Dovetailing with my last post, this seems like a good opportunity to share some thoughts on the end of chapter 7 of Romans. I was recently reading an article by one of our brotherhood scholars who mentioned having changed his views on this section. It got me to looking at why I see things as I do as regards Romans 7:14-25. If you don’t remember, this is the section where Paul talks about a struggle between what he knows is right and what he finds himself doing. I know of three basic interpretations to this passage:

(1) Paul is talking about his own struggle before becoming a Christian.
(2) Paul is talking about the struggle of non-Christians.
(3) Paul is talking about his own struggle as a Christian.

There may be other interpretations, but these seem to be the big three. From what I can see, the third interpretation is “the plain meaning of the text,” so you have to come up with a good reason for rejecting that interpretation before you can accept the other two. We can look to the Burton Coffman commentary for a good argument as to why this is done: “Paul’s experience as a Christian is the last thing that could be considered as the topic here. “I am carnal, sold under sin …” Are such words as these any fit comment of any child of God who has been redeemed by the blood of Christ? To use Paul’s words, God forbid! To refer these words to Paul’s status as a Christian, or to the status of any other Christian, is to torture the word of God. Such a construction upon these words approaches blasphemy Paul had just finished saying that Christians are “dead to sin” and “alive unto God” in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11); and to apply these words to Christians is to contradict what had just been stated.” Coffman favors a combination of the first two interpretations above.

So why do I think Paul is talking about himself as a Christian? First off, the word “carnal” here is a Greek word that is only used four times in the New Testament: Romans 7:14, 1 Corinthians 3:1, 2 Corinthians 3:3 and Hebrews 7:16. It doesn’t refer to “carnality” as we think of it, but to humanness. Paul says, “The law is spiritual; I am human.” Note that there is no mention of the Spirit in these verses; Paul is talking about the Christian as a human, trying to fulfill God’s demands by his own power. Our flesh is not capable of that.

Chapters 5-8 of Romans describe the Christian life. The first part of chapter 7, there is some discussion of Paul’s former life, and it is all in the past tense. Would Paul now use the present tense to discuss his former life? That makes no sense. And the idea that Paul could be speaking of his former life contradicts what he says about his former life in Philippians 3 — “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.” (Philippians 3:4-6). Paul kept the Law very well before becoming a Christian. There is nothing in Paul’s writings to suggest that he felt that he could now keep the Law’s commands better than before. In fact, he says in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27: “Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” Paul continued to struggle with sin, a struggle that he describes in Romans 7.

Paul, in Romans 7:14-25 is saying the same thing he says in Galatians 5:16-18: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Our natural self wants to do what is wrong; we have to follow the Spirit to be able to do what is right. Without God’s help, our human nature will not allow us to do what we know to be right.

There’s no reason to reject the plain reading of this passage. Over the years, every Christian with whom I’ve read this passage could identify with Paul’s struggle. Our only hope for doing what is right is to deny the flesh and follow the Spirit. Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord—that He has delivered us from our own selves.