Romans 7.14-25 Living by the Rules

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 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...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...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...Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, 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.Romans 7:14‭-‬25 NASB

I can't tell you the number of times I have heard sincere Christians quote this passage as an excuse for their sin. "I am just living out Romans 7." They almost make it sound spiritual.

The argument goes something like this. "Even Paul admits that he can't live without sinning all the time. I try be good, but I can't. After all, it's not me, but sin that lives in me."

But that attitude represents a complete misunderstanding of Romans 7 because it is being taken out of context.

This passage, like all scripture must be interpreted in its full context. The subject matter that comes before and after this passage places it in the middle of an argument concerning living by law versus living by faith.

In that light, this passage is illustrating the state of a person who is living by the law. This applies to any rules and regulations in your moral code that tells you what you should or should not do.

The problem with living by the law is that it is your flesh (your natural mind) that is trying to please God by obeying the rules.

But it is impossible to please God in the flesh because our flesh is corrupt and sinful and incapable of pure spiritual motives.

In fact, the harder you try to be good, the more power you give to your flesh, and the deeper you fall into sin.

But we don't have to live that way. Verses 24 and 25 say, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

There is a better way. Romans 8.2 says, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."

The answer is to stop living under the law.

Embrace grace. Live by faith. Walk in the Spirit.