Expert: Scott Talbot - 12/11/2009

Question
Hello and thank you for taking my question. My question regards the latter part of Romans 7, where Paul talks about struggling against his flesh: In the commentary Im reading "Romans verse by verse,' the author William R Newell states that Paul's struggle with his flesh is something that Paul, or any mature christian doesnt struggle with and that what Paul is describing is something he strugled with ONLY in the past before he understood the concept of grace. The reason, the author states, is that this is a struggle with the LAW which we are no longer under and he states there is no mention of Christ until, in Paul's writing,the legal struggle is over and has ended in self despair. He states there is also no mention of the Holy Spirit.

    MY question is simple - is this true, is what Paul is describing something that took place in his past and shouldnt be taking place in the mature believer who knows he is under faith and not law?

Answer
Hi Pete,

It's nice to hear from you.

I do not agree with the assessment of William R. Newell in his commentary that mature Christians do not struggle with sin, or that Paul's struggle was only in the past. If you read this passage carefully, you will see that Paul is speaking in the present tense. Even he, a mature Christian, continued to struggle with sin on a regular basis. The reason is that he, like all of us, still lived in a human body with an innate sinful nature.

Even a Christian, who has been delivered from the condemnation and power of sin, still faces a spriitual battle. With the Holy Spirit living within him, he now has the power to overcome sin. But his sinful nature still battles with the Holy Spirit, with an insatiable desire to rebel against God. Temptation is still real, and failure is still an unfortunate yeta real part of the life of every Christian. If it were not, we would not be challenged to "walk in the Spirit," or to be "filled with the Spirit," or to "live by faith" (trust in God for right living).

Paul's discussion of the Law is this. If you compare what he says in Galatians, he points out the purpose of the Law: Galatians 3:24 tells us that the Law was created to "lead us to Christ." In other words, the Law was not meant to allow man to achieve righteousness before God, but rather to demonstrate that it is impossible for us to faithfully live up to God's expectation of perfect obedience. No one has ever done so, nor will anyone ... except for Jesus Christ. Because Jesus lived a perfect life and fully kept all of the Father's commandments, He has become the perfect substitute for us. Therefore, when He served our death sentence for us, he made possible the gift of salvation that comes by relying on HIS perfection rather than our own.

God never condones sin. But He also realizes that even the best of us continually struggle with sin and often fail. Proverbs tells us that "the just man falls seven times and rises again." It doesn't say the just man never falls (or fails). It says he does, but he seeks forgiveness and is drawn back to God through a desire to do better.

I hope this helps. Feel free to write back if I can be of further assistance.

Scott