Some years ago I found myself “living” almost daily in Romans 7, especially verses 15-25.
In context Paul had sought to affirm the sacredness of the Law: it is holy; but he also had sought to affirm its sacred function: to make sin excessively manifest. But for Paul this “sin” was not an abstraction, somehow localized “out there” or “among those people.” No: it dwelled within him; for he was its captive, it mastered him.
Now I stress the utterly personal, the fully possessive nature of this sin, because prior to my “living Romans 7,” I once had been asked: “Do you think, Stan, when Paul wrote ‘I’, that he was referring to himself, and if so, was he alluding to his ‘pre-Christian’ life under Judaism?” Although I had been familiar with Romans 7&8, prior to the voicing of this question, it had never occurred to me.
I’m uncertain my immediate response, but it alerted me to a possible reading—one I did not dismiss readily. And yet, upon further thought and with consideration of ἐγώ, “I,” within this letter, I concluded that he wrote of himself in present time. That is, even as an apostle of Jesus Christ, he recognized that sin still operated within him.
By such a statement, I realize the tension this produces: earlier Paul had argued that no longer was the believer to be enslaved to sin—and this is true. But also true, from my perspective, is that the believer is also one who will agonize: “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (7:18b-19). Years ago, as I lived Romans 7, I knew the good I desired but could not actualize.
My point: the Christian life is difficult, in part because, as believers, we are a mix of light and darkness: at moments we are free from old, destructive behaviors and guilt, and yet, at other moments, we remain tyrannized by old patterns and habits. The Reformed tradition, to which I am indebted, perpetrated the Latin expression: simul justus et peccator (i.e. “at the same time just and a sinner”). Ironically, I find this expression of great encouragement: when I’m honest, I know that I am a “sinner-saint,” both at the same moment. Therefore, with Paul I can declare: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! … There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (7:25, 8:1).
Faithfully,
Stan