"PAUL THE BELIEVER TESTIFIES OF THE BATTLE THAT CHARACTERISES EVERY CHRISTIAN."

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 92:2,3
Psalm 14:2,5
Psalm 119:13,14,15
Psalm 19:3,4,5,6
Hymn 54:4,5

Beloved Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Two weeks ago I asked you who your boss was; was Christ your king, or sin? I asked that question on the basis of the apostle’s word in Rom 6:12: "do not let sin reign in your mortal body." We weren’t, we learnt, to let sin be our boss any more because –as we learned from the rest of the chapter- we have by faith been united with Christ so that we died with Him to sin, and rose with to newness of life. We also appreciated the encouragement contained in the promise of 6:14: "sin shall not have dominion over you."

That was two weeks ago. In the days that passed since then, have you, my brothers and sisters, been successful in not letting sin be boss in your lives? Or, to ask the question a bit differently, have you managed in the last couple of weeks, to fall into less sin than previously?? For surely, that should be the conclusion of it all, isn’t it: we’re not to let sin be boss in our lives because sin won’t have dominion over us anyway, so we should make some progress in being rid of sin….

Have you been successful in rejecting the commands dictated by that king called Sin? I’m sure, beloved, that we’re all disappointed on this point. Really manage to sin less in the last couple of weeks?? No, we haven’t…. And that in turn gets us down; does the persistent presence of sin in our lives not prove that we aren’t really united with Christ after all, haven’t really died to sin, don’t really belong to God??

The harsh reality of sin in the lives of believers: that, my brothers and sisters, is the topic Paul himself next tackles. That’s the material of chapter 7: sin is very much a real thing even in the life of one for whom Christ has died, yes, is a real thing even in the life of one who has himself died to sin with Christ. So, my beloved, let no one be surprised or depressed on account of sin in one’s life. At the same time, the presence of sin, says Paul, bothers the redeemed child of God and compels him to look forward eagerly to the day when the elect of God will be glorified fully.

I summarise the sermon with this theme:

PAUL THE BELIEVER TESTIFIES OF THE BATTLE THAT CHARACTERISES EVERY CHRISTIAN.

In drawing out this theme, I ask your attention for three questions:

1. of whom does Paul speak?
2. what does Paul say?
3. why does Paul say it?

1 Of whom does Paul speak? The answer appears clear enough, for Paul says, "So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." That’s who Paul speaks about: himself.

Truth be told, this conclusion strikes us as odd. How can Paul serve both the law of God and the law of sin at the same time?? If Paul indeed has died to sin with Christ (and that’s what Paul said of himself in Rom 6), is it then still really possible for him to serve the law of sin with the flesh?

So it is, congregation, that some readers of our chapter insist that here Paul is not describing his experiences as a Christian, but he’s describing his experiences before he became a Christian. Before he was born again: that’s when Paul was "carnal, sold under sin" (to say it in the words of vs 14), and that’s when he could not obey the law of God like he’d prefer to. But ever since his conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul is no longer "carnal", is no longer "sold under sin." For his conversion means he’s a new man, a man so new that he can indeed do what God wants him to do…. On this understanding, Paul the Christian, Paul the-one-died-with-Christ-and-rose-with-Him is looking back into the hazy past in order to tell the saints of Rome of the frustrating struggle of the unregenerate person to fight against sin….

Is that correct, though? Of whom is Paul speaking here? Himself as a Christian, or himself before he became a Christian? To put the question differently: is Paul speaking here about people like you and me, persons who have died with Christ and been raised with Him to a new life – to use the terminology of Rom 6? Or is Paul speaking about unbelievers – be it persons who have never heard the gospel or persons who have heard it but not believed it?

As it turns out, brothers and sisters, Paul is not writing about the struggles of the unregenerate person; in the passage before us the apostle is moved by the Holy Spirit to relate normal, Christian experience. Why I say that?

• Look with me in vs 14. There the apostle writes: "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin." If we were simply to read the last part of the verse, we’d indeed conclude that Paul speaks about an unconverted person, a person who has not died with Christ, has not been raised with him, a person still in bondage to sin. For Paul says, "I am carnal, sold under sin." But consider this, congregation: will a person dead in sin confess that he’s a slave to sin, so Satan? Is not the very fact that Paul acknowledges that he’s "sold under sin" evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work in him??
• In the first part of the verse Paul says, "We know that the law is spiritual." We know it, Paul says. That’s Paul himself and the saints of Rome; these people know that "the law is spiritual." And what does Paul mean when he says that "the law is spiritual"? This: the law is used by the Holy Spirit, the law is a tool in the hands of the Spirit. But now consider: does a person still dead in sin know that the law of God has a ‘spiritual’ function? Does a cold unbeliever place a connection between the law and the Spirit?! Surely not.
• Look also in vs 22. Paul writes there of himself that he "delights in the law of God." Now, is there any way in which an unbeliever, an unregenerate person, one who has not died with Christ and been raised with Him to new life, can "delight in the law of God"? Does that not conflict radically with what Paul wrote concerning the human race in chap 3: "There is none who seeks after God" and "There is no fear of God before their eyes"? No, beloved, the fact that Paul says in vs 22 that he "delights in the law of God" drives us to conclude that the person of these verses is in fact a Christian talking about his experiences as a Christian.
• Then there’s vss 24 & 25. In vs 24 Paul cries out his frustration: "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death." It might be so that an unbeliever will call himself "wretched" and long to be delivered from "this body of death." But an unbeliever, a person still dead in sin and raised with Christ to new life, will definitely not burst out into a song extolling Jesus Christ as the deliverer from his misery; that’s again Rom 3 about the fallen human race: "There is none who seeks after God" (vs 11). But Paul does extol Jesus Christ as the only deliverer: "I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!" This statement too goes to show that in this section of Romans Paul is not speaking about himself before he became a believer; no, Paul is speaking about his experiences as a Christian.
• Finally, look at our text itself. "I myself," says Paul, "serve the law of God with the mind, but with the flesh I serve the law of sin." Notice that the apostle writes it as an ongoing reality: he serves-and-continues-to-serve both the law of God and the law of sin. If Paul were in fact speaking about his own struggles while still an unbeliever, he would have had to use the past tense when he speaks about serving the law of sin. But he doesn’t.

Altogether, then, congregation, the evidence piles up that Paul is writing about his own ongoing experiences as a Christian, as a person who died to sin with Christ and arose with Christ to a new life. And inasmuch as Paul is no different than the average believer, the apostle describes here the reality of each Christian’s life. The struggle recorded in the last part of Rom 7 is normal experience for all Christians. This is something the fathers understood over the generations, and that is why Rom 7 appears in the proof texts mentioned in the Catechism under those LD’s that deal with the continuing struggle of the Christian to do what is right before God. I think of LD 44: "in this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of [the] obedience [God requires]," but at the same time these holiest "do begin to live not only according to some but to all the commandments of God." And LD 23: the person righteous before God by faith is "still inclined to all evil."

That brings us to our second point: what does Paul say in our text? What’s this struggle of the Christian all about?

2 In his concluding summary, Paul answers the question like this: "so then, with my mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."

Two laws, then, exist within the one person Paul. There is within him a force described as ‘the law of God’, and there’s a second force described as ‘the law of sin’. Paul serves them both, be it the one with the mind and the other with the flesh. The big question now is: how can there be two ‘laws’ within Paul? In fact, what are we to understand by these ‘laws’?

We know: behind a law is a law-giver, a king; without a king, without a boss, there is no law, no command. When Paul speaks here about the ‘law of God’ he is acknowledging God as a King, boss. The law of this King is, of course the Ten Commandments and, by extension, all the instructions this King has given in relation to these commandments. Complete obedience to this law of God the King has, however, never been possible for fallen man, and that is why all the world was guilty before God (cf Rom 3:19). That in turn is why God the King came with His good news of grace in Jesus Christ; He sent His Son to obey the law for sinners, and the result is that the ungodly are righteous before God, righteous despite the fact that they have sinned against all the commands of His law. These righteous are considered by God to have died to sin with Christ and to be raised to a new life, a life no longer in slavery to sin. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no law left in their lives, as if they can do whatever they now like. No, God in Christ remains King, and so His laws remain valid. Those who would acknowledge God as King (and all for whom Christ died do) desire to live according to God’s law.

But besides this first law there remains a second law, the law of sin. That is: besides the first King –God in Christ- there remains a second king: Sin. And this king called sin gives instructions, commands, laws. That’s ‘the law of sin’ mentioned in our text. The ‘law of sin’ is sin’s insistence that I do evil, that I disobey God. Sin, you recall from two weeks ago, was king in the lives of all men after the fall into sin. Then Yes, this king called Sin was defeated on the cross of Calvary; Christ Jesus has triumphed over the evil one so that Sin is boss no longer in the hearts and lives of the redeemed. But –and this is something we very much need to bear in mind as we seek to understand our chapter- Jesus Christ has not swept sin of the earth yet; it’s not until Christ comes back that Satan will be cast into the bottomless pit. Meanwhile, the devil resists Christ’s lordship and does what he can to prompt disobedience to the King of kings, to prompt obedience to himself.

Now Paul says in our text that he serves "with the flesh the law of sin." This cannot be surprising, congregation, simply because this tragic reality characterises all people after the fall into sin. What is surprising is that Paul claims that "with the mind I myself serve the law of God." We need to notice: this is not normal for fallen man; no fallen man "with the mind … serves the law of God." That Paul does serve "the law of God" reflects the renewing work of God the Holy Spirit in Paul. In fact, this is the material of which we spoke last time, the material of chap 6. Because Paul accepts what God says about redemption in Jesus Christ, God has blessed Paul –how?- by joining him to Christ so that Paul is considered to have died with Christ and been raised with Him. He is alive to God, and that in turn means that sin is not his boss any more; his boss is the Lord his God. That is why he says in our text: "with the mind I myself serve the law of God." In a word: Paul has gone through a transformation. That transformation is known to us as conversion or regeneration or recreation or being born again – terms that in essence all mean the same thing.

But now the striking thing is: Paul does not say that, as a result of his transformation, he serves only the law of God and not the law of sin any more! No, he says that he serves both. That’s what the text says: "So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."

That we are in fact understanding the apostle correctly is demonstrated by what he’s written in the preceding verses. Look at vs 22f:

"I delight," he says, "I delight in the law of God." But Paul qualifies that statement, for the delight is, he says, not in every aspect of his being. He adds, "I delight in the law of God according to the inward man." This "inward man" (as our translation has it) is a reference to Paul himself as he really is, the regenerated, renewed self – Paul, after all, has died to sin and been raised with Christ to new life. His real self wants to obey that law of God, carry out what God in His law requires. That is also why Paul can speak in vs 15 about "what I will to do," and in vs 19 of "the good that I will to do" (also vs 21). That’s also why in vs 15 Paul can speak about sin as "what I hate" and in vs 19 as "the evil I will not to do." Paul is governed by the "law of God"; that’s his boss, and he delights in obeying that boss.

But, the inspired apostle continues, there is more to say about Paul than that he is regenerated, has died to sin and been raised to new life with Christ. For the change that Jesus Christ has worked in Paul through His Holy Spirit is not so radical that it sets Paul above every temptation to sin, above every inclination to sin. It’s not until Christ’s return in glory that regeneration becomes glorification. Meanwhile, the weakness of the flesh remains; no child of God measures up to the standard of God, no child of God has it in him to resist and reject any all prompting of the old king to listen to his ‘law of sin’. That’s why Paul says in vs 14: "I am carnal, sold under sin."

How does Paul know that he is "carnal, sold under sin"? He knows he’s still so prone to see because he sees in his life disobedience to the God has given His law. That law says, for example, that Paul is not to covet, is not to desire what God has not given him. But see: there is in each person "all manner of evil desire" (cf vs 7f). One can fight the desires, can try to prevent these desires from arising, but the harsh reality is that these desires are there, are real. And the fact that the law says not to covet simply drives home the reality of my depravity, for time and time and time again, no matter how hard I try, evil desires rise up in my mind.

That’s what Paul means with the word "carnal". He’s flesh, he’s sinful, he’s weak; he just hasn’t the where-with-all to prevent evil desires from arising in his mind, hasn’t the where-with-all to say No to every prompting of the old king called Sin. He can will what is right (think no evil of anyone, never have a covetous thought cross his mind), but he can’t do what is right; try though he will, evil thoughts and evil desires arise in his mind, and eventually evil words come out of his mouth and his hands do evil things…. So: "sold under sin."

It’s this reality that Paul sees in himself –he’s "sold under sin"- that leads Paul to state in vs 17 (and again in vs 19) that "sin…dwells in me." The result is: Paul can will what is right, but he can’t do what is right. Vs 15: "what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do." And vs 19: "the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice." That’s what leads to Paul’s frustrated cry in vs 24: "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Sin: it continues to have such an influence in Paul’s life….

How, beloved, are we to understand this: on the one hand Paul serves the law of sin, on the other hand he serves the law of God? Are we to think in terms of: for so many hours he does God’s will, and then somehow he collapses and does Satan’s will – until such time as he is "in Christ" again and then he does God’s will again? Are we to understand that –supposing we had a very sharp eye- we could pick out when Paul is subject to the law of God and when he drops out of obedience to God’s law in order to serve the old king for a while?

It’s true, beloved: we tend to think in terms of serving God, but once in a while falling out of obedience to God in order to serve ‘the law of sin’ for a while. And so we consider it normal that a Christian has a ‘fling’ with sin, he’s ‘gone off the rails’ for a while, but once he’s back "in Christ", once he clings to Christ again he once more lives in obedience. But we need to realise that Paul is not thinking here in terms of sequences of time, as if one serves the King of kings for a while and so obeys the ‘law of God’ and then for a while serves the old king, obeys the ‘law of sin’ – until such time as you come back on track. Let it be clear in our minds: this kind of temporary obedience to the ‘law of sin’ –as in: I’ve earned my Friday night out, and so I’ll do what I will for a while, and come back and serve God after I wake up on Saturday again- is simply foreign to the thinking of those who have died with Christ to sin. In no way does Paul have in mind that one serves God for a certain length of time, and then letting go of Christ’s hand and so serving the law of sin for a while.

Notice our text: "with my mind," Paul says, "I serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin." The word ‘mind’ here is not a reference to one’s intellectual capacity; if it were you could indeed say that Paul serves the law God for a time and though he knows better gives himself to the law of sin. But the word ‘mind’ in the context of the passage describes the essence of one’s being, the real self. And in the Christian the real self is renewed by the Holy Spirit; Paul has died with Christ to sin, and was raised with Him to new life. That’s Paul’s point: with his real self, he serves His new King and does so wholeheartedly – and all the time. In the words of vs 22: "I delight in the law of God according to the inward man." But he can’t do the law of God as perfectly and consistently as he would like because his renewed self has not yet been made perfect; sin still dwells within him and he hasn’t the where-with-all (for he’s "flesh") to resist every onslaught of sin. Covetous desires arise, and, much as Paul would like it, he can’t prevent it. And this leads to that…, covetous desires lead to sinful thoughts, and sinful thoughts to evil words and deeds…. And before Paul knows it, he’s fallen again into a sin he despises…. Hence the frustrated cry of vs 24: "O wretched man that I am!" And hence the longing too of the same verse: "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" O to be freed from ever recurring demonstration of the weakness of the flesh to resist the evil within! O to be free from evil desires, evil thoughts, evil words, evil deeds…. Paul longs, longs for the day of Christ’s return, the day when all sin will be swept off the earth, when he’ll be perfected and be able to resist sin in its every attack. For Christ alone, Christ alone can deliver!

3 Why, my brothers and sisters, has Paul written this? What comfort is there in this passage of Paul’s letter to the Romans? Why has the Lord put this portion into the Bible He gave us?

Let it be clear, beloved: the saints of Rome were no different than we today are. Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit to remind them in chap 6 of how these saints of Rome had died with Christ, and were raised with Him too to a new life. So, 6:12, "do not let sin reign in your mortal body," and the promise of 6:14: "sin shall not have dominion over you." The saints of Rome read this letter, no doubt talked about it and heard sermons about it…, and then went back to their daily living…. And what will they have discovered? This: that sin remains such a cursed reality! Sin is king no longer, Paul had said, but the hard facts of life suggest something so different!

And now see: Paul himself admits to the same frustration! If a man who has received from God such a stature in His kingdom as Paul received, could admit to the same tug of war within oneself as the saints of Rome experience, should these Christians of Rome then still think that maybe they’re not children of God after all? Or should they envy Paul as if he had a higher level of holiness, a greater degree of sanctification than they themselves had attained? Should they conclude from their persistent sins and short-comings that they were not fully converted yet, that some Christians had ‘arrived’ but they themselves had not yet??

No, beloved, sin very much remains part of life. Let no one be surprised to find sin in himself, or in another. Dismayed, yes; Paul was too, and cried out his despair at this reality in most heart-wrenching terms: "O wretched man that I am!" But surprised he isn’t, and we shouldn’t be either. Well does the Catechism repeat the lesson of Rom 7 with these words: "In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience" (LD 44). But no saint acquiesces in that circumstance either, in the sense that ‘Hey, sin is part of life, so I can have my turn too.’ No, my beloved, the command of chap 6 remains: "sin shall not have dominion over you," and "therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body." In the words of the same LD: "Nevertheless, with earnest purpose they do begin to live not only according to some but to all the commandments of God."

Let not the presence of sin get you down, beloved. With the mind we ourselves today serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. And soon Christ returns on the clouds of heaven, "to cast all His and my enemies into everlasting condemnation" – including sin. Then, then the struggle will be over, and we shall perfectly serve the God of our salvation. Amen.