Here is an excerpt from my manuscript:

THE MAN OF ROMANS SEVEN
There is a particular passage in Romans Seven that is commonly misunderstood; which is not surprising, since the apostle Paul wrote it. He was once accused of being mad with much learning: “Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.” (Acts 26:24) Of course it wasn’t true, but even the apostle Peter confessed, “Our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood.” (2 Peter 3:15, 16)

Paul records a graphic, first-person account of the battle with our sinful nature. As every faithful disciple of Jesus can attest, our fallen nature bombards us every day with unholy thoughts and feelings and, as brave soldiers of the cross, we must steadfastly resist them. We must fight the “good fight of faith.” (1 Timothy 6:12) Our sinful condition is equiva-lent to combat. Christianity is a battle and a march. A drastic and desperate war between the mind of our sinful nature and the mind of our new man wages within the hearts of every born again believer.

In Romans Seven, Paul attempts to explain the nature and essence of this warfare: “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

“Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7:14–25)

At first glance this Scripture seems to blame sinning on sinful flesh. But we know fallen nature cannot commit a sin. There is no excuse for sinning, and Paul, of all people, would have been the last person to excuse sinful thoughts, words, or behavior. He was the origi-nal zealot. Paul firmly taught and believed that Jesus “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:14) “Let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.” (Hebrews 6:1)

Paul boldly declared the truth about righteousness by faith. In his mind, we are born again dead to sin and awake to righteousness. “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin . . . Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof . . . For sin shall not have dominion over you . . . Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness . . . But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” (Romans 6:2, 6, 7, 12, 14, 18, 22)

Again, we must interpret difficult quotes in the context of overwhelming evidence. What-ever Paul is saying in Romans Seven we know it cannot contradict what he has plainly written elsewhere. So, with this in mind, let’s consider the obvious. The origin of the thing he hates is “the sin that dwelleth in me . . . that is, in my flesh.” What is the one thing that sinful nature can “do” that Paul finds so detestable? By now the answer should be clear. The only thing fallen nature can “do” is harass us with unholy thoughts and feelings. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Galatians 5:17)

As a born again believer, Paul could confidently say, “Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” No doubt Paul, ever mindful of his sinful past, is trying to explain the post-conversion origin and existence of unholy thoughts and feelings. The cultivated evil propensities associated with sinful character cannot possibly be the source of them. Why? Because our defective traits of character are crucified when we are born again. That leaves sinful nature. Sinful nature, and its evil propensities, is clearly the cul-prit. And that is precisely what Paul is saying in Romans Seven. It’s the only interpretation that does not accuse Paul of excusing or justifying sinful thoughts, words, or deeds.

“For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” Divorced from its context, this passage does seem to describe an inexperienced believer, who cannot stop falling in and out of sin. However, the larger context (Romans 6–8), as we have already discovered, emphatically disallows this conclusion. Paul is definitely describ-ing a converted Christian, one who is walking in the Spirit and mind of the new man. “I consent unto the law that it is good . . . For I delight in the law of God after the inward man . . . So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God.” (Romans 7:16, 22, 25)

Understanding this passage requires remembering that born again believers possess a sinful nature which has, as it were, a mind and voice of its own. We are born again with both the sinless mind of the new man and the sinful mind of fallen flesh. However, Paul uses one personal pronoun to represent two opposing forces: the mind of the new man and the mind of sinful nature. This is the source of confusion. Consequently, we must determine which “I” refers to the mind of the new man and which “I” refers to the mind of sinful nature. The context makes it obvious. For example: “For that which I [sinful nature] do, I [new man] allow not: for what I [new man] would, that do I [sinful nature] not; but what I [new man] hate, that do I [sinful nature].” (Romans 7:15)

Paul’s basic idea is that sinful nature wants the new man to do things that are completely repulsive to a sanctified mind. The key phrase is, “I allow not.” So, let’s paraphrase verse 15, quoted above, to reflect this intent. “A sanctified mind does not allow the new man to do the things his sinful nature wants him to do. Why? Because it wants him to do the very things the new man hates doing.” What do you think? Doesn’t that make more sense! If you are still confused by the words Paul employed to express this idea, please keep in mind he cannot possibly be referring to sinning when he writes, “But what I hate, that do I.” The doing he mentions here can only mean that which sinful nature can do; and the only thing it can “do” is produce unholy thoughts and feelings. It cannot commit a sin.

As if to seal his argument, Paul refers to Jesus, who came in the likeness of sinful flesh, and who condemned the sin in His flesh by resisting the temptations it produced. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1–4)

“Christ’s perfect humanity is the same that man may have through connection with Christ. As God, Christ could not be tempted any more than He was not tempted from His allegiance in heaven. But as Christ humbled Himself to the nature of man, He could be tempted. He had not taken on Him even the nature of the angels, but humanity, perfectly identical with our own nature, except without the taint of sin. A human body, a human mind, with all the peculiar properties, He was bone, brain, and muscle. A man of our flesh, He was compassed with the weakness of human-ity. The circumstances of His life were of that character that He was exposed to all the inconveniences that belong to men, not in wealth, not in ease, but in poverty and want and humiliation. He breathed the very air man must breathe. He trod our earth as man. He had reason, conscience, memory, will, and affections of the hu-man soul which was united with His divine nature.

“Our Lord was tempted as man is tempted. He was capable of yielding to tempta-tions, as are human beings. His finite nature was pure and spotless, but the divine nature that led Him to say to Philip, ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father’ also, was not humanized; neither was humanity deified by the blending or union of the two natures; each retained its essential character and properties.

“But here we must not become in our ideas common and earthly, and in our per-verted ideas we must not think that the liability of Christ to yield to Satan’s tempta-tions degraded His humanity and He possessed the same sinful, corrupt propensi-ties as man.

“The divine nature, combined with the human, made Him capable of yielding to Satan’s temptations. Here the test to Christ was far greater than that of Adam and Eve, for Christ took our nature, fallen but not corrupted, and would not be cor-rupted unless He received the words of Satan in the place of the words of God. To suppose He was not capable of yielding to temptation places Him where He cannot be a perfect example for man, and the force and the power of this part of Christ’s humiliation, which is the most eventful, is no instruction or help to human beings.

“But the facts of this history are not fable, but a living, acting, experience. [To deny this] would rob Jesus of His greatest glory – allegiance to God – which enshrouded Him as a garment in this world on the field of battle with the relentless foe, and He is not reckoned with the transgressor. He descended in His humiliation to be tempted as man would be tempted, and His nature was that of man, capable of yielding to temptation. His very purity and holiness were assailed by a fallen foe, the very one that became corrupted and then was ejected from heaven. How deeply and keenly must Christ have felt this humiliation.

“How do fallen angels look upon this pure and uncontaminated One, the Prince of Life, through the different stages of His humiliation? They look upon the scene, the Son of the living God humiliated to take upon Himself the nature of man and meet the strong man armed with all his weapons of deception and falsehood to overcome Jesus Christ. And every victory gained, how precious it is in behalf of the human family, exalting, elevating, ennobling the workmanship of God; and Satan has been at work for centuries, degrading, debasing, and prostituting all his powers to do his hellish work.

“The humanity of Christ received the fallen foe and engaged in battle with him. He was sustained in the conflict by divine power just as man will be sustained by his being a partaker of the divine nature. He gained victory after victory as our Cham-pion, the Captain of our salvation, and the divine approval of God and all the uni-verse of heaven flowed into His soul. His nature was shocked almost unto death, but the heavenly angels ministered unto the suffering One.

“All heaven rejoiced because humanity, the workmanship of God, was placed in an elevated scale with God by the signal victory gained. Christ was more than con-queror, leaving the way open that man may be more than conqueror through Christ’s merits, because He loved him. The Son of the infinite God is brought into the tenderest sympathies with the tempted church. He knows how to succor those who shall be tempted, because He was Himself tempted.” (16MR 181-184)

The example of Jesus proves we are neither guilty of, nor responsible for, the unholy thoughts and feelings our sinful nature produces. “Jesus revealed no qualities, and exer-cised no powers, that men may not have through faith in Him. His perfect humanity is that which all His followers may possess, if they will be in subjection to God as He was.” (DA 664) “The Saviour took upon Himself the infirmities of humanity and lived a sinless life, that men might have no fear that because of the weakness of human nature they could not overcome. Christ came to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature,’ and His life declares that humanity, combined with divinity, does not commit sin.” (MH 180)

“The Christian life is a battle and a march. But the victory to be gained is not won by human power. The field of conflict is the domain of the heart. The battle which we have to fight, the greatest battle that was ever fought by man, is the surrender of self to the will of God, the yielding of the heart to the sovereignty of love. The old nature, born of blood and of the will of the flesh, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The hereditary tendencies, the former habits, must be given up.” (MB 141)

“Genuine conversion brings us daily into communion with God. There will be temptations to meet, and a strong undercurrent drawing us from God to our former state of indifference and sinful forgetfulness of God. No human heart can remain strong without divine grace. No man can remain converted unless he takes care of himself and the Master has a care for him. Unless the heart holds fast to God, and God holds fast to him, he will become self-confident and exalted and will surely stumble and fall. The power of God through faith was Paul’s dependence. ‘I live; yet not I,’ he exclaims in his humility, ‘but Christ liveth in me.’ Galatians 2:20.” (TDG 277)

“The converted soul has a hatred of sin; he does not indulge in self-complacency, self-love, self-sufficiency, nor pass on day after day, claiming to be a Christian, and yet bringing dishonor upon Christ by misrepresenting him in character. Those who make this mistake, and pass on filled with self-righteousness, have not in reality made the first step heavenward. The first step toward heaven is conviction of sin, the second is repentance and obedience. True piety never exalts self.” (RH 9-17-1895)

Mike, you quoted quite a few SOP quotes, but none of them seemed to have to do with Romans 7. OTOH, the quotes Rosangela cited, do have to do with Romans 7:

quote:

---

It is not enough to perceive the loving-kindness of God, to see the benevolence, the fatherly tenderness, of His character. It is not enough to discern the wisdom and justice of His law, to see that it is founded upon the eternal principle of love. Paul the apostle saw all this when he exclaimed, ‘I consent unto the law that it is good.’ ‘The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.’ But he added, in the bitterness of his soul-anguish and despair, ’I am carnal, sold under sin.’ Romans 7:16, 12, 14. He longed for the purity, the righteousness, to which in himself he was powerless to attain, and cried out, ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?’ Romans 7:24, margin. Such is the cry that has gone up from burdened hearts in all lands and in all ages. To all, there is but one answer, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ John 1:29.” {SC 19.1}

---

quote:

---

Paul realized his weakness, and well he might distrust his own strength. Referring to the law, he says, ‘The commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.’ He had trusted in the deeds of the law. He says, concerning his own outward life, that as ‘touching the law’ he was ‘blameless;’ and he put his trust in his own righteousness. But when the mirror of the law was held up before him, and he saw himself as God saw him, full of mistakes, stained with sin, he cried out, ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ Paul beheld the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He heard the voice of Christ saying, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.’ He determined to avail himself of the benefits of saving grace, to become dead to trespasses and sins, to have his guilt washed away in the blood of Christ, to be clothed with Christ's righteousness, to become a branch of the Living Vine.” {ST, November 24, 1890 par. 6}

---

I agree with you to a point, that tempation comes to us by way of the flesh. I also agree with the principles you laid out, which is shown in Galatians 5. However, in Romans 7, Paul seems to be referring back to his expreience before knowing Christ and contrasting it with the experience of the new man in Romans 8.

The following is from E. J. Waggoner from his articiles on Romans.

quote:

---

A Divided Man. "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." That is, of course, while in the condition described in the preceding verses. In purpose he serves the law of God, but in actual practice he serves the law of sin. As described in another place, "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye can not do the things that ye would." Gal. 5:17. It is not a state of actual service to God, because we read in our next chapter that "they that are in the flesh can not please God." It is a state from which one may well pray to be delivered, so that he can serve the Lord not merely with the mind, but with his whole being. "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." 1 Thess. 5:23, 24.

We now come to the conclusion of the whole matter. In the eighth chapter of Romans the epistle reaches its highest point. The seventh has presented to us the deplorable condition of the man who has been awakened by the law to a sense of his condition, bound to sin by cords that can be loosened only by death. It closes with a glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ as the One who alone can set us free from the body of death.

---

Mike,

quote:

---

The only thing fallen nature can “do” is harass us with unholy thoughts and feelings.

---

“For what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I”
“Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
“For to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”
“For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”

Paul is prodigal in the use of synonymous verbs in this chapter to express “do” and “perform”, and these verbs all refer to actions: the verb prasso (vv. 15, 19), the verb poieo (vv. 16, 19, 20, 21), and the verb katergazomai (vv. 17, 18, 20).

quote:

---

Understanding this passage requires remembering that born again believers possess a sinful nature which has, as it were, a mind and voice of its own. We are born again with both the sinless mind of the new man and the sinful mind of fallen flesh.

---

You seem to believe that the born-again Christian has a carnal and a spiritual nature, and a carnal and a spiritual mind coexisting side by side. I don’t agree with this. In my opinion at the new birth the carnal mind ceases to exist and the carnal nature begins to be transformed. Many are of the opinion that the Christian has two natures, the carnal and the spiritual, and that there is a constant conflict between the two. I don’t believe this. I believe the Christian has just one nature, the carnal nature, and that this nature is day by day transformed in the similitude of the divine nature.

Rosangela, how do you understand being a partaker of the divine nature?

Tom, the divine nature is the nature of God, which is love. To be a partaker of the divine nature is to be a partaker of this love. God implants His love in us, and this love gradually changes the whole life into the divine similitude.

If Paul is referring to a born again believer who accidentally or unwillingly slips in and out of known sin, or if he is referring to an unconverted person who is unable to cease sinning, what, then, does Paul mean when he says:

quote:

---

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing... Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

---

Is Paul blame shifting? Is he blaming sinning on his fallen flesh nature? Can sinful flesh commit a sin against our desires? Sister White wrote the following:

AH 127, 128
The lower passions have their seat in the body and work through it. The words "flesh" or "fleshly" or "carnal lusts" embrace the lower, corrupt nature; the flesh of itself cannot act contrary to the will of God. We are commanded to crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts. How shall we do it? Shall we inflict pain on the body? No; but put to death the temptation to sin. The corrupt thought is to be expelled. Every thought is to be brought into captivity to Jesus Christ. All animal propensities are to be subjected to the higher powers of the soul. The love of God must reign supreme; Christ must occupy an undivided throne. Our bodies are to be regarded as His purchased possession. The members of the body are to become the instruments of righteousness. {AH 127.2}

Tom and Rosangela, I started a new thread to discuss sinful nature and partaking of the divine nature. Let's continue it there. Thank you.

This question may be answered by parts of your work not posted in this thread, however from the parts you have posted it seems that you are trying to prove that Paul is not talking about acctual sin. But at the same time you are assuming that this is the case. If these two statements are correct observations you might get some problems with having the work accepted due to circular reasoning...

/Thomas

An astute observation.