Romans Chapter 7

The book of Romans is written primarily to Gentiles (Rom.1:12-13) but there was a population of Jews living there as well. Paul talks to both groups individually and corporately throughout the letter. In Romans chapters 1-5 Paul has explained in detail the doctrine of justification. He has taught us that there are several key words and concepts that are related to justification in the dispensation of grace that are different from the way God has previously worked with people. In order to understand this grace doctrine, it is necessary that we have a good working knowledge of the following words---reconciliation (the sins of the world were imputed to Christ on the cross and now the world stands forgiven), redemption (to purchase for a specific purpose), propitiation (a fully satisfying payment), imputation (to put to one’s account), sanctification (to set apart for a special purpose) and justification (a free gift declaration of righteousness).  

Then in chapters 6-8 Paul proceeds to explain how this new position and purpose we have in Jesus Christ is to be understood and applied to our daily lives.

Vs. 1…Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?  Paul makes it clear he wants to address the Jewish brethren living in Rome. Paul does this in Romans 2:17; 9:3 & 10:1 as well. He obviously knows from his own experience with the law program of Israel that a Jew would have a hard time comprehending and accepting the truth of Rom. 6:14. Therefore, I believe Paul wanted to address their questions and concerns about what it means to be justified and to introduce them to the second foundation stone in the edification of a believer---SANCTIFICATION… And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. (Acts 20:32) Sanctification is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit at the moment we believe the gospel of Christ whereby He sets us apart for a special purpose… 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)

In order to get a good grasp of what Paul is communicating in chapter 7 it is helpful to read vs. 23… But 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. At this time in Paul’s life he is in captivity. Compare that with what he said in Rom. 6: 2… How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? And 6: 7…For he that is dead is freed from sin. And 6:22…But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Obviously something happened in Paul’s life from chapter 6 to chapter 7. How can a free man be living in captivity? And to what is he in captivity to? Paul is having a battle or struggle with living in a manner that is befitting a believer. Something is opposing and hindering him. He tells us what it is in vs. 20…Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.   And vs. 24…O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? So, there is something in Paul that makes him say that he is a wretched man and that he is struggling with a “death”. What is producing this conflict? Paul is trying to live the “grace life” on the basis of Jewish law. If you want to know something about “law” (spiritually speaking) don’t ask preachers, theologians or consult Christian books; ask Paul. Now Paul tells us that the law can only CONDEMN a person. The law is like a mirror in some respects; it can tell you what you did was wrong but not only will law not help you overcome sin, it actually strengthens sin…The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. (I Cor. 15:56) The law prescribes a penalty when we do wrong, but has nothing to say to us when we do the right thing. The law is a terrible partner to live with. That is why all of us must be careful as we live in relationship with others that we not operate like the law---always pointing to the wrong in others and extracting a penalty…But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. (Gal. 5:15) Wives can be particularly good at this with their husbands.

In vs. 24 Paul is describing a death that occurs when a believer tries to live his/her new identity in Christ on the basis of law (performance). We condemn ourselves trying to live under the law and it results in a special type of “death”. Now we can go in the opposite extreme and call being free from the law the freedom to live any lifestyle we so choose---that is not scriptural grace living.  The correct answer to how to live as a grace believer and thus avoid “the body of this death” is given in Rom. 8:1-2…There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. [2] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 

In Rom. 6 I learn that I am dead to sin; in Rom. 7 I learn that I am dead to the law. HOWEVER, in chapter 7 I also learn that I can give the law power again to condemn me and thereby I will (as a believer) experience a death. Paul cries out, “Who shall deliver me from this death?” The death a believer experiences when they try to live under the law program! This is an experience that every believer must deal with. Between getting saved in Rom. 6 and learning to walk in the Spirit in Rom. 8, we must struggle with seeing the relationship between law, sin and death in Rom. 7.

So, how long does the law have dominion over a man in vs. 1? As long as “he” liveth. Paul uses the words I, me, and mine 47 times in 19 verses in chapter 7. Paul talks about this conflict with “I” in Gal. 2:20… I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. As long as “I” lives or I keep making myself the issue, the law will have dominion and the battle of death will rage on. That takes us back to Rom. 6:14 to renew our minds in the grace truth that “sin shall not have dominion over you” because of a new dispensational way of God dealing with mankind in Christ Jesus…my sins are all forgiven (II Cor. 5:17-21).

Two Jewish men (one old and wise and the other young) belonged to a religious sect that would have nothing to do with a woman. As the two men walked along one day, they came upon a woman who had fallen and could not get up. The older man bent over and helped the woman up and called for medical assistance. As they continued their journey, the young man asked his mentor, “Why did you pick up that woman?” To which the older man replied, “I picked her up and put her down an hour ago; you continue to carry her!” That is precisely the way law affects us. YOU ARE NOT UNDER LAW!!!

Vs. 2-4… For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. [3] So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
[4] Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.    To illustrate this grace doctrine of sanctification further, Paul turns to the subject of marriage. His illustration has 5 components: a woman, a husband, a second husband, death and law. This illustration teaches us three important truths:

1. It took death to break the legal claim of the marriage.

2. It took death to make possible a new relationship.

3. We can be influenced by a dead man---IF WE LET THEM!!! That is true for the grace believer. We can allow either the law or the Lord Jesus to influence our lives as grace believers. What Paul is telling us in the strongest possible terms is…OUR FORMER RELATIONSHIP TO LAW IS TO HAVE NO BEARING ON US NOW.  Paul warned the Galatians of this very thing…For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. [19] For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. God has dealt with the sins of the world once for all; however, we (in our mind) can make ourselves a transgressor by putting ourselves back under the law. Only death can break the former legal claim. Do you comprehend that?

Romans 6:11 says the believer is “alive unto God”; Romans 7 says you can’t live unto God under the law; Romans 7 is the negative (no relationship to law; Romans 8 is the positive---walk in the newness of life.

The “husband” in vs. 2 is the law program of Israel that they had been married to but has now been terminated… Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; (Col. 2:14). People call me a “hyper-dispensationalist”; I reject that derogatory name, but I don’t mind being called a “hyper-gracer” because that is the dispensation we are living in. Abounding Grace is Hyper Grace according to Rom. 5:20… Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

Paul is teaching both Jews and Gentiles that in the dispensation of grace all the world is free from the law program of Israel that God had previously instituted. Jews were to abandon their association with the law program and instead associate themselves with the church, the body of Christ. They were to become dead to the law---How? By the body of Christ…Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (vs. 4). Paul is once again directing his comments to Jews who needed to understand that the “law was a schoolmaster, to bring them unto Christ”. The Jews had a problem believing that Jesus was who He said He was---God. They needed to be “married” to Him---not in His earthly ministry to Israel but to His resurrection ministry in heavenly places through the church, the body of Christ. Only then could they bring forth fruit that is acceptable to God. Just like ancient Israel, all of the “fruit” the “church” is producing for God today is unacceptable to Him. All the music, the buildings, the pastoral staff, the tithes and offerings, the missionaries supported, the new members added is unacceptable to God without an understanding of Justification and Sanctification.

Here is another important point as it relates to the phrase “the body of Christ” in verse 4. Gal. 4:4 informs us that Jesus came into the world, born under the law. However, upon His death and resurrection, He is no longer “under the law”; He satisfied and fulfilled the law and has sat down at the right hand of the Father. Believers are joined “to him who is raised from the dead”. Paul wants them (and us) to understand that a grace believer is similarly not under the law. We can now say with the Lord Jesus, Abba Father… For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (Rom. 8:15)

Also according to verse 3, if they/we are not dead to the law, while at the same time being “married to Christ”---we would be committing spiritual adultery. The world is full of “Christians” who do exactly that. Once again, grace believers are to associate with Christ’s RESSURECTED LIFE, not His earthly life and ministry to Israel. We share the same relationship that Jesus and God have. This will produce fruit.

Vs. 6…"But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter" 

Why this sudden change from the thought of the husband having died to that of the wife having died to the husband? Is it not to show that the husband (the Law in this case) having died, the wife has also died to him. And we believers have died to the Law, having been crucified with Christ when He, in His death, nailed the Law to His cross. And our having been crucified with Him does leave us free to be "married to another," even to "Him who is raised from the dead" (vs. 4). The believer's body did not die to the Law, but Christ's body did; we have become "dead to the law by the body of Christ." He shed His life's blood that we might be free from the Law's dominion.

Now Paul is going to enter into an explanation of how a person can be free from the law and sin (positionally) while at the same time being carnal, sold under sin (practically). He is also going to define what it means to be “walking in the flesh” and “walking in the Spirit”. We are constantly told these phrases are about our actions and attitudes---whether good or bad. I do not agree with that definition. It is about how we think with our minds. Walking in the flesh is law based thinking; walking in the Spirit is grace based thinking. A believer can not be sanctified by the principle of law keeping.

Vs. 7-8…What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. [8] But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.  Sin and law have a relationship and Paul is going to show us how these two realities operate. First, the problem is not with the law program God gave Israel; the problem is with sin in us. The law program did not fail, Israel did. The moment a grace believer tells a “Christian” that we are no longer under law but grace, they respond by accusing us that we are antinomian (against law). They are so committed to the ability of the flesh to please God in some measure that they just can’t grasp God’s free gift declaration of righteousness based on the merits of Christ’s death on the Cross where man’s sins are concerned. Surely man is capable of proving or demonstrating to God and people that they are serious about salvation by repenting of their sins; following the Lord in believer’s water baptism, and finding a good local church in which to serve the Lord. If a person can’t do these minimal things, how could they possibly claim to be saved? “Christians” ask. When you point out this is nothing more than a works based salvation, they respond by accusing you (grace believers) of being against law and want a salvation where they can “do anything they want”. They see God’s law program as God leash to keep “Christians” under control. Why if God didn’t impose law on us, we would “run loose”. This is faulty thinking. The law helps us know sin…Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.  (Rom. 3:20) The law taught Paul three things about sin: 1. The complexity of sin. 2. How deep rooted it is. 3. The presence of sin in his own life.

Paul is going to tell us about his own personal struggle with sin and the law. On the outside, Paul looked like a pretty respectable Jew. But the 10^th Commandment was particularly troublesome to him. This commandment is one governing the inner man; the other nine deals with the outer man (things you could do). The law proved Paul had sin working in his inner most man---even as a saved man. The law can reveal sin but it can not help fix it. Can we be sure of this? According to verse 18 the flesh can not be repaired…For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.  You can not merit righteousness before God through the performance of the flesh before or after salvation. Religion tells us we can. God designed the law as a system to prove the lack of righteousness when it comes to rule keeping for righteousness. To teach people that I must because I can is to return to the law husband that Christ came to deliver us from. It will never produce fruit acceptable to God. All “Christians” talk about being saved by grace but then immediately return to law to maintain our fellowship with God. When you apply the law principle to the sin problem you just end up with more sin in your life and a struggle that leads to mental, emotional, spiritual and ultimately physical death.

Now we have to be careful not to get sloppy in our thinking and interpretation of the word “law” as grace believers. In the first part of chapter 7 the word “law” does refer to the religious laws of Israel (the covenant God made with the Nation). However, in this same chapter Paul will introduce us to five laws that do affect believers in this dispensation. Many times “right dividers” get carried away with talking about the fact that we are no longer under the law program of Israel and have no performance standard in order to obtain favor with God (all true); Nevertheless, there are some “laws” that are relevant to the church, the body of Christ and applicable to this dispensation of grace. Always remember that in interpreting the Bible---“context is king”. The context of what Paul is going to explain in Rom. 7 is the grace believer’s POSITION in Christ; not our PERFORMANCE FOR CHRIST OR SPIRITUAL CONDITION. While the performance-based Law Program given to the nation of Israel has been set aside by God and while there are no performance based laws for a grace believer to obey in order to obtain a right standing with God, there are five “operational laws” that every grace believer should understand. I would define the word “law” as a fixed rule that operates in a uniform way.

1. The Moral Law of God---Although grace believers have been “delivered from the law” (the Law Program that God gave through Moses to the nation of Israel by means of a Covenant) (Ex. 19:5-6; 32:15-16; John 1:17) the essential core of that Law Covenant (the moral law of God) has always had some application for Gentiles as well. In Rom. 2:14-15 Paul announces that “the Gentiles, which have not the law”  nevertheless  "show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts  the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.”  Rom. 3:19: "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”  This is also taught in Romans 5, where we read that "by one  man sin entered into the world”  (vs. 12), and that later "the law entered that the offence might abound” (vs. 20).  

2. The Law of the Renewed Mind---Vs. 22-23… For I delight in the law of God (the law of the renewed mind/see #2 below) after the inward man: (23) But 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.

The one universal question that is always raised when true grace is taught is… “Isn’t pure grace a license to sin?” Paul asked and answered this question two times in Romans 7. Each time he responds by saying “God forbid”. How could Paul be so sure that new creatures in Christ Jesus would not live out their new lives as flippant sinners, not taking their new grace lives seriously? There is a law which confronts this natural conclusion---“the law of my mind”. Paul's epistles have much to say about the believer's renewal of mind, brought about initially by the Holy Spirit's work as He applies His Word to the inner man. It begins at salvation, when one who previously viewed the Bible in the light of other things now begins to view other things in the light of the Bible…"Ye have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” (Col. 3:10) Paul makes it clear that he has received this "law of the renewed mind," by writing that he "hates" the wrong he does (7:15) because he "delights in the law of God (the renewed mind law, not law program) after the inward man" (vs. 22), (The law is good if a man use it lawfully---I Tim. 1:8). He concludes chapter 7 by saying that…with his mind (the renewed mind) he serves the law of God (vs. 25); however, even given all those wonderful grace blessings…with the flesh he serves the law of sin.

This renewing of the mind in the believer he calls a law. It is now "the law of my mind," he says, to earnestly desire to do God's will. This law operates in every true grace believer. Anyone who does not abhor sin and desire to please God had better question his salvation, for true believers come to Christ not to be free to sin, but to be delivered from sin. Their minds, once alienated from God by sin, have now been renewed as they have been reconciled to God (Col. 1:20,21).

The renewing of the mind is not a one time act completed at the point of salvation. It is accomplished day by day as we “study the Word of God, rightly divided”. As we do, we will see sin and righteousness, truth and error, in their true light. If we fail to “renew our mind”, by default we become conformed to this world… And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  (Rom. 12:2)

Paul also admonished the Ephesians about the importance of renewing the mind… That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
[23] And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; (Eph. 4:22-23)

3. The Law of Indwelling Sin---The constant, aggressive presence of the Adamic nature within us is called "the law of sin which is in my members.”  Paul acknowledges the operation of this law in his own life some twenty years after he was saved…"The law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin .... For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do ... I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.”

The path to complete victory over this old nature will not occur in this life. We will experience an inward spiritual battle (Gal. 5:17) until we see Jesus and receive our new glorified body. Paul makes it abundantly clear that as a grace believer there are no secret formulas, recipes or steps of action that I can take that will insure victory over sin in my life… “how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Rom. 7:18). So why are there so many books, sermons, and special ministries available to “Christians” all geared to giving us the victory over sin? They ignore the truth of the law of indwelling sin. So what do we do then about personal sin? Shouldn’t we TRY to do something about it? Yes! Study and understand the grace doctrines that God has announced for this dispensation and experience the stability they will give you. Paul wants the Roman believers to comprehend, rely upon, and appreciate the wonderful “foundational cornerstones” provided to the grace believer in Christ Jesus. Otherwise, one is consigned to picking the religion that makes the most sense to you and spending the rest of your life trying to become a better person. Good luck with that!!!    

4. The Law of Sin and Death--- For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death…(Rom. 8:2) One of the basic truths of Scripture is that sin brings death. As grace believers, we are still subject to this law…“the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Ezek. 18:4)  ….“by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Rom. 5:12) … “For the wages of sin is death.”  (Rom. 6:23) Although both the saved and the lost experiences PHYSICAL death, the grace believer has been freed from the additional penalty of SPIRITUAL death in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14-15) because of the work of Christ on our behalf. The Holy Spirit does this work of putting us into the person of Jesus Christ (I Cor. 12:13)

5. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ--- So how does the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ make us free from the law of sin and death? “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Rom. 5:21) Does this mean that one divine law cancels the other? No, but one supersedes the other.  If you release a knife from your hand, the law of gravity would cause it to fall to the ground. But if you throw the knife upward so that it sticks in the ceiling then the law of gravity is not suspended, but a stronger law supersedes it--- the law of your deliberate action with the knife. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”  (Rom. 6:6) The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the death of Christ and raises us to walk in newness of life… 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. 6:4)

Basically a law is a fixed rule; it operates in a uniform way. God has made certain “royal laws”. These laws are explaining our Position in Christ not our Performance. Paul is assuring us that because of Christ’s work in our behalf at Calvary, SIN CANNOT UNDO WHAT GOD HAS DONE. Paul is not giving us something we can do about sin, he is telling us how to think about it properly…Likewise reckon (not find a way to perform better) ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:11) This is the doctrine of right thinking. Counting something to be true in your own mind (you are dead indeed unto sin). This is hard for us to do when it comes to sin. However, when a believer thinks correctly about sin, righteousness, and the law they are truly “walking in the Spirit”.

Vs. 9-14…For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. [11] For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. [12] Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. [13] Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. [14] For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

“For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”…The context of this verse is that Paul is telling us about the source of a person’s righteousness. He gives his own personal testimony as a saved man how he was thinking about sin, law, death and the imputed righteousness of God at a certain point in his life. He tells how he allowed “the commandment” (singular; the 10^th one) to be applied to his life and guess what the result of that thinking was---sin (not sins; the sin nature) revived. When he began to think in terms of his law performance, it just served to stir up his sin nature and “I died”. The Bible defines death as “separation”. There are several different kinds of death described in the Bible. The death Paul is talking about here in chapter 7 is separation from grace truth. He found himself abandoning (in his thinking) the doctrines of reconciliation, justification, propitiation, and sanctification and returning to the religious training of his youth (measure your righteousness by the law program). Paul refers to this death in vs. 24 as well. The sin nature we all have within us will trick us in this fashion and thereby “slay us”. One would think that our sin nature would hate law but in reality it has a great affection for law so it (our sin nature) can show off. Law can not master “me” (sin nature). So Paul is saying a believer has one of two choices: it is either liberty or death. You get righteousness either by accepting it as a free gift declaration through the merits of Christ’s death on the Cross or you are deceived by sin into thinking that you can obtain it by your performance before God. Religion holds the law out as our “savior” from our sin nature while Paul tells us that no one has ever been able to remedy their own sin problem through promising to perform better ---if you will just start going to church, follow the Lord in water baptism, give to the Lord what belongs to Him (tithe), serve the Lord, use your spiritual gift, etc. Paul is saying that whether you are saved or lost, you can not count on the law husband to give you victory. You can not build a spiritual house out of the law program. Jesus illustrates this in John 8 where a woman taken in adultery (not a prostitute) was brought to Him for judgment. Jesus said the following statement to her… She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. (vs. 11) Jesus offered her grace (no condemnation) and that became an empowerment to “go and sin no more”. The “church” promoting a law based system of performance says just the opposite…sin no more and we will not condemn you. The law presumes our ability to keep it. We can’t; therefore it reveals our need for a Savior.

Grace is a two sided truth. Paul tells us about being delivered from the law and sin; but he also tells us that we are married (joined) to Jesus Christ. If you think that grace is a careless lifestyle, it is because you have only heard of one side of grace. Being joined to Christ means we have His love and His provisions.

“Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful”…After so much discussion about the law having a relationship with sin which leads to death, one could conclude that the law is just as guilty as the other two culprits. It is possible for a believer to take a dim view of the law of God and hold it in contempt---God forbid (do not think that way)! The law is holy and spiritual (vs. 14) but it can not make a person holy. Even though law is not the problem---it is not the SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM. God did not design law as some sinister trick to play on humanity. Law has a number of irreplaceable functions for humanity; however, repairing the damage done to us by sin is not one of them. It is crucial that we SEE this grace truth. At the outset of the dispensation of grace, Paul went to Jerusalem to meet with the Jewish “Kingdom Church”. Luke tells about the public meeting Paul had with the entire church in Acts 15 and Paul tells about the private meeting he had with the leaders in Galatians 2. Verse 7 is particularly helpful to us; listen to what it says… But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; We owe the world a debt---helping them SEE the change in dispensations and gospels.

Vs. 15-20… For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. [16] If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. [17] Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. [18] For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. [19] For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. [20] Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Paul has been saved about twenty years when he makes this statement. Paul learned that applying law to a sin nature is not a solution to the indwelling sin nature. Christian bookstores are filled with books on how to overcome various sinful habits. The Apostle of Grace says that … how to perform that which is good I find not. I would suggest you trash all the “how to books” and believe what God tells you about you. Our sin nature will not willingly surrender to grace. Paul is not using this truth as an excuse to sin. He is simply telling us the truth.