Their Error With Romans 7

Friends,
In yesterday’s post, I wrote about how, in Romans, Paul contrasts eternal death with eternal life, and how if we are obeying sin, we are slaves to sin, and how slavery to sin leads to death while slavery to God leads to righteousness, holiness, and eternal life. I pointed out that Paul says in 6:16 that we cannot be slaves to both sin and righteousness, for either one or the other is our master.

Unfortunately, in spite of this Truth, false teachers refuse to teach that we cannot serve two masters, and instead teach that we daily vacillate between obedience to God and obedience to the sinful nature. They like to quote Rom. 7:15-23 to prove that even Paul kept sinning even though he didn’t want to. What nonsense! What blindness to the plain language of the text! Paul says in verse 14, “I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin”, and then he goes on to say that he does what he hates, for though he wants to do good, he cannot carry out God’s righteous law. However, teachers who teach that this is the apostle’s actual situation, need to consider these questions:

1. Is Paul really in such a predicament after being rescued by Christ? (v. 24,25)

2. Is Paul really unspiritual and sold as a slave to sin –even when he just finished teaching throughout chapter 6 and part of chapter 7, that by belonging to Christ we’ve “been freed from sin” (6:7) and are no longer “slaves to sin” (v. 17)?

3. Is Paul really unspiritual when in 1 Cor. 2:6-16 he says he is a spiritual man by having received the Spirit (v. 12) so that he even has the mind of Christ (v. 16)?

4. Would Paul say that Jesus rescued him from being a prisoner of the law of sin (Rom. 7:24,25a), if he was still in bondage to sin?

5. Would Paul say he still remains in the sinful nature as a slave to the law of sin (v. 25b) if in chapter 8 he teaches that those who remain controlled by the sinful nature are “hostile to God” (v. 7), live in spiritual death (v. 6), are headed for eternal death (v. 13), do not have the Spirit of Christ (v. 8 ), and do not belong to Christ? (same verse)

6. Would Paul teach in Gal. 5:24, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” if he himself had not done so –even though he’d already stated in 2:20 that he had been crucified with Christ so that he no longer lived, but it was Christ who lived in him? –And even though in Rom. 6:6 he states that “our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin”?

Any honest reader can clearly see that in Rom. 7:7-25 Paul was writing in present-tense form from the viewpoint of a man who desperately needs to be rescued from his slavery to sin. Paul was presenting the need and then concluding with the solution as he says, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death [–this body that serves sin that leads to death]? Thanks be to God –through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 24,25a)

Once Christ rescued him, Paul was certainly not serving both sin and Christ –for no born-anew person can serve two masters! (Luke 16:13) No, he was serving Christ only, which means he was “in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.” (Rom. 6:19) Paul says in 6:21 that doing sinful things result in death! Then he says, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” (v. 22) Then the contrast again: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (v. 23)

Friends, we must stop listening to all these “Christian” teachers who are twisting Romans 7 (and some other passages) to actually preach rebellion against Christ. We must read the Word for ourselves under the tutelage of the Spirit (1 John 2:26,27), not under men’s tutelage, and we will see that once we’ve been rescued from sin by Christ, it means just that: Rescued from sin. –Rescued from its domination over us, so that “the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us.” (Rom. 8:4) –In those of us “who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (same verse), proving that we “have the Spirit of Christ” (v. 9) and are thus “sons of God.” (v. 14)

Sincerely,
with love,
Rachel