From the ministry archive
Romans Chapter 7 (The Truth)
I've been hearing people trying to use Romans ch. 7 for over thirty years now, as an excuse for sin remaining in their lives. So I would just like to set the record straight, as to exactly what the apostle Paul was getting across in this vastly misunderstood chapter in the Bible. It's like Rom. 10:9,10, or any other passasge of scripture for that matter; it must be read in context in order to see the point that is being made. As with all of the gentile congregations that Paul established in Christ, his greatest challenge was to keep these gentile believers from being brought under subjection to the ceremonial ordinances of the law by errant Jews in the body of Christ, who were posing themselves to be apostles (Acts 15:1,2; Gal. 1:6,7; II Cor. 11:13,22,23). So the point he was making to the believers in Rome was the same point he made to those in Colosse: "And ye are COMPLETE IN HIM, which is the head of all principality and power:... Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a SHADOW of things to come; but the body [the substance, or fulfillment] is of Christ" (Col. 2:10,16,17). So gentiles who were never under the law to begin with, had no need to go back to something that just symbolized and led the way to Jesus. And it wasn't just a matter of these gentile congregations not NEEDING to be under the law; but the fact is that Paul made it clear that if they could be persuaded that they DID need to be under the ceremonies of the law, that it would nullify the effect of the Spirit in their lives, and bring them to a state of being "fallen from grace" (Gal. 5:4). So this was a very serious issue to a man who understood these grave spiritual matters, and did his all to get that same understanding into those who had been baptized [by the Spirit] into Christ through his ministry (Rom. 6:3,4; Gal. 3:27; I Cor. 12:13). He knew that to give godly respect to things that Jesus died and rose to fulfiill by means of his Spirit, was in fact to take honor AWAY from Jesus, and all that he suffered (Gal. 2:21). So in most of his writings, the focal point was demonstrating the superiority of being IN CHRIST, over the state of being under the law. So WHAT IS the superiority of being IN CHRIST, as opposed to being under the law? Just one thing actually, but it's a REALLY BIG THING!! "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh [the law]: HOW MUCH MORE shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge [purify] your conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb. 9:13,14)? Now let's clarify the meaning of that passage a little bit: "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb. 10:4). And again: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein" (Rom. 6:1,2)? So Paul has made it clear that we are NOT to retain sin in our lives, but rather that [we] are dead to sin. The question here is, WHO is the [we], and HOW do [we] GET dead to sin? Well, let's allow the great apostle to continue his discussion: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were BAPTIZED INTO Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in NEWNESS of life" (Rom. 6:3,4). Sound familiar? Well, it should because the same apostle wrote the following also: "Therefore if any man be IN CHRIST, he is a NEW creature: OLD THINGS are passed away; behold, all things are become NEW" (II Cor. 5:17). So it is evident that the baptism that puts us INTO CHIRST is the new birth experience, which also gives us power to put the sinful nature [the OLD man] to death, and to "put on the NEW man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him (Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:10). And what is the baptism that accomplishes these all important things? "For BY ONE SPIRIT are we all baptized into one body [of Christ]..." (I Cor. 12:13). Of course it is the holy Ghost baptism, because it is that baptism that Jesus said would give us power (Acts 1:8). And what is that power needed for? To "PURGE [SIN] from our heart and conscience," so that we might "serve the living God" in this "NEW and LIVING way" (Heb. 9:14; Heb. 10:20).
So back to Romans 7. The context of the chapter is that Paul is explaining the condition of someone, in this case himself, as he was WHEN he was UNDER THE LAW. He begins to definitively speak of his own spiritual condition WHEN HE WAS UNDER THE LAW in verse 9: "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." The remainder of the chapter continues in that vein of thought, with the apostle explaining the impossibility of being truly holy [literally free from sin] in the sight of God by means of living under the old covenant, BECAUSE of the lack of power to overcome the sinful nature (Rom. 7:23). And when you look at and honestly acknowledge the rightful context of the chapter, it is very plain that this is what is going on. It does appear that he is speaking in the present tense, but only as if he were under the law, which obviously he was not at the time of the writing. Somehow it is drastically overlooked that he plainly stated that "Jesus Christ our Lord" had "DELIVERED [him] from the body of this death" [the sinful condition and nature] (Rom. 7:24,25). It is also drastically overlooked that the original scripture text was NOT segmented into chapters and verses, but rather was written as a letter. What this means is that the explanation of these things in chapter 7 continued into chapter 8, where he confirms the true deliverance from the nature of sin itself, by means of being IN CHRIST: "There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION [because there's no sin] to them which are IN Christ Jesus, WHO walk NOT after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law [divine nature] of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath MADE ME FREE [truly] from the law [nature - ch.7:23] of sin and death. For what the law could NOT do, in that it was WEAK through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, WHO walk NOT after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1-4). WHOOOOOOOOOOWIE!!! I hope you just caugt the power of these statements like my spirit just did! PRAISE GOD!! PRAISE GOD!!! That is correct my friend; the divine, eternal, holy LIFE of God, which is his Spirit; MAKES US FREE [LITERALLY] from the very nature and condition of sin that we were all born with!! That is why we "MUST be born again" (Jn. 3:7). Do you really believe that Jesus suffered and died, to provide a real live new birth experience for us, that would leave us in the same actual spiritual condition as those who were under the law? Oh my friend, as an old time gospel song says, "There's somebody wrong about the Bible, there's somebody wrong I say. There's somebody wrong about the Bible, and about this holy way. Well the world don't understand, God wants a holy man. There's somebody wrong about the Bible, don't you see"? No my friend, this great apostle of Christ was NOT in some monumental struggle trying to restrain himself from sinning. His monumental struggle was in trying to convince those who were in Christ that they had all they would ever need to live holy before God, simply by BEING in Christ; and that they could not be subjected to the ceremonies of the law without coming back under sin (Gal. 5:1). So why do so many today want to read Romans 7 as an excuse to retain sin in their lives? We've already seen the answer, and here it is: The fact is that the body of Christ WAS, HAS BEEN, AND IS persuaded by the false apostles and ministers from the days of Paul until now; to BE SUBJECT to the ceremonial ordinances of the law, to one degree or another; with the result being [you guessed it] that the effect [power] of Christ [the Spirit - II Cor. 3:17] has been choked out of the lives of those who are in Christ, till being literally free from sin becomes a non-reality. So in this case one has to try to find excuses in the Bible to remain in sin. But my friend, as we have seen, and as the scripture is absolute truth: "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" [from sin] (II Cor. 3:17). And in closing I would like to say that everything that has been written in every post on this site is absolute truth, as I do not meddle with anything that has not been directly revealed to me by the Spirit of God. However I can tell you that this post is special. I cannot describe the power, the authority, the tears, the rejoicing, the praise, and the worship that has come through my body, soul, and spirit, in the duration of writing this post. May God be eternally thanked and praised, literally, for allowing me to be a partaker of his word and truth; and for allowing me to be on board his train bound for glory. I do not plan to give up my seat to anyone, for any reason, at any time. I pray and trust that this is your mindset as well. Amen and God bless.
