It is very unfortunate that
there is a chapter division separating Romans 7:25
and 8:1. C. H. Spurgeon observes correctly: “We once
heard a friend say, ‘I have gone out of seventh of
Romans into the eighth.’ Nonsense! There is no
getting out of one into the other, for they are one.
I thank God with all my heart that since my
conversion I have never known what it is to be out
of the seventh of Romans, nor out of the eighth of
Romans either. The whole passage has been solid
truth to my experience. I have struggled against
inward sin, and rejoiced in complete justification
at the same time” (Sermons Preached in 1886 by C. H.
Spurgeon, vol. xvii, p. 274).
“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. Therefore there
is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus” (Romans 7:25-8:1, NASB1995).
There is no break in what the
apostle says to the mature believer in this passage.
To force a division is artificial.
“The fact is, that believers
are in a state of conflict, but not in a state of
condemnation, and that at the very time when the
conflict is hottest the believer is still
justified.” Our sin nature has not been eradicated.
We are in a fierce battle which will not go away
until we are presented complete in Christ at His
coming.
Moreover, “The man who never
strives against the sin which dwells in him, who
indeed is not conscious of any sin to strive against
that is the man who may begin to question whether he
knows anything at all about the spiritual life. He
who has no inward pain may well suspect that he is
abiding in death, abiding therefore under constant
condemnation; but that man who feels a daily
striving after deliverance from evil, who is
panting, and pining, and longing, and agonizing to
become holy even as God is holy, he is the justified
man. The man to whom every sin is a misery, to whom
even the thought of iniquity is intolerable, he is
the man who may with confidence declare, ‘There is
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus.’ Souls that sigh for holiness are not
condemned to eternal death for their sighing proves
that they are in Christ Jesus” (Spurgeon, p. 275).
There is now no condemnation
for the believer in Christ who is experiencing the
struggle in chapter seven of Romans. Every child of
God knows this struggle. No one has arrived at
sinless perfection if he is honest with himself.
Paul is describing his own walk as a mature
Christian. “Every child of God must know this
conflict if he knows himself. . . . It is an
accurate picture of the inner life of the struggling
believer.” It is an accurate description of the soul
struggling after purity.
This passage should cause the
Christian to rejoice in the great salvation God has
provided in His profound free grace. “There is now
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
The indwelling Holy Spirit is
the source of divine power for sanctification and
the secret for our spiritual victory in living a
Christ-centered life. We have been justified,
declared righteous, and stand in His free grace. We
are no longer under the wrath of God. We have
eternal life now.
Yes, it was humiliating for the
apostle, just as it should be for us to confess we
are weak, and we do faith to be all God wants us to
be. “I find then a law, that when I would do good,
evil is present with me. . . O wretched man that I
am! Who will deliver me 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. There is therefore now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Wil is a graduate of William
Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific
University, M. A. He has pastored in Panama, Ecuador
and the U. S, and served for over 20 years as
missionary in Ecuador and Honduras. He had a daily
expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100
countries from 1972-2005. He continues to seek
opportunities to be personally involved in world
missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown
daughters. He currently serves as a Baptist pastor
and teaches seminary extension courses in Ecuador.
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