The internal struggles from Romans 7 stand apart from Paul’s Christian walk as he is the supporting role in writing the letter. This moment in Scripture is biblical history being inspired by the Holy Spirit and stands as the authoritative Gospel Message for the church.

What you and I do as we read the inspired text of the Word of God is to rely upon the gift of faith provided by the Holy Spirit, our rule of faith. We must read Paul by this inspired faith because he and his original readers are no longer with us. We read the Word of God as spoken to us by the Spirit, and we are His intended readers. 

In the letter to Rome, Paul uses the lineage of Jesus Christ from Adam through the Sinai terminating with the crucifixion of Jesus. We read God, “concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh.” Romans 1:3, NASB. This biblical note demonstrates sin to be the main character in Romans 7:12-14, “So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” This is most clearly seen through the Christian lens as being the best way to illustrate Jesus Christ in the inspired text. Here we find the crucified/resurrected Paul reflecting upon his life as a sinful subject of the Law being “sold into the bondage of sin.”

The Apostle speaks of his sin nature before his moment with the Risen Savior on his way to the city of Damascus. He is the but the participant found in the inspired text sitting in the Roman Coliseum observing the internal battle between a faithful Pharisee observing the Law and wanting to do the right thing and the person of sin fighting for control. Then he writes, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 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.” 

In Romans 8:1-4 the inspired author concludes, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” The old man was, indeed, crucified and died and replaced by the new man. There is no doubt Who lives within, and it is not sin.

Jesus is Lord.