The Believer and Indwelling Sin Part 2

1. The First Dilemma Rom 7:14-17.

Clarify about pursuing holiness and not being complacent about sin.

The Symptom I

Lets read Rom 7:14 “14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” Continuing his thought about how the Law is a tremendous blessing to a man although on a surface level it brings about negative affects, Paul reiterates that the Law is not the problem. The Law is spiritual, but I am Carnal. The laws origins are divine in nature, but Paul's origins are carnal, born under two parents who both possessed the curse of Adam. Salvation by Faith through Grace has always been the means in which God saved sinners, OT and NT alike. This salvation by grace through faith, does not devalue the Law simply because the Law isnt directly integrated into Gods plan of redemption. We learned last week just how important and good the Law is for mankind and Paul is constantly reemphasizing what the real issue is, that its his Carnality.

Look closely at what he says, The Law is Spiritual, but I am Carnal. He makes a clear distinction between the two. Carnal can be translated Body or Flesh which is typically defined as the sinful nature of people or sinful attributes, or the morally dysfunctional behaviour that fleshly or carnal people commit. So whats he saying here? Is he saying that he is on the other end of the spiritual spectrum that being Carnal or sinful? Notice whats said, He is fleshly, and not in the flesh. This may seem like a minor distinction but it is a major one. To say one is in the flesh typically means what? That one is unregenerate, that they are spiritually dead still. But Paul has stated that we WERE previously in the flesh in Rom 7:5 “5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” Before our conversion we were in the flesh, we were servants of the flesh, we completed the desires of the flesh, but after our conversion what happened? We became servants of righteousness, we complete the desires of God rather than the flesh, but theres one problem. Though we are no longer in the flesh, the flesh is still in us. Look at what Paul describes the immature christians of Corinth as. 1 Cor 3:1 “1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.” Look at what he says about himself in our passage. Rom 7:18 “18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” The flesh which is still in him, which he still consist of physically, in that-- dwells no good thing. The flesh is corrupted, hence why one day we will be given a new glorified body. Even though the Apostle Paul was mightly used by God, even in him there remained a remnant of sin which is true of all human beings.

If we are honest with ourselves in evaluating what we ought to do with what we do, we should all be in sackcloth and ashes for our many shortcomings and transgressions. THAT, that is the difference however and a very clear demonstration of the Spirit in us being alive, but the flesh being dead. Our desires are to do and keep the law of God, yet the sin still dwells in our corrupted flesh, prodding us and tempting us to obey it. And while the unbeliever obeys these commands and its servant, we as believers have been raised to new life, but while this new life is incarcerated by sinful flesh there will always be a war between the two, unlike the unbeliever who is at peace.

Now, what does Paul mean by the second half of that verse, “Sold under Sin.” Some people would interpret this as an indication of this individuals lacking redemption. Because he is still sold uner sin, he can not be freed from sin like Paul mentioned in Rom 6:7. I would define it this way. Paul is sold under sin in the same way that a Master who owns slaves, if they have children, they also belong to the master. Sin came into the world by Adam’s transgression and because every person is a direct descendant of Adam, they also are born with this sinful nature in their flesh. This teaching is reinforced in Ps 51:5 “5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.” In other words, I was born with sin, and have been a sinner since my birth. There is in us a part of us that is still in bondage to sin sold under it, in slavery to it, that lingers even though our spirit has been made alive or has been reborn. This lingering unredeemed flesh that we consist of is still sinful and makes war on that regenerated part of us, our spirit which we’ll see later on in our passage.

So to review, the Law is not the problem, it is the flesh, our temporary carnality that we still consist of. Our spirit was regenerated but the spirit in us is incarcerated by the sinful flesh which has declared total war on, which explains this battle that Christians face that others simply do not have. Paul is going to give us the evidence of this war that occurs in the life of a believer in V15, lets read it.

The Substantiation II

Rom 7:15 “15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” Now, this may surprise you as it did me, but in the beginning he says “For that which I do I allow now”, Allow not is actually a greek work “Ginosko” and it means to know or understand and its basic meaning is the taking in of knowledge in regard to something or someone, beyond the realm of factual. The word is used in Gal 4:9 “9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” This paints the picture a bit more vividly, so in essence he’s saying “For that which I do, I understand not, for what I would do, that I dont do, and that which I hate, thats what I do.” This is a similar frustration all Christians have. The things that we do, the sins that we commit, why do we commit them? We know that theyre wrong. We know they displease our God, but we still find ourselves doing them at times. The things that we want to do, prayer, evangelism, fellowshipping with believers, bible study, christian service, tithing etc, these things we dont do and have to actively willfully do them, and the things that we hate which is sinning, those things despite our hatred of them, we still fail in abstaining. The Christians heart desire is to please and obey God and the closer we draw to God, the more we see his righteousness and holiness the more we sin sin in our lives and in our flesh in its most subtle forms. As we go on looking at this inner turmoil, we’ll see why Paul at the last agonizingly confesses, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death”.

The Source III

Lastly, we’ll examine The Source, the true culprit responsible for this inner turmoil of believers. Lets read Rom 7:16-17 “16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” Initially we looked at the symptoms, what are the symptoms? It is the fact that we remain fleshly or carnal. We have bodies that have not changed since our conversion. When we were born again, there wasnt a single outward element that changed, our bodies remained the same. Consequentially, these bodies are sold under sin because of their origins through our ancestors leading up to Adam our federal head, who because he transgressed Gods command introduced sin into the world and onto all of his descendants. How is this claim substantiated? Look at your own life following your conversion. Prior to it, you lived blissfully ignorant to Gods demands on your life, fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. After your conversion, you lamented your sinful lifestyle and turned and repented from it every chance you had. However, though the real you had a love for God and his Law, there was something in you that still tempted and called you to obedience. This is the unredeemed flesh that our spirit is still incarcerated by. When we were born again, our spirit previously dead, was made alive, but our flesh remained unaffected. There is however a current war now that takes place internally in a Christian. Formerly, Sin had full control over every element of our lives. Now that we have been regenerated and been born again, our Spirit is alive and our desire is obey God yet we struggle to fulfil our hearts to desire to do all that God wishes for us. So the question is, How can this be? If our Spirit is alive, our real self, why cant we completely control our desires and do those things that we desire to do? Pauls last point here is to show us the source of our troubles and the true culprit.

He begins by once again telling us whats not to blame. In other words, whatever the source of my shortcomings, its not the Laws fault, for I agree with its divine standard and confess its goodness. The Christian seeks to align himself with the standard of Gods righteousness in every shape and form, conforming himself to Christ who perfectly kept the law. So what is the issue if this is his confession? Look at Rom 7:17 “17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” Lets state what he’s not saying first. Paul is not shifting blame for his sin onto something intangible. He is not attempting to escape personal accountability. He is not presenting to us a form of Greek Dualism, of which pollutes many influential figures in our day. If this was the case he wouldn't have admitted that he was carnal, sold under sin, he wouldve said that his body was carnal and that its sinful in nature, not “I” as he used in the verse. Proponents of this Christian Dualism are few and far between but they do exist, and make claims that they are not responsible for what they do because it is the body simply doing what the bodies does. They hold to the claim that though they are in essence “sinning” they are not sinning, because it is not them doing it but the body. What a load of garbage.

If the “real” christian was not sinning and responsible for sinning when he stole something for instance, there would be no need for confessing of sin and no need for cleansing from it as 1 John 1:9 “9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Not to mention the very next verse is “if we say we have no sin, we make God a liar, and the truth is not in us”. Now What does 2 Cor 5:17 say? 2 Cor 5:17 “17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Before our conversion, we were one lost person, after our conversion we are one redeemed person. There was at one point a radical change that occurred. Our spirit, or you can say our inner man, no longer desires to do sinful things. Previously his inner self desired to commit sin, now it disapproves of it and hates it.

After a person is saved, sin is like an expelled ruler, who finds harbor in the flesh seeing as it can no longer dwell in the command center and rule from the inward man which has been made alive. When we sin, we are ultimately responsible for committing it as we are not taking advantage of the provisions God gives to us. However, the new creation which was made after the image Christ for Good works is not the one desiring the sin, its the flesh that we are still “of” that tempts our inner man and wars against the Spirit. Gal 5:17 “17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” As long as we are in the flesh we will have to make war against it. The good news is found in the previous verse Gal 5:16 “16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Christians truly are the only ones with free will. Unlike those who reject Christ, we have been given and blessed with every provision to not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. We are promised that no temptation will be greater that we can endure, and that Christ will bring aid to those in times of temptations. MacArthur summarizes it this way “In this life, Christians are somewhat like an unskilled artist who beholds a beautiful scene that he wants to paint. But his lack of talent prevents him from doing the scene justice. The fault is not in the scene, or in the canvas, the brushes, or the paint but in the painter. That is why we need to ask the master painter, Jesus Christ, to place His hand over ours in order to paint the strokes that, independent of Him, we could never produce. Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The only way we can live victoriously is to walk by Christ’s own Spirit and in His power, in order not to “carry out the desire of the flesh”.

Lets Pray.