The apostle Peter gave the church fair warning that his beloved fellow apostle Paul “in ALL his epistles (wrote) in them…some things hard to understand, which they that are unlearned (in the scriptures as a whole, both Hebrew and Greek scriptures) and unstable (spiritually) wrest (twist, pervert, distort), as they do also the other scriptures (not just Paul’s writings), unto their own (spiritual) destruction” (See 2 Peter 3:15-16). NOTE: All comments inside parentheses are those of the author of this study).
One of the most misunderstood texts from the pen of the apostle Paul is the 7th chapter of Romans, especially verses 14 through 24. Here are a few of the surprising statements Paul makes in those verses: “I am carnal, sold under sin” (verse 14), “What I hate, that do I” (verse 15), “Sin dwells in me” (verse 17), “How to perform that which is good I find not” (verse 18), “The good that I would (do), I do not, but the evil which I would not (do), that I do” (verse 19), “When I would do good, evil is present with me” (verse 21), “I see another law in my members…bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (verse 23), and, finally, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (verse 24).
It seems that many who read those plain, clear statements in Romans 7 forget that in the previous chapter, chapter 6, Paul had just made these plain and clear statements, too: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? GOD FORBID. (And He DOES forbid sin in the life of the believer). How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (verses 1 and 2). “Our old man (the former YOU) is crucified with Him, that the body of sin MIGHT BE DESTROYED, that henceforth (from the time of conversion forward) we should not serve sin” (verse 6). “He that is dead is freed from sin” (verse 7) – NOT “sold under sin!” “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin” (verse 11). “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (verse 12). “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (verse 13). “For sin shall not have dominion over you” (verse 14). “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under (the penalty of) the law, but under grace (unmerited favor and forgiveness)? GOD FORBID!” (verse 15). “But God be thanked, that ye WERE (past tense) the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart (from the core and depth of your being) that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you (by none other than Paul himself). Being then MADE FREE FROM SIN, ye became the servants (slaves) of righteousness” (verses 17 and 18).
But it is the 19th verse of Romans 6 that really clarifies just what Paul was, and WAS NOT, saying in Romans 7 when He made all those clearly defeatist statements, such as “I am carnal, sold under sin” and “How to perform that which is good I find not!” Romans 6:19 says: “I speak AFTER THE MANNER OF (SPIRITUALLY DEFEATED) MEN because of the infirmity of YOUR flesh (not his own flesh, but THEIR flesh), for as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity (committing one sin after another), even so (in the same manner) now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness (the continued, uninterrupted practice of righteous conduct).” It is that simple! Here is what Paul says in that 19th verse: “I speak after the manner of men (that is, I am going to put myself in your shoes and talk like you talk in order to address this problem YOU are having in ceasing to sin).” Notice, he says “because of the infirmity (Greek, “weakness”) of YOUR flesh – NOT Paul’s flesh – THEIR FLESHLY LUSTS AND APPETITES! They had the problem, not Paul! Remember, Paul said, “I keep under (control) MY body (his own fleshly pulls and appetites), and bring it into subjection (to the Holy Spirit’s leading and control) lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway (from fellowship and union with Jesus Christ).” (See I Corinthians 9:27).
The teaching device of applying the problem or actions of another to his own self was used by Paul more than once. Notice these words in I Corinthians, chapter 4. Paul writes, “And these things, brethren, I have in a figure TRANSFERRED TO MYSELF AND APOLLOS for your sake (in order to teach or show the Corinthian believers) that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another” (verse 6). Paul again refers to this same methodology of teaching in chapter 9, writing, “TO THE WEAK BECAME I AS WEAK, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (verse 22).
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley