Let's open our Bibles to Romans 7:14-23.

Is Paul describing a Christian or a non-Christian?

Non-Christian

“of the flesh, sold under sin”

“nothing good dwells in me”

“wretched man” held captive in a body of death

Christian

This person desires to obey God’s law and hates doing evil

He is humble before God

He gives thanks to Jesus Christ as his Lord and serves Him with his mind

Paul is here describing the most spiritual and mature of Christians

The closer we get to God, the more we see our own sin

The obedient and Spirit-filled believer, therefore, greatly values and honors all the moral and spiritual commandments of God

The First Lament

The Condition

I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin

Paul is no longer in the flesh, but he is still of the flesh

Even as an apostle of Jesus Christ he possessed a remnant of the sinfulness that characterizes all human beings

The Proof

I do not do what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate

It’s not that Paul couldn’t do any good or demonstrate any faith

He was expressing an inner turmoil of the most profound kind, of sincerely desiring in his heart to fulfill the spirit as well as the letter of the law, but realizing that he was unable to live up to the Lord’s perfect standards and his own heart’s desire

Paul was grieved at his least infraction of God’s law

The Source

No longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me

Paul agrees with the Law in every detail

What is the source of our failure to live up to God’s standards?

Paul explains, “but sin which indwells me.”

“No longer” indicates a complete and permanent change