The Struggle to Keep the Law

Transcript

GR 2227
01/26/2020
The Struggle to Keep the Law
Romans 7:14-19
Gil Rugh

We’re going to Romans 7 in your bibles. Remember the basic breakdown of Romans? Paul started out showing our condemnation because of sin. Then he talked about our justification because of the provision of righteousness and the death and resurrection of Christ.

And now we’re talking about the doctrine of sanctification. What does that mean for the way we live our lives? God’s work of salvation is a package. It not only rescued us from our lostness, from a destiny of eternal hell, but it has cleansed us and enabled us now, by making us new, to live new lives. That’s what we mean with the doctrine of sanctification. A word that is related to the word, holiness, saint. We are set apart by God, for Himself, to live lives pleasing to Him. In chapter 6 he showed how that was implemented or carried out. When we were identified with Christ in His death on the cross and payment for our sins, we were also raised with Him to newness of life.

So, the power and authority of sin over us was broken. That’s what enables a believer to live a life pleasing to God. That’s why an unbeliever can never live and do the things that are pleasing to God. Because he’s not been made new. That’s the great transformation that’s taken place. Chapter 6 is foundational. Now what he said in chapter 6 applies to everyone, every believer, Jew and Gentile. That’s the two groups that are in view through Romans. They have been brought together into one body, but there are issues to be dealt with, with each group. Chapter 6 would apply to everyone. We’ve all placed our faith in Christ, been identified with Him in His death and His resurrection. That’s how we live a new life.

When you come into chapter 7, he’s going to be focusing more on the Jews and issues relating to them. The chapter opens, “Do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?” This is more directed toward the Jews, although the Gentiles need to understand, because some of the Jews have professed salvation. As we’ve talked about, they have wanted to say the Law is a necessary part of our salvation and necessary for a life that is pleasing and acceptable to God.

But the Gentiles never were under the Law. These pagan Romans coming out of a pagan background, may have had very little or no real connection to Jewish law, the Mosaic Law. Remember, in chapter 1 of Romans, he talked about condemnation. And with verse 18 of chapter 1, and down through the rest of chapter 1 through verse 32, he talked about what is true for everyone, particularly the Gentiles, because the Jews thought themselves an exception.

So, in chapter 2, he shows that the Jews are included, when he talks about that everyone is sinful. Verse 11, “For there is no partiality with God.” Those who have the Law will be judged by the Law; those who didn’t have the Law, will be judged without the Law. And in verse 13 of Chapter 2, “…for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.”

The Jews thought because they had the Law, they were good. That did set them apart from the Gentiles. They were an especially chosen nation, but that didn’t mean they were a saved people. Then he quoted in chapter 3, from their own Law, and you have in verses 10, 11, 12, 13 and following. You can see, set off in the quotations, drawn from the Old Testament, verse 9 of chapter 3, “Are we better than they?” Not at all...” We Jews aren’t better than those Gentiles. “…for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks,” the non-Jews, “…are all under sin.”

Now verse 19, “…whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law...” So, if you thought it was just the Gentiles, as they were unfolded, particularly in chapter 1, open your eyes. The Law that you claim to believe in, it is addressed to you Jews, it speaks to you who are under the law. You are not righteous. You are not good. He’s singled out both groups. Not because they are separated in the church but coming from their different backgrounds, he addresses the issues that are there. We talked about the Jerusalem conference in Acts 15, to resolve some of the issues. For the Jews, this is a major thing to get over. They’ve been raised in the Law. Taught it from birth, if you will. And now they realize, that wouldn’t get me to heaven. So, all are under sin.

When we come over to chapter 7, what Paul has done is to say something in chapter 6, which applies to everyone. That’s how we are freed from sin. When you’re in chapter 7 now, he’s showing this means also that the Jews are no longer under the Mosaic Law. So, it’s specifically addressed to them. He’s speaking, verse 1 said, “…to those who know the law…” And, “…the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives.” He used the analogy of marriage. The Gentiles never were under the Law. The Law wasn’t given to them. Most of these pagan Romans wouldn’t have known the Law. But they are part now of the church where Jews and Gentiles are brought together in one body. We have to make sure we’re clear on this issue of the Law.

This will come up when we get over to chapter 9, if you want to turn over there when we finish sanctification. Then he’ll focus again on Israel. What is God’s plan for Israel overall? Paul puts it very strongly, almost as an oath, that this is the truth. Romans 9:2. “…that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites...” Paul has a passionate concern for fellow Jews and their conversion, all the promises that the Old Testament were given to them and all the blessings they have. We’ll get into that.

When you come to chapter 10, it opens, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God…” which is provided in Christ, as he goes on. And you come to chapter 11, “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” So, you see, Paul is writing this letter to the church at Rome. But he has a particular burden for the Jews, and Jews that have come into the church at Rome, are professing believers, but haven’t sorted out these matters. And Gentiles need to understand it.


Here we are 2,000 years after Paul and there are some teaching that believers are still under the Mosaic Law. They make division and say, not the ceremonial parts but the moral part of the Mosaic Law is binding on us and that we ought to preach the Law. That you have to preach the Law before people can be saved. The misunderstanding of the Law has continued down, although scripture, to the beginning of the church has clearly laid it out.

Romans 7 is basically dealing with the Jewish issue and being part of the Law. And just as he did in chapter 6, we died. That broke the authority of sin over us. So, we died to the Law in chapter 7, as Jews. Paul is writing, “Therefore, the Law no longer has authority over us.” That was like the marriage relationship that was broken by death. Now we’re joined to another, to Christ. Verse 4 of chapter 7, “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead...” What he is saying applies to Gentiles and applies to Jews alike. When you died with Christ, you not only died to sin, you died to the Law. The Jews understand, yes, we died to sin, but the Law is God’s word, we don’t need to die to the Law. Yes, we do, he’s telling the Jews. So, we have worked down through these verses. Verse 6 says, “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” And we noted, Paul’s going to go on an important digression, but really, you can go from verse 6 to chapter 8:1, in the flow. But he’s going to elaborate.

You see verse 7 of chapter 7 picked up, which we looked at last time, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be!” Don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying the Law was sin, so we had to die to the Law because it was sin. The Law wasn’t sin. But the Jews still had to understand, when they died to sin, through faith in Christ, they died to the Law. And then he explained the issue of the Law. It served a purpose, but it’s purpose never was to bring salvation. Without clarity of thinking, the Jews suddenly slid over and they thought, we’ll just go through the motions and that’s all that matters. And they are rejected and placed under judgement by God, for that sin. This is what’s being clarified here. We came down to verse 12, he summarized that, “So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” Let’s not have any misunderstanding. The problem is not in the Law.

So, verse 13 becomes a transition, pulls together what he has said through the first 12 verses, and what he’s going to say in verses 14 and following. Verse 13, “Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be!” This same kind of question and answer that verse 7 had. “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be!” Come back to chapter 6, and he does it two times here. Verse 15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the Law but under grace? May it never be!” And then back in verse 1 of that chapter, he opens, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace might increase? May it never be!” So, it’s the same kind of argument, the same kind of issues. And he asks these questions because he realizes this is something a person may take out of what he has said. That’s true for the issue of sin. We died to it, we ought to be done with it. Its authority over us has been broken. We now have a new life.

Chapter 7. What about the Law? That was God’s word. You’re not saying the Law is sin, are you? Well, no, I dealt with that in verse 7. The Law is not sin, he answered that. Well, the Law may be good, but it caused me to sin. No, it didn’t! The Law didn’t cause the Jew to sin. Verse 13, “Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.” And he’s going to go on now, to show that the problem is not the Law. The problem is sin, that dwells in us. And that power of sin, has to be broken. He’s going to clarify that the problem with the Law was not the Law, it was that the Jews were sinful. Sin drove them, not the Law. Sin drove them to commit sin. It controlled them. They were dominated by it when God gave them the Law, telling them what was good, what He wanted them to do. Sin is always in rebellion against God.

So, the Law stirred up the sinful desires to disobey God. We see that down to today. We don’t have the Mosaic Law, but God has established marriage, and now we battle against that. God created man as male and female. We battle against that. Man, always when there’s a law God says, this is what I would have. Then sin says no, do this. That was the problem they had. As we come into these verses, let me give you a preview of where we’re going. The debate with these verses 13 to 25, is Paul writing as a person who has been converted, and now talking about the struggles he has as a believer, to live a life that’s pleasing to God.

Or, is he writing, in identification with the Jews, talking about the experience that he had, and other Jews had as unconverted Jews, trying to keep the Law? In other words, is Paul, as he writes, writing about himself as a saved man, or as an unsaved man? As I mentioned in our previous study, I think he’s writing about his condition before he was converted as a Jew, what he was experiencing in his struggles. The debate has gone back and forth, down through church history. The early church fathers held that this is a testimony of an unconverted man. Augustine handled that, then he changed his mind. Then you know something of the influence of Augustine. Paul changed, then taught, he was a converted man. And that has come down and the debates have gone on. Probably most of you have heard it taught more as, this is Paul as a converted man.

I pulled off half a dozen commentaries on my shelf this week, just to dip in to remind myself, there are differences in people. Quite a few of the commentators that we would be familiar with, hold that it is Paul writing as a converted man. Although one of them holds that and says that he believes that the majority hold that Paul is an unconverted man. We’re going to settle it. Paul’s not converted, so we’ll just start in chapter 8. No, we have to work through it. Let me give you a few reasons why I think Paul is writing as an unconverted man, so that when we work through it, at least you know what’s coming. Paul’s emphasis in the first six verses of chapter 7, were on the facts that the believer, a believing Jew, has died to the Law. Now, remember the Gentiles never were under the Law. The Law was given to Israel. Like I say, these Romans probably came out of pagan Roman background, with the pantheon of gods of the Romans. They weren’t raised with the Mosaic Law. Any exposure they had to it, is probably because of the Jews.

And then you get into the church, and if you have Jews who were so familiar with the Old Testament, telling these converted Gentiles that the Law is necessary, you could bring confusion to everyone. So, important to understand it. But Paul emphasizes in verse 1 to 6, you died to the Law. Well, if they died to the Law, when they became believers, why would they be trying to keep the Law? To make the rest of chapter 7 an account of Paul, struggling to keep the Law. You died to the Law. It would be like in the marriage relationship, the spouse died, and the surviving spouse is struggling to live in obedience to the spouse who died. That relationship is broken, it’s over. We understood that in chapter 6, we died to the Law. We were raised with Christ. We’ve been made new. You don’t go back to sin. That was the argument as we proceeded through chapter 6. Well, it’s just as irrational. You died to the Law as a Jew, when you died with Christ. That relationship is over. Now why would Paul write about the struggle he had and the difficulty of not being able to keep the Law as a believer? That’s not your responsibility. That’s the first thing I would say. Second, I don’t find verses 14-25 to be the normal Christian life. And it wouldn’t be for Gentiles, because they never struggled with the Law. Why would they struggle with it now? We’re going back to try and bring the Gentiles under the Law, then struggling. If Paul’s writing to Gentiles, what are they doing trying to struggle to keep the Law? The Jerusalem Counsel, in Acts 15, was to help to resolve that. The Gentiles don’t have to keep the Law. That’s the debate, remember? If you haven’t, you can go back and read Acts 15, at your leisure.

So, to say now that the saved must live under the Law, and this is Christian experience, we’ve got to back up. Didn’t we die to the Law, those who were under the Law, the Jews? The Gentiles never were. That’s the argument in Acts 15. Do the Gentiles have to be brought under the Mosaic Law? Paul and Barnabas are arguing. No! That’s the conclusion. Jews have an option if they want to eat kosher, if I can use that word, fine. It doesn’t mean the Jews have to start eating ham sandwiches. But the Jews have to understand, I think you come from a German heritage or whatever heritage, you like the food. That’s fine. So, the Jews can eat how they want, because Jesus declared all foods clean in Mark 9. You’re free to eat what you want. If the Jews want to continue to not eat ham sandwiches, fine, don’t eat ham sandwiches. But that’s different than saying, we are obligated because the Mosaic Law is in force. It’s not if you’re a believing Jew. For the others, it’s somewhat irrelevant. It just shows them to be sinful.

To say that saved people are living under the Law, I don’t think you can make this normal Christian experience, because it wouldn’t apply at any rate to Gentiles for sure. But since the Jews died to the Law when they are identified with Christ, they shouldn’t be struggling trying to keep the Law either. And a third thing that impacts me here, as I work through it. The person in verses 13-25, is under the power and authority of sin. Verse 14 will mention further about this. You know you go from the transition of past tense to present tense, and Paul begins to speak in that first person here, I. “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” Well, look at verse 23 of chapter 7, “…I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin…” Come down to verse 25, the end of the verse, “…on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” Wait a minute. I thought we were set free from the power and authority of sin. We’re not under bondage to sin.

Go back to chapter 6. We have a new master. The old lord and master was sin. The new master is God and righteousness. This person is in bondage. This person I don’t think, is the normal Christian life. I went through some of those who hold that this is a believer. I don’t think this is Paul’s experience at any other place. The passages that they use to show that this was Paul’s experience in other passages, I think they misuse those passages. When Paul told Timothy that he was the chief of sinners and God saved him, he wasn’t talking about his experience as a believer being the chief of sinners. He’s talking about how gross his sin was until God saved him, and God’s salvation to rescue him from that wretched sinful person he was. One of the commentators used that as one of the verses. They say Paul struggles with and he saw himself as a great sinner. Well, he saw himself as a great sinner before he was saved, so you can’t apply that here. This is, I think, a misuse of that passage.

So now, let me be clear. Believers can struggle with sin and we do. The end of chapter 6 of Romans reminded, you have to be careful. The sin hasn’t gone away. The power and authority of sin is broken but you’re responsible now to live new lives as slaves of righteousness. And other passages talk about we haven’t been perfected yet. That awaits the glorified body, the final part of our salvation, justification, sanctification, glorification. So yes. And all of us, like James said, stumble in many ways. But the struggle Paul’s talking about is a defeated person, failing, sin wins. I end up with my flesh and the members of my body serving sin. Well, that’s what Romans 6 says you don’t do as a believer.

Those are some of my reasons I think why Paul will switch from a past tense to a present tense. I’ve thought about this and maybe explain it. Sometimes when I’ve talked to unbelievers, I will say I am a sinner. I am under condemnation and on my way to an eternal hell. It’s what we call the historical present. I’m identifying with the unbelievers. I’m talking like this because I’m going back to what I was when I was just like them. And I’ve sometimes done that. I don’t start out by making a distinction, you are a sinner on your way to hell, but I am not.

So, we speak this way, I am a sinner, condemned, and doomed to hell. Well, I am not today because I’ve been redeemed, but I’m speaking in identification with other unbelievers for example. And we understand that. Sometimes in sermons I may have said that I am a sinner deserving of hell. Well, today I am not that sinner deserving of hell. I am a child of God, redeemed, and fitted for heaven, but I say I am. I think that’s what Paul’s doing because he started out, wanting to really identify with the Jews. That’s why we looked at those passages. And he’s going to spend chapters 9, 10, and 11 talking about this and the burden he has for the Jews, and he calls them brethren. Chapter 7, verse 4, “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law…” I’m a fellow Jew. I can identify with what you’re going through.

And then he comes down to here and I want to say, the Law is spiritual. He's got to put himself now back when he was where they are now. He steps back, because he was a Jew trying to keep the Law and yet it wasn’t working out. So, he says in verse 14, “…we know the Law is spiritual…” the problem is “…I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” This is where verse 13 became key, “Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.” What Paul is saying there is what happens in conversion, right? Now when I was a sinner under sin, I disobeyed the Law, I broke the Law. Well, why would I do what God told me not to do? All 613 commandments, why would I break them? Verse 12, “…the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be!” The problem wasn’t the Law. The problem was me. It was sin. The Law couldn’t make me new on the inside. It could set down a standard of holiness, righteousness, and godliness, but I couldn’t do it.

So, he’s going to show and explain that, that person, it effected death in me. He’s going to talk about the struggle that he went through as a Jew trying to keep the Law. The Law is spiritual. We agree on that. The problem is I am not. “…I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” In light of chapter 6, that can’t be a converted man. We’re not in bondage to sin. The bondage to sin has been broken. That’s why it’s good to go through in order. What did chapter 6 mean? It was clear. Then when we come to chapter 7, verse 14, you can’t make that a believer. “…I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” That’s like up in verse 5, “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.” That was the past time. Now he’s speaking and he’s in a present tense as he addresses these Jews as a Jewish man identifying with the nation Israel. “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” So that’s why I say it’s like a historical present.

And he's talked in the past up to this, but now in that identification with these brethren, why, what was wrong if the Law is so good? I’m so bad. “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” So that’d be like me talking to unbelievers. I am a sinner. God can tell me to do what’s right, but I can’t! You say, well, I thought you were saved Gil, so don’t say you can’t. Well I’m speaking what it means to be an unbeliever. We talk about, that’s why I say the commentators call it a historical present. I speak in the present of something that was true in my past history. “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”

Paul now goes on to clarify. I’m in bondage to sin, sold in bondage to sin. I have a number of verses, but we’ll move on to verse 15. “For what I am doing, I do not understand...” And I think what he’s talking about here now, I put myself in the situation of the unbelieving Jews that I am identifying with, the Jews apart from conversion. “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” There’s a conflict here between the willing and the doing that permeates this. It’s the picture of someone enslaved to sin. We see it in certain sins like alcohol or drugs, but all sin enslaves.

That’s the characteristic of sin, it enslaves you. He’s talking here just like people that want to live a good life. Why do Roman Catholics go to confession? I told you about our Roman Catholic neighbor. They get up every morning and go down to mass. I mean why? I want to be good. I want to please God. What were the Jews? Paul wanted to please God. That’s why he kept the Law. That’s why he was a Pharisee, so meticulous. But he couldn’t. He did things that he shouldn’t do. “…I am doing the very things I hate,” verse 15. And they acknowledge that because then they went to the temple, and they made the appropriate sacrifice, and had the priest represent them.

That’s the ongoing, endless sacrifices that Hebrews talks about. “But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.” I agree. I shouldn’t do that. God said no. But I do it. Well, I’m not saying the Law is bad. I am bad. That’s it. We recognize that, recognize it. We have a little great-grandson. Our granddaughter Ashley has a dog. The dog’s name is Murphy. How did that get into Romans 7? I brought it. You know what our grandson Jack says about Murphy? Murphy naughty! Murphy naughty! He understands already. Murphy does what he’s not supposed to do. Is Jack naughty? Jack not naughty! He already lies.

Alright, so that’s Paul. We agree. I agreed when I was a Pharisee. A Pharisee of the Pharisees, as strict as I could be. I admit it. I was doing what the Law said I shouldn’t do. And I agreed the Law was good. The Jews are willing to die for the Law. Some of them did. It was good, but they weren’t. “So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.” Now that doesn’t mean he’s not responsible. But it means I’m doing what I don’t want to do. I would like to live the life in perfect obedience to the Law, but sin.

What is it in me that asserts the control? Sin! So that’s what he does. “So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.” That’s why we had to die to sin in chapter 6, it’s control. It is part of me from birth, “…in sin did my mother conceive me…” the psalmist said. It’s there. So, it’s sin. What he’s doing is not separating himself, I’m not responsible, sin did it, not me. Sin is just something in me, apart from me. Now we know that’s not true, and the Jews knew that wasn’t true. And we’re held accountable. But it’s the fact that until the authority and lordship of sin in the inner person is broken and it can only be broken by death, “…the wages of sin is death…” and we die with Christ. It’s sin that dwells in me. Verse 18, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me but the doing of the good is not.”

That’s totally contrary to chapter 6, that now we are to live in obedience to the Lord bearing fruit for righteousness. I have been made new on the inside. I can’t say nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. The desire is present, but I can’t do it. That’s the unbeliever. May have good desires. You talk to a person, yeah, I’m a good person. I do my best. I go to church. I’ve been baptized. I go to communion. I go to confession. I say the rosary. I use the Catholics because they have all these things that we are more familiar with. When I was a Methodist, they baptized me as a baby, and I went to Sunday School. My parents didn’t go, but they sent me. Then we all went. But the ability to clean up my life and now live new, not there. The doing of the good is not. That’s why we had to have the opening chapters of Romans quoting from the Mosaic scriptures and the Old Testament. “There is none who does good...”

Remember Ecclesiastes, “…there is not a righteous man on the earth who always does good and never sins.” That’s it. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” That doesn’t mean that Christians never stumble, and we talked about that. We talked about it earlier today. I say, I don’t know why I did that. It’s wrong. Even as believers we can stumble, but that’s not our life anymore and we don’t have to. I often say we never have to sin. “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil I do not want.” There’s a conflict going on. We sometimes say, well, the unbeliever doesn’t have this kind of conflict. He does! Why is he religious? Why are the Muslims so fanatical in their Islam? Why are the Catholics so committed? Why are the Hindus? No! I need to do something to make myself acceptable to God. They don’t understand that God did what can make you acceptable to Him and you can never do it. But they try. This was Israel. This was Paul.

Come over to Philippians chapter 3. Paul gives his testimony from the side of being a believer in chapter 3 of Philippians. He says in verse 2, “Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision…” which he calls a mutilation. That’s strong because the Jews for circumcision, the sign of the covenant, these unbelieving Jews, it’s just mutilating. It’s not in anyway redemptive. “…for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh…” because we’ve had the circumcision of the heart, Paul is saying. That’s what the Old Testament required. Physical circumcision never could save anyone. It only had significance when it was a result of the circumcision of the heart, “…who worship in the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh.”

And that’s the kind of testimony he’s given. I was unredeemed, but I was trying. Verse 4, “…I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.” Now that doesn’t mean he can be saved by the Law. But I did as good as you can possibly do in keeping the Law. You know, we appreciate Paul’s fanaticism. When he’s converted, he’s all in. But when he was a Jew, he says I was all in. When he was an unconverted Jew trying to keep the Law everything I could do, everything that could be required, no one was going to excel me. And remember when he was introduced to us in the book of Acts, his testimony was that he was a rising star in Judaism. He was young, but he was already seen as a Jew and a Pharisee that was a cut above. That was his testimony. “But whatever things were gain to me, I count it as loss for the sake of Christ.” That’s where he had to come.

We’re back here now in Romans chapter 7, where he’s talking about what it was like. He’s identifying with these Jews. The good verse 18, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh…” And this contrast, back in verse 5, “For while we were in the flesh…” But he’s not in the flesh now, because when we come down into chapter 8, verse 7, “…the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God...” Verse 8, “and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Because nothing the unbeliever ever does comes from a heart that has been made new, from that inner person that has been created in the image of Christ Himself. So, the contrast is great. All that he had was willing, but not the doing. But we have now the enablement to not only will to please God, but to do it. That’s why chapter 6 talked about, “…you present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification…now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your fruit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”

This is the discussion of chapter 7 connecting it to the Mosaic Law for the benefit of these Jews. When you died with Christ, you died to the Law. This is the flaw. There’s no reason we should be confused on it. Well, that’s the ceremonial Law. Now we’ve been made new so we could keep the moral Law. Well, the Law is a unit. James says you break one point, you break it all. Paul didn’t say you die here to parts of the Law. You died to the Law. That’s like your former husband. What part of your dead spouse are you dead to? He’s dead! Well, part of him died but I remember what he always used to say, so…you move on. You died to the Law. You’ve been married to Christ. That was the way we started.

Then we get down here and we’re thinking now as Christians we’re supposed to try to keep the Law. And this is an endless struggle. And this is what the Christian life is like. And this is the war that a believer goes through. No, this is what an unbeliever is going through trying to get himself right with God. And we sometimes think, well, the unbeliever never wants to please God. No, they do. It’s not always the God of the Bible but they go to church. They can be fanatical. They give large sums of money. You drive to Omaha. A person gave a large sum of money to build a shrine so Roman Catholics and hopefully protestants will get drawn in. They’re willing to pay a price. One of our leading politicians, when he was dying, wanted to be known. He sent a secret letter to the Pope. Why? Didn’t the Pope have enough to read? You know that sense, this is important. Why do they?

So, we don’t want to minimize what Paul says about himself. We just read his testimony, what he was like before he was saved. It was a struggle. It was a battle. I was trying harder and harder to be the best Pharisee that existed in Judaism. I was trying to keep everything in the Law I could. But here’s his testimony. I couldn’t. I couldn’t. I had the desire, but I did not have the ability. Verse 19, “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.” In other words, sin rules me. I can even say I’m going to please God, but you won’t. You can’t. Sin rules your life.

Sometimes we forget or minimize. When God says that sin enslaves, Jesus told the Jews in His day, you are of your father the devil and you do his will. They are in a rage. We’re not of the devil. We’re the chosen people. You’re murders. You’re liars. He was revealing what they really were, but their desire was they thought themselves better than all else.

That’s as far as we’re going, in case you were thinking we’re going to get this done. He’s not going to have a ‘q & a.’ You can stop and you can mull that over. I want you to be clear. I’m not saying believers don’t struggle with sin, believers don’t sin. I’m saying this doesn’t describe a believer. This is beyond the conflict a believer has. This is the conflict of a defeated person. We’re not. We’ve been made new. We’ve been set free. That’s not my experience. Are you saying you never struggle with sin? No. But Paul is talking about the continual defeat. That’s not to be our testimony. We’ll look at the rest of chapter 7 next time.

Let’s pray and then we’ll have our discussion. Thank You, Lord, for Your word. As we work through these things, we pray You’ll give us clarity, the proper balance in our understanding. Lord, You have given it. You’ve given the details. It’s important for us to apply ourselves diligently to understand it carefully so that we are functioning in accord with what You have revealed. Bless the rest of our time together, in Christ’s name. Amen.


So, if anyone says, Gil doesn’t believe Christians struggle, you can say, oh he does believe that. But he doesn’t believe Romans 7 is talking about that. We talked about the Law.

Let me start out with a question. The question came in this week and it just happened to fit with something I had read recently. It has to do with getting tattoos. So, if you have a tattoo pull your sleeve down a minute while we talk about this. In the book I had been reading the man was using getting a tattoo as an example of departing from the Law, not keeping the Law, and being disobedient to God, and that’s where some believers are today. I’m not advocating getting a tattoo, but let me tell you up front, then we’ll look at the passage. I also don’t believe that the bible indicates that tattoos are sinful or wrong for a believer. This comes, there’s only one verse that deals with that. “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.” That’s in Leviticus 19. So, if you want to turn there, Leviticus 19. Read verse 28. It says, “You shall not make…any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.” Doesn’t that settle it? Well, where are we? We’re in the Mosaic Law. We just can’t go in here and pick out portions and say it also says here, in verse 27, “You shall not round off the side growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.” And you know what? I don’t see any men here that obey that. You see the orthodox Jews maybe in some of the Jewish communities like New York or if you go to Israel. You’ll see those long side curls or whatever, because they don’t trim the side. Why? Because it says you shall not harm the edges of your beard or round off the side. So, we do that. Well, which of these do we do? This is the problem. You go through here, up in verse 19, “You are to keep my statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.” Don’t take you clothes off! You know, we pick this out, and this man in this book, he is strong on this. And I have some others. They use tattoos as an example of the church going worldly and not taking a stand on sin. We died with Christ. I never was under the Mosaic Law. So, you can’t pick out this is the problem. Well, is it alright to trim your beard? Men in the Old Testament wouldn’t want to live without a beard. Remember what happened when David’s men, when he sent them on a journey of kindness, but they weren’t accepted that way, so they cut half their beard off. They were ashamed. They didn’t want to even come back into society until their beard grew. So, David made provision for that. Are you going to go back and live like that? You don’t have to have a beard. If you have a beard, you can trim it. My wife determines more about what my beard is than the Mosaic Law. For years I didn’t have one because she said no. I won’t tell you what, I’m going to tell you what she said. She said I’m going to quit shaving too. I won’t shave my legs. I won’t shave. So, I went in and shaved. Finally, she says, oh, go ahead and try it. So, I’m not saying tattoos are a good idea or a bad idea, That’s a personal decision, like what you eat and don’t eat. Now certain tattoos would be wrong. He’s talking here in the context of marking your body and connection with pagan practices of that time, for the dead, cutting yourself for the dead, putting marks on your body that would identify them. I would want to be careful what I put on. I wouldn’t put on a tattoo that was associated with a false god. I wouldn’t want to put Buddha on my arm because that’s connected to a false religion. I don’t want to have any connection with him. But come to Mark, chapter 7, to give a biblical reason for this. In the New Testament, Mark chapter 7, and along with what we’ve said, the Law is done. We learn from the Law. We learn even from not mixing material. God wanted things kept distinct in Israel. He wanted them to be separated. And He’ll bring these sections together when He says, you are a people separated from Me. So, these things that marked Israel off as a nation separated from Him. In Mark chapter 7, He’s talking about foods. He called the crowd, then in verse 14, “He began saying to them, ‘Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.” So, I don’t really think what you put on your body or don’t, defiles you anymore than the food. The food gets further in than a tattoo. Don’t medically trust me on that. I don’t know, but you get the point. It’s not things done to the body or in the body. And you know what happens? The disciples don’t understand. “When He had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. And He said to them, ‘Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him…?’ I used to be taught that I shouldn’t smoke because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. You want to fill the temple of the Holy Spirit with tobacco smoke? Well, no! Well, why do you eat that food? That food is not healthy. Isn’t your body the temple of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you think you ought to feed it healthy food? We’ve got people who make a good living with this kind of stuff. I don’t think it has anything to do with being spiritual. He declared at the end of verse 19, “…(He declared all foods clean.)” Know what that does? That wipes out all the food regulations of the Mosaic Law. Now you can have a pork sandwich. He declared it clean. Some of those things, if you had done in the Old Testament and you were a Jew in Israel, you could have been executed. Now it’s over. So, want to be careful, things like tattoos, you want to be careful. You are putting something there, that’s your decision, your spouse’s decision with you. They have to look at you too, but you obviously want to be careful. You don’t want to put anything improper that you’re going to live with, because you wouldn’t want that in any way in your life. But I don’t think a tattoo anymore than the foods. That’s something done externally. That’s not what Leviticus was particularly talking about anyway. I couldn’t find any commentary that was serious, that was in the context of what was the practice of those days, false religion and things the pagans were doing. But, I’m not also advocating, I don’t want any of you young people to go home and say, see Pastor Gil said we can get a tattoo. No, your parents have to say you can do that.

Alright, you don’t have to have a question on that. If you do have one raise your hand.
Question: Gil in Galatians 5, 16 and 17, you’re probably ready to defend that. But it uses words there, Paul uses there, very similar to what he’s using in Romans 7, where he says the Spirit sets itself against the flesh for these are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please. So, there he’s talking about the Spirit and the flesh battle, right?

Answer: Yeah, there is a battle there because sin hasn’t been removed. But he doesn’t tell them if you’re led by the Spirit, you’re not under the Law, so the deeds of the flesh are evident. So, they are things you aren’t to do. There are laws for us, we call it the ‘law of Christ.’ But we have the enabling power of the Spirit. Now sometimes, like James says, “we all stumble” and usually the way we stumble was something we shouldn’t do, but we wanted to do. And so, in that sense there is that battle going on, but it’s not the defeated battle of Romans, chapter 7. There is a battle that goes on because the devil hasn’t gone away. Sin hasn’t gone away and it hasn’t been removed from me. That’s the problem. But I think it’s a victorious battle we fight. Like we talked about David this morning. We talked about blots on his life, but he declares himself a man who does good. What about your adultery? What about your murder? What about your numbering the people? Those were failures, but that’s not my life. So that’s the difference I would make. I may look at some of these verses in Galatians. I had some of them jotted down there, but we didn’t do them tonight. We may look at some of those that parallel because they do fit with this. I want to be careful that I don’t be understood to say… Some of my pastor friends got upset when I taught this a number of years ago when they were present, that this was a serious departure from the faith. I’m not saying believers don’t struggle with sin and sometimes yield to sin. But we are on the victory side of that. Paul is writing on the defeat side of that, but that characterizes the unbeliever.

Follow-up question: Was there the argument in some of the commentaries you read, that in fact that he was a believer speaking in the first-person identifying himself in the Christian life?

Answer: Yeah. And that’s the debate since Paul’s speaking in the present tense. Because in the first part of the chapter he deals in the past tense, then he changes to the present tense and he’ll talk about we and that, but now he talks about I. Then it’ll get into chapter 8, he’ll talk about you, but he’s not disassociating himself from the ministry of the Spirit there. So, I think that’s why I say he’s using what we call a historical present. Why he switches to I, I want to identify with you what you are dealing with, I dealt with. And it’s showing that’s not the solution because that’s a life of defeat. That’s why I say I could talk to unbelievers and say to them, I am a sinner and I’m consumed with sin and it’s on my mind and sin is the pattern of my life. Well, I could speak of that in identifying with them because again, the commentaries that go the way I go would call that a historical present. You’ve brought your history from the past up to the present and that’s why. Obviously, there’s a battle that goes on here. I have a hard time thinking the believer is struggling to keep the Law when number one, it wouldn’t apply to the non-Jew believers. And secondly, we died to the Law so why are you trying keep the Law? He’s going to go on in chapter 8 to talk about how we live in the power of the Spirit. We don’t live by trying to keep the Law because the Spirit doesn’t come to enable us to keep the Law that we died to. It seems to me chapter 7 particularly relates to the Jews and Paul’s connection to the Jews rather than broader. Well then, I’d have to say he’s speaking of himself as he was as an unbelieving Jew wanting to keep the Law like he said he was in Philippians 3. Although he writes there in the past tense because he’s writing from the believer’s side. But in Romans 7, I think he does depict an unbelieving Jew. But we’ll complete the chapter and see if that helps.

Jot down questions like this too because when we complete it, then we can go back and see, does this fit together. I’ll maybe bring you some names that you can look at that are on both sides so that gives you a chance to sort it out. Douglas Moo has the most thorough development of this particular position. I was influenced by that in a prior commentary he did. He’s updated it. I don’t recommend you run out and buy it. It’s a good commentary but it’s expensive. It’s like a thousand pages, so probably not the first commentary you want to buy. But he is very good on Romans. He’s written a number of papers on it. Maybe I’ll bring some of those and make them available to you. A man named Grassmick was a Greek professor at Dallas and did a paper while he was a professor there and it was passed on to me quite a few years ago. He works through it in a summary way, maybe in half a dozen pages. Maybe I’ll make a couple copies of that as well so some of you. Not all you would be interested in that, but some of you would be, particularly teaching in bible studies or classes. So, we’ll do that for next time.

Question: Pastor Gil, in 1 John 1:9 it talks about, of course, the act of the believer. But also, is that a reference to original salvation when it says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness?” As I understand that, confession is a constant, continual. So, is it continuing, up to us to admit sin, to restore fellowship, if you will? And is that kind of relating to what Paul talks about in Romans 7?

Answer: The tenses that you mentioned are good. In fact, I was teaching some graduate students and we were doing the Greek text of 1 John, so one of my assignments for a paper for them was I want you to write a paper explaining the importance and significance of the tenses of the Greek verbs in 1 John. I still have some of those papers. They’re great! They did a good job. In fact, one of them is a professor at Criswell College and Seminary. He wrote me a couple of months ago, it was good to hear from him. I think 1 John is dividing between believer and unbeliever. So, I think that the tenses in verse 5 and following, verse 5 of chapter 1 says, “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” So, there is no darkness in God. Verse 6, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth...” We’re not children of light, we’re children of darkness. It’s a false claim, because there is no darkness in God. If you’re walking in darkness, you don’t have a relationship with God. Verse 7, “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” So that’s the ongoing cleansing. It happens to us because of the work of Christ. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s not good for us. We talked about David; I want to acknowledge my sin before God. But basically, what God calls me to do is, stop the sin, recognize it’s sin, stop it, and get on with doing what you should. Because Christ has taken care of it. He continues, verse 8, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” If the truth is not in you, you’re an unbeliever, so, to deny sin. Verse 9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins...” So, again in the present tense, if we are confessing our sins, He’s faithful and righteous to have forgiven us our sins and cleansed us from all unrighteousness. That’s the ongoing process. Believers are those who agree with God about sin. I think that’s what 1 John 1:9 is. It’s not as we sometimes joke, I’ve heard this all the way back in college days, it’s the Christian bar of soap. You know, this is how you get clean, you confess it. What about if I don’t confess it? God won’t forgive me? He says if we confess our sins, He’s faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins. Now, I realize that doesn’t say what happens if you don’t, but what is the implication? Believers are those who agree with God about sin. Verse 8 talks about those who claim they don’t have sin, or verse 10, that they’ve never sinned. Verse 8 is talking about the Greek word homologeo – “say the same thing”, we confess, we agree with God. That’s a present thing with me. That’s the present tense here. If we are confessing our sins, we’re agreeing with God about sin. In contrast with those who deny that sin is even an issue, like we have in Romans 6, where sin is that principle within, that controls us. I can only remember one or two people, one person particularly that I met, who denied that they didn’t sin, they never did. I think it’s the contrast going on. When you get to chapter 2, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin...” I’m writing this because you realize believers are not to sin. He’s not saying they never sin, but you’re not supposed to be sinning. “…And if anyone sins…” You do sin as a believer, but that’s not the pattern of life. We establish that pattern in the first chapter. “…And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins…” Propitiation, the one who turns the wrath of God away from us. “…propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” So, He is our Advocate in verse 1. That’s why His blood keeps on cleansing us. He is the High Priest, that’s our eternal assurance in Hebrews. He ever lives at the right hand of the Father, to represent us, to intercede for us, as our High Priest. Yes, Gil sinned again, but I died for that sin, it’s paid for, it’s covered. That doesn’t mean there may not be consequences, but the penalty’s been dealt with. I think that’s what 1 John is trying to do, make clear the contrast between the believer and the unbeliever. We see this mentioned in the Old Testament, this constant battle between good and evil, between the children of God and the children of the Devil. There is constantly this pressure to sort of blur it and merge them. Well, parents, they say, I know my child is saved, because I prayed with him when they were in the 3rd grade. Now, they’re not living for the Lord. What do you mean they’re not living for the Lord now? Well, they’re sort of into drugs and drinking and immorality, but I know they’re saved. Well, wait a minute. If you claim to be in the Light and you walk in the darkness, you are darkness. You’re not Light, because you’re not walking with God. Now, this points out the seriousness of sin. I’ll use my grandson again. He’s being potty trained, and you know what kids do. They run off to their own little corner. Well, that’s what we like to do with our sin, we sort of want to go to our own little corner. We think we hide away from God. You know the ugly thing? 1 John made me think about sin? I never sin in the darkness, because God is Light. I live in an eternal relationship with Him. This is what Paul told the Corinthians about sin. The Holy Spirit dwells in you, you can’t run and go in the darkness. I’m doing my sin in the full light of the presence of God. That makes sin all the more ugly for the believer. Nobody sees me, nobody knows. Wait a minute, the full light of God’s presence is shining everywhere. Turn the lights up brighter! So, 1 John makes that clear. I think the line, this fixed line, is that, he who is not with Me is against Me. In our day, we can’t always tell. There are wheat and there are tares. We need to be careful. That doesn’t justify me. I can give the final word, this person is saved, this person is not, but a pattern of life. I’ve had some people come, and I’ve just said, from what you’ve just told me, you’re a liar, not because I say it, but because, let me tell you what God says. That doesn’t mean that believers don’t stumble, and that stumbling can go on. David committed immorality. He lied, he deceived, he covered up, he murdered. It went on for months and months. If Nathan hadn’t come, how long would it have lasted? David didn’t initiate a confession about his sin. David didn’t even confess it. Nathan confessed it for him, and then David said, yes, I did it. What is he going to say? The prophet just told him everything he did. So, that’s a little bit where I am. I want to go talk to God, but I’m not waiting to be forgiven. I sometimes go, if I’ve sinned and say, Lord, I thank you for the forgiveness I have in Christ, that I’ve been cleansed. That doesn’t make me take this sin any less serious. This is serious business. I’m not saying you don’t talk it over with God, but it’s not God sitting up there saying, well, they are going to confess it or . . . I’m going to have to stop it and realize its sin. But I know its sin, the Holy Spirit dwells in me. He convicts me when I sin. We know it. It’s like I use my grandson, he’s going to hide in the corner because he knows what he’s doing, he’s not supposed to do it there. I know I shouldn’t do it, but nobody’s perfect. Then I begin to excuse it, not because I don’t know it’s sin. Then I find out it’s your fault and you made me do it. You know the Canadian, Flip Wilson, way back? The black comedian used to make a good living by saying, what? The Devil made me do it! You insert that, to be humorous. But there was a reality to it he didn’t understand. But he was responsible, because the Devil is working in concert with his fallen desires.

Question: Gil, with the 1 John 1:5, how do you understand Light, specifically? I know some commentaries refer to Light as more of as God’s holiness. Some focus more on God’s revelation. How do you understand that?

Answer: I was looking at that, not from this passage, but for another passage, and I think probably it’s the combination of those things. Since God is Light in His very character, the things associated with God, are Light. Like the revelation of His word. So, the Light of the glory of the gospel. You could talk about God’s Word as a light, as David does, “Your word is a lamp to my feet.” God’s character in His attributes is Light. It has to do with the contrast to darkness and sin. So, you could include all that is connected to God in a way, as Light. And what is contrary to Him is darkness. I think that’s what he’s drawing there. God is Light, there’s no darkness in Him, you walk in darkness. Later he’ll say, if you hate your brother, then you’re in darkness. Basically, as you go through because believers don’t hate fellow believers. So, that’s an indication that you’re still in the darkness. God’s character is not seen in you, not produced in you. I think Light can have that breadth, sometimes it means in Him personally. 1 John seems to like these Light and darkness. In the first chapter, light came into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. That’s the contrast that goes through. So, yes, I think it’s a broad view.

Let’s have a word of prayer. Thank You, Lord, for all Your blessings. Lord, we are blessed as a fellowship of believers. We are blessed by Your presence in our lives and in our life as a congregation. We’re blessed to be able to share together in the ministry. Thank You for this evening. Pray You will direct us as we travel to our homes. Lord, we commit the week ahead to You. Wherever You take us, wherever You place us, however You choose to use us, may we be faithful. May our light shine brightly. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.