Victory Over Sin 4: Paul and Romans 7

Martin Marty wrote several decades ago of the "Baptistification" of American Christianity. This trend and melting of Christianity into a generally Baptist ethos continues today. Marty's Christianity Today article focused particularly on the move away from infant baptism in American even in churches that historically baptized infants. I would add to this list churches such as our own (the Wesleyan) that find increasing grass roots opposition to women in ministry, not to mention the general sense in America that true Christians vote Republican and take well defined positions on any number of political and social issues.

And while many are proud to say that they attend "non-denominational" churches, these churches are really specimens of a Baptistified American Christian tradition. They are not Catholic; they are not Methodist; they are a Baptist base with a few modifications from other traditions. I would strongly disagree with the false impression that they are free of the denominational divides over theology from earlier days. They are simply a congregational "denomination" whose connections are cultural and theological rather than structural. The Message as a "translation" and The Purpose Driven Life as a catechism give us a lovely snapshot of the status quo in the non-denominational denomination of which I speak. David and John Drury have a great unpublished article on The Purpose Driven Life as the current catechism of American evangelical Christianity (see www.drurywriting.com/david).

By the way, I had to laugh recently after reading a quote from the Message. I thought "That's an interesting verse. Where is that in the Bible?" It was a verse from Ephesians and what was funny is that I had just taught a course on Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Frankly, I think Paul would have the same reaction to the Message--That's interesting, who said that? It is the most culturally driven translation I know of.

I might add as a footnote that we and other groups have had some influence on the Baptist tradition as well. Most Baptists believe in free will and in the possibility of knowing you are "saved." These are not natural Baptist elements--they are foreign elements that actually remove the philosophical foundations of what they now call "eternal security," something distinct from the original "perseverence of the saints." These changes reflect the influence of Arminian traditions on the Baptist tradition. Similarly, I wonder if the Lutheran influence in relation to the faith/works debate has led to the general sense that "all sins are the same" and "I'm not perfect just forgiven."

It is this last part of the "Christian bookstore meltdown" that I want to address. I find even Wesleyan pastors who base their understanding of sin in the life of a believer on Romans 7:15: "What I want to do I don't do, but what I hate, that I do." I believe the reason this sentiment has won the day in American Christianity is because it resonates with our experience to the very core. This verse is how most American Christians feel. I want to do the right thing, but it just seems like I'm always doing exactly the opposite of what I want to do. I just always feel like a failure at doing the things that please God.

Now I personally don't feel that way about myself really. And I don't say that because I want to be the poster child for moral victory. I'm telling you this because what I did at the end of the last paragraph is exactly what Paul does in Romans 7:7-25--he is putting himself in the shoes of the person under the Law who wants to keep the Law but is unable because of the power of sin. He is not talking about his own current struggle to be victorious over sin or about some ongoing defeatism in the Christian life over sin. But in our pre-modern glory, our tendency is to read verses in isolation from their context as bumper stickers and memory verses. To do so in this case would be to misunderstand Paul, indeed to make the text say the opposite of the point Paul was actually trying to make.

This is an atrocious misreading of Paul!!! It requires us to rip these words from a sustained argument Paul is making against being a slave to sin and in explanation of the role the Law used to play before the coming of Christ. It results in reading Paul's words in a way diametrically opposed to his actual argument. Whether we can live up to Paul's theology is a different question, but what Paul was saying in this regard is overwhelmingly clear in the overall context of Romans 6-8.

To understand the section 7:7-25, we must go back to Romans 6 and even before. Paul's style in Romans is to make a point and then ask questions about that point either to bolster his point or to make sure his audience does not misunderstand him or draw the wrong conclusions from the point. In this case, Paul has made the comment that "where sin was abundant, grace was superabundant" (5:20). Paul knew what people were accusing him of. They were saying he taught, "Let us do evil things so that good things will come" (3:8).

Paul heads this objection off at the pass. "What will we say, therefore? Should we sin so that grace might be abundant? God forbid. How will we who have died to sin still live in it?" (6:1-2). Paul dedicates the rest of chapters 6 and 7 to this issue and the matter of where the Jewish Law plays into it all. From this comment alone we can see what Paul's position on this issue is. There is no ambiguity. Those who have died to sin should not continue to sin. If you conclude that Paul sees sin as the norm of a Christian's life, you have a lot of explaining to do.

I have been amazed at how difficult it is for some to accept that this is in fact what Paul is saying. I have had online students explore the contrast in Romans 6 between being a slave to sin and being a slave to righteousness. I inevitably have several who will conclude something like, "While Paul seems to say in these verses that a Christian is no longer a slave to sin, we know from Romans 7:7ff that he can't really mean this." Poppycock. If we are to conclude differently, we must do it in theology or experience class. Paul himself will have none of it. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free [past tense, something that should already have happened] from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:1).

Again, Paul's meaning in Romans 6 is not ambiguous in the slightest:

"For when you were [past tense] slaves of sin, you were free to righteousness... But now [present] that you have been freed [past tense] from sin and enslaved to God [past tense] you have [present tense] the fruit unto holiness, and [in] the end [you will have] eternal life" (Rom. 6:20, 22).

Paul is clearly talking about actions. He uses the word "fruit" in this passage in reference to how you live (cf. the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians). In 6:12 he has clearly connected the discussion to lifestyle when he says, "Do not let sin rule in your mortal body with the result that you obey its desires." In short, this chapter is no Lutheran "legal fiction" where God considers us righteous even though we are really still sinners through and through. This passage is about the rule of forces in a person's manner of living. The person enslaved to sin presents their members "to sin as instruments of unrighteousness" (6:13). The person enslaved to God presents their members "to God as instruments of righteousness."

There is not the slightest ambiguity in Paul's thought here. Christians should not be slaves to sin and thereby producing unrighteousness in their lives. Christians should be slaves to righteousness and producing a holy fruit in their lives. If you think Paul sees sin as the norm of a Christian's life, you have a lot of explaining to do.

Chapter 7 continues this theme, this time discussing the role of the Law in the equation. This was a sore point because Paul seemed to be bucking the Old Testament when he told people they were not under the Jewish Law. He seemed to be throwing away the very covenant between God and Israel that stood at the heart of the OT. This was one of the main reasons Paul wrote Romans, to assure the Roman Christians that he in fact believed that God remained righteous both in relation to Israel and the world: "I am not ashamed of the gospel... in it the righteousness of God is revealed..." (Rom. 1:16-17).

The place of the Law in Paul's theology is a difficult issue for me and many others to nail down. I feel like Luther's attempt to see it strictly in legal terms--a standard that God simply doesn't use any more--was a noble failure. In contrast, in some way I don't fully understand, Paul saw the law as a catalyst for sin's power. As he says in 1 Corinthians 15:56, "Sin is the sting of death, and the Law is the power of sin." I don't quite know how it all works, but not to be "under the law" for Paul means that in some way sin no longer has power over you the way it did before (cf. Rom. 6:14). It is not just a matter of legality. For Paul it involves a very real freedom from the power of sin that had been exacerbated by the Law.

Paul begins Romans 7 with the claim that people are only under the law as long as they are alive. Since we have died with Christ, we are no longer under the Law. But the verses of most interest to us are Romans 7:5-6, which repeat the same things Paul has already said in Romans 6:

"For when we were [past tense] in the flesh, the passions of sins through the Law were working [past tense] in our members, with the result that we bore fruit to death.

"But now [present] we have been set free from the law [past tense] by which we were being held [past tense], having died, with the result that we serve in newness of Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter"

Again, Paul is talking about actions, not about some theological fiction. We (including Paul) were in the flesh, and the power of sin worked through the Law in some way that led to sinful actions. But now that we are not under the Law, sin does not hold this power over our members, and we can now serve in newness of Spirit. Once again, if you think Paul sees sin as the norm of a Christian's life, you have a lot of explaining to do.

These verses are key to understanding Romans 7:7-25, for this passage expands on the concept of the first verse: "When we were in the flesh, the passions of sins through the Law were working in our members, with the result that we bore fruit to death." Paul answers two questions.

Question 1: "Is the Law sin?" (7:7). Paul, are you saying that the Law is actually evil? No. Paul explains that the law itself "is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good" (7:12). Rather sin took [past tense] opportunity through the commandment to bring about all kinds of desires (7:8).

As a footnote, I'm taking Paul slightly out of context in the way I'm presenting his thought here. Paul believed that he and the Romans lived at the turning of the ages, in the fulness of time (Gal. 4:4-5). There was a sense in which the world ceased to be "under the Law" when Christ came in the fulness of time. We might want to factor this element into our equation in the next entry.

Question 2: "Did the good [the Law] become [past tense] death to me?" (7:13). No. "But sin, in order that it might appear as sin, was working death through the good [the Law] in order that sin might become incredibly sinful through the commandment" (7:13). We note again that this entire discussion has taken place in the past tense. Paul is speaking of what was true of a Jew in particular ("those who know the Law" 7:1) before Christ.

We now enter the debated zone, 7:14-24.

"For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, having been sold under sin" (7:14).

It is true that Paul was in flesh when he wrote these words, for he was in his body. But Paul cannot mean that he is currently "sold under sin" unless everything he has said up to this point was a lie, a farse.

To be "sold under sin" is an equivalent phrase to being a "slave to sin." Paul has clearly identified this state to the period before a person comes to Christ. Let's review:

"When you were slaves of sin... But now since you have been freed from sin..." (6:20, 22). This verse clearly locates being sold under sin as a condition prior to Christianity.

"When we were in the flesh, the passions of sins used to work in our members bearing fruit to death, but now we are released from the Law..." (7:5-6). Again, this verse clearly locates being in the flesh to the time before we died with Christ.

How about the verse right before 7:14: "Did the good [the Law] become death to me?" Again, Paul is talking about something true of their past.

Let's move forward and look to the end of Paul's argument, after he has finished the verses of 7:14-24: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you [past tense] from the law of sin and death..." (8:2).

I give up if you still think Paul is talking about his current experience after such clear indicators from the context. Anyone who still wants to see 7:14 as a statement of Paul's current experience clearly doesn't care about what Paul was actually trying to say. They're only interested in reinforcing what they already believe.

Paul's statement in 7:14, as well as in 7:25, is a description of the default human state: "sold under sin." Before Christ, a Jew might have wanted to keep the Jewish law, but because the Spirit was not in force, they would have been unable to do so. Such a person might have said something like 7:25: "With my mind I serve the Law of God, but with my flesh the Law of sin." Since Paul goes on in 8:2 to say we are free from the law of sin and death, 7:25 cannot be a statement of Paul's current experience or the default state of a Christian. Paul is speaking of the person without the Spirit who wants to keep the Jewish Law but is unable to do so because of their flesh, something 7:5-6 and 8:8 tell us Christians are not "in."

Such a person might say something like 7:15: "I do not practice what I want, but I do what I hate." The reason is exactly what Paul has been saying throughout this whole section. Sin is taking opportunity through the commandment (e.g., 7:8, 11). Remember that he was speaking past tense then. Also here he is putting himself into that person's shoes: "I see a different law in my members, striving against the Law of my mind and warring against me by the Law of sin which is in my members" (7:23).

Again, Paul has already spoken several times of this working in my members in the past tense (e.g., 7:5). I am so tired of the response, "But Paul is speaking in the present tense." Yes, but it is a beginner's perspective on language to conclude that the present tense always means present time. I used the present tense above to make a theological point that was not true of my current experience. Take one joke introduction, "A man walks up to you and says..." No one thinks the speaker is talking about something that is happening right then. This is not a good argument at all, especially if you pay any attention at all to Paul's train of thought everywhere in this unit!

Notice the fevered pitch he reaches in his dramatic portrayal of the person who wants to keep the Law but is a slave to sin: "A wretched man am I! Who will rescue me from the body of this death?"

So many stop here. Paul is begging you today to go on to the resolution: "Thanks be to God! Through Jesus Christ our Lord [I am freed from the body of this death]."

Romans 8 begins with the victory song over the accomplishment of the "impossibility" of Romans 7:14-24: "There is therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus [the person in 7:14-24 was not in Christ Jesus], for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death [that we were just talking about]." The festivities continue: "The impossibility of the Law in that it was weak because of the flesh... God condemned this sin in the flesh" (8:3).

In fact, now "the righteous requirement of the Law may be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to Spirit" (8:4). Walking is the Jewish way of talking about ethics--how you live. This is no theological fiction where the Christian is like Luther's dictum: "At the same time sinner and righteous as long as you're always repenting." Hogwash! Paul's meaning is not ambigous in the slightest about the appropriateness of sin in the life of a believer. In the end, "those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (8:8).

So what is Paul's position on sin in the life of a believer. It really isn't that hard of a question. He answered it way back in Romans 6:15: "Should we sin, because we are not under Law but under grace? No, what are you crazy?" (the last line's a Schenck paraphrase).

Now I know that we must take experience into account and after I have spelled out what Paul has said here, we still have to work out a practical theology of sin. But the theory seems pretty clear. I remain dumbfounded at the prevailing popular interpretation of Romans 7 with all its defeatism.

In short, Paul has no theology that expects sin to typify the life of a believer. In the next entry, we'll discuss what we might do today with Paul's concept of flesh, especially in view of the "sin nature" arguments of later centuries...