The Struggle Is Real and You’re Not Alone

Commentary

The Commandments of God are a light that reveals sin to the sinner. Without it, we’d never know what is perfect and right, even our conscience has written upon it, God’s Law.

Scripture teaches us that a person who thinks they can find salvation in keeping the Law would need to keep the entire Law their entire life, impossible for anyone but Jesus. Even the apostle Paul is admitting in this passage his own struggle with sin.

Paul writes in this passage that the Law is spiritual in nature. Meaning that the flesh cannot be changed by it. It was never meant to bring salvation or sanctification. Our flesh is truly unable to follow God’s ways on its own. For the follower of Christ, this holds just as true as it does for the unbeliever.

There is an incorrect picture often painted of Christians being perfect or needing to be perfect. It’s a misunderstanding which leads many to the misery of legalism in their lives. As we’ll learn in the coming verses, the believer has a special heart that wants to avoid sin, but cannot always do so.

The verse above implies that prior to knowing Jesus, our bodies were completely ruled by sin, in slavery to it. It teaches us that Jesus breaks that bondage. It’s the Spirit of God working in our inner being, which helps to reduce sin in the life of the believer. Though you and I now have a God-given hatred for our sin, and have God’s Spirit working inside us, the flesh continues to battle the Spirit for the control of our minds. This is a battle that will go on until the Lord calls you home.

In this study, we’ll work through this section of Romans 7 to learn more about this sin-struggle that we all face, the difference between the born-again believer who sins and those who are not born-again, and how we can be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to better avoid excessive sin.

Commentary

When you sin and are upset that you have, you agree that the Law of God is good. Because it is what revealed to you that your actions were sin. The new heart that we’re given upon salvation is a heart that seeks to please our Savior, yet our flesh has not yet been transformed. As a result, you are going to do things that you know are wrong, that you even hate, yet in your weakness you will do things which displease God.

It’s the struggle of the follower of Christ. Before salvation you didn’t give a second thought to what you did, you lived to please yourself and if it felt good, you were good with doing it. This is not so for the believer, now you feel miserable when you sin, and that is great, it’s Holy Spirit convicting you. The appropriate response is to repent and move on. However, when a believer doesn’t fully understand the sanctification process, it can be easy to fall into a trap of shame and self-pity, or even a legalism that forces them to live to a standard they cannot keep. This is what keeps so many believers miserable and unable to overcome their stumbling. It’s exactly where Satan wants the believer, because it renders you ineffective for God.

Commentary

Paul expresses what every born-again believer should also experience, that we have a true desire to please God, deep within our inner being. This is what separates us from the unbeliever and apostate. For them, there is no desire to please God, only their flesh. For us, there is a burning desire to live our lives better each day, for God’s glory.

Understand that the sin you do is a result of the sin nature of your flesh. This does not give you and me a hall pass to just sin it up and constantly cater to our flesh, but rather it releases us from the struggle of unattainable perfection or legalism in our walk with Christ. In our own power, we simply cannot avoid sin.

Paul offers more great godly wisdom in verse 21, stating that whenever he wanted to do good, evil was present with him. This holds true for you and me as well. The Law — displaying what sin is to us — our corrupt flesh turns into a call to action to do such things. Think of a child whose mother tells him not to do something, what does that child do, he does exactly what he was told not to do. This is evil that permeates our flesh and this world.

Commentary

This law in our body parts is sin. It’s the desires which lead a person to use the parts God has given them for intimacy in marriage, to commit adultery, their hands and feet to commit violence, their tongues to tear down another person, and so on.

I will tell you that we do ourselves no favors when we immerse ourselves in too much godless entertainment or place ourselves in situations where God is not being glorified by those around us.

Each of us is at war with ourselves. We have two options available to us as temptation sets its traps. We can take our thoughts captive in Christ and turn to Him for the strength to overcome, or we can carelessly go about and succumb to the sin that our flesh so desires.

You can’t be perfect, but you certainly don’t want to get caught up in regular sin. It will make for a miserable life, one that is a poor witness for Jesus. And it will stifle your fellowship with God.

Commentary

Contrast these verses with the ways of the apostate, found in 2 Peter, chapter 2.

What’s key is that you and I understand that we are wretched, that we need Jesus. If you don’t love your sin, you won’t be ruled by that sin. Because Jesus has freed us from the slavery of sin. You don’t need to let it keep ruling over your life any longer.

Understand that because our flesh is still corrupt, this is why it must be shed at death and transformed at the resurrection. As Scripture tells us, corruption cannot inherit incorruption (1 Corinthians 15:50). This process of sanctification that the Lord is working in your life is for your soul and spirit. At resurrection, the body will be transformed to complete your total sanctification in Christ.

Until death or the rapture, whichever comes first for you, know that the more you turn it all over to Jesus, the more you will live for Him, the less you will sin, and the more you will glorify God. This requires an effort to decide to follow Christ as a disciple. This isn’t related to your faith for salvation; this is the decision each day to pick up your cross, which is the denial of your flesh in obedience to Jesus.