According to Paul, the unsaved person that is under the law and delights in the law of God, desires to do the good that it requires. However, because he is not spiritual, he does not have the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower him to do the good he desires to do. He has no ability to do that good because there is a different law in his flesh that is warring against the law in his mind. The law in his flesh is bringing him into captivity under the law of sin and of death.

In Romans 7:13-24, Paul describes the experience of the unsaved person that is under the law and delights in the law of God saying, “I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin” (7:14, NIV). “The desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it” (7:18, HCSB). “The good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want” (7:19, NASB). “I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (7:23, KJV).

What a dreadful state this merely natural, unsaved person finds himself in. Eventually, in total despair, he cries out to God to be delivered from this body of death. Finally, he finds deliverance through Christ Jesus the Lord and as a born-again, spiritual man, makes the proclamation we find in the beginning of Romans chapter eight.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:1-2).

By faith in Christ, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has now set him free from the law of sin and of death. The condemnation of slavery to sin has been removed through his baptism into Christ’s death by faith in Jesus. Having been baptized, by the Spirit, into Christ’s death, the believer is now made alive unto God, by that selfsame Spirit, to walk in a new way of life.

Having become a Christian, a spiritual man, by being born again, he is no longer a slave to sin, but now is a slave to righteousness, a slave to God. He is now empowered by the Spirit to walk according to the leading of the Spirit. He is no longer enslaved to sin and forced to walk according to the flesh. He now is able to walk according to the Spirit, doing the good that God commands him to do.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4, NASB).

Now, here is the main point that I want to make concerning Romans chapter seven. Paul’s account in Romans 7:13-24 describes his experience while under the law before being saved and becoming a Christian. In this passage he says he is “unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.”

He says he desires to do good, “but there is no ability to do it.” Because he is a merely natural man, he does not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in him to set him free from bondage to sin and enable him to do the good that he wants to do.

He says he does not do the good he wants, “but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” He says the law of sin in his flesh is “warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

However, many professing Christians believe Paul is speaking in this passage about his experience after he became a Christian. They believe this because that is what they have been taught. They also believe it because it describes their own experience since becoming a Christian.

If you have not been born again, your experience as a professing Christian will be exactly as Paul describes in Romans 7:13-24. Without having been baptized into Christ’s death we cannot walk in a new way of life. Without the empowering of the indwelling Holy Spirit, you are still enslaved to sin, and you do not have the ability to live a holy life.

There are few things in life more pitiful than a person attempting to live the Christian life without the Spirit of Christ living in them, teaching them, comforting them, and empowering them to walk in obedience to God. The Spirit of Christ within the believer empowers him to live a life of obedience. The Spirit of Christ enables the believer to live a holy life, to walk as Jesus walked.

 Jesus declares, “I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6, HCSB). You must be born again. You must be born of the Spirit!

The merely natural man cannot please God. Without the Spirit of Christ in Him, the merely natural man has no ability to do the good that he wants to do. Only the spiritual man, the person that has been born again, born from above, is empowered by the indwelling Spirit of Christ to do everything that God in Christ commands him to do.

The believer that has been born of the Spirit not only is forgiven of his past sins, he is also set free, through his death with Christ, from bondage to sin. Sin no longer has dominion over him. It is only when we have come to know our death with Christ that we can experience being dead to sin and being liberated from its dominion over us. We must know our death with Christ so we may truly consider ourselves dead to sin!

There are some that teach that in Romans chapter seven, Paul is describing his own experience as a spirit filled, born-again believer. They look at the passage in Romans 7:13-24 and say, “See, I am not so bad. I have the same problem Paul did after he got saved. Paul’s Christian life was a continual struggle with sin in his flesh.”

They use this teaching to justify themselves being enslaved to sin even though they claim to be Christians. This gives them, and those that hear this teaching, a false sense of peace with God. They comfort themselves with the thought that the sinful life they are living is just like Paul’s. They have been badly deceived, not understanding the scriptures nor the power of God (Mark 12:24).

Not understanding scripture, they have failed to realize the main point that Paul is making in this whole section of Romans from the middle of chapter five through the end of chapter eight. They have failed to realize that the Son has set us free from the law of sin and of death through the Sprit of life in Christ Jesus that every true believer has been baptized into. Having been crucified with Christ through baptism into His death, the true believer has died to sin.

As genuine Christians, sin no longer has dominion over us! We have been set free from slavery to sin by the power of Christ’s resurrection through the indwelling Holy Spirit. This indwelling Holy Spirit is the power of God which is working mightily in us who have truly trusted in Christ. It is empowering us to live holy lives that are pleasing to God.

These false teachers cannot understand or even relate to the idea of being able to live a holy life, because they have never experienced the power of God enabling them to do so. They have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. They deny that this indwelling Holy Spirit has set us free and is empowering the true believer to live holy lives, because they themselves have never experienced it. It is foolishness to them. The very idea of someone being able to live a holy life is offensive to them.

It is incredibly dangerous for the merely natural man, that neither understands the scriptures nor the power of God, to be teaching anyone else about the things of God. Paul explains, “A natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). This is a perfect example of the blind leading the blind. They will both fall into the pit.

If Paul’s account in Romans 7:13-24 was a description of his life after being saved, then Paul must have been the biggest hypocrite that ever lived. If he was continually living in sin while teaching and exhorting everyone else that they must put off the old man and put on Christ, living lives worthy of the kingdom, he must have been the greatest deceiver, the greatest hypocrite of all time.

Can anyone that has read Paul’s writings believe that his life was a continual struggle with sin? Could Paul’s Christian experience have been that of a carnal believer, sold into bondage to sin (Romans 7:14)? Is it possible that Paul, being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, had no ability to do the good that he wanted to do (Romans 7:18)? Is it possible that Paul, as a Christian, practiced the evil that he hated (Romans 7:19)? If that was truly Paul’s Christian experience, then his writings are total hypocrisy.

To understand scripture properly, it is important to look at the context in which the passage you are considering appears. We have been looking at the immediate context in which chapter seven of Romans appears. We have been looking at the section of Romans from the middle of chapter five to the end of chapter eight.

Now, we need to expand our view and look at chapter seven in the context of the entire book of Romans. Is the idea that Paul was speaking in Romans 7:13-24 of his experience as a born-again, Spirit-filled believer consistent with what he wrote in the rest of the book of Romans?

Let us review some of the things that Paul wrote throughout the rest of this same book of Romans. “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle and singled out for God’s good news— which He promised long ago through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures— concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh and who has been declared to be the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness. We have received grace and apostleship through Him to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations on behalf of His name (Romans 1:1-5, HCSB).

Paul says in this passage that he is a slave of Jesus Christ. He says he has received grace to bring about obedience. He seems to understand his mission in the Spirit and that he has received everything required to complete it. “For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son” (Romans 1:9).

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). Paul clearly understands God’s displeasure with all ungodliness and unrighteousness.

“Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:28-32).

Knowing this, how could Paul live his Christian life practicing the evil that he hated? God “will pay back to everyone according to their works: to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life; but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, oppression, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 2:6-9).

“As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified” (Romans 2:12-13). These verses demonstrate God’s displeasure with the life style described in Romans 7:13-24. That life style is not acceptable for a heathen, much less for a Christian.

“Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, rest on the law, glory in God, know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. 

“You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal? You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who glory in the law, do you dishonor God by disobeying the law? For ‘the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you’” (Romans 2:17-24).

“If any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God. For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:9-15).

“If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree, don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.’ True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith.

“Don’t be conceited, but fear; for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off” (Romans 11:16-22).

We stand by faith. If we do not continue by faith in the goodness of God, we also will be cut off. Are you walking by faith, trusting in the power of God to enable you to live a holy life pleasing to Him? Are you being led by the Spirit of God? Are you walking in obedience to His leading? Is the Spirit of Christ empowering you to live a Godly life? This is what Paul continually urged the believers to do.

“Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good” (Romans 12:9).

“Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light. Let’s walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts” (Romans 13:11-14).

How do these passages match up with the idea that Paul was describing his experience as a Christian in Romans 7:13-24 where he speaks of having no ability to do the good that he wants to do, but practicing the evil that he hates? If Paul in Romans 7:13-24 is speaking of his experience as a Christian, how could he state in 2 Timothy 1:3, “I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience.”

Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians 2:9-12 how he served God with a clear conscience. “For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the Good News of God. You are witnesses with God how holy, righteously, and blamelessly we behaved ourselves toward you who believe. As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children, to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory.”

It is hard to imagine how anyone could arrive at a more twisted view of scripture than to think that Romans 7:13-24 is Paul’s description of his life as a Christian. Why would someone proclaim such an obviously false teaching? I believe one reason is that they either have never known the freedom that the genuine believer has in Christ Jesus as Lord or that they have known Him and have turned back and become entangled again in bondage to sin and are defeated.

Peter warns us, “There will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their unrestrained ways, and the way of truth will be blasphemed because of them. They will exploit you in their greed with deceptive words” (2 Peter 2:1-3).

He continues his warning, “These people are springs without water, mists driven by a whirlwind. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them. For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them. 

“For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command delivered to them” (2 Peter 2:17-19).

I believe some of these people peddle these false teachings about Romans 7 to sooth their own conscience and to lead astray as many as possible to follow them. Jude explains, “For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into indecent behavior and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

“These people are discontented grumblers, walking according to their desires; their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering people for their own advantage. But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; they told you, ‘In the end time there will be scoffers walking according to their own ungodly desires.’ These people create divisions and are merely natural, not having the Spirit” (Jude 1:4,16-19).

However, there may be some that teach these lies out of ignorance, never having been taught by the Spirit, but only taught by men, who were taught by men, who were taught by men. They may have believed what they heard from another false teacher and never searched the scriptures or sought the leading of the Holy Spirit for understanding.

This false teaching of Romans seven is extremely harmful to Christians and to those that profess to be Christians. These lies wink at sin. They treat sin as though it is not serious. They even treat sin as the expected, constant, everyday experience of the Christian.

Do you have the Spirit of Christ? Have you been enabled by the Spirit of Christ to live in obedience to the leading of the indwelling Holy Spirit? What fruit is being produced in your life. The scriptures tell us that we can know a tree by the fruit it bears. Does your claim to be a Christian agree with the fruit that is being produced in your life?

This false teaching regarding Paul’s testimony in Romans 7:13-24 robs the professing Christian of the realization that they need to be born of the Spirit. It prevents them from realizing that they need the Holy Spirit to come and live in them and empower them to live godly, holy lives. It robs them of the understanding presented throughout the Bible that God expects His people to live holy lives. It also robs them of the understanding that God will severely punish those that do not.

When we are living in sin God is not pleased with us. When we sin, we must immediately repent as soon as we become aware of the sin, and humbly turn back to God. We, as Christians, should never accept any excuse for sin in our lives. We have been given, in the indwelling Holy Spirit, everything required for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). We are without excuse!

If you have spread false teachings, do not despair. You can purify yourself by repenting, turning away from the false teachings and turning back to God and to the truth as it is in Jesus.

Paul writes to us in 2 Timothy 2:14-26, telling us about false teachers who had deviated from the truth, whose word spread like a gangrene overturning the faith of some. He says if anyone purifies himself from these false teachings, he will be a special instrument, set apart and prepared for every good work. He tells us to instruct our “opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance to know the truth. Then they may come to their senses and escape the Devil’s trap, having been captured by him to do his will.”

It is my prayer that those that read this brief message will purify themselves from these false teachings and escape the Devil’s trap by returning to the truth and living according to it. “The Lord knows those who are His, and everyone who names the name of the Lord must turn away from unrighteousness” (2 Timothy 2:19).

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth 
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light  -  Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.