Own the Struggle
Romans 7.13-25 is one of the most controversial passages in the Bible, namely because many thoughtful people disagree over what it means. Even though those I disagree with are wrong (Ha!), they are still nice people. Well, in a Romans 7 kind of way.
Some people believe a Christian cannot experience what Paul experiences here. Others believe Romans 7 is a Christian, except he is a defeated Christian lacking the needed spiritual boost of Romans 8. So which is it? Full disclosure, the view I am presenting views Romans 7 as the normal Christian experience. In other words Romans 7 is not “Past Paul” or “Defeated Paul,” but rather “Present Paul.” What difference does Romans 7 make in a life? Everyone’s favorite theologian J.I. Packer says a lot, for Packer it was a matter of personal sanity.
Sue grew up in church, she never knew a day she did not know and trust Jesus. Her testimony always seemed, well, boring. Throughout her Christian life Sue has wondered, “Am I missing something?” She will tell you she does not struggle with “bad sins,” and what she does struggle with a little extra self-discipline, determination, Bible study, and prayer can handle, which brings us to today and why she feels so spiritually desperate. Those good things are no longer working. They are no longer restraining her anger, suppressing her rising romantic desires and fantasies, nor helping her stress and anxiety. “What’s wrong with me?” “What’s happening to me?” “What am I missing?” Sue pleads. Romans 7 can help.
Sam was a dynamic ministry leader in the largest ministry on campus, no one was surprised by his call to ministry. Yet even during those times when God was using him greatly, Sam felt deep inside, “There must be something more to the Christian life.” Fast forward ten years into his life as a pastor and someone says, “Hey Sam, you’ve got to read this.” He did, and it changed his life. What happened to Sam? The book talked persuasively and experientially about something more to the Christian life, what Sam thought was missing in his Christian life. Even though Sam appears to have found the secret to something more, to what was missing, Romans 7 solves the riddle of Sam differently.
Samantha has always felt the weight of her sin. Those closest to her would say, “Samantha is unhealthily introspective. She’s constantly wondering, “How am I doing? Am I good enough?” Therefore when Samantha did something far worse than anything she has ever done before, than anything she ever dreamed she could do, it was terribly traumatic. She did not know what to do. She had no categories for what happened, for her new level of evil. What does Samantha do? Romans 7 provides spiritual resources Samantha needs.
Stewart believes everyone is basically good. “So,” he reasoned, “if someone does something really evil it must be because something bad happened to them.” But then Stewart did something really bad, when nothing bad has ever happened to him. Stewart’s view of human nature was crushed. Stewart’s view of himself was shattered. What does Stewart do now? Romans 7 calls Stewart to do something healing.
In Romans 7 the Apostle Paul is not saying everything there is to say about the Christian life, but he is saying something crucial: own your struggle with sin. What kind of struggle with sin are we supposed to own? The answer is the Christian has and always will (until heaven) possess conflicting desires in them: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (verse 15 and similarly restated in verse 19).” It is like the Christian has multiple selves, a split personality. Sometimes she wants this, and sometimes she wants that. Sometimes he wants to be this, and sometimes he wants to be that.
Why does the Christian have these conflicting desires within them? The answer is because biblical life change is a heart transformation not a heart transplant. Life change is not the removal of an old sinful heart and then the transplanting of a new uncorrupted one, thereby removing the struggle with sin or providing a victorious heart that lives above sin. Life change is not dualism – old heart vs. new heart – leading to a lot of weird and harmful ideas about life change. Life change is transformation - God restoring our one heart – God healing the one you.
Practically speaking, life change for a Christian looks like the dethroned sin condition having desires and the being restored you also having desires all at the same time, which is why Paul says, “So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me (v.17).” When the Christian sins it is no longer their true self, the real self in union with Christ, or their identity in Christ who does it, but rather the dethroned sin condition (the old false self) still dwelling within that does.
Own your struggle with sin because it is a gracious mark of being a Christian, not the shocking evidence that something is wrong with you or the ultimate proof that you are missing something. Ultimately, if we want to get all technical about it, what is wrong with all of us and missing in all of us is the world finally made right (c.f. Romans 8.17-25).
The Christian is free to admit their struggle with sin, free to joyfully and fearlessly struggle with their sin in the same way the most godly man who ever lived did: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Not me, says Paul, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Paul’s cry is that salvation for the skeptic and for the believing is always received not achieved. This pattern of grace-salvation is the normal Christian life. Imagine living your life out of this kind of freedom, based upon someone else’s performance not your own. Imagine relationships built around such realness, safety, acceptance, and encouragement. Imagine a church culture of such humility and gutsy grace. Imagine Romans 7 becoming real to you and me.
Some people believe a Christian cannot experience what Paul experiences here. Others believe Romans 7 is a Christian, except he is a defeated Christian lacking the needed spiritual boost of Romans 8. So which is it? Full disclosure, the view I am presenting views Romans 7 as the normal Christian experience. In other words Romans 7 is not “Past Paul” or “Defeated Paul,” but rather “Present Paul.” What difference does Romans 7 make in a life? Everyone’s favorite theologian J.I. Packer says a lot, for Packer it was a matter of personal sanity.
Sue grew up in church, she never knew a day she did not know and trust Jesus. Her testimony always seemed, well, boring. Throughout her Christian life Sue has wondered, “Am I missing something?” She will tell you she does not struggle with “bad sins,” and what she does struggle with a little extra self-discipline, determination, Bible study, and prayer can handle, which brings us to today and why she feels so spiritually desperate. Those good things are no longer working. They are no longer restraining her anger, suppressing her rising romantic desires and fantasies, nor helping her stress and anxiety. “What’s wrong with me?” “What’s happening to me?” “What am I missing?” Sue pleads. Romans 7 can help.
Sam was a dynamic ministry leader in the largest ministry on campus, no one was surprised by his call to ministry. Yet even during those times when God was using him greatly, Sam felt deep inside, “There must be something more to the Christian life.” Fast forward ten years into his life as a pastor and someone says, “Hey Sam, you’ve got to read this.” He did, and it changed his life. What happened to Sam? The book talked persuasively and experientially about something more to the Christian life, what Sam thought was missing in his Christian life. Even though Sam appears to have found the secret to something more, to what was missing, Romans 7 solves the riddle of Sam differently.
Samantha has always felt the weight of her sin. Those closest to her would say, “Samantha is unhealthily introspective. She’s constantly wondering, “How am I doing? Am I good enough?” Therefore when Samantha did something far worse than anything she has ever done before, than anything she ever dreamed she could do, it was terribly traumatic. She did not know what to do. She had no categories for what happened, for her new level of evil. What does Samantha do? Romans 7 provides spiritual resources Samantha needs.
Stewart believes everyone is basically good. “So,” he reasoned, “if someone does something really evil it must be because something bad happened to them.” But then Stewart did something really bad, when nothing bad has ever happened to him. Stewart’s view of human nature was crushed. Stewart’s view of himself was shattered. What does Stewart do now? Romans 7 calls Stewart to do something healing.
In Romans 7 the Apostle Paul is not saying everything there is to say about the Christian life, but he is saying something crucial: own your struggle with sin. What kind of struggle with sin are we supposed to own? The answer is the Christian has and always will (until heaven) possess conflicting desires in them: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (verse 15 and similarly restated in verse 19).” It is like the Christian has multiple selves, a split personality. Sometimes she wants this, and sometimes she wants that. Sometimes he wants to be this, and sometimes he wants to be that.
Why does the Christian have these conflicting desires within them? The answer is because biblical life change is a heart transformation not a heart transplant. Life change is not the removal of an old sinful heart and then the transplanting of a new uncorrupted one, thereby removing the struggle with sin or providing a victorious heart that lives above sin. Life change is not dualism – old heart vs. new heart – leading to a lot of weird and harmful ideas about life change. Life change is transformation - God restoring our one heart – God healing the one you.
Practically speaking, life change for a Christian looks like the dethroned sin condition having desires and the being restored you also having desires all at the same time, which is why Paul says, “So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me (v.17).” When the Christian sins it is no longer their true self, the real self in union with Christ, or their identity in Christ who does it, but rather the dethroned sin condition (the old false self) still dwelling within that does.
Own your struggle with sin because it is a gracious mark of being a Christian, not the shocking evidence that something is wrong with you or the ultimate proof that you are missing something. Ultimately, if we want to get all technical about it, what is wrong with all of us and missing in all of us is the world finally made right (c.f. Romans 8.17-25).
The Christian is free to admit their struggle with sin, free to joyfully and fearlessly struggle with their sin in the same way the most godly man who ever lived did: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Not me, says Paul, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Paul’s cry is that salvation for the skeptic and for the believing is always received not achieved. This pattern of grace-salvation is the normal Christian life. Imagine living your life out of this kind of freedom, based upon someone else’s performance not your own. Imagine relationships built around such realness, safety, acceptance, and encouragement. Imagine a church culture of such humility and gutsy grace. Imagine Romans 7 becoming real to you and me.
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