15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. – Romans 7:15-20
This can be a challenging passage written by the Apostle Paul. Chapter 7 of Romans needs to be read in its entirety to understand the overall objective of this passage, although the passage by itself highlights the fact that as born-again Christians we can experience this kind of inner struggle.
If I were to condense Chapter 7 into one sentence it would be: The Law condemns without the Grace of God, but the Law is Light for a believer helps to direct our lives as we repent from the sin revealed by the Law.
One thing I think most of us should agree on, we are all sinners, and Paul (whose name was Saul) was a high profile sinner. He was one of the chief persecutors of the Church. When he was enroute to Damascus for another Christian mop up operation, he was transformed through a confrontation with Jesus Christ.
Paul was able to become the greatest evangelist for Christ in church history. God was able to use all of his formal education and training at a Pharisee, his Jewish heritage and Roman citizenry to amazing effect.
We can therefore further consider this passage in Roman’s 7 and the real turmoil a genuine believer in Christ can face while we struggle with our old self, those sinful thoughts and obstacles to Sanctification, that old self that still hangs on to us while we strive to live as ministers for God and with Jesus as Lord.
We are prone to temptation, and it’s important to remove yourself from situations that threaten to overcome your resistance to temptation. Don’t think that you can overcome succumbing to sin as though you are stronger than the many great (albeit sinful) characters in the Bible. Their examples stand a warnings to each of us. Yet Jesus stands out as The sinless One.
Being in community with other believers and staying connected to the Word is important.
We are not naturally inclined to think that we must put our full trust in someone else to fulfill our purposes in life. Especially in the pioneering western thought, we’re geared up to be rugged individualist, or even a team player. We usually think, that by our own efforts we are to achieve success and reliance on others is often considered a weakness or, at worse, even laziness. We can struggle with this release of self-pride and ego in order to receive God’s grace.
As Voddie Baucham declared (paraphrasing), “We were dead in our sins, and dead men can’t reach out to God much less meet Him half way. “Dead” means dead.”
Alternatively, Paul’s passage reminds us that we are not perfect and we can sometimes be plagued by thoughts of hypocrisy, knowing that our natural selves are prone to act only in self-interest, sometimes as a matter of survival, often in idolatrous unbelief and unfaithfulness to God. Despite these feelings of weakness, however, as part of an ongoing process of Sanctification, we seek, strive and desire to choose to act in ways that were previously considered out of the question, especially when it comes to reaching out to others in obedience to God.
Actions of obedience to God can be contrary to how comfortable we feel or how right for yourself it may feel. There is hardly a better way to know which thoughts are Godly than to immerse oneself in the Scripture seeking to understand what is being taught, especially if it is reinforced by the fundamentals of the faith. In other words, you have to be careful not to let modern concepts and personal feelings interfere with an accurate theological and cultural contexts in interpretation of the Biblical meanings.
Life as a Christian is a process of continually pursuing the will of God to obey. In the process, our inhibitions to do God’s will begin to dissolve, and we begin to act in faith, to act in ways that we were unable to act before. However, if we develop a non-Biblical concept of God, that is idolatry and a breaking of the First and Second Commandments.
Born-Again, we are still confessed sinners who without God’s grace and mercy are all deserving of judgment. We do have a real reason to be joyful because while we were yet enemies of God, He chose to reach out in love to save (Romans 5:8). In humility, we share the message of the Gospel and live in light of the Gospel, of God’s perfect work, warning others not to be blinded.
As a believer in Christ, we still struggle with sin, we still face temptations but are called not to succumb to temptation, just as Jesus faced the strong temptations but was able to defeat them with trust in God’s power and authority contained in the Word.
Building a faithful trust and obedience to God’s word, while being convicted of sin and the ensuing struggles that can create, is a process for all believers.
For a detailed explanation of who Jesus Christ is from the Bible’s perspective go to the video in this website , “Who is Jesus Christ?”
For a one minute explanation of the Gospel, watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCP9UcC7BzE
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
CKY
P.S. Typos and all, I do not use AI.
Sunset photo in Hawaii (Maui) is from my personal stock.