place where we recognize that we are so
weak we cannotdo anything. As long as we think we can do something we’re
not weak enough. It’s not until we come to the realization that in the flesh we
cannot please God, it’s not until then that we are able to really advance.
And finally, in the last of these cycles in verse 21 through verse 25, he says he
believer is always in a losing conflict. The old man living within is stronger
than the renewedself. The new life alone is not enough in the Christian life.

240. Listen to what he says, and notice the figure of the warfare and how we lose
the battle every time. He says in verse 21,
“I find then a law, (a principle) that, when I would do good, evil is present
with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, (after that
renewedself) But I see anotherlaw in my members, (there are two wars there)
warring againstthe law of my mind, and (notice the secondlaw is always
victorious) and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members.”
The apostle uses the present tense. It is durative in force. There is warfare
constantly going on and as long as this warfare goes onwithin the believer and
as long as the believer does not look outside of himself he is always in a losing
battle. He will lose every time. I delight in the law of God after inward man,
but I see anotherlaw, it wars againstmy mind and it brings me into captivity.
I’m constantlydefeated. It’s not wonder that he said, “Oh wretchedman that
I am!” And I want to tell you, there is nothing more musicalin the ears of the
Lord than when a Christian says, “Ohwretched man that I am!” There is
nothing more spiritual, there is nothing more scriptural than when a person
says, “Ohwretched man that I am!” You can see that in all of the teaching of
the word of God. You can even see it in the question of salvation. You cansee
this principle in sanctification.
Take Jonahhas an illustration. There he was in the belly of the greatfish.
When did he get delivered? When he had given up all hope of delivering
himself. If you’ll read the 2nd chapter of Jonah, he was in great misery. He
prayed. He was still in the belly of the greatfish. He cried. He was still in the
belly of the greatfish. He promises, “I will look againtoward Thy holy
temple.” He’s still in the belly of the greatfish. He moralizes. He sacrifices. He
vows, but he’s in the belly of the greatfish still. At length he finally says,
“Salvationis of the Lord.”

241. Mr. Spurgeon said, “He learned that line of goodtheologyin a strange
college.”[Laughter]“Salvationis of the Lord.” And the very next verse he’s
on dry land. You see the principle is that deliverance comes both from
condemnation and guilt of sin and from bondage of sin when we recognize we
cannot deliver ourselves. “Ohwretchedman that I am!” What a magnificent,
musical, spiritual, scriptural cry! And then he goes onto say, “I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
You know when the apostle says, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?” we want to notice one thing. I don’t want to get aheadof myself. But
will you notice that relative pronoun, the masculine, “Who will deliver me
from the body of this death?” It is not what but who. In other words, it is a
person who delivers. Man does not a law. He does needreligion. He cannot
keepthe law and religion will not save him. What he needs is a Savior. And so
Paul looks outside of himself, and deliverance in the Christian life comes when
we look outside of ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. As Dennison put it, “Oh
that a man would rise in me that the man I am may cease to be.”
“Who shall deliver me?” Thank God there is such a man through Jesus Christ
our Lord, forgiveness from Christ on the cross, deliverance from Christ in the
heart through the Holy Spirit. You know sometimes I must confess,I guess it’s
my old age, but I do get a little disturbed when I hear evangelicalChristians
these days running after every kind of superficialkind of teaching and
emphasis. I even hear Christians saying, this is when that law of the flesh is
inclined to get the best of me, I even hear them saying what I’m interesting in
is practicalteaching.
Now let me sayto you my dear Christian friend, there is no more practical
teaching in all of the Bible than theologicalteaching. Theologyis practical. So
calledpractical teaching as a generalrule, not always, so calledpractical

242. teaching is often impractical because it’s false. This is one of the great
mistakes ofKeswick teaching. Theyhave failed to stress that we are in a
constantstruggle as long as we’re in the flesh. There’s no plain of life to which
we may attain or in which we may reachfinally that we should have smooth
sailing. There is growth, there is development, and when we’re been a
Christian for many years we should, of course, have made progress in the
Christian life. Our failures should not be what they were when we began.
We are not like little children, constantly a mess, constantlyin trouble needing
constantdiscipline, but as long as we’re in the flesh we’re struggling. The
struggle is there to the end. The apostle will point out that complete
deliverance does not come until the resurrection. It’s impossible to live in
Romans 7 and then getout of Romans 7 and into Romans 8 as we’re often told
as a permanent dwelling place. That’s not taught in the Bible. We have
struggle as long as we’re in the flesh, but there is a way for us to enjoy over
coming powerand that is by looking outside of ourselves to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the sanctifying ministry of the Holy Spirit continues constantly,
and we learn more and more as it is the habit of life to look to him in the trials
and troubles of life. All of the experiences oflife if brought simply to our risen
Lord and lookedat in the light of him who is outside of us, all of those
experiences become stepping stones to growthand development in our
Christian life. The Christian life is very simple. It’s really looking unto him in
all of our experiences.
So “who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord.” That’s kind of a little theme statementthat he will
develop in Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 is the exposition and expansionof “I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” for it is through him that the
Spirit comes to indwell us.

243. So the apostle then has stressedthe inability of the flesh either in the
unconverted or in the converted he must do something in us now, for and in
us at the resurrectionfor ultimate deliverance. The sufficiency of Jesus Christ,
the apostle stresses. So as I say he says in a sentence what he will sayin a
chapter in a moment.
John Newton, that great Calvinistic servant of the Lord and hymn writer
wrote a stanza which I think is apropos. He said, “By various maximums,
forms, and rules that soughtfor wisdom in the schools,I soughtmy passions
to restrain but all my effort proved in vain. Forsince my SaviorI’ve known
my rules are all reduced to one to keepmy Lord by faith in view. This
strength supplies and motive too.” Mr. Newtonwas right, and that sufficiency
was receivedwhen our inabilities are acknowledgedby God by the Holy Spirit
bring us to the conviction of what we are and causes us in his wonderful grace
to lean upon him who is our sufficiency, then we know what it is to find some
deliverance in our Christian life. When we give up, he takes up. May the Lord
give us the desire to please him in a holy life a will to give him the reigns of
our hearts.
There is one last thing that remains if I may sayit, the apostle said, “I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Why not try Paul’s recipe? “I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We cannot live the Christian life in our
own strength. We can only live it in the strength of the Son of God. May God
help us to look unto him.
If you are hear this morning and you’ve never believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ, of course, you do not have him within. Your need is to recognize him
as the sacrifice who offeredhimself up for sinners, and if God the Holy Spirit
has brought you to the conviction that you are lost under guilt and
condemnation, your need is to flee to the cross and receive the free gift of
forgiveness ofsins. So may God speak to your heart. Come to Christ. Believe

244. in him. Receive everlasting life as a free gift. It’s not by works or
righteousness thatwe have done. It’s according to his mercy that he saves us.
May you come to Christ. And for you who are believers come to Christ. Come
to him. Look to him in the experiences oflife, in the troubles, the trials, the
disappointments, the tragedies, in the needs come to him and he will
undertake for you. Believe him.
Shall we stand for the benediction.
[Prayer] Father, we are so grateful to Thee for this page out of the apostle’s
life. What a greatprivilege it is to be able to read after the apostle’s own
explanation of the thoughts and aspirations and disappointments and
struggles that were part of him. We thank Thee for this transcript from the
apostle’s experiences. Oh, God help us to learn from it.
If there should be some here, Lord, who have never believed in Christ may
they turn to him right now. And for those of us who do know Thee, Lord, so
work in us by the Holy Spirit that we’re motivated to look oft outside of
ourselves to him who not only saves but sanctifies in the Spirit. Go with us
now. ForJesus’sake. Amen.
A Wretched Man Becomesa Saint
Romans 7:14-25
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, September 27, 2009
Copyright © 2009, P. G. Mathew

245. God never makes anyone his saint unless he cries out, “What a wretchedman
I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” In this expositionof
Romans 7, we are in generalagreementwith the majority of the church
fathers in the first three centuries of the Christian era and with modern
scholars like Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Douglas Moo,and a number of others.
Whose experience is Paul describing in Romans 7:7-25? Is it his own at the
time he was writing the epistle to the Romans, or his experience before he was
born again? Does this passage describe the normal Christian life, or the life of
a sinner under conviction of sin and yet not indwelt by the Holy Spirit?
The Romans 7 Man
In Romans 7 we see a man who is aware of what is right and what is sinful, yet
he always-notsometimes-ends up doing the wrong thing. This is a person to
whom God’s law came home in its full meaning and power by the operation of
the Spirit. Paul says that when the law came to him, “sinrevived and I died”
(Rom. 7:9). Romans 7:14-25 is speaking about this same person to whom the
law came. He no longer thinks of himself as perfectconcerning the
righteousness ofthe law (Phil. 3:6). Those happy days are over for him. He
now realizes he is a sinner. The law of God came home to him, condemned
him, and he died. We are not reading about a Christian who enjoys the
freedom of posse non peccare, the freedom not to sin, which is the freedom of
a true believer. This passage describesa sinner under convictionof sin yet
who has no freedom.
This man is a prisoner of sin. He is in the state of non posse non peccare (not
possible not to sin), meaning he canonly sin all the time. The church fathers,
especiallyin the first three centuries of the church, saw this man as
unregenerate. But the Reformers, following Augustine’s later views, generally

246. thought this passagespokeofa Christian, even a Christian at his best and
most mature. This latter view is partly responsible for the spirit of
antinomianism that prevails in much of today’s evangelicalchurch. It also
contributed to the dead orthodoxy of the seventeenthcentury, which the
Pietists opposed.
In Romans 7:7-25 Paul speaks ofwhat the law can and cannot do. The law can
neither justify nor sanctify us. The law is weak because ofour sin nature and
cannot impart life. It cannotcause us to obey the law. It reveals our sin and
condemns us as sinners. Law is powerlessbefore the mighty powerof sin.
Romans 7:14-25, therefore, cannotbe an analysis of Paul at the time of
writing this epistle or a description of a Christian at his best. Here Paul is
describing himself under convictionof sin yet not born again. He is aware of
his sin and his complete moral impotence and failure. He is aware of the great
powerof sin, yet he is not aware of the freedom of the gospel. It is probably
describing his preconversionexperience prior to his baptism by Ananias. F. F.
Bruce says, “Here is a picture of life under the law, without the aid of the
Spirit, portrayed from the perspective of one who has now experiencedthe
liberating power of life in the Spirit.”1 The Spirit of the ReformationBible
posits, “Paulwas describing [in a dramatic fashion] a transitional experience,
possibly his own, of one who has been awakenedto his or her true spiritual
need but who has not yet entered the full relief of justification by grace.”2In
Romans 7:7-25 we see no reference to grace, the Holy Spirit, or Christ.
The Key Verse
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, soldas a slave to sin”
(v. 14). This is the keyverse in this section. Verses 7:15-25 simply explain
verse 14, which itself gives reasonfor the previous verse. In the Greek, verse
14 starts with the word “for.” Paul knows the law is holy, just, and good. But
if the law is good, why did he die when it came to him? Why is it ministering

247. death to him? So he asks, “Didthat which is good, then, become death to
me?” (v. 13). Not at all! The law is not responsible for our death; sin is. But
through the law, God unmasks sin and makes it appear in its true nature:
utterly corrupt and foul. So Paul says, “Do not blame God’s law. It is holy,
just, good, and spiritual (pneumatikos). God is Spirit, and the law is spiritual
because it is given by the Holy Spirit. The problem is not with the law but with
us. We are sinful.”
Then Paul explains, “The law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual.” The word is
sarkinos(carnal). He is not partly carnal. He describes himself as all flesh in
all its weakness, especiallybecauseofsin. He is conditioned by sin and is an
in-Adam, fallen man. Remember in Romans 7:5 he said, “When we were in
the flesh,” meaning we are no longer in the flesh. There he was speaking as a
born-again, Spirit-indwelt man. He is in the Spirit, able to bear fruit to God
and serve him in the newness ofthe Spirit. But in Romans 7:14-25 he
describes himself as one still in the flesh, incapable of bringing forth the fruit
of obedience to God. We see this contrastin Romans 6:17: “But thanks be to
God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedlyobeyed the
form of teaching to which you were entrusted” (see also Rom. 6:20). A
regenerate personis no longera slave to sin. Paul makes this clearin Romans
8:9: “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if
the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he does not belong to Christ.”
The third element of this verse is that this man is “soldas a slave to sin.” We
see this idea in 1 Kings 21:20, when Elijah tells Ahab, “You have sold yourself
to do evil in the eyes of the LORD.'” And in 2 Kings 17:17 we read that the
Israelites sacrificedtheir sons and daughters in the fire and “practiced
divination and sorceryand sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the LORD,
provoking him to anger.”

248. Paul is saying, “I am in the state of slavery, and I cannot redeem myself. I
need a redeemerwho can buy me out of my slavery.”
The fourth aspectof this verse is that Paul calls himself “a slave to sin,”
meaning “under sin.” Paul acknowledgesthat he is under the rule, authority,
and powerof sin. Yet earlier in this epistle he declaredthat a Christian is not
under sin or law or death, but under grace, and that King Grace governs his
life in righteousness:“Justas sin reignedin death, so also grace might reign
through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”
(Rom. 5:21). Yet here in Romans 7:14 Paulsays he is sold under sin.
Finally, Paul implies, “I am not spiritual. The law is spiritual, but I am
carnal.” Yet elsewhere he declares that a believer is spiritual: “The spiritual
man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subjectto any
man’s judgment” (1 Cor. 2:15). The believer is Spirit-born and has divine
nature. He is Spirit-indwelt, Spirit-taught, Spirit-led, and Spirit-empowered
to be able to bring forth fruit to God through obedience. So Romans 7:7-25 is
speaking, not about a spiritual man, a believer, but about a man who is
carnal, sold under sin.
Propositions from Verses 15-25
Let us then look at some propositions from verses 15-25which explain verse
14.
Paul says in verse 15: “I do not understand what I do” [i.e., “I do not approve
it”]. Then he says, “Forwhat I want to do, I do not do.” He is not speaking
about occasionalactions. He is saying, “I do not practice what I want to do at
any time. I can only sin.” Then he says, “But what I hate, I do.” Again, he is
saying his actions are not occasionalbut always. He is describing himself as a

249. non posse non peccareman:“I find myself always practicing not what I
approve, but what I hate.” This is strong language.
In verse 16 he is saying, “I am doing what I do not purpose, desire, will, or
want.”3 Therefore he deduces:“If this is so, that I do what I don’t desire, and
I do what I hate, then it is not I but sin indwelling in me that is doing this evil”
(see verse 17).
We must clarify one point. Paul is not saying he is blameless ofsin. But he is
speaking about himself as a sin-possessed, sin-controlledperson. He is saying,
“This indwelling sin is a permanent resident in me and defeats my purpose.
This sin does what I do not will. I am its bondslave and cannot overcome it.”
He tells us this again in verse 20, saying, in essence:“The sin is not outside of
me, in the environment. It is inside, making me do its will instead of my own.
The Holy Spirit is not dwelling in me. Christ is not dwelling in me. Sin, in all
its power, is dwelling in me and controlling my life.”
Paul states in verse 18:“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my
sinful nature [flesh].” Something goodof greaterpower must dwell in us to
oppose and conquer this indwelling sin. But, he says, “Nothing gooddwells in
me. I am not born again. I do not have divine nature. I do not have the Holy
Spirit dwelling in me.” This is not what he said in Romans 5:5: “And hope
does not disappoint us, because Godhas poured out his love into our hearts by
the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (see also 1 Cor. 6:19-20).
Then he says, “ForwhatI do is not the goodI want to do; no, the evil I do not
want to do-this I keepon doing” (v. 19). The reality is that the evil [kakon]he
does not will, he practices. And he does so not once in a while, as some
theologians wantto say, but always. And in verse 21 he says he discovereda
law, a principle, in the light of his experience, that when he wantedto do that

250. which is excellent-the law of God-evil is right there, poisedto oppose,
frustrate, and defeathim. And this evil wins every time.
Paul continues in verse 23:“I see anotherlaw at work in the members of my
body, waging waragainstthe law of my mind and making me a prisoner of
the law of sin at work within my members.” This other law, which is different
from and opposedto God’s law, carries on a continuous campaignof warfare
againstGod’s law in his mind. It wins out all the time, defeating him and
taking him captive (as the Greek says, like a prisoner is takenat the point of a
spear).
But this is not the language Pauluses in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5: “The weapons
we fight with are not the weapons of the world [or “the flesh,” sarkika]. On
the contrary, they have divine powerto demolish strongholds. We demolish
arguments and every pretensionthat sets itself up againstthe knowledge of
God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Here
we see Paul as powerful, born of God, Spirit-empowered, and a soldier of
Christ, enjoying victory over sin.
In verse 24 Paul declares, “Whata wretchedman I am!” In other words, “I
am wearyand worn out. My hands are full of calluses.” The word (talaipôros)
conveys the picture of a miserable man doing hard labor for sin. Satanwants
to present the sin life as a wonderful life of greatjoy and happiness. But Paul
is proclaiming, “What a wretchedman I am! I am a bondslave to sin and
subject to death, which is the wages ofsin. I cannotsave myself. Who will save
me from the law of sin and death?”
At this point, the Christian Paul surfaces. He breaks out in doxologyand
answers the heartrending question of this miserable, wretched man he has
been describing. Man cannot save himself, and no man can save another,

251. because everyman in Adam is a weak, carnalsinner. But Paul triumphantly
declares, “Butthanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
A Man Convicted of Sin
God has a plan to save the miserable sons and daughters of Adam and make
them into saints, justifying, sanctifying, glorifying, and bringing them to
himself without sin. He has accomplishedthat eternal plan to make us holy
and blameless in and through the one mediator, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul had already saidof Christ, “He was delivered over to death for our sins
and was raisedto life for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Now in Romans 7 he
is summarizing the life of a sinner, unconverted, yet under conviction of sin.
When God’s Holy Spirit comes, the first thing he does is convict us of sin.
When we see people calling themselves Christians who have no sense of sin,
we can say they are not under the work of the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit comes, he will convictthe world of guilt in regardto sin.
After Peterpreached on the Dayof Pentecost, his listeners “were cut to the
heart and said to Peterand the other apostles, ‘Brothers, whatshall we do?'”
(Acts 2:37). In the middle of the night, the trembling Philippian jailer asked,
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).
It could be that Romans 7:7-25 is speaking about Paul’s life before his
baptism. Notice how Paul describes his own repentance and faith in Jesus
Christ: “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observerof
the law and highly respectedby all the Jews living there. He stoodbeside me
and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was
able to see him. Then he said: ‘The God of our fathers has chosenyou to know
his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You
will be his witness to all men of what you have seenand heard. And now what

252. are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and washyour sins away, calling on
his name'” (Acts 22:12-16). In Acts 9:17-19 we are also told how Paul was
filled with the Holy Spirit, his eyes were opened, and he was baptized.
When Paul was saying, “I myself with my mind serve the law of God,” we
recognize that an outright pagancannot serve God with his mind. But these
words can be true of a man whom the Holy Spirit is convicting of his sin. His
next statements that with his flesh he is a slave of sin and sin wins out indicate
that the man of Romans 7:7-25 is a man to whom the law of God was coming
with powerand deep conviction. The man who once said he was perfectly
righteous as a Pharisee now says, “Sinrevived and I died. I am all
unrighteousness and a bondslave of sin. I do not do what I will, and I do what
I do not will. I do what I hate-yea, what is evil. Sin is dwelling in me as a
permanent resident and is of greaterpowerthan my mind. No goodthing
dwells in me. From this slavery to sin, who will deliver me?”
So we must conclude that Romans 7:7-25 is not a description of normal
Christian life or of Christian life at its best. It is life of one being convictedbut
not converted, the life of one who knows no victory in Jesus. He has not yet
been indwelt by the greatestpowerin the universe, the infinite power of the
Holy Spirit, who alone can triumphantly oppose the greatyet finite power of
sin and Satan.
In this passage, therefore, Paulsays a certain things only a man under
conviction cansay. He says the law is holy, just, and goodand that law is
spiritual. He says, “I agree with the law that it is good.” He says he wills what
is goodbut cannotdo it. (PGM)Not only that, he rejoices with the law of God
with his inner man (i.e., with his mind), and he says he serves Godwith his
mind. But whateverhe is doing, he is incompetent. He has no freedom, no
divine ability to do the will of God. He must be savedthrough Christ.

253. The Difference betweenRomans 7 Man and A True Believer
If, then, Romans 7:7-25 describes normal Christian life, or a mature Christian
life, or the life of a Christian at his best, then Paul is contradicting himself in
his ownwords elsewhere in Romans as well as in his other epistles. Let us look
at some verses in which Paul described the normal Christian life and compare
them to the description of the Romans 7 man:
Romans 5:1-2: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have
gained accessby faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice
in the hope of the glory of God.” That is not we see in Romans 7:7-25. There is
no peace, no rejoicing.
Romans 5:17: “Forif, by the trespass ofthe one man, death reigned through
that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant
provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reignin life through the one
man, Jesus Christ.” Believers receive abundance ofgrace and they reign in
life here and now. But that is not what we see in Romans 7.
Romans 5:21b: “so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Grace reigns through
righteousness.
Romans 6:2: “Shallwe continue in sin?” Paul asks. “Byno means! We died to
sin; how canwe live in it any longer?” This is not true of the Romans 7 man.
Romans 6:4: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death
in order that, just as Christ was raisedfrom the dead through the glory of the
Father, we too may live a new life.” The life of Jesus Christ in us is the
resurrectionlife. That is why we can getup in the morning and work for the
Lord. We can do all things because Godhas given us a new nature, and the
Spirit of Godindwells us. We receive an abundance of grace to do mighty,
greatthings.

254. Romans 6:6: “Forwe know that our old selfwas crucified with him so that the
body of sin might be done awaywith, that we should no longerbe slaves to
sin.“
Romans 6:7: “becauseanyone who has died has been freed from sin,”
meaning freed from the dominion, rule, authority, and power of sin.
Romans 6:11: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God
in Christ Jesus,”that is, alive to serve God in Christ Jesus, notserve sin.
Romans 6:12: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you
obey its evil desires.” Christians enjoy freedom not to sin (posse non peccare).
If you find yourself caughtin sin, exercise your freedom and move out of
Romans 7, because Romans 7 is not speaking about the normal Christian life.
It is a life of defeat, bondage to sin, and misery.
Romans 6:13: “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of
wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been
brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as
instruments of righteousness.”Everybeliever is obedient and disobedient at
the same time. We have the freedom to obey God and the freedom to disobey
sin. We must not, therefore, call ourselves Christians if we do not live by the
powerof the Holy Spirit and serve Godin righteousness.
Romans 6:14: “Forsin shall not be your masterbecause you are not under
law, but under grace.” We are no longer slaves to sin.
Romans 6:17: “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin,
you wholeheartedlyobeyed the form of teaching to which you were
entrusted.” Notice, the word is “obeyed,” not “believed.” Every true Christian
is born of God and therefore has a new nature; and every Christian is indwelt
by the Holy Spirit and therefore he obeys from the heart the will of God as
given to us in the word. A beautiful mind is a mind renewedby the word of
God.
Romans 6:18: “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to
righteousness.”We have been set free from the dominion, authority, and
powerof sin, and through the Spirit of the living God, we defeatsin.

255. Romans 6:20: “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the controlof
righteousness.”Now it is reversed. We are under the controlof righteousness
and setfree from sin.
Romans 6:22: “But now that you have been setfree from sin and have become
slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal
life.” We are holy people.
Romans 7:4: “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of
Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the
dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.” We have a new husband to
whom we belong, and he enables us to bear the fruit of obedience to God.
Romans 7:6: “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been
releasedfrom the law so that we serve [God] in the new way of the Spirit [the
new powerof the Spirit] and not in the old way of the written code.”
Romans 8:1-2: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus, because throughChrist Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me
free from the law of sin and death.” We have been setfree from the dominion
of sin and Satan.
Romans 8:9: “You, however, are controlled not by the [flesh] but by the
[Holy] Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” We canmake any profession
we want, but a true Christian is born of Godand indwelt by the infinite
person of the Spirit and his infinite power, which makes us able to do the will
of God and be successfulin this world and the world to come.
Romans 8:11: “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is
living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” The cry of the man under
conviction in Romans 7: “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Here
is the answer:“Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!” The Holy
Spirit has come and is dwelling in us. This same Spirit who raisedJesus from
the dead will also raise our mortal bodies from the dead. The indwelling Holy
Spirit guarantees our resurrection.

256. Romans 8:37: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him who loved us.” Believe, saints of God. If you are defeated, rise up and say,
“From this day forward, by the energyof the mighty Spirit of God, I believe
the truth that I am more than a conqueror through him who loved me. So
neither death nor life, nor anything else in all creationis able to separate me
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Christians are
powerful to live victorious lives in Jesus, overcoming the temptations of this
world.
Galatians:2:20: Remember, Romans 7 spoke about sin dwelling in us and
making us his slaves. Butthere is another reality. If we have been born again,
the infinite Holy Spirit dwells in us, always opposing finite sin and giving us
victory. So we can saywith Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no
longerlive, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in
the Sonof God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” These are not
mythologicalstatements;they are reality. As we add faith to these words, we
will experience peace, comfort, victory, and success.
Galatians 5:16: “So I say, live by the Spirit [by his teaching and by his power],
and you will not gratify the desires of the [flesh].” We are not savedfrom the
flesh; sin is still in us. But, thank God, there is a new reality. We are new
creations in Christ and the Holy Spirit dwells in us, always opposing and
defeating sin.
Galatians 5:18: “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.” We
are no longerunder sin and death.
Ephesians 1:19: Paul prayed that we may have spiritual assistance to know
certain things to live a Christian life. The first thing we need to know is “his
incomparably greatpowerfor us who believe.” If we come and say, “I sinned
again,” it is proof that we did not receive the grace and assistanceofthe Holy
Spirit that would have come to us had we prayed and sought him. That is why
Paul speaks ofGod’s “incomparably greatpower for us who believe.” The
idea is that we might live by this resurrection powerof Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:10: “Forwe are God’s workmanship, createdin Christ Jesus to
do goodworks, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” From all

257. eternity it is God’s will to have a holy and blameless people who obey him. If
we do not obey God, we are not true Christians. We may be nominal
Christians. But our professionwill not mean anything unless we live obedient,
powerful, victorious lives.
Ephesians 3:20: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all
we ask or imagine, according to his [infinite] power that is at work within us.”
A Christian wife and mother can do all the work she should be doing. A
Christian father and husband can do all the work he should be doing. Any
Christian can do all the work he should be doing because God’s poweris at
work in us.
Ephesians 4:28: “He who has been stealing must stealno longer, but must
work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have
something to share with those in need.” This is speaking abouta thief who
became a Christian. Before he was stealing;now he is working hard. Why?
God gave him a new nature and the Holy Spirit is indwelling him, and he is
eagerto obey God’s by obeying his commandments. He pays his ownbills and
helps those in need. This is true Christianity.
Ephesians 6:10, 13-14:“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty
power” and wage waragainstall evil, againstprincipalities and powers and
heavenly wickedness, againstSatan. Resistthe devil and he shall flee from
you. Verses 13-14:“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the
day of evil comes, youmay be able to stand your ground, and after you have
done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled
around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place.” I pray that
especiallyhusbands and fathers will believe what we are saying and go home
to live such powerful lives that you inspire your wife and children to also live
for God.
Philippians 2:12-13:“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-
not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-continue to work
out your salvationwith fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to
will and to actaccording to his good purpose.” Josiahshowedsuchfear and
trembling when he discoveredthe Bible (2 Kings 22-23). If we are Christians,

258. God works in us to will and to do his goodpleasure. We do God’s will because
God makes us willing and able to do it. Even if we are steepedin sin, the Holy
Spirit can deliver us instantly. The thief of Ephesians 4 was not told to steal
less and less until one day he stops. No, he is to stopstealing immediately and
start working with his hands. God works in him.
Philippians 4:13: “I can do everything through [Christ] who gives me
strength.” The Lord helps us all the time to do all that he wants us to do.
1 Corinthians 9:27: “No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I
have preachedto others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” Paul’s
practice was to make his body obey him, not be enslavedto his body. The
Romans 7 man cannot do this. The Holy Spirit enables us to getup and do
God’s work.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20:“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have receivedfrom God? You are not
your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor Godwith your body.”
Paul’s question, “Do you not know?” means we should know that our bodies
are no longerours; they are the property of the Holy Spirit. We were bought
with a price, the blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we have no right to abuse
or do whateverwe want with them.
1 Corinthians 15:10: “But by the grace ofGod I am what I am, and his grace
to me was not without effect. No, I workedharder than all of them-yet not I,
but the grace of God that was with me.” We who receive abundant provision
of God’s grace reignin life, Paul wrote in Romans 5:17. Here he says that all
his success came to him by the grace of God. If we are Christians, we must
evaluate our lives and begin to redeem the time and produce eternally
significant works. God’s grace is available if we avail ourselves of the means
of grace, suchas getting up early to read the Scriptures, listening with all
attention when the word is preached, and praying with faith and passion, in
accordancewith the will of God.
2 Corinthians 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that
in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every
goodwork.” What a greatpromise! May we believe it, add faith to it, and

259. receive grace to do all things God wants us to do. We need grace, and it is
available to face all exigencies oflife. A Christian is bold, confident, and
positive rather than pessimistic and retreating.
2 Corinthians 12:9-11:“But [the Lord] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for
you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ThereforeI will boastall the
more gladly about my weaknesses,so that Christ’s power may reston me.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships,
in persecutions, in difficulties. Forwhen I am weak, then I am strong.” These
are the words of a truly mature Christian.
In light of all these scriptures, we must saythat if Romans 7:7-25 describes
normal Christian life, a mature Christian life, or the life of a Christian at his
best, then Paul is contradicting himself everywhere else in his writings.
Throughout all his epistles we see a believer living a victorious Christian life.
Conclusion
Have you noticed that most modern evangelicalchurches do not preachabout
sin anymore? They do not speak of repentance, judgment, hell, holiness,
purity, separationfrom the world, saving faith, cross power, victorious
Christian life, powerof grace, powerof the Holy Spirit, or the authority of the
Scripture. What, then, is the prevalent type of Christianity? It is nominalism.
People callthemselves Christians but live paganlives. They do so for the
simple reasonthat they are still pagans. They have not experienced
regenerationor the infilling and baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The view that Romans 7 describes the normal Christian life promotes such
antinomianism. In fact, it says the more we sin, the more grace we can receive
and the more God is glorified. Even Luther, by his statement, “Simul iustus et
peccator” (simultaneouslyjustified and still a sinner), might have lent support
to this antinomian Christianity in the Protestantchurch world. If Romans 7
speaks ofnormal Christian life, it also promotes the heresy calleddualism,
which says sin belongs to the body only. So one can say that his body is

260. sinning, but he is not. In fact, he can say, who cares whatthe body does? It is
only going to die. So one cansin all he wants;he is savedforever.
People may not use the labels of “antinomianism” or “dualism,” but this is the
type of life many people are living today in the evangelicalworld. This
explains the lack of preaching of sin, repentance, holiness, judgment, and Holy
Spirit power.
Jesus came to save his people from their sins, not “in their sins.” Yet this does
not mean that Christians are sinlesslyperfect. Christians sin, and it is very
possible for a Christian to sin terribly and for a long time. That is why John
writes, “If we confess oursins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our
sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). But by the new
nature and the dynamic of the indwelling Holy Spirit, those who are justified
are also being sanctifiedto live victorious Christian lives. Once we were
darkness;now we are light in the Lord. Let us therefore shine like stars in this
dark world and bring glory to our heavenly Father.
1 F. F. Bruce, Tyndale New TestamentCommentaries:Romans, rev. ed.,
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000 rptd.), 143.
2 New International Version Spirit of the Reformation Bible, (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 2003), 1821.
Copyright © 2009, P. G. Mathew

261. PHIL NEWTON
Struggling with Sin, Pt. 3
Romans 7:14-25
April 26, 2009
“A believer is to be known not only by his peace and joy, but by his warfare
and distress. His peace is peculiar: it flows from Christ; it is heavenly, it is
holy peace. His warfare is as peculiar: it is deep-seated, agonizing, and ceases
not till death.” So wrote the 19th century Scottishpastor, RobertMurray
M’Cheyne as he began his exposition of these verses. Peaceandjoy, yes, that
belongs to the Christian; but warfare and distress, deep-seated, agonizing, and
unceasing till death, that too is the Christian’s lot [Andrew Bonar, Memoir
and Remains of R.M. M’Cheyne, 428].
Such a picture may be unsettling to the American view of Christianity. So
many seemto forgetabout sin and its peril even after one comes to faith in
Christ. Little mention is made of sin in the syrupy gospelpresentations
intended to lure people into making decisions that will help them to feelbetter
about themselves, while the cross in justification and sanctificationappears
strangelyabsent. Everything is supposedto come up roses, orso we are led to
believe. Yet the stark reality is that in the midst of the peace that surpasses all
understanding and joy unspeakable and full of glory—genuine realities of
gospelfruit—sin lurks, slithering in the members of our body like a poisonous
snake, and attacking, to rob us of peace and joy. We know that the world and
the devil assaultthe saints but much more present and steadyin attack is “sin
which dwells in me” (7:17). It is indeed a principle or law that operates
constantly “that evil is presentin me, the one who wants to do good” (7:21).
Well, why not drag us into despair! You may be thinking along those lines,
and I can’t blame you! But, while the Apostle Paul seems to despair of life
itself due to the struggle with sin even as a mature believer, he ends this

262. chapter with a chorus of triumph, leading to further explanation of the
sufficiency of Jesus Christ in the gospel in the next chapter.
Where has the Apostle takenus in these verses? First, he has shown us that
unless we die to the Law as the means to our justification then we cannot and
will not be joined to Christ so that we might bear fruit for God (7:1-6). We
cannot trust in the law and in Christ for our justification. As long as we
depend upon the law as the means to our justification we are in bondage to
both law and sin. But dying to the law, we are joined to Christ, depending
upon Him alone as our righteousness, “sothat we serve in newness ofthe
Spirit and not in oldness of the letter” (7:6).
Second, Paulexplained that the problem was not deficiencyin the law but
deficiency in us. “The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and
righteous and good” (7:12). The law cuts through the darkness of our
perceptions to expose the reality of our sin. “I would not have come to know
sin exceptthrough the Law” (7:7). And through the law, sin becomes “utterly
sinful” (7:13). Yet because ofthe powerful attachment of sin in us, that proper
use of the law becomes twistedand distorted by sin so that the knowledge of
sin spurs us to more sin. “But sin, taking opportunity through the
commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind” (7:8). No fault of the
law, though, but rather of sin in me.
Third, Paul details the inward struggle with sin in the believer. Two things
happen simultaneously in the Christian. He joyfully agrees with the law of
God in his inner man (7:22). And at the same time, he practices whathe does
not want to do even while he desires to do what is right before God (7:15-16).
He tells us this three times with slightly different nuances in each:vv. 14-17,
18-20, and 21-23. He concludes that the real problem is “sin which dwells in
me.” While he agrees with the law and even inclines towardobedience, there

263. is an inward struggle taking place, attempting to drive the believer awayfrom
obedience to the law in alliance with sin.
Sin does not belong and is no longer welcomedin the believer. But until the
day of final redemption, sin remains a squatter, an unwelcome resident in his
life. Is there any hope for the Christian to make it to that final day of
redemption and to live triumphantly over indwelling sin? Count on Jesus
Christ our Lord to bring it about. That is the messageofRomans 7; Christ
Jesus comes through for those He redeems. How do we see this in the closing
verses of this chapter?
1. The stunning cry
Would an unbeliever callhimself a “wretchedman” and then cry out for
someone to rescue him? That would not make sense due to the unbeliever’s
antipathy to the revelation of God’s law concerning his sin. He might brag
about sin but not disparage over sin.
Then why would a Christian call himself a “wretchedman”? The word refers
to one that is miserable, one living under the acute awarenessofdistress. It’s
used in Revelation3:17 when Jesus told the LaodiceanChurch that they were
“wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” Theydid not realize it. They
thought of themselves as rich, wealthy, and needing nothing. But not the
Apostle in his stunning cry: “Wretchedman that I am!”
What did he see about himself that would cause a man of such dignity and
Christian sobriety to callhimself a wretchedman? Maybe he consideredthe
kind of life that he lived before coming to faith in Christ. Surely, that would
have given cause to utter such a cry. But the context will not allow us to make

264. that conclusion. He used the present tense over and over in verses 14-25, and
even in this verse, he uses a present tense to describe a present reality of
wretchedness. “Wretchedman that I am,” not “I was” or “I used to be.” Do
we not learn something important here? If we come to the place as a Christian
where we begin to think that we no longer struggle with sin or sin is not a
factorfor us or that our ongoing goodness evidencesa laudable claim to
personalsuccess, thenwe are embracing a different Christianity than what
Paul knew. Even though he had been delivered from his hate-filled self-
righteousness through the work of Christ, even though he had servedthe Lord
faithfully, even suffering in countless ways for the sake ofChrist, he remained
acutely aware ofhis own constantneed for grace. “Wretchedman that I am,”
he could sayof himself. Or as he put it earlier, “ForI know that nothing good
dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing
of the goodis not” (7:18).
Some would suggestthatthis was the cry of spiritual immaturity, that one
who had progressedin the faith would surely not feelsuch points of inward
misery. But I would propose to you that it is just the opposite. Here is the
evidence of spiritual maturity or maturing. The believer recognizes thateven
after years of growth in grace, he still cannot depend upon himself and the
works of the law for his sanctification. He must depend upon Christ alone.
Ironically, this cry of misery happens when the Christian grows in his
understanding of God’s nature, Christ’s sacrifice, andthe beauty and
goodness ofthe Law. The more he sees ofGod the more he realizes how little
he comprehends of Him. Listen to the way that the Puritan pastor Stephen
Charnock expressedit.
The nature of God as a Spirit is infinitely superior to whatsoeverwe can
conceive perfectin the notion of a createdspirit. WhatsoeverGodis, he is
infinitely so: he is infinite Wisdom, infinite Goodness, infinite Knowledge,

265. infinite Power, infinite Spirit; infinitely distant from the weaknessof
creatures, infinitely mounted above the excellencies ofcreatures:as easyto be
known that he is, as impossible to be comprehended what he is. Conceive of
him as excellent, without any imperfection; a Spirit without parts; great
without quantity; perfect without quality; everywhere without place;
powerful without members; understanding without ignorance;wise without
reasoning;light without darkness;infinitely more excelling the beauty of all
creatures, than the light in the sun, pure and unviolated, exceeds the splendor
of the sun dispersed and divided through a cloudy and misty air: and when
you have risen to the highest, conceive him yet infinitely above all you can
conceive ofspirit, and acknowledge the infirmity of your own minds. And
whatsoeverconceptioncomesinto your minds, say, This is not God; God is
more than this: if I could conceive him, he were not God; for Godis
incomprehensibly above whatsoeverI can say, whatsoeverI can think and
conceive ofhim [The Existence and Attributes of God, vol. 1, 200-201].
And what of Jesus Christ, Sonof God, Incarnate, perfect in righteousness,
spotless and blameless as the Lamb of God, “scarredwith God’s
thunderbolts” [M’Cheyne, 429], pierced for our transgressions, made a curse
for us, despisedand rejectedof men? Can we look on Him and considerthe
infinite reachof His love and sacrifice for us without being seized with our
wretchedness?Canwe behold the beauty and goodnessin the Law as the
revelation of God’s characterand think highly of ourselves?
The maturing believer thinks realisticallyabout the inward struggle with sin.
He knows that he lives not only in a sinful world but a body in which sin
dwells, mingling among his members to infect him with every manner of
darkness. He is honestwith himself about the battle within insteadof rolling
out the excuses orblaming everyone else for his issues. He talks to himself
about his sin! He rebukes himself over succumbing to temptation. He is never
satisfiedwith where he is spiritually; always longing to be more like Christ,
and yet as he gazes upon Christ while glancing at his sin, he can only cry out,
“Wretchedman that I am!”

266. 2. Sounding the alarm
Here is the evidence of the regenerate life:the Christian longs for deliverance.
“Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Is he asking a question?
Is he using “Who” in a generic sense, wondering if there is anyone out there
capable of rescuing him from the plight of indwelling sin? No indeed, for here
Paul uses a rhetoricalquestion in order to make the declarationof His
Deliverer.
“Setfree” is one word in the Greek and may be better translated, “Who will
rescue me out of the body of this death?” Or who will deliver me. The word
was used in ancient Greek ofguards protecting an army againstsurprise
attack and of the gods rescuing their devotees. However, the gods were
limited. They could only operate within the realm of destiny—which is a
fatalistic view of life. Whateverwill be will be! If there were no deliverance
then the worshipers would assume that destiny had tied the hands of the gods
to do them any good. This limitation by the gods in what they could do to
deliver likely led to the anxious cry recordedcenturies ago, “Who, godor
goddess, willsave us?” There was no sense ofcertainty in this cry but only
wishful thinking, even hopelessness [W. Kasch, ruomai, TDNT, vol. VI, 1000-
1003].
But we see nothing of this in the Apostle Paul’s alarm. He uses the same word
in Colossians1:13 when declaring of our God, “ForHe rescuedus from the
domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”
He has already rescuedus from this plight through Christ in the gospel!The
Apostle gave testimony, “I was rescuedout of the lion’s mouth. The Lord will
rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly
kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:17-18).

267. Yet now he thinks of a different sort of rescue. He wants to be rescued“from
the body of this death.” What is this body of death? It is that reality of
indwelling sin even in the believer. His desire for rescue is two-fold. First, he
wants ultimate rescue from the bodily conflict with sin. This is an
eschatologicalview, that is, Paul is looking for the final day of redemption
when he no longerdwells in a house of clay but in a glorified body, fitted for
the perfections of heaven. Here we find the longing, like creation, the groaning
within, “waiting eagerlyfor our adoption as sons, the redemption of our
body” (8:23). It is what the Apostle wrote about to the Philippian Christians,
expressing his “desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much
better” (1:23). It is that reminder that he gave to the same church, “Forour
citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerlywait for a Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into
conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the powerthat He
has to subject all things to Himself” (3:20-21).
Second, he wants penultimate rescue, that is, he does not give up on the
present while waiting on the future. He thinks of that period before the final
redemption—the period in which he presently lives. This is the practical,
present-time view, one that urges the Christian on in holiness while in this life.
How do we know that he had this in mind as wellas the ultimate rescue? The
context insists on it. Remember that Romans six precedes Romans seven!
What did Paul call for in Romans 6? He exhorted by calling for specific
action, not in dependence on the law but dependence on the grace that is in
Christ. “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey
its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as
instruments of unrighteousness;but presentyourselves to God as those alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
And then he gives the declarationof which Romans 7 is a commentary: “For
sin shall not be masterover you, for you are not under law but under grace”
(6:12-14). He has explained that the way we do not let sin master us is not
through law but through grace;and that grace is in union with Christ.

268. So Paul’s rhetoricalquestion is really an assertion. Who will rescue me? It is
Jesus Christ our Lord—not the law.
3. The sure answer
There’s no verb in this exclamation, as you notice. He does not need one. No
verb can express what just rolled off his lips: “Thanks be to God through
Jesus Christ our Lord!” In other words, we’re not like the Greeks waiting on
their fickle gods to rescue them from the plight they face. Godhas already
provided our rescue from this body of death through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What does he mean by his exclamation?
First, he exults in the certainty of future deliverance. Why is that important?
As Christians, we often dutifully speak ofthe eternalsecurity of the believer.
Yet sometime in the process oflife, when we are gripped by the immensity of
our sin, we may struggle with whether or not sin will ultimately pull us into
the abyss. But here is one that openly confesseshis struggle with sin: desiring
to do goodbut doing evil instead. Has that undermined his eternal hope? Does
that mean that because there is too much sin there is too little salvation? I
think we must read Romans 7 with an eye towardeternal assurance. Who will
rescue me from the body of this death? Is there hope for me? Yes, indeed, the
rescue is in and through Jesus Christour Lord—never through the Law.
Paul offers similar assurance in Romans 8, reminding us that nothing can
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (8:36-39).
Even though we declare, “I know that I’m saved,” we may yet go through
some dark days and difficult circumstances thatlead us to the edge of despair.
When that happens, read Romans 7 and 8. Believe what the Apostle has
sounded: Jesus Christ our Lord delivers you!

269. Second, he also exults in the reality of present deliverance. Do we not need this
on a regular basis? Paul has not setforth an argument that we are to be
contentedwith sin. Instead, we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies.
We are to battle sin at every point. Yet in those times of despair when we
think that sin has let loose its worstsiege possible, cry with the Apostle.
“Wretchedman that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Then meditate on and
openly confess Jesus Christas your powerful Deliverer. Think of what He did
for you at the cross. Letthat sin-killing powerat the cross sink into your
thoughts. Considerthe effective gospelthrough which you are united to Jesus
in His death and resurrection. Ask Him to deliver you even as God delivered
Him from the jaws of death by the resurrection. Rely upon prevailing grace
given to you freely as a Christian. Grace is God at work on your behalf. Ask
for grace in time of need because you have a GreatHigh Priest who is ready to
deliver you (Heb. 4:14-16). Depend upon the indwelling Holy Spirit who
“helps our weakness” (8:26). God has not left you in your time of need but has
given His Spirit to bring gospeltruth to your remembrance and to strengthen
your weak knees to stand firmly as a goodsoldierof Christ. Avail yourself of
the sufficient means of grace:the Word of God, prayer, worship, fellowship,
and the Lord’s Table.
The reality is that until Christ returns, the battle with indwelling sin
continues; but the even more present reality is that Christ continues to rescue
us from sin. Paul explained, “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.” In
other words, it is still going on but I am not despairing, evidenced by his
“therefore” in the very next verses (8:1-4).
BecauseI am in Christ, I am no longerunder condemnation

270. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has setme free from the law of sin
and death
Christ Jesus did what the law could not do due to the weaknessofmy flesh;
He bore sin’s condemnation so that I no longerbear it
The law’s requirements are fulfilled for me through Christ, so that as I now
walk in the Spirit, the law’s requirements are fulfilled in me
It is not the Law that justifies or sanctifies you…it is Jesus Christour Lord.
Count on Him for future and presentdeliverance.
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271. THE FAINTING WARRIOR
NO. 235
A SERMON
DELIVERED ON SABBATH MORNING, JANUARY 23, 1859,
BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE MUSIC HALL, ROYAL SURREYGARDENS.
“O wretchedman that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? I thank God, through Jesus Christour Lord.”
Romans 7:24, 25.
IF I chose to occupyyour time with controversialmatter, I might demonstrate
that the apostle Paul is
here describing his own experience as a Christian. Some have affirmed that he
is merely declaring what
he was before conversionand not what he was when he became the recipient
of the grace ofGod. But
such persons are evidently mistakenand I believe willfully mistaken, for any
ample-hearted, candid
mind reading through this chapter could not fall into such an error! It is Paul
the apostle who was not
less than the very greatestofthe apostles—itis Paul, the mighty servant of
God, a very prince in Israel,
one of the King’s mighty men—it is Paul, the saint and the apostle who here
exclaims, “O wretched man
that I am!”

272. Now, humble Christians are often the dupes of a very foolish error. They look
up to certainadvanced
saints and able ministers and they say, “Surely, such men as these do not
suffer as I do! They do not
contend with the same evil passions as those which vex and trouble me.” Ah, if
they knew the heart of
those men—if they could read their inward conflicts, they would soondiscover
that the nearer a man
lives to God, the more intensely has he to mourn overhis own evil heart! And
the more his Masterhonors him in His service, the more also does the evil of
the flesh vex and tease him day by day. Perhaps
this error is more natural, as it is certainly more common with regardto
apostolic saints. We have been
in the habit of saying, Saint Paul and Saint John, as if they were more saints
than any other of the children of God. They are all saints whom God has
calledby His grace, and sanctifiedby His Spirit! But
somehow we very foolishly put the apostles and the early saints into another
list and do not venture to
look on them as common mortals—we look upon them as some extraordinary
beings who could not be
men of like passions with ourselves. We are told in Scripture that our Savior
was “tempted in all points
like as we are.” And yet we fall into the flagrant error of imagining that the
apostles, who were far inferior to the Lord Jesus, escapedthese temptations
and were ignorant of these conflicts! The fact is, if you
had seenthe apostle Paul, you would have thought he was remarkably like the
rest of the chosenfamily.

273. And if you had talkedwith him, you would have said, “Why, Paul, I find that
your experience and mine
exactly agree. Youare more faithful, more holy and more deeply taught than
I, but you have the selfsame trials to endure. No, in some respects you are
more sorely tried than I.” Do not look upon the ancient saints as being exempt
either from infirmities or sins—and do not regard them with that mystic
reverence which almostmakes you an idolater! Their holiness is attainable
even by you and their faults
are to be censuredas much as your own!
I believe it is a Christian’s duty to force his wayinto the inner circle of
saintship. And if these saints
were superior to us in their attainments, as they certainly were, let us follow
them! Let us press forward
up to, yes, and beyond them, for I do not see that this is impossible. We have
the same Light of God that
they had; the same grace is accessible to us and why should we restsatisfied
until we have distanced
them in the heavenly race? Let us bring them down to the sphere of common
mortals! If Jesus was the
Son of man and very man, “bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,” so were
the apostles!And it is a
flagrant error to suppose that they were not the subjects of the same emotions
and the same inward trials
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274. as the very worstof the people of God. So far, this may tend to our comfort
and to our encouragement
when we find that we are engagedin a battle in which apostles themselves
have had to fight.
And now, we shall notice this morning, first, the two natures; secondly, their
constantbattle; thirdly,
we shall step aside and look at the wearywarrior, and hear him cry, “O
wretchedman that I am.” And
then, we shall turn our eyes in another direction, and see that fainting warrior
girding up his loins to the
conflict, and becoming an expectantvictor, while he shouts, “I thank God
through Jesus Christ our
Lord.”
I. First, then, THE TWO NATURES. Carnal men—unrenewedmen, have one
nature—a nature
which they inherited from their parents and which through the ancient
transgressionof Adam, is evil,
only evil and that continually. Mere human nature, such as is common to
every man, has in it many excellenttraits, judging of it betweenman and man.
A merely natural man may be honest, upright, kind
and generous. He may have noble and generous thoughts and may attain unto
a true and manly speech.
But when we come to matters of true religion—spiritual matters that concern
God and eternity—the
natural man cando nothing! The carnalmind, whose evermind it may be, is
fallen and is at enmity to
God. It knows nothing of the things of God, nor can it ever know them! Now,
when a man becomes a

275. Christian, he becomes so through the infusion of a new nature. He is naturally
“deadin trespasses and
sins,” and “without God and without hope.” The Holy Spirit enters into him,
and implants in him a new
principle, a new nature; a new life. That life is a high, holy and supernatural
principle. It is, in fact the
divine nature, a ray from the great“Fatherof Lights.” It is the Spirit of God
dwelling in man! Thus, you
see, the Christian becomes a double man—two men in one. Some have
imagined that the old nature is
turned out of the Christian—not so—forthe Word of God and experience
teachthe contrary! The old
nature is unchanged in the Christian—unaltered, just the same, as bad as ever
it was—while the new nature in him is holy, pure and heavenly! And
therefore, as we shall have to notice in the next place—there
arises a conflict betweenthe two.
Now, I want you to notice what the apostle says about these two natures that
are in the Christian, for
I am about to contrastthem. First, in our text the apostle calls the old nature,
“the body of this death.”
Why does he call it, “the body of this death”? Some suppose he means these
dying bodies. But I do not
think so. If it were not for sin, we would have no fault to find with our poor
bodies. They are noble
works of God and are not in themselves the cause of sin. Adam in the garden
of perfection felt the body
to be no encumbrance, nor if sin were absent should we have any fault to find
with our flesh and blood!

276. What, then, is it? I think the apostle calls the evil nature within him a body,
first, in oppositionto those
who talk of the relics of corruption in a Christian. I have heard people say
that there are relics, remainders and remnants of sin in a believer. Such men
do not know much about themselves yet. Oh, it is not a
bone, or a rag which is left—it is the whole body of sin that is there—the
whole of it, “from the crown of
the head to the sole of the feet.” Divine grace does not maim this body and cut
awayits members! It
leaves it entire, although blessedbe God, it crucifies it, nailing it to the cross of
Christ! And again, I
think he calls it a body because it is something tangible. We all know that we
have a body. It is a thing
we can feel; we know it is there. The new nature is a subtle spirit and not easy
to detect—I sometimes
have to question myself as to whether it is there at all. But as for my old
nature, that is a body I can never find it difficult to recognize its existence—it
is as apparent as flesh and bones!As I never doubt that I
am in flesh and blood, so I never doubt but what I have sin within me. It is a
body—a thing which I can
see and feel and which, to my pain, is always present with me.
Understand, then, that the old nature of the Christian is a body. It has in it a
substance or, as Calvin
puts it, it is a mass of corruption. It is not simply a shred, a remnant—the
cloth of the old garment—but
the whole of it is still there. True, it is crushed beneath the foot of grace. It is
castout of its throne. But it

277. is there—there in all its entireness and in all its sadtangibility—a body of
death. But why does he call it
a body of death? Simply to express what an awful thing this sin is that
remains in the heart. It is a body
of death. I must use a figure which is always appended to this text and very
properly so. It was the customof ancienttyrants, when they wished to put
men to the most fearful punishments, to tie a dead body
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to them, placing the two back to back. And there was the living man, with a
dead body closelystrapped
to him, rotting, putrid, and corrupting—and this he must drag with him
whereverhe went. Now this is
just what the Christian has to do. He has within him the new life. He has a
living and undying principle
which the Holy Spirit has put within him, but he feels that every day he has to
drag about with him this
dead body, this body of death—a thing as loathsome, as hideous, as
abominable to his new life as a dead
stinking carcasswouldbe to a living man! Francis Quarles gives a picture at
the beginning of one of his
examples of a greatskeletonin which a living man is encased. Howeverquaint
the fancy, it is not more
singular than true. There is the old skeletonman, filthy, corrupt, and
abominable. He is a cage for the

278. new principle which Godhas put in the heart. Consider a moment the striking
language ofour text, “The
body of this death”—it is death incarnate, death concentrated, deathdwelling
in the very temple of life!
Did you ever think what an awful thing death is? The thought is the most
abhorrent to human nature!
You sayyou do not fear death and very properly. But the reasonwhy you do
not feardeath is because
you look to a glorious immortality! Death, in itself, is a most frightful thing.
Now, inbred sin has about it
all the unknown terror, all the destructive force and all the stupendous gloom
of death. A poet would be
needed to depict the conflict of life with death—to describe a living soul
condemned to walk through the
black shades of confusion and to bear incarnate death in its very heart! But
such is the condition of the
Christian. As a regenerate man, he is a firing, bright, immortal spirit. But, he
has to tread the shades of
death. He has to do daily battle with all the tremendous powers of sin which
are as awful, as sublimely
terrific as even the powers of death and hell!
Upon referring to the preceding chapter, we find the evil principle styled, “the
old man.” There is
much meaning in that word, “old.” But let it suffice us to remark that in age
the new nature is not upon
an equal footing with the corrupt nature. There are some here who are 60
years old in their humanity,

279. who can scarcenumber two years in the life of grace. Now, pause and
meditate upon the warfare in the
heart. It is the contestof an infant with a full-grown man; the wrestling of a
babe with a giant! Old Adam, like some ancient oak, has thrust his roots into
the depths of manhood—canthe divine infant uproot
him and casthim from his place? This is the work, this is the labor. From its
birth, the new nature begins
the struggle and it cannot cease fromit until the victory is perfectly achieved.
Nevertheless,it is the
moving of a mountain, the drying up of an ocean, the threshing of the hills—
and who is sufficient for
these things? The heaven-born nature needs and will receive the abundant
help of its Author, or it would
yield in the struggle, subdued beneath the superior strength of its adversary
and crushed beneath his
enormous weight!
Again—observe that the old nature of man, which remains in the Christian, is
evil and it cannotever
be anything else but evil, for we are told in this chapterthat “in me”—that is,
in my flesh—“there dwells
no goodthing.” The old Adam-nature cannotbe improved! It cannot be made
better. It is hopeless to
attempt it! You may do what you please with it—you may educate it, you may
instruct it and thus you
may give it more instruments for rebellion—but you cannot make the rebel
into the friend; you cannot

280. turn the darkness into light. It is an enemy to God and an enemy to Godit
must always be. On the contrary, the new life which God has given us cannot
sin. That is the meaning of a passage inJohn where it
is said, “The child of God sins not. He cannotsin because he is born of God.”
The old nature is evil, only evil—and that continually. The new nature is
wholly good!It knows nothing of sin except to hate it.
Its contactwith sin brings it pain and misery and it cries out, “Woe is me that
I dwell in Meshech, that I
tabernacle in the tents of Kedar.”
I have thus given you some little picture of the two natures. Let me again
remind you that these two
natures are essentiallyunchangeable. You cannot make the new nature which
God has given you less
divine. The old nature you cannotmake less impure and earthly. Old Adam is
a condemned thing. You
may sweepthe house and the evil spirit may seemto go out of it, but he will
come back againand bring
with him sevenother devils more wickedthan himself. It is a leper’s house
and the leprosy is in every
stone from the foundation to the roof. There is no part sound! It is a garment
spotted by the flesh. You
may washand washand wash, but you shall never washit clean. It would be
foolish to attempt it. While
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281. on the other hand, the new nature can never be tainted—spotless, holyand
pure—it dwells in our hearts.
It rules and reigns there expecting the day when it shall castout its enemy
and, without a rival, it shall be
monarch in the heart of man forever!
II. I have thus describedthe two combatants. We shall now come, in the next
place, to THEIR
BATTLE. There was never a deadlier feud in the entire world between
nations than there is betweenthe
two principles, right and wrong. But right and wrong are often divided from
one another by distance
and, therefore, they have a less intense hatred. Suppose an instance—right
holds for liberty, therefore
right hates the evil of slavery. But we do not so intensely hate slaveryas we
should do if we saw it before our eyes—thenwould the blood boil when we
saw our black brother, smitten by the cow-hide whip!
Imagine a slaveholderstanding here and smiting his poor slave until the red
blood gushed forth in a river—can you conceive your indignation? Now, it is
distance which makes you feelthis less acutely. The
right forgets the wrong because it is far away. But suppose now that right and
wrong lived in the same
house. Suppose two such desperate enemies cribbed, cabined and confined
within this narrow house,
man. Suppose the two compelled to dwell together—canyouimagine to what
a desperate pitch of fury
these two would get with one another? The evil thing says, “I will turn you
out, you intruder! I cannot be

282. peacefulas I would. I cannot riot as I would! I cannot indulge just as I
would—out with you! I will never be content until I slay you.” “No,” says the
new-born nature, “I will kill you and drive you out! I will
not suffer stick or stone of you to remain. I have swornwar to the knife with
you. I have taken out the
swordand castawaythe scabbardand will never rest till I can sing complete
victory over you and totally ejectyou from this house of mine.” They are
always at enmity wherever they are. They were never
friends and never canbe. The evil must hate the good and the goodmust hate
the evil.
And mark—althoughwe might compare the enmity to the wolf and lamb, yet
the new-born nature is
not the lamb in all respects. It may be in its innocence and meekness,but it is
not in its strength, for the
new-born nature has all the omnipotence of God about it, while the old nature
has all the strength of the
evil one in it, which is a strength not easilyto be exaggerated, but which we
very frequently underestimate! These two things are always desperatelyat
enmity with one another. And even when they are both
quiet, they hate eachother none the less. When my evil nature does not rise,
still it hates the new-born
nature and when the new-born nature is inactive, it has nevertheless a
thorough abhorrence of all iniquity! The one cannotendure the other; it must
endeavorto thrust it forth. Nor do these at any time allow an
opportunity to pass from being revengedupon one another. There are times
when the old nature is very
active and then how will it ply all the weapons of its deadly armory againstthe
Christian! You will find

283. yourselves at one time suddenly attackedwith angerand when you guard
yourself againstthe hot temptation, all of a sudden you will find pride rising
and you will begin to sayto yourself—“Am I not a good
man to have kept my temper down?” And the moment you thrust down your
pride, there will come another temptation and lust will look out of the window
of your eyes and you will desire a thing upon
which you ought not to look—andbefore you can shut your eyes upon the
vanity, sloth in its deadly apathy surrounds you and you give yourself up to its
influence and cease to labor for God! And then, when
you bestir yourselves once more—in the very attempt to rouse yourself, you
have once more awakened
your pride! Evil haunts you, go where you may, or stand in what posture you
choose!
On the other hand, the new nature will never lose an opportunity of putting
down the old. As for the
means of grace, the new-born nature will never rest satisfiedunless it enjoys
them. As for prayer, it will
seek by prayer to wrestle with the enemy. It will employ faith and hope and
love—the threats, the promises, providence, grace and everything else to cast
out the evil! “Well,” says one, “I don’t find it so.”
Then I am afraid for you! If you do not hate sin so much that you do
everything to drive it out, I am
afraid you are not a living child of God! Antinomians like to hear you preach
about the evil of the heart,
but here is the fault with them—they do not like to be told that unless they
hate that evil, unless they
seek to drive it out and unless it is the constantdisposition of their new-born
nature to root it up—they

284. are yet in their sins. Men who only believe their depravity, but do not hate it,
are no further than the devil on the road to heaven!It is not my being corrupt
that proves me a Christian; nor knowing I am corrupt,
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but that I hate my corruption! It is my agonizing death struggle with my
corruptions that proves me to be
a living child of God! These two natures will never ceaseto struggle as long as
we are in this world. The
old nature will never give up. It will never cry truce; it will never ask for a
treaty to be made betweenthe
two. It will always strike as often as it can! When it lies still, it will only be
preparing for some future
battle. The battle of Christian with Apollyon lastedthree hours. But the battle
of Christian with himself
lastedall the way from the WicketGate to the River Jordan! The enemy
within cannever be driven out
while we are here. Satanmay sometimes be absent from us and getsuch a
defeatthat he is glad to go
howling back to his den, but old Adam abides with us from the first even to
the last. He was with us
when we first believed in Jesus and long before that and he will be with us till
that moment when we
shall leave our bones in the grave, our fears in the Jordan and our sins in
oblivion!

285. Once more observe that neither of these two natures will be contentin the
fight without bringing in
allies to assist. The evil nature has old relations and in its endeavorto drive
out the grace that is within,
it sends off messengers to all its helpers. Like Chedorlaomer, the King of
Elam, it brings other kings
with it when it goes out to battle. “Ah,” says old Adam, “I have friends in the
Pit.” He sends a message
down to the depths and willing allies come from there—spirits from the vast
deep of hell—devils without number come up to the help of their brother! And
then, not content with that, the flesh says—“Ah, I
have friends in this world.” And then, the world sends its fierce cohorts of
temptation, such as the lust of
the eyes and the pride of life. What a battle, when sin, Satanand the world
make an assaultupon the
Christian all at once!“Oh,” says one, “it is a terrible thing to be a Christian.”
I assure you it is—it is one
of the hardest things in the world to be a child of God! In fact, it is impossible
unless the Lord makes us
His children and keeps us so!
Well, what does the new nature do? When it sees allthese enemies, it cries
unto the Lord and then
the Lord sends it friends. First comes in to its help, Jehovahin the everlasting
covenantand reveals to
the heart its own interest in the secrets ofeternity. Then comes Jesus with His
blood. “You shall conquer,” He says. “I will make you more than a conqueror
through My death.” And then appears the Holy

286. Spirit, the Comforter. With such assistance, this new-born nature is more
than a match for its enemies!
God will sometimes leave that new nature alone—to letit know its own
weakness—butit shall not be
for long, lest it should sink in despair. Are you fighting with the enemy, today,
my dear Christian brothers and sisters? Are Satan, the flesh and the world—
that hellish trinity—all againstyou? Remember,
there is a Divine Trinity for you! Fight on, though like Valiant-for-truth, your
blood runs from your hand
and glues your swordto your arm. Fight on! For with you are the legions of
heaven. God Himself is with
you! JehovahNissiis your banner, and Jehovah Rophi is the healerof your
wounds! You shall overcome, for who candefeat Omnipotence, or trample
divinity beneath his foot?
I have thus endeavoredto describe the conflict. But understand me, it cannot
be described. We must
say, as Hart does in his hymn, when after singing the emotions of his soul, he
says—
“But, brethren, you can surely guess,
For you perhaps have felt the same.”
If you could see a plain upon which a battle is fought, you would see how the
ground is torn up by the
wheels of the cannon, by the horses’hoofs and by the trampling of men. What
desolationis there where
once the goldencrops of the harvest grew!How the ground is soakedwith the
blood of the slain! How
frightful the result of this terrible struggle. But if you could see the believers’
heart after a spiritual battle, you would find it just as the battlefield—as much

287. cut up as the ground of the battlefield after the direst conflict that men or
fiends have ever waged!Think—we are combating man with himself! No,
more—man with the whole world! No, more! Man with hell—God with man
againstman, the world and
hell. What a fight is that! It would be worth an angel’s while to come from the
remotestfields of ether to
behold such a conflict!
III. We come now to notice THE WEARY COMBATANT. He lifts up his
voice and weeping he
cries, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?” It is the cry of a
panting warrior. He has fought so long that he has lost his breath and he
draws it in again. He takes
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breath by prayer, “O wretchedman that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?” He
will not give up the conflict. He knows he cannot and he dares not. That
thought does not enter into his
mind! But the conflictis so sore;the battle so furious that he is almost
defeated. He sits down to refresh
himself and thus he sighs out his soul. Like the panting hart longing for the
waterbrook, he says, “O
wretchedman that I am.” No, it is more than that. It is the cry of one who is
fainting. He has fought till

288. all his strength is spent and he falls back into the arms of his Redeemerwith
this fainting gasp, “O
wretchedman that I am!” His strength has failed him! He is sorely beatenin
the battle. He feels that,
without the help of God, he is so totally defeated that he commences his own
wail of defeat, “O
wretchedman that I am.” And then, he asks this question, “Who shall deliver
me?” And there comes a
voice from the law, “I cannot and I will not!” There comes a voice from
Conscience, “Ican make you
see the battle, but I cannothelp you in it.” And then, there comes a cry from
old Human nature that says,
“Ah, none candeliver you; I shall yet destroy you! You shall fall by the hand
of your enemy. The house
of David shall be destroyedand Saul shall live and reign forever.” And the
poor fainting soldier cries
again, “Who shall deliver me?” It seems a hopeless caseandI believe that
sometimes the true Christian
may think himself hopelesslygiven over to the power of sin.
The wretchedness ofPaul, I think, lay in two things which are enough to make
any man wretched.
Paul believed the doctrine of human responsibility, and yet he felt the doctrine
of human inability. I have
heard people ask sometimes—“Youtell the sinner that he cannot believe and
repent without the help of
the Holy Spirit, and yet you tell him that it is his duty to believe and repent!
How are these two to be

289. reconciled?” We reply that they do not need any reconciliation. Theyare two
truths of Holy Scripture,
and we leave them to reconcile themselves—theyare friends, and friends do
not need any reconciliation!
But what seems a difficulty as a matter of doctrine is clearas daylight as a
matter of experience!I know
it is my duty to be perfect, but I am conscious Icannot be. I know that every
time I commit sin I am
guilty and yet I am quite certain that I will sin—that my nature is such that I
cannot help it! I feelthat I
am unable to get rid of this body of sin and death and yet I know I ought to
get rid of it. These two
things are enough to make any man miserable—to know that he is responsible
for his sinful nature and
yet to know that he cannot getrid of it. And to know that he ought to keepit
down and yet to feelhe
cannot—to know that it is his business to keepGod’s law perfectly and walk
blameless in the commandments of the law—and yet to know by sad
experience that he is as unable to do so as much as he is
unable to reverse the motion of the globe or dash the sun from the center of
the spheres!How will not
these two things drive any man to desperation? The wayin which some men
avoid the dilemma is by a
denial of one of these truths. They say, “Well, it is true I am unable to cease
from sin.” And then, they
deny their obligation to do so—theydo not cry, “O wretched man that I
am”—they live as they like and

290. say they cannothelp it. On the other hand, there are some men who know
they are responsible. But then
they say, “Yes, but I cancastoff my sin,” and these are tolerably happy. The
Arminian and the hyperCalvinist, both of them, get on very comfortably. But
the man who believes these two doctrines as
taught in God’s Word—that he is responsible for sin, and yet that he is unable
to get rid of it—I do not
wonder that when he looks into himself he finds enough to make him sighand
cry, to faint and despair,
“O wretchedman that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?”
And now says one, “Ah, I would not be a Christian if that is the way in which
he faints—it seems he
is always to be fighting with himself—and even until he despairs of victory.”
Stop a moment. Let us
complete the picture. This man is fainting. But he will be restored, by-and-by.
Think not that he is hopelesslydefeated—he falls to rise—he faints but to be
revived afresh!I know a remedy which can awaken
his sleeping hopes and shoota thrill along the freezing current of his blood.
Let us sound the promise in
his ear—lookhow soonhe revives! Let us put the cordial to his lips—look how
he starts up and plays
the man again!“I have almost been defeated” he says, “almostdriven to
despair. Rejoice not over me, O
my enemy! Though I fall, yet I shall rise again.” And he lets fly againsthim
once more, shouting, “I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So on he goes again, more than a
conqueror through Him

291. who has loved him!
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IV. This brings me to this last point, that THE CHRISTIAN IS TO BE A
CONQUERORAT LAST.
Do you think that we are forever to be the drudges and the slaves ofsin? Am I
forever to be the galley
slave of my own nature, to tug for freedom and never to escape?Am I always
to have this dead man
chained to my back and sniff the noxious exhalations of his putrid body? No,
no, no! That which is within my heart is like a cagedeagle and I know that
soonthe bars which confine me shall be broken! The
door of my cage shallbe opened and I shall mount with my eyes upon the sun
of glory, soaring upward,
true to the line, moving neither to the right hand nor to the left; flying till I
reachmy journey’s end in the
everlasting rocks ofGod’s eternallove! No, we who love the Lord are not
forever to dwell in Meshech.
The dust may besmearour robes and filth may be upon our brow and
beggaredmay be our garment, but
we shall not be so forever! The day is coming when we shall rise and shake
ourselves from the dust and
put on our beautiful garments! It is true we are now like Israel in Canaan.
Canaanis full of enemies, but

292. the Canaanites shalland must be driven out! Amalek shall be slain; Agag
shall be hewn in pieces!Our
enemies shall, every one of them, be dispersedand the whole land from Dan to
Beersheba shallbe the
Lord’s. Christians, rejoice!You are soonto be perfect! You are soonto be
free from sin, totally free
from it, without one wrong inclination, one evil desire!You are soonto be as
pure as the angels in light.
No, more, with your Master’s garments on, you are to be “holy as the holy
one.” Can you think of that?
Is not that the very sum of heaven, the rapture of bliss, the sonnet of the
hilltops of glory—that you are
to be perfect? No temptation shall reachyou from eyes, or ears, or hands! Nor
if the temptation could
reachyou would you be hurt by it, for there will be nothing in you that could
in any way fostersin! It
would be as when a spark falls upon an ocean—yourholiness would quench it
in a moment! Yes,
washedin the blood of Jesus, afreshbaptized with the Holy Spirit, you are
soonto walk the golden
streets white-robed and white-hearted too! Perfectas your Maker, you are to
stand before His throne,
and sing His praises to eternity!
Now, soldiers of Christ, to arms again! Once more rush into the fight—you
cannot be defeated!You
will overcome. Thoughyou faint a little, yet take courage,you shall conquer
through the blood of the

293. Lamb!
And now, turning aside for a minute, I shall conclude by making an
observationor two to many now
present. There are some here who say, “I am never disturbed in that fashion.”
Then I am sorry for you. I
will tell you the reasonofyour false peace. You have not the grace of God in
your heart! If you had, you
would surely find this conflict within you. Do not despise the Christian
because he is in the conflict—
despise yourself because youare out of it! The reasonwhy the devil leaves you
alone is that he knows
you are his—he does not need to trouble you much now—he will have time
enough to give you your
wages atthe last! He troubles the Christian because he is afraid of losing him.
He thinks that if he does
not tease him here, he shall never have the chance to do it in eternity—so he
will bite him and bark at
him while he may. That is why the Christian is vexed more then you are. As
for you, you may wellbe
without any pain, for dead men feelno blows. You may wellbe without the
pricking of conscience. Men
who are corrupt are not likely to feel wounds, though you stab them from
head to foot. I pity your condition, for the worm that dies not is preparing to
feed upon you. The eternal vulture of remorse shall soon
wet his horrid beak with the blood of your soul! Tremble, for the fires of hell
are hot and unquenchable,
and the place of perdition is hideous beyond a madman’s dream! Oh, that you
would think of your last

294. end! The Christian may have an evil present, but he has a glorious future. But
your future is the blackness ofdarkness forever!I adjure you by the living
God, you who fear not Christ, consideryour ways!
You and I must give an accountfor this morning’s service. You are warned,
men and women! You are
warned! Take heedto yourselves that you think not this life to be everything.
There is a world to come!
There is “afterdeath, the judgment.” If you fear not the Lord, there is after
judgment, eternal wrath, and
everlasting misery!
And now, a word to those seeking Christ. “Ah,” says one, “Sir, I have sought
Christ, but I feelworse
than I ever have in my life. Before I had any thoughts about Christ I felt
myself to be good, but now I
feel myself to be evil.” It is all right, my friend. I am glad to hear you sayso.
When surgeons heal a pa-
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tient’s wound they always take care to cut awaythe proud flesh because the
cure can never be radical
while the proud flesh remains. The Lord is getting rid of your self-confidence
and self-righteousness!He
is just now revealing to your soul the deadly cancerwhich is festering within
you. You are on the sure

295. road to healing if you are on the way to wounding. God wounds before He
heals!He strikes a man dead
in his own esteembefore He makes him alive! “Ah,” cries one, “but can I hope
that I ever shall be delivered?” Yes, my brother, if you now look to Christ, I
care not of your sin, nor of your despair of heart! If
you will only turn your eyes to Him who bled upon the tree, there is not only
hope for you, but there is a
certainty of salvation! I, myself, while thinking over this subject, felt a horror
of greatdarkness rush
over my spirit as I thought what danger I was in lestI should be defeated. I
could not geta glimpse of
the light of God into my burdened spirit until I turned my eyes and saw my
Masterhanging on the cross.
I saw the blood flowing—faithlaid hold upon the sacrifice, andI said, “This
cross is the instrument of
Jesus’victory, and it shall be the means of mine, too.” I lookedto His blood! I
remembered that I was
triumphant in that blood and I rose from my meditations humbled, but
rejoicing—castdown, but not in
despair—looking forthe victory. Do likewise!“Jesus Christcame into the
world to save sinners.” Believe that! You are an awakened, conscious and
penitent sinner—He, therefore, came to save you. Believe His Word. Trust
Him. Do nothing for your ownsalvation of yourself, but trust Him to do it.
Cast
yourself simply and only on Him! And, as this Bible is true, you shall not find
the promise fail you—
“He who seeks, finds; to him who knocks, it shall be opened.”

296. May God help you by giving you this new life within! May He help you to look
to Jesus, and though
long and hard is the conflict, sweetshallbe the victory, by His grace!Amen.