The Futility of Fleshly Effort – Romans 7:14–25

PRAY & READ TEXT: Romans 7:14–25 ESV

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

INTRO & THESIS: Let me introduce this text today by quickly ripping of the bandaid of controversy surrounding it.

The debate: Is this Paul speaking of himself, or is it an extended use of diatribe? Does this experience describe a converted or unconverted man?

These issues have been debated for two millennia, so I only aim to tell you why there’s uncertainty, and to explain that there is more smoke machine than actual fire in it.

Although it is possible, I think it’s unlikely that Paul is using extended diatribe style. Everywhere else his use of the diatribe is a more staccato question and answer format. More likely, Paul uses his own experience intentionally. In Romans Paul defends the gospel and therefore his perspective on the role of the law. And here, in order to further take the teeth out of the angry defensiveness of fellow Jews, he uses himself as an example of indwelling sin frustrating our attempts to keep the law. The simplest answer is that Paul is speaking of some aspect of his own experience.

But then, is what he describes a pre-conversion or post-conversion experience? To be intellectually honest, which is what integrity before God demands, both perspectives are plausible. Even taking the context before and after, when you read these verses carefully with one assumption or the other, you will find aspects in the text that strongly support either possibility. If you don’t believe me, try reading this carefully several times from both angles and you will find yourself at least somewhat uncertain whether Paul is speaking of his experience before being in Christ or after.

My own view is first to agree with Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones that this can and has become an unhelpful and unnecessary distraction from the central thrust of the text. However, unlike the Doctor’s approach of trying to remain on the fence, I think the distinction matters a little in terms of how we specifically apply the text. Therefore, I have taken a side in order to preach a central application. To this end I’m approaching it as Paul speaking of his experience as a believer, but not about moments of victorious and healthy Christian experience.

Even thought this is a relatable experience, what we should not do with this part of Romans 7 is conclude that it describes the healthiest moments of Christian life. If this is his life as a believer, it is Paul describing the frustration one faces in the struggle against sin when we try to make the effort from our flesh. Instead, we must come again and again to thank God for victory secured in Christ, and to our new union with Christ. Therefore also this text is deliberately meant to lead us forward towards reliance on the Spirit. We must strive for submission to the Spirit who empowers our sanctification.

Romans 8 goes on in this vein to describe the Christian experience we all should be seeking. So when you are encumbered by the same frustration Paul describes in these verses, and you will be at times, turn the eyes of your heart back toward the accomplishment of Christ for justification, and look forward toward the work of the Spirit in you for sanctification. 

With all of that said, what is almost comical is that Paul’s argument in this part of ch. 7 isn’t that complicated once you strip away the controversy. Here is the primary point Paul makes: The fight against sin is a losing battle if we depend on the flesh.  

An overarching application that we should take away is this:

We must not depend on fleshly effort for sanctification.

…By sanctification here we mean becoming set apart to God. We mean especially growth in holiness, progress in righteous living.

The demand of God’s holiness is nothing less than perfect holiness on our part. Because of who he is in his holiness, the natural and necessary demand of God’s holiness is nothing less than complete holiness on our part.

To think otherwise is like being covered in contaminants and trying to barge your way into a medical facility taking extreme effort to keep all contaminants out. You shall not pass.

Or it’s like being covered in gasoline and charging into a furnace. You’ll be incinerated.

To enjoy the presence of God we must be holy. But the primary question about how we will be holy becomes this: Who has the capacity to cleanse us and and to preserve us and to move us more and more in the direction of holiness in this life? Is the capacity in us, or in God alone?

The first part of this equation, that we are unable within ourselves, is the point Paul makes in Romans 7:14-25. We must not depend on fleshly effort for sanctification…

… any more than we can depend upon human merit for justification.

The law can’t make us holy, not because the law isn’t good, but because we aren’t good. There is depravity at work in us that we are powerless to defeat. We need God’s power to make us positionally righteousness by union with Christ Jesus, and we need the work of the Spirit for progressive righteousness.

So too Paul’s emphasis here is especially that we must not depend on fleshly effort for sanctification…

… because sin remains a pervasive problem at work in us.

We are no longer under sin as our ruler (our master) if we are united to Christ by faith. In him we have died to that old relationship to sin and have been covenanted to Christ. [Read] Romans 7:4 “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” Again, if we are united with Christ, he has removed us positionally from our enslavement to sin and placed us in covenant relationship to himself. However, we have not yet received our sinless resurrection bodies. We are still fleshy beings who suffer from indwelling sin in our members.

So then Paul has also shown (in vv. 7-13) that sin is our problem, not the law itself. The law cannot produce holiness because it is simply a statement of God’s holy standard. But that standard serves to reveal sin by naming it and illustrating it (ex. the heart sin of coveting). And not only that, but because of the sin in us, the law induces us to sin more (sin seized the opportunity to produce more covetousness).

All of this Paul uses to show that it is sin which is our problem, and that he says nothing bad about God’s commands, which are holy and righteous and good. Yet he stands by the premise that the law itself is powerless to produce holiness in us.

Paul now presses forward from verse 13 into verses 14 and following to show why even our best-intentioned efforts can’t seem to produce holiness that matches God’s standard. In fact, when we try to be holy by our own fleshly effort, the process and progress is rendered frustratingly futile. Paul is convincing us not to depend on the flesh for sanctification by demonstrating that…

Indwelling sin renders fleshly effort to obey God frustratingly futile. (3x: Verses 14-17, 18-20, 21-23)

Three times Paul repeats this theme, bringing three clear effects: 1. We begin to feel his frustration with him. 2. The point becomes progressively conclusive that we cannot produce holiness by our flesh because sin still dwells in our members. 3. We are meant to be asking, what then is the solution? Paul first gives an answer of gratitude to God for Christ, and then he will demonstrate in ch. 8 that we need to rely on God himself by his Spirit to sanctify us.

In each of the three rounds, Paul starts and finishes by emphasizing sin’s pervasive influence on his flesh, on his not yet glorified self. In the middle of each section, he describes the desire of his mind to do what it right according the the law, but then he encounters the frustrating truth in practice that he is unable to carry it out because of the sin at work in his flesh. Again…

1. Sin’s influence on the flesh is pervasive. [begin and end each section]
2. Even agreeing with what is right and wanting to do it, we find ourselves unable to carry it out by our flesh. [middle of each section]

Let’s enter the ring with Paul in the first round:

Round One:

Romans 7:14 ESV

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.

That the law [of God] is spiritual means that it has a divine origin and nature. That we are fleshly means that we are unspiritual, intrinsically incapable of keeping God’s good standard.

For Paul, to be “in the flesh” is different than being fleshy—made up of finite and feeble flesh. Will Timmins helpfully explains the distinction in Paul’s presentation this way: “We now have freedom through union with Christ in his death and resurrection (6:1–10), but our bodies don’t yet share Christ’s risen life (6:11). So there’s still a slavery in our bodily members (7:23) as we await the redemption of our bodies (8:23). That’s what it means to be fleshly.” (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/romans-7-apostle-paul-confession/)

Verses 15&16 form the middle of this round, where Paul describes frustration over his actions, wanting to do what is right but doing instead what he hates, and therefore agreeing with the law that what it says is good.

Romans 7:15–16 ESV

¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.

Verse 17 circles back to indwelling sin, where Paul says “it is no longer I who do it but sin dwelling in me.” Of course, Paul is not abdicating responsibility for his sin. He’s contrasting his desire to do good with his inability to carry it out by his flesh.

This becomes all the more clear in round two (vv. 18-20). There the overall point remains that … Indwelling sin makes fleshly effort to obey God frustratingly futile.

Round Two:

This time Paul presses forward (v. 18) with knowing that nothing good dwells in him—that is, in his flesh.

The second half of verse 18 and into 19 explains, as before:

Romans 7:18–19 ESV

¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

We might picture a man knowing what is needed to accomplish a task, but literally not having the physical strength or skill, or the right tools, to carry it out.

Perhaps I need to cross the Amazon River where it is two and I half miles wide, and I can neither swim that far, nor do I have a boat nor even a canoe. Or perhaps I must scale the highest tree in the rainforest, but I lack the ability or equipment to do so.

To make matters worse, I have actual hindrances working against me. I fear drowning and I fear heights. There are huge, hungry fish to whom I am snack, and giant birds of prey that want to knock me down as soon as I begin. So although I know it’s right to cross here or climb there, I just don’t want to do it and would rather live the easy and pleasurable life right where I am.

Even these illustrations lack the true pervasive impact of sin that Paul describes. The sin at work in me is a grotesque nightmare, and knowing what is right has worsened my predicament, because I now know the righteous goal that I cannot possibly reach.

Verse 20 circles back to mirror v. 17: Rom 7:20

Romans 7:20 ESV

²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Paul has said that what he wants is to do what the good law says is good. Instead, the sin in his flesh is winning the fight against what he knows is right. We are beginning to feel his frustration acutely and conclusively: The fight against sin is a losing battle if we depend on the flesh.

Round three becomes the most conclusive, where Paul extracts clear problematic principles from this experience. (beginning at v. 21)

Round Three:

Romans 7:21 ESV

²¹ So I find it to be a law [a ruling principle] that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

Evil is persistent and pervasive.

Through the law God has turned on the lights, and now sin is like the shadow that you can’t possibly shake. When you move to cut it off, it moves to evade your grasp. And yet this evil is worse still than a relentless shadow. The shadow is only an outward manifestation of the darkness that still exerts influence in our fleshly members. 

Again Paul explains (vv. 22-23), in this most conclusively principled form: Rom 7:22-23

Romans 7:22–23 ESV

²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

Paul actually does delight in God’s law in his inner being. But he finds in his members another ruling principle (that of sin dwelling there). It ceaselessly wages war against his mind trying to obey God’s law. Paul isn’t arguing that our minds are not also subject to the influence of sin, but for the purpose of his extended metaphor he distinguishes between knowing what’s right but the influence of sin waging war against his desire to do right. This obviously would include his mind, the center of all human activity.

Now, after three rounds of this, we are meant to feel with Paul that this is a pretty miserable affair. However, Paul will not leave us to wallow in his misery, nor in our own. All of this depiction of frustration and futility is meant to lead us somewhere.

But this continual struggle with sin should lead us to grateful praise for Christ and to humble dependence on the Spirit. (verses 24-25, & 8:1-11)

Finally, Paul lets his exasperation come gushing forth: Rom 7:24

Romans 7:24 ESV

²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Once more: What is Paul doing for us by describing his own struggle and frustration in his fleshly effort? Remember these three effects: We feel his frustration, we get that it is conclusive, and we’re with him in looking for another solution.

So what is his answer?

The frustration of our fleshly inability to be sanctified by the law… must lead us to grateful praise for deliverance and security in Christ.

Romans 7:25 ESV

²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Who is it that God has made to be our deliverance? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! And who then is our safety and security through whom we are given access to God without incineration? “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 8:1)

Finally, Paul’s intention is to move forward and explain how…

The frustration of our fleshly inability to be sanctified by the law… must lead us to humble dependence on the Spirit for sanctification.

This will be our emphasis for the next time or two, but let me lean into this point for our concluding application today.

[Conclusion] We must not depend on fleshly effort for sanctification.

If we must not depend on our flesh, who will we rely on to sanctify us?

Just as you cannot be justified by your own efforts to keep the law, neither can you be sanctified by fleshly efforts to obey God. Just as you must come to the end of your ability and trust Christ alone for justification, so too you must continue in total reliance not on fleshly effort but on the Holy Spirit to empower your sanctification.

Paul wants you to continue in complete dependence upon God’s work for your sanctification just as you must depend on God alone through Christ Jesus for your justification. In fact, union with Christ assures our sanctification by the Spirit he has given us.

This will raise a good question, then. So does this mean we sit back and do nothing? May it never be! (as Paul might say) The better question is:

Will we strive in the flesh or will we strive in the Spirit?

Is there a difference between pursuing God and seeking to obey him by the effort of our flesh versus effort in the Spirit?

The difference is like this: You are trying to paddle this new ship of life in Christ with one oar… with a broken oar that has no blade on the end… rending it a useless pole in the deep waters. Instead, again and again we must face our sin by raising the sails of humble and prayerful reliance upon the Spirit of God to be the wind that makes forward progress in our sanctification. … in the direction of a maturity in Christlikeness. We will not reach that shore until final glorification, but by the Spirit we will be nearer that shore than yesterday, if we depend upon him.

Pour your effort into pleading for the Holy Spirit’s help and into knowing more of the triune Godhead—his qualities, his activities, and his promises. Do you covet what others have? (beauty, talent, personality… possessions, or positions of influence and power) Plead with God that by his Spirit he will make you content with his provision, and even more, that he will make himself and his qualities the chief object of your desire. And you cannot do this once, but you must do it daily, sometimes hourly. Whatever the sinful inclinations you struggle with most, this principles applies. S take time to consider this truth with your current sin battle.

So do we strive? Yes, absolutely. But all our effort must be poured into faith in God and reliance upon God. Faith relies not on the flesh but on the Spirit, that he might accomplish in us what we are incapable of by our frail and sin-plagued flesh. This constant struggle with sin must lead us to rejoice with hope in the sufficiency of Christ and cause us to depend on the Spirit to continue sanctifying us.

PRAY

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