by Jacob Ninan
The Bible was not originally written in chapters and verses but in a continuous flow, and these chapter and verse numbers were added centuries later for the ease of reference. But because of these divisions, now many people miss the connection between chapters and verses and treat them as individual units. For example, when Romans 8 begins by saying, "Therefore there is now no condemnation...," we may not see the reason for the 'Therefore'! Some people have divided chapters 7 and 8 theologically also! They say that the end of chapter 7 describes Paul's life before his conversion and that chapter 8 is the description of how the life of a Spirit-filled Christian will be. Then when we see that chapter 8 is not always true in our life, we may try to pretend it is, ignore the reality and even profess that our life is a continuous march of victory!
Then we can quote Rom.8:1 and insist that since there is no condemnation for a Christian, whenever we feel condemned it must be totally an attack from the devil. We claim that we are completely free from the Law and even from sin, quoting v.2. We go to vv.3,4 to insist that God has done it all for us and now we can just enjoy the victory. Since we hold on to the proclamation that we always emerge victorious (v.37), we have no explanation for the failures we experience now and then. Then we go on to comfort ourselves by claiming that whatever happens, God will not take away His love from us (vv.38,39). The whole picture we paint in this way of a normal Christian life is rosy, without any struggles, failures, discouragement, doubts, fears or anxiety!
To manage to deal with the reality of life, we will have to attribute it to attacks from the devil, witchcraft or curses from other people, etc. Then we describe our struggles as battles to hold on to faith. We cannot admit to sins in our life and so we have to redefine them as mistakes, and defeats as setbacks, etc. Such an approach creates in our mind a great tension between the doctrine we proclaim and reality. Our doctrine does not match with the reality of our experience, but our doctrines binds us to proclaiming what is not true! After some time, our conscience becomes numb in this regard.
Chapter 7 is what provides the foundation for chapter 8, and continues to balance it. It would be dangerous to allude to chapter as Paul's experience before he became a Christian. We must notice that he uses the present tense when he describes his experience in vv.14-25. Never once does he say that this was his past experience and that now his life has become gloriously different. Let us try to understand the meaning of what he says about himself in chapter 7 before going on to chapter 8.
Paul begins by acknowledging that he was of the flesh, sold into bondage to sin (Rom.7:14). But then he makes a distinction between a part of him who wants to be pleasing to the Lord following the Law and another part of him that is leading him to sin (vv.16,17). He identifies the sinful part as his 'flesh' in which there was nothing good (v.18). It is very important for us who have been born again that there are these two parts in us too. There is a good work which God has begun in us, which is growing from a seed form towards maturity, but there is also opposition from the 'flesh' that makes us do sinful things that we don't really want to do. When Paul recognised this reality of this battle going on within himself, and found himself helpless to get rid of the flesh as he would have very much wished to do, he cried out calling himself a wretched man who seemed to have no hope (v.24).
This is the true experience of every godly man, if he looks at himself honestly. Godly men throughout the centuries have mourned this fact about themselves that however they tried in every way they knew, there was something in themselves that remained sinful. The more godly people are, and the more they long for more godliness, they have found themselves in great despair over their inability to be rid completely of sin. But there are others who profess to want to become godly who seem to be content with their situation. Some of them claim that there is no battle in their lives, and some others claim that some special experience of grace has eradicated sin from their lives. It seems to be paradoxical that the godlier ones get into despair over themselves!
It is not just Paul. Whenever people get to see a glimpse of God in all His holiness, they immediately become aware of the sinfulness of their own lives. This was what happened to Isaiah (Isa.6:5), Daniel (Mt.23:24)(Dan.9:4,5), John (Rev.1:17), and countless others. The more godly we are, the more humble and honest we become to acknowledge the truth of our shortcomings in thought, word and deed. Paul, even though he was one of most recognised apostles, was honest enough to admit his own weaknesses. For example, he said how he had no rest in his mind and had fears that led him to depression when the situation pressed hard on him (2Cor.7:6).
But Paul also had the balance of mind and understanding to rejoice in the fact that with his mind (or with what he was aware of in his mind) he was pursuing the law of God, even when he realised that another part of him – his flesh, with its sinful nature – was following the law of sin (Rom.7:25). He was not saying that there was a part of him that used to sin but that now he was serving the law of God! But while a part of him was following the law of sin, he realised that there was no condemnation for him! How is that possible?
When Paul was born again, he received 'the mind of Christ' – the new man, the new self. This mind does not want to sin, and in fact, is growing to hate sin more and more. But he still had the 'flesh' in him which he had to deal with daily (Rom.8:10). The Greek word that is used for flesh is 'sarx' which is different from the body, which is 'soma'. Many times 'flesh' is used to signify the storage place for desires and passions that entice us to sin (Gal.5:24). It is these desires that tempt us to sin (Jas.1:14). That is why we are to keep our flesh crucified. When we give in to these desires from the flesh and commit sin, it is with our body that we do it. So, after we keep these desires crucified, we also need to ensure that our body is not permitted to carry out the sinful actions (Rom.8:13). Of course, we need the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to empower us to do this.
So, we have these two natures in us – our new mind that does not want to sin, and our old nature that draws us towards the pleasures of sin (Gal.5:16,17). We can see it clearly when we remove the artificial division between chapter 7 and 8! "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom.7:25-8:1). Our mind is serving the law of God, even though our flesh is serving the law of sin.
God does not condemn us in this situation because He is aware of our inability to get rid of the flesh at this time. He looks at our mind and sees if our mind is set on His law, and then He is aware that we are not to be blamed because of what our flesh is doing, having been born in sin. Our flesh is doing what its natural inclination, and God's desire is that we will get more and more understanding of the lusts in our flesh, the wiles of the devil, and our peculiar weaknesses, and little by little conquer more and more of our lusts. God describes our spiritual growth as a journey where we get better and better understanding (light) in life, and walk more and more according to that light (Prov.4:18). In the meantime, there is forgiveness if we fall.
To walk in the light, we must be honest enough to acknowledge the darkness there is still in our life, and long for faithfulness in the areas of our life where God has already given us understanding. That is how we can learn to win in this inner battle within us.