Camp 3: Sanctification
Romans 7:14-25 NASB
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?25 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.
OUTLINE
- Conflict (v. 14-17)
- Conflict (v. 18-20)
- Conflict (v. 21-23)
- Conclusion (v. 24-25)
QUESTIONS
- Read through Romans 7:14-25. What is Paul trying to communicate here?
- Do you believe Paul is converted in this passage or do you think he is speaking as someone who is unsaved?
- Do you think Christians have to fight and struggle against sin or do you think they are free?
- What positive things does Paul say about himself here? What negative things does he say about himself? How can these both be true at the same time?
- Have you been discouraged by sin and failure? What hope does this chapter give to encourage us?