In chapter 6 Paul contrasted the relationship of the Christians’ “new-life-in-Christ” with the “old life-in-Adam”…he explained that before salvation we were dead IN sin but after salvation, we are dead TO sin.
That’s really the difference between someone who’s saved and someone who’s not…the non-believer is dead IN sin…Bible says so…the wage of sin is death …a person is said to be dead in sin when they make sin their business…when sin reigns in their lives and has dominion over them…when it dictates and controls how they live…when they delight in it…the result is death IN sin.
BUT…as Christians we are dead TO sin…a person who is both justified and sanctified is dead to sin:
…sin can no longer exert its power over them
…it does not have dominion over them
…it’s no longer a pleasure to them
…it’s not their course of life
…those who are dead to sin cannot permanently live in it.
Sin brings three kinds of death:
SPIRITUAL…because of Adam’s sin nature we adopted at birth we are separated from God’s spiritual presence…Adam experienced this immediately after his disobedience and it has continued down through humanity ever since.
PHYSICAL death…the cessation of all vital functions of the body.
ETERNAL…referred to in Scripture as the second death…this death is eternal separation from God’s presence.
We do not become sinners because we sin…we sin because we are already sinners…we became sinners at birth.
Before we were saved, we were separated from Christ by sin…Paul does not speak of sins…plural…but sin…singular…Paul is not referring to any ‘specific acts of sin’. He doesn’t list all the possible sins that could be committed…but rather focuses on one sin in particular…the single sin we are all guilty of.
The single sin Paul is referring to specifically is …the ruling power that all humans are subjected to… the sin of the deliberate and determined independence from God…that is the single sin we are all guilty of.
That is the sin that works in the heart of all humanity preventing us from obeying God…which leads us to say…I am my own god…I do as I please.
That single sin is what separates us all from God…Scripture doesn’t say God punished the human race because of their sins…plural… but the sin nature that is inherent within every person who has ever lived.
QUESTION – Why does the natural man believe he is acceptable to God?
ANSWER – universal answer: everybody sins…we’re all sinners…in the pure sense of the word ‘sinner’ we are all guilty…we have made a practice of sinning and we have committed sins against God… so we very much do deserve the label of “sinner.”
BUT…there is only one place in the entire New Testament where someone who is living a faithful Christian life is called a sinner [1 Tim. 1:15] …Paul refers to himself as a sinner…understanding the context in which this verse is written… Paul is holding up his former life as an object lesson for the entire world to see…I was a bad person…I used to be a sinner…I killed people.
Other than that, I know of no other passage in the New Testament where a servant of the Lord is called a “sinner” …every place throughout Scripture Christians are referred to as saints…sadly, the term “saint” has been hijacked to mean a status achieved by a handful of super-Christians. Not true.
A sinner is someone who is living in sin…who is willfully and deliberated living a lifestyle that is opposed to Christian standards…Scripture doesn’t call faithful Christians “sinners”, it calls us “saints.”
So, in that sense NO… we’re not all sinners.
But it is that mindset that ‘well we’re all sinners’ that deceives someone into believing I’m not that bad…we’re all in this together…they see no need of salvation …no reason for trusting in Christ.
It is only after having been saved by grace through faith that we are forgiven of our SIN and the accompanying sins we commit because of that single sin problem…and are now saints.
This was detailed in the previous chapter where Paul explained baptism…an important event in the life of a Christian.
Paul goes into a lengthy discussion showing how baptism pictures the spiritual union that we have with Christ in His death and in His resurrection…I read that as part of Peyton’s baptism this morning.
As believers we died with Christ and were raised with Him…it’s a public declaration that we died to SELF and the old sin nature…whereby we become dead to sin but alive to God in Christ.
By faith we are born again into God’s family and our life is hidden with Christ in God…that describes Peyton’s life now…hidden with Christ in God.
In chapter 7 Paul is referring to perhaps the greatest problem that confronted the church at that particular time…and because we’re not caught up in the debate that was occurring in that church 2000 years ago these passages are difficult to understand and seem to have no relevance.
The issue was Jewish Christians’ determination to bind certain parts of the law onto Gentile converts…Paul more than any other apostle was responsible for separating Christianity from Judaism.
At the expense of turning this into a history or seminary class on Jewish Law I just want to share the purpose of verses 1-13 because they are relevant.
In chapter 7 Paul uses the analogy of marriage…something everyone can identify with…using the woman as the example…the law of marriage is that the woman is bound to her husband as long as her husband remains alive.
This illustration regarding marriage and divorce comes from the teaching in both the Old and New Testaments where God is represented as being a husband to His wife Israel…and in the New Testament the Church is identified as the bride of Christ.
Two things about this illustration:
FIRST… this illustration has nothing to do with marriage and divorce.
SECOND…the teaching in Romans 7 is centered on the idea that as Christians and as believers in Christ…we are freed from any obligation to the law as a wife is free from her obligation to her husband at death.
As Christians we are no longer under Moses’ law…we are free to be united to another…leaving the old ties…the law of Moses…we are married to Christ.
Paul sums this whole idea up in verse 6:
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we (now) serve in newness of the Spirit
Here’s where the confusion comes in…hard to believe confusion in the Bible… in this verse and verses 6 and 7 of chapter 6 they seem to indicate:
that our old self was crucified with Him (that) we would no longer be slaves to sin for he who has died is freed from sin
does anyone this morning feel they are freed from sin…yet this verse seems to suggest the possibility that we are free from sin and can no longer sin.
This is the position John MacArthur takes…that the believer no longer has two competing natures, the old and the new…but only the one new nature. (The MacArthur Study Bible NASB [Nelson Bibles], p. 1670),
I respect John MacArthur but I strongly disagree with that statement.
There are teachers who teach that this passage suggests that as Christians we are free from sin and sinning…nothing could be further from the truth!
That response tends to lead believers to think they aren’t Christians because of the sin nature that still resides in every believer.
I don’t care whether you call it the old nature…the flesh…or indwelling sin… that nature resides in every believer and will until you die.
Even as mighty a man as Paul was, he went through it…this is a description of what every believer will go through again and again and again because sin has the power to deceive us and to cause us to trust in ourselves, even when we are not aware it is doing it.
Chapter 7 reveals the struggle that takes place in the life of every believer who is trying to live the Christian life…BUT because we all have a strong propensity toward sin that wars against a Christians’ new nature…we find ourselves asking the same question Paul asked himself.
A question I suspect ever person has asked themselves countless times… essentially…why do I do what I don’t want to do?
Has anyone not asked this question? …it leaves you questioning your salvation …your position in Christ as a believer…your promise of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit…leaving you feeling less than a true Christian.
The problem theologians face regarding this statement by Paul is in trying to understand Paul’s status:
1) is he referring to himself before he was a believer
2) is he talking about himself as a believer but an immature believer.
3) is he referring to himself as a mature believer.
Most agree that Paul is describing his struggle with sin as a mature believer… something mature believers struggle with that is common to all Christians.
What Paul says in this passage is something we can all identify with (v 15).
For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate that I do
This really counters John MacArthur’s statement that the believer no longer has two competing natures, the old and the new…Paul’s own life demonstrates the struggle with our sinful flesh that never goes away while we are on this earth.
Paul is sharing his frustration concerning the inconsistency between his new nature as a Christian and the old nature that is still at work in him…he wants to do the right thing but at times fails to do it…we experience the same thing at times.
The problem is the inconsistency of Paul’s own words that…on the one hand… we die to sin and are resurrected to new life (6:1-14) …and…on the other hand there is a war raging in my body and mind making me a prisoner of sin [23].
The issue is that Christians stand with one foot in the kingdom of this world and the other foot in the kingdom of God…it is the tension between those two worlds that confuses us regarding our being freed from sin.
As Christians our spiritual growth is a continuous process…a gradual growth process that continues throughout our earthly life and will NOT be fully realized until our resurrection… therefore:
…we find ourselves not understanding our own actions (15)
…we fail to do what we want and do what we hate (15)
…we know what is right, but fail to do it (18)
…we do the evil that we do not want to do (19)
…there is a war going on within us (23)
…and sin sometimes takes us captive (23).
Paul is wanting to serve God in his heart and mind and knew what he ought to do…but…he was unable to in his own strength because like us… Paul was bound by his fallen fleshly sin nature.
Here’s the question…with all of this talk of a new life in Christ…why do I still struggle with the old self? …how can we be free from sin and yet continue to do wrong? …Paul sums up this whole dilemma by saying:
Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Maybe the same question you’re asking yourself this morning…Paul feels wretched because he isn’t able to live according to his new nature…he feels trapped in a death-destined body…so he asks…“Who will deliver me….?”
In the next verse Paul give the answer to his own dilemma…
Thanks, be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! [25]
In Christ,
…we are free from the penalty of sin (judgment)
…we are free from the power of sin (hopelessness)
…BUT…while free we are still in the flesh and therefore
…not free from the presence of sin (temptations)
…not free from the possibility of sinning (failures).
Because I still struggle with the presence and possibility of sin…that is the reason why we must daily focus on Christ.
The chapter rightly ends with Paul answering his own question: thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord (v. 25).
The Lord has already freed us…it’s a done deal…A list of more do’s and don’ts won’t fix your struggle….God working through Jesus will rescue us from this body of sin and death.