Sermon Tone Analysis

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Romans 7:13-

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I recently listened to a podcast from a theologian named Dr.

Michael Heiser.

He was giving his ten rules of Bible Interpretation.

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Rule # 7 was this:

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If a passage is weird, it’s important.

-Dr.

Michael Heiser

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For granted, there was a little bit more to his rule than this… but this gets the point across.

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In rule # 9 he said:

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If, after doing the work to properly interpret the text, the conclusion bothers you, let it.

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That rule goes on to say… “If you aren’t bothered, you probably aren’t reading it closely.

If it doesn’t leave you with questions requiring you to seek balance in the whole of scripture, you are missing something.

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Today, we continue on in a passage that I have always considered a little weird.

It’s a passage that bothers me.

Based on the many different translations that are out there… it’s obviously a passage that bothers a lot of people.

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So… today’s passage is important.... and today’s passage leaves us asking questions.

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Hopefully, we can answer some of those questions today.

Hopefully, some of these answers will be right… but I’m not making any promises.

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When discussing the inward struggle that all have… between the desire of our hearts to obey God, and the drive of our flesh to deny God… we often go to this passage… not for clarity, or explanation, or doctrinal understanding…

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But we come here for Apostolic sympathy.

We read this, and we breath a sigh of relief, knowing that the spiritual giant, Paul the Apostle, had the same struggle that we have.

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We are not alone in our wretchedness.

We find comfort in knowing, that this great saint of God, looked into his own heart and considered himself (in )... the foremost of all sinners.

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Those of us who truly experience the indwelling of the Spirit then know… that this isn’t a pass to keep on sinning.

This isn’t a permission slip to just surrender to the flesh.

THIS IS… instead: a decree of hope.

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My struggle does not mean, that I am an outcast.

My struggle does not mean, that I am different than all these other church people.

My struggle does not mean that I am unworthy to be in fellowship…

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My struggle actually means… that I am indeed, a believer, indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit.

The conflict that Paul experienced, is the conflict of that we all deal with, as we struggle with this new, dual identity.

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We’ve already talked at length about this dual identity.

This flesh, is accounted by faith, as being dead.

We are, in Christ, alive spiritually.

This spiritually resurrected being that we are, is the real us.

It is the eternal us.

It is the part of us that knows and interacts with God.

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It becomes more clear in the next chapter.

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tells us that Jesus condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according the Spirit.

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We have flesh, but we don’t walk according to it.

We don’t set our minds on the things of the flesh.

By doing so, we become hostile to God… if we live according to this flesh… we cannot please God.

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In , we already learned, that we account this flesh as being dead… as being on that cross with Jesus, and dying with Jesus.

By faith, we live the life that is eternal.. that is, our spiritual life, and by faith, we reckon the flesh for what it is eternally… and that is: dead.

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Last week we looked at earlier passages in chapter seven, telling us that our flesh will always be aroused by the law… therefore, to be released from the law, we had to die in the flesh which held us captive… and serve in the new way of the Spirit.

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We are alive spiritually.

This is our true, eternal identity.

We are dead to the flesh, though it is alive.

The flesh is not our true identity.... it is our temporary, weak, and broken identity.

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This is weird stuff… therefore… it’s important.

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We’ve been speaking extensively about the interaction of the law and the flesh.

The Law, set forth by God, and given to Israel through Moses… call’s believers to righteous and perfect standard.

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Because we, like those who have gone before us, only have our broken flesh as a resource for obedience, we are left incapable of fulfilling the righteous requirements of the law.

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In fact, the commands of the law, actually stir up rebellion in us, making the challenge to be obedient in the flesh, even more difficult.

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Therefore… the law calls us to something, that we cannot attain.

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tells us, that the Law shows us sin, but cannot save us.

tells us that he law makes us more guilty than we were before, because it shows us the boundary which we deliberately cross.

tells us that the Law stirs up sin more.

tells us, that the best thing that can happen to us, is to be released from the law.

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The law cannot save.

The law cannot make one righteous.

The Law leaves us broken, looking beyond the ability of our own flesh for a hope that it cannot fulfill.

The law proves to us, that we can’t save ourselves no matter how righteous the written code is.

We can only look to another, to save us.

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In all this, we confirm, that Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law, and extends grace, forgiveness, and salvation to those who can’t get these things in and through the efforts of their own flesh.

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So now, we come to vs. 14, and we learn… that the law is spiritual, but I am flesh.

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First off… let us not forget verse 12.

We need to hold onto this truth, because it’s an important element to this lesson.

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Verse 13 reverences it as a ‘good thing’.

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So now… when we look at vs. 14… we understand this: -The spiritual law, which is a good thing, has only partially invaded the converted person.

There is still another identity within me… the fleshly part of me, where in lies the lust of the flesh, the eyes and the pride of life…

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The good thing cannot fully invade the flesh… not until it too, like Jesus, is resurrected, perfected and glorified.

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Romans 7:15

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Here, Paul switches over to the present tense.

He’s talking about himself, though some interpreters struggle with the things he says… so they suggest that maybe he’s speaking dramatically on behalf of the unconverted person…

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Or maybe he’s speaking dramatically of his own testimony when we was still living under the law, before the road to Damascus experience.

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There are many who teach that we can and should become sinless in deed.

This is referred to by a few names… - ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION - or - SINLESS PERFECTION - or - CHRISTIAN PERFECTIONISM.

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The idea being… that we can reach a state, in our deeds, where we become even more sanctified, because we have achieved sinlessness.

Somehow, through our own works, we improve upon the sanctification that Jesus gave us freely through grace.

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This low view of sin doesn’t regard the broken flesh

Unless I try to take a few isolated passages out of context, I can’t support this doctrine.

From my perspective, the whole of scripture doesn’t support this doctrine: However, as I deny the doctrine....

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...I do not in any way deny that fact that we are called to crucify the flesh and the desires there in… we should seek to live lives of obedience… And if we confess that we are unable to be perfect, it is not a pass, nor a permission to sin freely.

But, as Paul has stated in vs. 14… our flesh has yet to be fully invaded by the spiritual law.

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I’ve never met a sinless person.

I’ve met a few who claim to have achieved it, and they have come off as being haughty, prideful, and sometimes angry in their self righteousness… all things, that I would call sin… but I’m not judging.

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A person who holds to this doctrine… can’t bide by Paul’s words in this passage.

So, instead of submitting to the context of the scriptures, they have to twist the scriptures, so that the scriptures might submit to their doctrine.

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Grammatically and contextually, the only way to see this, is that Paul, the Christian, is sharing his experience.