Romans 7: The War Within

INTRO — WHY THIS CHAPTER FEELS TOO HONEST

If you have your Bible, open with me to Romans chapter 7.

Romans 7 is one of the most emotionally honest chapters in the entire Bible. And it matters because it gives language to something many Christians feel but rarely admit:

Why do I still struggle so much if I belong to Jesus?

Romans 6 felt victorious. Dead to sin. Alive to God. New identity. New master.

Then Romans 7 says:

“I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

And suddenly the room gets quiet, because that feels familiar.

Not to fake Christians. To honest Christians.

Augustine and the Pear Tree

In his Confessions, Augustine tells a strange story. As a teenager, he stole pears from a neighbor’s tree. But he admits he wasn’t hungry. The pears weren’t even good. He stole them simply because it was wrong. And later he realized something terrifying: the problem wasn’t temptation outside him. It was desire inside him. He wrote that he loved his own ruin.

That is Romans 7 language. Not just doing wrong things — but discovering a divided heart.

And if we’re honest, many of us know that tension.

You love Jesus. But you still fight envy. Still fight lust. Still fight anger. Still fight pride.

And if you live in a high-pressure place like the GTA — where performance, success, and image are everything — that tension can produce deep shame.

So the question becomes: What do we do with the war within?

CONTEXT — WHY ROMANS 7 EXISTS

Romans 7 sits between two mountains:

Romans 6 — freedom from sin Romans 8 — life in the Spirit

Romans 7 is the valley where many Christians actually live.

Paul is answering this question:

If we are free… why does obedience still feel hard?

And he gives three answers:

We are released from the law as condemnation

The law exposes sin but cannot heal us

The real battle is internal — and only Christ delivers

BIG IDEA

The law is good but powerless to save, the flesh creates a real inner war, and only Christ delivers us from the struggle within.

RELEASED FROM THE LAW, UNITED TO CHRIST (1–6)

Paul begins with an analogy about marriage. His point is simple: death ends legal obligation.

Then he applies it:

“You also have died to the law through the body of Christ.”

Notice: Paul does not say the law died. He says you died.

This is covenant language.

In Christ’s death, something decisive happened. You are no longer under the law as a condemning covenant.

OT Background

Think Sinai. The law brought holiness — but also curses for disobedience (Deut. 28). The law could diagnose sin but not heal the sinner.

Paul says now:

“You belong to another… to Him who has been raised from the dead.”

You are not lawless. You are remarried — to Christ.

Illustration — Prohibition and the Limits of Law

History shows us that good laws cannot change human hearts. During Prohibition, alcohol was banned to produce righteousness in society. But instead of moral renewal, it created underground crime and corruption. The law exposed the problem — but it couldn’t transform people.

That’s Paul’s point. The issue was never that the law was bad. The issue is that law cannot resurrect the heart.

John Murray says:

“Believers are freed from the law as condemnation, not from holiness itself.”

Brampton Application

Many of us grew up in environments shaped by rule-based spirituality — do this, don’t do that, perform, achieve, maintain image. Whether religious or cultural, the message was the same: earn your worth.

Romans 7 says: if you are in Christ, that scoreboard is gone. You don’t obey to belong. You obey because you belong.

THE LAW IS GOOD, BUT IT EXPOSES SIN (7–13)

Paul anticipates the objection:

“Is the law sin? By no means!”

The law is holy, righteous, and good.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: The law exposes sin — and even provokes it.

“Sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment…”

The Greek word for opportunity (aphormē) was used for a military base. Sin uses the law as a launchpad.

Illustration — The “Wet Paint” Effect

You’ve probably seen a sign that says “Wet Paint — Do Not Touch,” and suddenly you feel the urge to touch it. Not because you need to — but because something inside resists being told what to do.

That’s not a paint problem. That’s a heart problem.

Philosophical Insight — Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky once wrote that even if you built a perfectly rational society, humans would still sabotage it just to prove they were free. That’s what Paul is describing. The problem is not ignorance. It’s rebellion.

OT Connection — Eden

This goes back to Genesis 3. One command. One boundary. And sin weaponized it.

The law doesn’t create sin. It reveals sin’s true nature.

Tom Schreiner:

“The law reveals sin not as mistake, but as rebellion.”

THE REAL BATTLE IS INTERNAL (14–25)

Now we reach the most debated section.

“I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

Is Paul describing a believer?

The Reformed tradition overwhelmingly says yes — and for good reason:

Present tense verbs

Delight in God’s law

Hatred of sin

Cry for deliverance

Unbelievers don’t hate sin like this. They justify it.

John Murray:

“This is the regenerate man in conflict with indwelling sin.”

The Civil War of the Soul

Paul describes a war:

“I see another law waging war in my members…”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once wrote:

“The line between good and evil runs through every human heart.”

Not between countries. Not between cultures. Through every heart.

Romans 7 says the Christian life can feel like that — not because you are fake, but because new life has invaded old territory.

A Word for Shame-Weary Christians

Let me pause here, because this chapter can crush tender consciences.

Some of you hear Romans 7 and think: “Maybe I’m not really saved.”

But listen carefully.

Dead people don’t fight sin. New hearts do.

The presence of struggle is not proof of failure. It may be evidence of life.

If you hate your sin… If you grieve it… If you feel the tension…

That is not the absence of grace. That is grace at work.

Peter’s Failure

Remember Peter. Bold enough to walk on water. Brave enough to draw a sword. And yet he denied Jesus three times. And when he realized what he had done, he wept bitterly.

Was Peter lost? No. He was broken.

And Jesus restored him.

Your struggle does not disqualify you from grace. Running from Christ does. And Romans 7 is not pushing you away from Jesus. It’s pushing you toward Him.

THE CRY OF EVERY HONEST CHRISTIAN

Paul climaxes with:

“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

Notice the question is not “What will fix me?” It’s Who.

Sanctification is not solved by technique. It is resolved by a Deliverer.

And then comes the hinge:

“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Deliverance is not an idea. It’s a person.

A WORD FOR OUR CITY

In a city like ours — fast, competitive, performance-driven — people either hide their struggles or are crushed by them.

Romans 7 gives us permission to be honest.

You can love Jesus and still struggle. You can be justified and still fight sin. You can be growing and still groaning.

This creates a different kind of church culture:

Not pretending. Not posturing. Not performing.

But honest, humble, dependent people.

TRANSITION TO ROMANS 8 — LANDING WITH HOPE

But listen carefully: Romans 7 is not the end of the story.

Paul does not leave us in the war.

Romans 7 ends with a cry. Romans 8 begins with a declaration.

Romans 7: “Who will deliver me?”

Romans 8: “There is therefore now no condemnation…”

The struggle is real. But it is not final.

Tolkien once described life in a fallen world as “the long defeat.” And yet he insisted hope remains because grace breaks into history. That’s Romans 7 into Romans 8.

The war is real. But the Spirit is coming. Freedom is coming. Glory is coming.

CONCLUSION — DON’T MISREAD THE WAR

So don’t misread Romans 7.

The war within is not proof God has abandoned you. It is proof the battle is underway.

You are not defined by the struggle. You are defined by the Savior.

And if you are in Christ:

Your sin is not the loudest voice over your life. Your shame is not the final verdict. Your failure is not your identity.

Jesus is.

And because of Him, Romans 8 is coming.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Where do you most resonate with Romans 7 — frustration, honesty, or hope?

How can our church become a place where people fight sin honestly without hiding in shame?