In our last visit we noted how the insight word “I,” found 25 times in Romans 7:14-27, helps us understand the struggle Paul was experiencing. The problem is self, self-effort, or self -dependence. Understanding this led him to conclude “I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin…I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.” He goes on to say, “I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”
These verses describe the war that goes on between the law of the mind and the law of sin. The battle often results in feeling like a prisoner of the law of sin at work within our members. In desperation he cries out in verse 24, “What a wretched man I am!” Many Christians feel this agonizing pain of failure and defeat. The law of God that is good, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, produced death in Paul, so that through the commandment sin might be seen as utterly sinful.
Understanding this practical dynamic is necessary for us to become what God wants us to be. We need to come to the place where we never turn to our own self sufficiency in our effort to live for God. It never works. God wants us to see our bankruptcy, our total inability to make righteousness and holiness work.
When Paul cries out, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” there’s only one answer. “Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.” He alone can turn defeat into victory (vs 25).
