Romans 7:14-20

I hope this finds you and your family well. I hope you are looking forward to a great weekend in Christ and working in His fields.

Romans 7:14-20 (NIV)
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
18 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.
19 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.
20 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.

Paul has said a mouthful here in just seven verses! This is the Paul that wrote chapter six and told us we are free from sin by the grace of God. Now he comes back and talks about the wrestling match that he has experienced with sin. When you read this, yes read it again, is this the picture of what a Christian faces all their life or is a picture of a Christian who has not discovered the life in the Spirit? Well, what is it? Go to Romans 7 and look at the first four verses and then answer the question. It is my interpretation that Romans 7 is about a person who is trying to live the life of Christ on their own resources. I do not believe that this is a picture of a person without Christ trying to live up to the law because even Paul says 'none is righteous no not one, that none even seek after God'. Either way, it is not about the Christians life until we get to heaven. I do believe some people think when reading chapter 7, "Well, their you go, even Paul tried to do good and still got it wrong so what am I to do?" They forget about chapters 6 and 8. We talk about taking verses out of context and forget that we can take whole chapters out of context. We are free in Christ!!

Christianity promises to make men free; it never promises to make them independent.

William Ralph Inge (1860–1954)