Romans 7:14–25 is one of those passages that the church has been fighting about for years. Even many of my heroes in the faith disagree about this passage, though they agree on so many other things. Many of them think that Romans 7 describes unconverted Paul, along with Adam and Israel caught up in sin and unbelief. And while I do think parts of Romans 7 are describing such things, I do not think Romans 7:14–25 is.
I agree with my professor, Dr. Robert Rayburn, who said, “If Paul is not a mature Christian in this passage, than I am not a Christian at all.” The great Scottish pastor, Alexander Whyte, said that Romans 7:14–25 is the Christian life. And he didn’t mean that as a discouragement. Actually, he said that Romans 7:14–25 is a great encouragement for the Christian because it is not a description of defeat or death, but of life. It is a description of war, which implies that we are alive and in the fight.
And that matters deeply for the encouragement of God’s people.
Romans 7 – The Assurance of the Fight
What I’m trying to press home from the start is this: if you recognize yourself in Romans 7, that is a good and assuring thing. Dead men do not fight. The unregenerate do not agonize over sin, delight in God’s Law, or grieve that they fall short of it. The very tension Paul describes—the pull of the flesh against the desire to obey—is evidence that the Spirit of God is at work.
Paul does not say, “I hate the Law.” He says the opposite: “I delight in the law of God.” He agrees with it. He confesses that it is good, righteous, and holy. His struggle is not between belief and unbelief, but between new life in the Spirit and remaining corruption in the flesh.
This is where the old phrase simul justus et peccator, popularized by Martin Luther, can be helpful if rightly understood. In Christ, we are truly righteous. We belong to Him. We are justified, forgiven, welcomed, and renewed. And yet we are still sinners, with indwelling sin that must be mortified daily.
Romans 7 assures us that the presence of the battle is not a sign of abandonment, but of life. The Spirit produces not only victory, but warfare.
Humble Walkers, Not Excuse-Makers
Now consider Romans 7 alongside Micah 6:8 that says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” This verse keeps us from two equal and opposite errors.
On the one hand, it guards us from despair. God does not demand sinless perfection before He walks with us. To some degree, that may be true outside of Christ, but we are not outside of Christ. He calls sinners—redeemed sinners in Christ—to walk humbly with Him. Indeed, this is only possible in Christ. Humility means we tell the truth about ourselves. We confess our sins. We repent daily. We depend upon God’s grace in Christ continually. As Jerry Bridges said so well, “Your best day is not beyond the need of God’s grace. And your worst day is not beyond the reach of God’s grace.”
But on the other hand, Micah also guards us from complacency. God does not merely call us to feel humble; He calls us to do justice and love kindness. Grace does not lower the bar of obedience. Grace raises us to it. Both justice and kindness are defined by God’s Word, especially His Law and gospel. And in Christ we are redeemed sinners, bought by His blood, to live for His glory. We are sinners to be sure, but we are saved sinners… and this makes all the difference.
Romans 7 does not give us permission to resign ourselves to sin. Paul cries out for deliverance because he knows deliverance exists. And he thanks God because that deliverance comes through Jesus Christ our Lord. And Jesus doesn’t merely deliver us from the penalty or punishment our sin deserves, but from the very power of sin, enabling us to walk in obedient faith—to believe the gospel and uphold the Law.
And this is at the heart of true humility. We are called not merely to feel humble, but to walk it out. We are to be humble. C. S. Lewis said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” And indeed, the only way to do that rightly is to think of Christ more. And the more we think of Christ, the more we look to Him, the bigger our view of Him and love for Him will become… And as the old hymn says, “Then the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” Our view of sin and self, our love affair with sin and self will diminish as our view and love for Christ grows. And that’s true humility.
The Battle Within—and the Mission Without
Here is where we must widen the lens.
Romans 7 is not merely about the private struggles of the individual Christian. It’s all in the context of Romans, which is a big missionary support letter. Therefore, Paul’s delight in the Law is not about a mere inward-looking pietism. It is covenantal, public, and missional. God’s Law does not only diagnose our hearts; it defines what justice and kindness look like in the world.
Micah 6:8 presses this outward. Doing justice and loving mercy begins in our own hearts and homes, but it does not stop there. God’s people are called to embody and advance His righteous standards everywhere—in family life, church life, education, work, politics, culture, and the nations.
This is why Scripture speaks of a battle of the mind as well as the world.
In Romans 7 Paul speaks of the war of the mind, and he has spoken of similar things elsewhere. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul said that we are to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” And in Romans 12:1–2, he calls us to present our bodies as living sacrifices, refusing conformity to the world and being transformed by the renewing of our minds.
We battle intrusive thoughts. We battle sinful desires. We battle lies, falsehoods, and distortions of God’s good order—both within us and around us. To be sure, the battle begins in our minds and hearts, but it does not stop there. We take our thoughts captive so that we can obey in every area of life. We seek to renew our minds so that we can live our lives, in every area of life, as living sacrifices devoted to right worship of the triune God. And we do so not with human wisdom or raw willpower, but with the whole Word of God, applied through the ordinary means of grace.
From Mortification to Mission
The fight against sin in our own hearts is never an end in itself. God is not merely interested in producing well-managed private Christians. He is forming a people who reflect His character and advance His Kingdom.
As we walk humbly with our God, confessing our sins and clinging to Christ, we are also called to do justice and love kindness in the world. That means bringing every area of life into joyful submission to King Jesus. It means pushing back darkness with Truth, lies with God’s Law, and despair with gospel hope.
We do not retreat because the battle is hard. We press forward because Christ reigns. And because we are alive in Christ we can.
Encouragement for the Church
So take heart, Christian.
If you feel the struggle Paul describes in Romans 7, you are not alone—and you are not lost. You are in the fight. And that fight is evidence of the Spirit’s work in you (This is what Paul clearly says in Romans 8, even as he shows us how to fight by the Spirit and the power of the gospel.).
Do not excuse your sin—but do not despair over it either. Repent. Believe. Rise again. Walk humbly. Love justice. Love mercy. Take your thoughts captive. Offer your body to God. And then lift your eyes beyond yourself.
The same grace that enables you to mortify sin also equips you to advance Christ’s Kingdom. The same Law that exposes your need also defines the goodness God intends to spread to the ends of the earth.
He has told us what is good. By His Spirit, let us walk in it—faithfully, humbly, and boldly—until the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
In Christ’s service and yours,
Nick Esch