2 Laws, 4 Egos

We are talking about the Law and sin. REPEAT AFTER ME: The law is holy. I am a sinner. Let’s close in prayer!

This morning we come to one of the most challenging passages for me so far.

Romans 7:14–25 CSB

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. ²¹ So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. ²² For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, ²³ but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

FOR WE KNOW… (because we know) This points back to the previous verse:

Romans 7:13 CSB

¹³ Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not! But, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.

Sin, through the law, produced death in me so that “sin might become sinful beyond measure”.  How is that possible? What does Paul mean by that?

ὑπερβολή‌  hyperbolē · extraordinary degree (the state of having extremely (even superlatively) more than is necessary.) That is the word used for “beyond measure”.

Any of you familiar with hyperbole? Jesus used it! “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man of enter the kingdom of God.” or “You strain out a gnat, but gulp down a camel!”.

Paul is exaggerating Sin and he is also going to personify sin. SIN, which are actions and intentions, are going to take on the form a person.

I suppose we can look at what this passage says about our relationship to sin:

Our Relationship to Sin

1. I am sold into slavery to sin

Romans 7:14 CSB

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin.

FOR WE KNOW this:

• Law IS SPIRITUAL
• Mankind IS FLESH

AND I have been SOLD as a slave to sin. THIS is a crazy phrase! We were sold out! Sold to sin. Sin purchased us and is now our master.

I know we have talked a lot about being under the influence of sin, sin being a master and all of that. But this is the only time we have been told that we have been SOLD as a slave to sin – like Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers. This, we learned was because of Adam.

2. Sin lives inside of me

Romans 7:17 CSB

¹⁷ So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.

Paul connects our sinfulness to our flesh. We cannot get rid of it. It is part of us, it lives inside of us.

3. Sin makes me do bad things

Romans 7:20 CSB

²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me.

All throughout this section Paul talks as if he is under the influence of sin. Almost the same  way that someone can be under the influence of alcohol or some kind of drug. It seems like he is not even taking ownership of his actions – “It was the sin! I couldn’t help it!”

Sin is an addiction to many. And the sinful nature inside of us can seem to make us do things that we do not want to do.

4. I am a prisoner of sin’s law.

Romans 7:23 CSB

²³ but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.

In chapter 7, the word “law” or νόμος (nomos) is used 23 times!

We mentioned that the law reflects the lawgiver. God’s Law, the Torah, being good, just, and holy – the law is sin is just the opposite: unholy, unjust, and evil/bad.

We are taken captive, prisoners of the law of sin. That means we are under its influence and it directs how we live.

So to summarize our relationship with sin:

• 14 – Sold as a slave to sin
• 17 – Sin lives in me
• 20 – Sin makes me do the things that are wrong
• 23 – I am a prisoner of the law of sin

Are you OK with that summary? Do you feel conflicted right now? Why? This passage seems to contradict some of the things Paul JUST SAID about the law and about sin, right?

The 4 egos

In this passage, we also have the repeated word, “i” ἐγώ (ego). If Paul said, “you” or “they” we might feel better about this passage. This is Paul.  Paul is referring to himself, but the more you study the passage, the more you ask yourself, “is he?”. There are at least four major schools on who this ego is. My hope is to give you a quick summary of the hours of reading and study done on this passage.

1. Paul Pre-Salvation

There are some scholars that believe this passage is talking about Paul PRE SALVATION. Why? In this passage, Paul says that he is “sold as a slave to sin”.

Romans 7:14 CSB

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin.

But just a short while ago in this letter, Paul said that Christians are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6:20-22) we are now FREE from the bondage of sin because of Christ.

Romans 6:6–7 CSB

⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, ⁷ since a person who has died is freed from sin.

So, if Paul starts by saying he is “sold as a slave to sin” he must be referring to his life before following Jesus. This is just one of many arguments that are valid and help uphold this interpretation.

IF this is the view that you take, it is a reminder that apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit we cannot do the things that please God, even if we want to. Why? Because it is impossible to please god without faith, and faith means acceptance and a life of surrender -> we become enslaved to God.

2. Paul Present Tense

Some scholars believe this passage is talking about Paul in the present tense, as a believer. Why?

First, all of the language of this passage is written in the present tense- the things I do not want to do… Paul could have said, “the things I DID NOT” but he did not 😁 He said, “the things I DO NOT want to do, I do”. It is present tense that even implies a possible future condition as well.

Second, because Paul said:

Romans 7:22 “22 For in my inner self I delight in God’s law,”

And that is not something that can be true unless someone has the Spirit of God in them.

These, and many others, are very good arguments for those that take the view of this being Paul in the present tense. Yes. it seems to contradict the first view! And yet both have valid arguments.

If this is the view you take, it is a reminder that just because the punishment for our sins was removed, the struggle with sin is not! As a matter of fact, the temptation to sin increases because the enemy wants to see us discredited or destroyed.

3. Jews who Follow the Torah

Some scholars things this passage is talking specifically about Jews, or Roman proselytes who follow the law. Paul is speaking of the Jewish condition and including himself as a representative.

That seems to make sense because the chapter started with :

Romans 7:1 CSB

¹ Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and sisters, don’t you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives?

Notice that they are still “brothers and sisters” so this struggle would relate to them if that is the case.  Since the real issue is that the law cannot save, then this view makes a lot of sense.

In 7:1 the law rules over or is a master. In 7:14 sin rules over and is a master. Paul is connecting the law to sin and this telling his Jewish brothers and sisters that while they think they are serving God through the Law, that which is good produces all kinds of evil, and in the end it leads me to follow the law of sin.

The constant reference to the LAW, and the introduction of a new law is key for the Jews. Paul will introduce a third law in chapter 8. If this passage is speaking to those “under the law”, then it applies to the entire nation of Israel as well.

If this is the view you take, this is a reminder that legalism and determination alone do not satisfy God’ requirements. It is not that we cannot do enough good to be accepted by God, it is that we cannot do any good apart from God.

4. All of Mankind via Adam

A fourth group believes that the ego here is talking about the condition of all mankind from the time of Adam onward. This view comes from Chapter 5 as well as something Paul said in 7:9

Romans 7:9 “9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again”

And no one has been free apart from the Law except Adam in the garden before he sinned.

Also, the constant reference to good and evil:

Romans 7:19 CSB

¹⁹ For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.

This takes us back to the conversation God had with Adam.  Adam was told not to eat from the tree:

Genesis 2:16–17 CSB

¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”

And the temptation that the serpent gave them was:

Genesis 3:4–5 CSB

⁴ “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

And the overtones of good and evil and the death that comes from knowing – from the law revealing, is certainly echoing back to the very beginning of mankind.

If you choose to take this interpretation, you are reminded that the struggle of the mind and body, of what we know and what we do, is as old as time itself. No one escapes it. We are born with it from Adam.

The 4 egos:

• Adam – w are all born sinful
• Jews – the law cannot save us
• Paul (pre) – unable to please God
• Paul (present) – struggle with sin

Do any of these sound familiar, like you have heard them before? Only the last 6 months! lol.

All four of these themes are brought out in chapters 2-6 and NO ONE of them completely satisfies all that is in these verses. Perhaps that is on purpose? No matter which of those scenarios you choose, there will be a part of these verses that doesn’t quite fit.

As a matter of fact, if someone approaches this passage and says they KNOW without a shadow of a doubt who the “I” is in these verses, you can tell them they have a very big ego problem!

Perhaps we are meant to reflect on how following the law and commandments will never be enough; that the struggle with sin will continue until we shed this skin.

The Struggle is Real

I think the reality is that whether you are talking about the Jew and the Torah, the person who is following Christ and the person who is in rebellion to God, we ALL have a sin problem. That struggle to live for God and do the things he wants us to do is something we will be working at until we shed these bodies.

Romans 7:15–20 CSB

¹⁵ For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me.

I DO NOT practice what I want to do                                             I DO what I hate

The DESIRE to go what is good is in my                                       The ABILITY is not in me

I DO NOT do the good I want                                                           I PRACTICE the evil I do not want to do

– NOTHING Good lives in me.
– SIN lives in me.

While we want to say, “The devil made me do it” – I cannot find a scriptural precedent for that as a Christian. According to Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, it is NOT an EXTERNAL force that makes me do evil, it is in INTERNAL force.

• I am of the flesh (14)
• Sin lives in me (17)
• Nothing good lives in me (18)
• sin lives in me (20)
• evil is present with me (21)

Paul shares a rather hopeless situation.

The things I want to do I don’t do. The things I don’t want to do, those things I do.  Does that sound like a familiar struggle for you?

• this is why we have New Years resolutions, accountability partners, etc. I want to eat less and exercise more, but instead I do what? [eat more an exercise less]

Paul is not talking about something as trivial as food or these bodies that will someday become a worm buffet. He is talking about the law.

I WANT to do the things that honor God, but I don’t.

• I want to be patient… but I have important things to get done!
• I want to loving… but that person just gets under my skin (there is that flesh again!)
• I want to be kind… but if you know what she did to me!
• I want to be generous…
• I want to be joyful…
• I want to be gentle with my spouse and kids…

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

I WANT to do these things but I don’t. It seems like the more I try to live for God the more I am reminded of my sinfulness.

There are sins of ignorance: “I didn’t know it was wrong”

There are sins of omission: “I didn’t lie, I just didn’t offer all the truth” [This is like Abraham claiming that Sarah was his sister]

Then there are sins of disobedience or rebellion. This is when we actively choose to rebel or to do something wrong knowing that it’s wrong so there’s no excuse that we were acting out of ignorance and it isn’t that we are just admitting certain things or skirting or pushing limits this is flat out rebellion.

Think about work. If someone at work does something that is wrong, but you find out they didn’t know it was wrong, they might have a verbal warning, but there tends to not be too many repercussions. Now, if your boss asks you for the report you were supposed to have done and printed and you said, “the printer was down today”, which was true, but you also did not get the report done – then you may still get in trouble for that. But if your boss asks you for the report and you lie and say you didn’t remember being assigned a report, and then you say “and the report was a stupid idea anyway” you are probably looking for another job.

Sin becomes sinful beyond measure when it seems to multiply in intensity and when you know the right thing to do and you don’t do it that seems to be like sin on steroids! (hyperbole)

I know what’s right. I know what’s wrong. I want to do what’s right but I do what’s wrong and it makes me mad. The things that no I should do I don’t do, The things that I know I shouldn’t do I do anyway.

Paul’s conclusion?

Romans 7:24 CSB

²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

I’m a wretched man to the extent that sin is exceedingly sinful in me. My life can be exceedingly sinfullnessie.

How do we fix the problem with sin?

Paul asks that question in verse 24:

Romans 7:24–25 CSB

Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

WHO will rescue me.

1. I need rescuing
2. I cannot rescue myself
3. Who is ABLE to rescue sinners from sin and death?

Romans 7:24–25 CSB

Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

God rescues us through Jesus.

The good news is that we have been redeemed or bought back by Jesus.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 CSB

¹⁹ Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.

That is what “redeemed” means, to be bought back. We WERE sold but thanks be to God we have been bought back by God. The price to redeem us from our cruel master was the cruel death of the Messiah.

The first Adam, the Adam that was born of flesh sold you out. The last Adam, the Adam born of the Spirit has purchased you back (check out 1 Cor 15)

NOW, through Jesus I have the ABILITY to live a holy life. I have the ability to overcome sin. But that is a daily, every moment conscious decision. A battle. And Paul shows us that battle:

Romans 7:25 CSB

 ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

WE have here 2 laws spelled out: The Law of God and the Law of sin.

Notice that the sin is attached to our flesh. The Law of God is attached to our MIN.

Romans 7:25 CSB

²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

νοῦς (nous). n. masc. mind, understanding. Signifies the faculty of thinking and the results thereof; may reflect an attitude. The noun appears in the NT mainly in the letters of Paul. It is a key term for describing the faculty of thinking, thought processing, and understanding (Rom 7:23; 1 Cor 14:14; Rev 13:18; 17:9).

I get it in my head. I KNOW what I want to do. I KNOW what pleases God. I KNOW, I UNDERSTAND and I even DESIRE to live for God. Unfortunately, I also KNOW that I am not fully capable of doing this. I fail. I sin.

I guess I just can’t help it, right? I am bound to this body of sin, so I guess I am just stuck being a rotten old sinner and doing the things that I don’t want to do, right?

If I were to answer in Paul’s words I would say, “Absolutely Not!” Paul is NOT saying that we cannot help it!

Paul has said that we are to:

Romans 6:11–13 CSB

¹¹ So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. ¹³ And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness.

The word “consider” is to reckon, to count, to consider. It is a MIND thing. Notice Paul said what we ought NOT to do and then what we OUGHT to do.

Have you even been on a car ride and had to go to the bathroom, but there were none nearby? How did you survive? Did you think and talk about having to go to the bathroom? OR, did you try to think of something else? Yeah, you try to get your mind off it.

Paul says we are not to focus on sin. Instead we are to focus on what it means to be holy. In his other writings, he says to “set our affections on things that are above”. He says to “think about the things that are pure and honorable and just”. Our focus can’t just be on thinking about not sinning , the focus must also be on how we can live holy lives if we are going to “be holy as God is holy”.

We are to consider ourselves dead to sin though that is not a reality we will experience until we shed these bodies. But each day we make a choice – we choose to be dead to sin.

Because we are not finished with sin in this life , we see the effects of in the lives of people around us as well as ourselves . And because it is battle we must wage every day and every moment , it’s possible for people who have lived good lives to make bad decisions and to choose to give in to sin even if they have represented Christ well for years and years .

FRIENDS – we are not hopeless. We are not helpless. Sin does NOT have dominion over us. So this battle that Paul is talking about is one that we can win. We MUST win. We must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive for God through Jesus.

I am sure that if we took time to go around the room and share the sins we struggle with, we would be here until midnight. Today, consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God. Tomorrow, consider yourself dead to sin and alive for God. Focus on the life you have in Christ and how you can honor him.

Let me leave you with this summary from Paul’s letter to the church on Colosse:

Colossians 3:1–10 NIV

¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. ⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷ You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.