What I Want to Do vs. What I Do Instead (July 5, 2026) Romans 7.14-25a

When I mention the Apostle Paul, what first comes to your mind? A pious man who was a great missionary, on fire for God and Jesus? A misogynist who wanted women to be in their “place” at all times? A conservative who believed that one should always obey the government? A wild eyed, sidewalk preacher who was declaring the end of the world? A radical who was, little by little, turning social norms on their head? An egghead who wrote letters that most could not and would not understand? An exponent of a new kind of law that betrayed the grace that Jesus extended? A pastor full of compassion for his congregations and frustrated by their behavior? A Jewish preacher and writer of a new message of grace and salvation for all who believed that the Messiah had come whether they were Jew or Gentile? These are just a few of the descriptions of Paul that I have heard. Some are given with a touch of awe and reverence while others are given with a sneer and look of disgust. It is safe to say that Paul is a man who is, in the words of Winston Churchill, “…a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma…” Whatever is said and thought about him, Paul is a first century writer who still impacts the 21st.

To say that Paul is important to Christianity is to make an understatement. Thirteen of 27 books, approximately 1/3, in the New Testament bear his name. His influence is found in doctrine, theology and reform movements throughout Church history.

And what about the letters that Paul wrote? Letters today are usually newsy, updating people on events and happenings. In the ancient world they were pretty much the same unless they were addressing a group then they were known as epistles. Paul’s letters, full of instructions and teachings that he would have passed on if he was present, fall into the latter category. Each epistle is addressed to a specific congregation or a specific person and addresses specific concerns and situations that are of concern to those written. While we look at these letters today and see how they apply to our lives, Paul, I surmise, would be very surprised at this. He would wonder why we put so much time and study into letters that were written to certain people who would be the ones to understand what was written and not enough time on the one whom he proclaimed, Jesus.

If you ever look at the table of contents you will see the letters of Paul in a certain order, beginning with Romans and ending with Philemon. Why are they in this order? Are there certain doctrinal or ethical teachings in the first books that make them more important than the others? Is there some wisdom? Are they in chronological order? No. The reason the letters are in this particular order is because of length. That’s right, longest to shortest. Makes one wonder if we put too much emphasis on what the first letters are teaching and ignoring the others to our peril.

A couple more things about Paul. He was a Jew and saw himself as one until the day of his death. He spoke Greek which was the dominant culture in the eastern part of the Empire where he lived and worked. His letters are great works of rhetoric and instruction where he shows he was a good and persuasive teacher to churches and individuals. Most times he was like a father: giving advice, exhortation, criticism, and worrying about those for whom he cared deeply.

Which brings us to the most studied and commented on letter; Romans. Most of Paul’s letters are personal, dealing with practical issues that have practical effects and acknowledging individuals by name. Romans on the other hand deals with issues of faith, righteousness and justification, is much more intellectual and is clearly written to a much larger audience. But it holds a place of honor among the Church. For starters, its influence on the Church is immeasurable. A professor of mine stated that if someone is studying Romans, watch out, because something is about to happen. Augustine (4thand 5th century CE), whose influence and teaching in the Church are incalculable, was converted when he read Romans after he heard a child saying, “take up and read.” Martin Luther’s understanding of righteousness in the 1500s came from his intense study of Romans 1.17. John Wesley in 1738 said that he felt that his heart was “strangely warmed” when he heard the preface to Luther’s commentary on Romans being read. Karl Barth said he was like a man in a dark church reaching out and pulling on what was the bell rope that awakened the whole town when studying Romans. When in published in 1918, his commentary was described as a “bombshell dropped on the playground of theologians” that broke the hold of liberal theology on the Western Church in the 20th century. With this in mind, it is quite clear that Romans has played, and still plays, a massive role in the thinking, teaching and life of the Church.

Where to begin when studying Romans? As Oscar Hammerstein II taught us, the beginning is the “…very good place to start.” This would be Romans 1 where we are introduced to the Gospel and to Paul’s desire that all know Jesus and the Good News. What follows is a very thorough and tightly argued study of sin, its effects and the grace of God in Christ. Chapter seven begins with a discussion of the Law and what it is and is not. As we come to today’s text, we must read verse 13 in conjunction with it as it answers a question many would have about the law, “Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin that was working death in me through what is good, in order that it might be shown to be sin, so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.”[1] From here Paul takes the reader on a rollicking ride of what sin is and how it infects and permeates the lives of all humans. The verses 14-25 contain such a powerful argument that I could preach on it for at least two hours, but Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “Brevity is the soul of wit” and I intend to follow his advice.

Paul begins by showing that he is the equal of any philosopher, modern or ancient, when it comes to presenting an argument. One has to carefully read what Paul is saying here to fully grasp his argument. He is not saying that the Law is bad, but rather good, something that many today would scratch their heads about because we have been taught that Paul hates the Law. But if he hates the Law, then why does he say that the law is spiritual? Indeed, it is the law that shines the light and exposes the real culprit: sin.

But what does all this mean? If one does “…not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”[2], then something is wrong. And Paul is telling the readers that it is the law that shows what is bad in this. But it is sin that is causing the issue of not doing what one wants to do.

Sin permeates all of the flesh. It is like pour water in a bottle full of rocks. The water gets between the cracks, fills all the crevices, and soon all is covered in water. There is nothing that is not influenced by sin. It is a parasite that feeds off the host without contributing anything to the relationship. And Paul is arguing that this is why humans cannot do the good that they want to do but rather do what they do not want to do.

Paul continues by saying that when one wants to do good, evil is close at hand ready to hijack what one wants to do. The law shows what is good, what should be done and what one wants to do. But there is another, more sinister entity that dwells in all and it is what overrides all. The members are at war with each other, one who wants to do good, the other that does not want good to be done.

“Wretched person that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”[3] is the cry Paul gives to all who want to do good. It is a cry of one who realizes that one cannot do the good one wants to do but can only do what one does not want to do. How can there be hope? If there is hope, from where does it come?

Paul proclaims from where hope and help come: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”[4] It is only through Jesus that we can be saved from the sin that besets our lives and makes us be what we do not want to be. It is Jesus who breaks the bond sin has on humans, and it is because of this that humans can then do the good they want to do. But there is another part of verse 25 that needs to be read: “So then, with my mind I am enslaved to the law of God, but with my flesh I am enslaved to the law of sin.”[5] Now you may be a bit confused by this statement. How is this good news? Weren’t we just told that Jesus is the one who will rescue us from death? Then why are we back to being slave to sin in the flesh? And why are we slaves anyway? Doesn’t Jesus set us free? So why are we slaves to God?

Good questions. Paul writes this as a lead into what we know as chapter 8 of Romans. It is here that Paul smashes sin and the flesh and proclaims what it is to be alive in Jesus. Verses 9-11 of chapter 8 are this: “But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.”[6] These verses are NOT to be used to say that the body is bad and that the spirit is the only good. That is not scriptural. In fact, it is heretical. We are told in the very first book of the Bible that God saw what was created and declared it good. That includes our bodies, so never take it into your mind that taking care of the body does not matter because it is bad. It is the sin that holds our bodies that is bad and through Jesus and his death, we are set free from sin.

I understand if you might be confused by the twists and turns of this passage. It may even sound like we are not responsible for what we do. It sounds as if we can say, as comedian Flip Wilson used to, “The Devil made me do it!” That of course is not the case, especially for Christians. We know what is right and what is wrong and we are very capable of doing the good because we have the Spirit living in us. But we still do the things we know to be wrong. A somewhat clumsy example: I know that I need to lose some weight and I really want to do that. However, I also know that when I go to the gas station to get gas (and sometimes when I do not get gas), I will invariably get a soda and some kind of candy both of which are something I know I should not do. I want to do good, but there is something within me that compels me to do something that, in the long run, will be bad for me.

But just when we think that we can do nothing good, we are told that we can do good, but only when we take on the mind and spirit of Jesus Christ. This can be tough to swallow. We live in a society that tells us to pull ourselves up, that we are capable of doing what needs to be done if only we work hard enough. Our motto is that of Boxer the horse from Animal Farm, “I must work harder!” In the end, we exhaust ourselves trying to do and be something that we can never do or be. However, Jesus offers us the grace and the strength to do what we want and to break the hold of sin. And we are told, ““Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”[7]When we are yoked it appears that Jesus is telling us that we cannot be our own person, that we cannot be “free” and that galls Americans and our love of “freedom.” But what Jesus is telling us is that the yoke he brings is a double yoke, the work is shared by two, not one. We are not struggling in a yoke on our own but will be yoked with Jesus who will help us in whatever life brings us. And when we realize that we are no longer on our own, that we are yoked with the one who will help us in all our lives, we can cry out like Paul, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Amen.

[1] New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition. Friendship Press, 2021. Print.

[2] New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition. Friendship Press, 2021. Print.

[3] New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition. Friendship Press, 2021. Print.

[4] New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition. Friendship Press, 2021. Print.

[5] New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition. Friendship Press, 2021. Print.

[6] New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition. Friendship Press, 2021. Print.

[7] New Revised Standard Version: Updated Edition. Friendship Press, 2021. Print.