Audio commentary on this verse

Note 1 at Rom. 7:15: Many debates have occurred over whether Paul was describing himself before his conversion in these verses or whether he was describing the carnality that still existed in him after all those years of walking with the Lord. Is Paul describing a condition that has already been taken care of through the new birth, or is he saying that even mature Christians are doomed to a life of schizophrenia (lit. split mind) where part of us wants to serve God and part of us wants to serve the devil?

Actually, Paul is not stating either one of those positions. He is expounding the impossibility of serving God in our own power, whether lost or saved. The flesh (see note 3 at v. 18, p. 790) is unwilling and unable to fulfill the law of God, and if a Christian tries to fulfill the righteousness of the law through his own will power he will fail just the same as an unregenerate man. Paul is describing the futility of trying to obtain favor with God through our own goodness whether Christian or non-Christian. That has been the theme throughout the book of Romans.

Paul only used the term "spirit" once in Romans 7 (v. 6); a chapter that described the hopelessness of man to ever keep the righteousness of the law in his own strength. In contrast, the word "spirit" or "Spirit" is used 21 times in Romans 8; a chapter that gives the answer to the hopelessness of Romans 7.

In these verses of Romans 7 Paul is not describing a warfare that wages between the new man and the old man. He is contrasting the complete inability of man to save himself because of his corrupted flesh (see note 3 at v. 18, below) versus the life-transforming power of Christ described in chapter 8.

The apostle Paul was not living a life of constant failure where the good that he wanted to do, he was unable to accomplish, but the evil that he didn't want to do, he did. He wasn't living that kind of life because it was no longer him living, but Christ living in him (Gal. 2:20). Christ in Paul was manifesting a holiness in Paul's life that was second to none.

However, if he would have abandoned his dependency upon Christ and would have started trying to live the Christian life out of his own resources, then the condition described in Romans 7:15-24 would have been his experience.

Our flesh has been corrupted through sin, and though we can renew our minds through God's Word (Rom. 12:2), we can never elevate our flesh to a place where it can fulfill the law of God. Hence, the good news of Romans 8 that what the law couldn't do because of the weakness of our flesh (Rom. 8:3), God did for us, and all we have to do is receive by faith.