COULD YOU GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF ROM 7:14-25?
March 22, 2019
1-2 minute read time
Dave, could you please give an overview of Romans 7:14-25? This passage is debated, but below I’ll give my understanding of it.
What you’ll read below is actually from a book by a pastor friend of mine at Duluth Bible Church (Dr. Tom Stegall).
Just as Romans 6 is the key New Testament chapter that reveals the believer’s identification and position in Christ, Romans 7 plays a key role in revealing the fact that the believer now possesses a new divine nature that desires to do God’s will but has no power in itself to fulfill it.
In Romans 7, Paul describes his failure as a believer in seeking to live the Christian life by sheer willpower and self-determination. This passage must be describing Paul’s post-salvation experience of failure in the Christian life, rather than his pre-salvation experience since he repeatedly expresses his will to do good, which reflects the desires of the new divine nature that every believer receives at regeneration. When a believer’s human spirit is regenerated at the new birth, he also receives a new nature from God that desires to do the will of God. However, this nature has no power in itself, for the strength and enablement to live the Christian life come from the Holy Spirit, who is the only power source capable of overcoming the indwelling sin nature. While the will of the new nature is set in opposition to the desires of the sin nature, only the Holy Spirit’s power provides real spiritual victory over the sin nature and acts of sin.
SOURCE USED
Stegall, Thomas L. Must Faith Endure for Salvation to Be Sure?: A Biblical Study of the Perseverance versus Preservation of the Saints. Grace Gospel Press, Chapter 8.