Todd Baker

Romans 7: Pre-Christian, Post-Christian, or Both? Part 2

By Todd Baker

The third proposed meaning for Romans 7:7-25 is that Paul is describing the experience of Adam, especially verses 7-12 where Adam, in the person of Paul, is thought to be spiritually alive before the Law was given. But when the commandment came, sin “revived” and came to life through the serpent and deceived Adam bringing spiritual death to him and the rest of his posterity. Paul moves on in verses 14-25 to detail the ongoing effects of Adam’s solidarity with us in the person of Paul. The Adam view first emerged in the early church and was held by Methodius and Theodore of Mopsuesta. The immediate problem with this meaning is that, when Paul spoke of Adam in Romans, he did so clearly (Romans 5). While it is true that the reality of Romans 7 morally applies to Adam and his fallen descendants with him, the individual in view here is Paul who is representative of those consciously trying to keep the Law in their own strength and failing in the process. Besides that, Adam was not deceived (contra what Paul claimed for himself in Romans 7:11); Eve was first deceived by the devil through the perfidious agency of the serpent (1 Timothy 2:14). When Adam disobeyed, he did so knowingly. To decipher Adam from Romans 7 can only be done so by reading it into the text and ignoring the fact of Paul’s consistent method of being clear, direct, and to the point when wanting to teach a truth. This is readily apparent in 1 Corinthians when dealing with the problems of the Corinthian church. Paul was frank and anything but indirect in his writings. When he wanted to use the historical Adam, he did so plainly (see Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15). The Adam interpretation for Romans7:7-25 must be rejected since it reads into the text by assumption instead of letting the text plainly speak for itself. The fourth interpretation holds that Romans 7:7-25 is descriptive of the moral bankruptcy and failure of the unregenerate person. The verses depict what is generally true of non-Christians and specifically true of Paul prior to his conversion. This view was maintained by most of the Greek Fathers of the early church. Commentators of this persuasion treat Romans 7:7-25 as one single unit instead of two. Those who advocate this meaning highlight certain expressions of Paul that leads them to preclude verses 14-25 from applying to the present Christian experience.

Do phrases like “I am carnal and sold under sin and “O wretched man that I am” (verses 14, 24) realistically represent the Christian’s present condition; especially when the believer is said to be dead to sin and no longer enslaved by it (Romans 6)? The difficulties with these objections can be reasonably cleared up if we remember that Paul said other things in this section of Scripture which could never be true of the unregenerate. True, Paul does say he is carnal and sold under sin, but it was said in the context of sin as an intruding force and power that is alien to his delight and desire to serve God after the inner man (verse 22).This could not apply to the unregenerate because Paul writes in chapter 8 of Romans: “The mind of the flesh is enmity against God and will not submit itself to the law of God” (8:7). Paul says he served and delighted in God’s law with his mind (7:21-25). He was mentally compliant in contrast to the unsaved who are mentally rebellious. The conclusion is obvious: Paul is not detailing the life of an unbeliever in Romans 7:14-25. If he were, then this section would contradict what we see about the unsaved in chapter 8. This can only be resolved by taking verses 14-25 as a separate unit from verses 7-13. Romans 7:14-25 therefore depicts the regenerate believer struggling against the inward power of sin still present within the members of his body, whereas the person of chapter 8:5-8 is the unsaved person fully given over to a sinful lifestyle without any moral compunction. The Law of Moses can only show what a man is by nature — saved or unsaved. The purpose of the Law was not to save but to expose and define sin (Romans 7:7; Galatians 3:19) regardless of whether a Christian or unbeliever is in view.

The fifth and final interpretation of Romans 7:7-25 divides this chapter into two categories of time — past and present. Verses 7-13 describe the experience of the unregenerate as appropriately expressed in the past tense while verses 14-25 describe the present struggle of a saved Christian fighting against the sin nature that still dwells within him. The key to identifying 7:7- 13 occurring in the pre-regenerate state is found in verse 5; in that verse, Paul locates the place and time as “when we were in the flesh”, which indicates the time before salvation. Thus verses 7:7-13 expressed in the past tense, with special emphasis of verse 5, allows one to logically conclude 7:7-13 is the experience of one who is unregenerate. Romans 7:14-25 then goes on to describe the ongoing tension between the regenerated self and the remaining power and presence of sin still within human nature expressed in the present tense that the law still continues to reveal and exacerbate in the life of a Christian. This seems the most probable interpretation since it best agrees with the past and present tense sequences of both sections. The majority of the early church Fathers took this same view.

One of the signs of spiritual regeneration in Christ is the constant inward struggle and warfare that takes place within the believer’s mind, body, and spirit. The point of both sections is to drive home the truth that the Law of Moses could never save a person whether saved or unsaved. One objection to this interpretation is the strong language Paul uses in verses 14-25 tends to make the Christian life one of continual frustration and defeat. This objection is somewhat defused if we keep in the forefront of our minds that what Paul is addressing in 7:14-25 is the constant struggle and moral fight every born-again Christian faces when living for God from a regenerate nature while simultaneously combating against the sin nature, or natural inclination toward evil that will be eradicated in the future when the glorious eschaton comes. The inner struggle between the “flesh” and God’s indwelling Spirit in a Christian believer causes us sometimes to fall in our action to do good. Galatians 5:17 is an indication of the reality of this tension: “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Having a constant and acute awareness of our own sinfulness in the light of God’s holiness and grace is a sure sign spiritual regeneration has taken place. Indeed, all those who have walked closely with God, like the apostle Paul, realize more and more their own sinful wretchedness.

This is a pattern clearly seen throughout Scripture from some of the greatest persons of the faith found in the Bible. Abraham considered himself no better than “dust and ashes” when standing face to face with God (Gen 18:27). Job confessed after seeing God revealed from the whirlwind, “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job

42:6). Isaiah, one of the greatest prophets, cried out to God, “Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips” (Is. 6:5). The greatest of all the prophets, John the Baptist, acknowledged his own innate sinfulness by humbly suggesting to Jesus that it was he, not Christ, who needed to be baptized (Matt. 3:15). When Peter saw the supernatural power of Christ, he exclaimed, “Go away from me Lord. I am a sinful man” (Luke. 5:8). Paul makes a shocking confession in 1 Timothy 1:15 (which I myself well identify with some 26 years after being in the Christian faith) as he reflected on God’s superabundant, undeserved grace toward him as “the chief of sinners.” “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” Note: he did not say, “I was,” but “I am” the chief of sinners from the Greek present tense eimi ego. Are we to suppose that 1 Timothy 1:15 is any more harsh of a description than what we find in Romans 7? If some Bible students and commentators think it inconceivable that Paul would write the things he did in Romans 7:14-25 about his present Christian experience, then the verse in 1 Timothy 1:15 shows once again that Paul saw himself corrupt and sinful apart from God’s saving grace. The struggle portrayed in Romans 7:14-25 is therefore a normative experience for those growing in grace. The more closely we draw to Christ, the more correspondingly clear the realization that we are indeed sinful and unholy in the blazing presence of a holy God. Romans 7:14-25 is an extrapolation of this truth in the life of Paul.

You can reach Todd at:

Brit Hadashah Ministries
P.O. Box 796127
Dallas, Texas 75379-6127

E-mail: todd@brit-hadashah.org
Web site: www.Brit-Hadashah.org or www.searchthescripturesonline.org