Reviewing Romans 7:7-21 Part 1

Standing outside on my friend's driveway after a Bible study I had sat in on with a community of eager young believers years ago (nearly a decade now! wow), Zach gave me some encouragement. He was older than I was, about four years or so, and so naturally I looked up to him somewhat, especially in the faith. Honestly, I don't even remember what was going on in my life that made him think of this passage and his understanding of it as encouragement, but I will always recall what he said.

Zach had opened the door to his Mitsubishi 3000GT and was leaning on it as we spoke. He grabbed his Bible and read Romans 7:7-21:

What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

He said, "Man, when I read this, it reminds me how far I have to go. I mean, if Paul, Paul of all people, struggled with sin like this, then who am I to be so arrogant as to say that I am above him? He said the very things he wanted to do he didn't and I've seen how I do the same. Sin is just going to be with us as long as we're here."

It is true, this passage can be so comforting to us, can't it? We read this from such a spiritual giant as Paul. And not just "Paul," the guy down the street. But THE Apostle Paul! The man who was single-handedly responsible for the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman empire. And sadly, so many stop there, with verse 21. But what else might Paul have to say about this? Not in one of his other epistles, but within the same passage, the same chapter (and the beginning of chapter 8), just a few verses later? First, let's review (briefly) the most common understanding of this passage.

Most people will say that Paul wrote this about himself as he was at the time of writing, that this entire passage is Paul after Christ. This is especially true when you begin reading the final paragraph of this passage when the verbs become present tense. "I am unspiritual," "I do not understand," "for what I want to do," "The evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing."

So rightfully, they believe, their conclusion is that Paul struggled this way, we struggle this way, and we are all doomed to "nothing good [living] in [us], that is, in [our] sinful nature." I mean, from that quote alone, we must conclude, since Paul logically links the two, that "me" and "sinful nature" are the same thing. Therefore, nothing good lives in him because his sinful nature is what indwells him. With this understanding, the follower of Jesus Christ can take solace in the fact that his sin is not his fault because he wants to do good but evil is right there with him. Because sin is just a foregone conclusion in the Christian walk and we shouldn't be too harsh on ourselves, right? But, again, what does Paul say...just a few..........verses..........later?

Taken in isolation, this passage is one of the most fantastic proof texts (most often unintentionally) employed by most Christians. But is it possible that if we consider the surrounding context (not going far), Chapters 6 and 8, that our conclusion would be radically different, maybe even transformative?