Was Paul Struggling with Sin?

 

Introduction

The second half of Romans 7 has become the focal text determining whether the Saint can successfully refrain from sinning. Some believe the doctrine of Sinless Perfection, which states that one can become ‘entirely sanctified’ so that he looses the ability to sin. Others claim that the most successful among the Saints are bound to sin at least once in a while, if not on a daily basis. This second view is encapsulated in “I’m just a sinner saved by grace.” This document will examine Romans 6 through 8 as a unit to see what is right.

Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? ²Absolutely not. How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer in it? ³Know ye not that as many of us as were baptized into Yeshua Christ were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death so that, just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also of the resurrection, ⁶knowing this–that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. ⁷For he that is dead is freed from sin. ⁸Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death has no more dominion over him. ¹⁰For in that He died, He died unto sin once. And in that He lives, He lives unto God. ¹¹Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God through Yeshua Christ our Lord. ¹²Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in its lusts. ¹³Neither yield ye your members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. But yield yourselves unto God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members instruments of righteousness unto God. ¹⁴For sin shall not have dominion over you. For ye are not under the law, but under grace. ¹⁵What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? Absolutely not! ¹⁶Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness? ¹⁷But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that was delivered you. ¹⁸Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. ¹⁹I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. ²⁰For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. ²¹What fruit had ye then in those things of which ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²²But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end–everlasting life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Yeshua Christ our Lord. 7:1Know ye not brethren (for I speak to them that know the law) that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ²For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to the husband so long as he lives. But if the husband is dead, she is loosed from the law of the husband. ³So then if she be married to another man while the husband lives, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband is dead, she is free from that law so that she is no adulteress though she is married to another man. ⁴Therefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ so that ye should be married to another—to Him who is raised from the dead—that we should bring forth fruit unto God. ⁵For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins that were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. ⁶But we are now delivered from the law, that being dead in which we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not the oldness of the letter. ⁷What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! No, I had not known sin but by the law. For I had not known lust except the law had said, “Thou shalt not covet.” ⁸But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin is dead. ⁹For I was alive without the law once. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. ¹⁰And I found the commandment that is to life unto death! ¹¹For sin deceived me, taking occasion by the commandment, and by it slew [me]. ¹²Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. ¹³Was, then, that which is good made death unto me? Absolutely not. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual. And I am carnal, sold under sin. ¹⁵For I don’t allow what I do. For what I would, that don’t do. But what I hate, I do that! ¹⁶If then I do what I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. ¹⁷Now, then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but to perform that which is good–I don’t find. ¹⁹For I don’t do the good that I would. But the evil that I would not–I do that! ²⁰Now if I do what I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. ²¹I find, then, a law—that when I would do good, evil is present with me. ²²For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. ²³But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin that is in my members. ²⁴O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? ²⁵I thank God—through Yeshua Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with the mind, but the law of sin with the flesh. 8:1Therefore, now, no condemnation is to them who are in Christ Yeshua. ²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Yeshua has made me free from the law of sin and death. ³For 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 ⁴that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk–not after the flesh–but after the Spirit. ⁵For they who are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, and they who are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. ⁶For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷For the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. ⁸So then, they who are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit—if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. ¹⁰And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, and the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of Him Who raised Yeshua from the dead dwells in you, He Who raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you. ¹²Therefore, brethren, we are debtors–not to the flesh to live after the flesh. ¹³For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye mortify the deeds of the body through the Spirit, ye shall live. ¹⁴For as many as are led by the Spirit of God—they are the sons of God. ¹⁵For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of ‘sonshipment’ by which we cry “Abba!” “Father!” ¹⁶The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, ¹⁷and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with [Him], that we may be also glorified together. ¹⁸For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy [to be compared] with the glory that shall be revealed in us. ¹⁹For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God! ²⁰For the creation was made subject to vanity—not willingly, but by reason of Him who has subjected in hope. ²¹For the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. ²³And not only [they] but ourselves also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit–even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the ‘sonshipment’—the redemption of our Body! ²⁴For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees–why does he yet hope for? ²⁵But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for [it] with patience. ²⁶Likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmities. For we don’t know for what we should pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. ²⁷And He Who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to God. ²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God—to them who are the called according to purpose. ²⁹For whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰And whom He did predestinate, He also called them. And whom He called, He also justified them. And whom He justified, He also glorified them. ³¹What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³²He Who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all—how shall He not also freely give us all things with Him? ³³Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? God is Who justifies. ³⁴Who is he who condemns? Christ is Who died—yea rather Who is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also makes intercession for us! ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation? or distress? or persecution? or famine? or nakedness? or peril? or sword? ³⁶as it is written, “We are killed all the day long for Thy sake. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. ³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come ³⁹nor height nor depth nor any other creation shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Yeshua our Lord!

 

Romans 6

Verses 1 and 2 teach that those identified as we are not to continue in sin, because they are dead to sin. It would be strange for a dead person to continue doing something that he did when he was alive.

Who are the we? Are they Saints or non-saints? Verse 3 identifies them as those who are “baptized in Messiah Yeshua,” and thus, baptized into His death. Are they Saints? Paul was not referring to counterfeits. They are Saints. (A Saint is anyone who is born of God, having Salvation.)

What does “not continue in sin” mean? To not continue means to stop. Texts must be taken literally.

Verse 4 continues, baptism is a burial into death. Since Messiah was literally raised up from the dead (by the glory of the Father), so we are also to walk in newness of life. If anyone continues to ‘occasionally sin’ (which is what he did before salvation), how does this demonstrate genuine newness of life? This makes no sense. The issue of this text is sin, not salvation. If salvation is still in question, other texts cover salvation much better.

Verses 5-7 speak of death and resurrection. The “old man is crucified” (not “being crucified”), that the Body of sin might be destroyed (the result of the old man being crucified). The accent is on this statement: “Henceforth (from now on) we are not to serve sin!” If anyone still serves sin, what good did the act of being baptized into Messiah’s death accomplish for him?

Anyone who is dead is freed from sin. This Old Man of sin is a group, not an individual. It is a Body. The New Man is also a Body. One must leave the Old Man of sin and be placed in the New Man.

Verses 8-11: A resurrection depends upon first being dead with Messiah. There is no basis for a hope in the resurrection if one is not dead in Messiah. No one can be partially dead. Anyone who claims to be still connected to an “old man” does not yet have the assurance of the resurrection.

Verse 9 demonstrates the finality of the death of Messiah and the finality of His resurrection. These statements are all absolute, not progressive in nature.

Verse 10 states that Messiah lives unto God. He no longer needs to repeat the dying process, and neither does anyone who has been born of God. The process is completed never to be done again.

The ‘likewise’ of verse 11 cannot be overstated. The Saint is to reckon himself to be dead indeed unto sin. To reckon is to consider something factual. The Believer is not to live in a dream world. Anyone who reckons himself to be something that he is not is living a lie, not the truth. Messiah is only interested in Truth, not in visualization or self-deception. He desires an honest self-appraisal.

Verses 12-14 give the result of this reckoning. If someone is reigning or ruling, he has the power. If sin is reigning, sin has the power. No Saint is to give sin any power. He is not to obey sin in any of sin’s lusts. Anyone who still sins is doing the opposite of the commands of these verses.

Members of the Body are the bodily parts. Yielding bodily parts to be instruments of unrighteousness is giving in to sin. Sinning daily (or even once a week) is voluntarily yielding bodily parts as instruments of unrighteousness. Some so-called “Christians” are stupid (brutish, K.J.V.) and are not able to understand these texts. Unbelievers know the right standard for Christians. They become outraged (or entertained) if a Christian sins.

Anyone born of God and truly alive from the dead is to yield to God. If he does not, this whole chapter does not apply to him. Yielding to righteousness and to God is to not sin. It is not a struggle; it is a yielding. Anyone who is struggling to not sin shows that he hasn’t been born of God. He is still a slave trying to break free. The word yield means to not contend, to not give resistance; to let another do what he is going to do without hindrance.

Verse 14 states that sin shall not have dominion over anyone who is yielded unto God. A dead person is not under the penalties of the Law, as Paul states:

Colossians 2:14 And you—being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh—He has made-alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, that was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. ¹⁵Having spoiled principalities and powers, He openly made a show of them, triumphing over them in it.

Messiah, in His death, blotted out the handwriting of the ordinances (not the Law) that specified the crimes of which each one was guilty.

A dead person is not under the Law. The Law only has contention with those who are alive and are violating it. A corpse does not—indeed cannot—violate the Law! One who is dead (to sin) and alive (to God) is under the Grace of Yehovah, having taking advantage of that Grace! The Saint lives a lifestyle above the requirements and expectations of the Law, not under it, by this Grace. The Law (Torah) was given to unbelieving Israelis, not to Saints.

Verse 15 asks the question, “Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? Absolutely not!” Paul deals with sinning in this blatant and absolute manner.

Sin is unto death (verse 16). Obedience alone is unto righteousness. A man will be the servant of the one to whom he yields.

The historical fact (verse 17) is declared: “Ye were the servants to sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”

Yielding a group’s “members servants to righteousness unto holiness” (verse 19) is a choice. Paul would be foolish to tell the Romans to do something they could not do were this not the case.

(Verses 20-22) The tense of the statement “… for when ye were …” demonstrates that this is no longer the case. They are no longer “the servants of sin.” But now being made free from sin, and having become servants to God, they can bear fruit. No one in the state of death can bear fruit.

Verse 22 states that those identified as ye are freed from sin, they now have their fruit unto holiness, and the end, everlasting life. Verse 23 states that the wages of sin is death to them, and the gift of God is everlasting life. The wages of sin for the non-saint will not be death, since the non-saint is already dead. The wages of sin for the non-saint will be greater damnation.

 

Romans 7

According to verses 1-3, the extent of the Law only reaches to those who are physically alive. Verse 4 explains that the death of the man means that the man is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Law, not that the Law is abolished.

The purpose of this new life is to bring forth fruit. Sin kills, it doesn’t cause fruit production. Dead things don’t grow. They rot.

Verse 5: “When we were in the flesh” indicates that those identified as we are no longer in the flesh. We brought forth fruit unto death when we were in the flesh.

Verse 6: That in which we were held is dead. This group identified as we have been delivered out of the ‘hands’ of the Law. We are now to serve in newness of spirit, and not the oldness of the letter.

Verse 7: One purpose of the Law is to know what is and isn’t sin. The Law is good. Since the purpose of the Law is to know sin, if the Law had not been there, “I” (Paul—or whom he typifies) would not have known sin. (Verse 8:) But sin worked in ‘me’ every manner of concupiscence. Paul (or whom Paul typifies) recognized sin to be exactly what it was because the Law informed him!

Do not overlook the tenses of the statements. The Spirit of Yehovah is prophetically speaking through Paul in the past tense: “I had not known …” “… for when we were …” His reference is to the old life in contrast to newness of life in Messiah.

Verse 9: There was a time when the Law had nothing to do with Paul (and to the one Paul typifies). He was a child under the tutelage of parents. When he later learned the commandment, however, sin came alive for him. He found that the wages of sin were death. Paul died. He died as certainly as Adam and Eve died according to the promise, “In the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, dying, you will die!”

Verse 10: The commandment’s purpose was to life! (ohÐœ8j0k) It preserved the follower from being put to death until he (he or she) could come to faith if the follower refrained from death-penalty offenses. He would then no longer need the commandment in order to do righteousness; he simply would do righteousness (as he yielded to God). The commandment declared that the result would be death for anyone breaking the commandment, however.

Sin deceives, and sin slays. The commandment specified what sin is, and thus what is worthy of death. The Law declares sin and its consequences. It is of Yehovah, and it is holy. The commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

Verse 13 asks, since the commandment is good, and since, by the power of the commandment, sin slays, is the commandment made to be death? No. Sin works death by means of the commandment. (There would be no death if there were no commandment declaring something to be sin and a cause of death.) The commandment demonstrates that sin is exceedingly strong!

Verse 14: I ask you, Was Paul carnal, sold under sin at the time of this writing? The Greek is even stronger. It states that he sold himself to sin. This verse declares this in the present tense. Is this the condition of an inspired and infallible writer of a book of the Bible?

In one Jewish form of argument, it is usual to go from the past tense to the present. Look at the tenses of the verbs in the following quote: “I came and found the car gone. So I ran into the house. And what is the first thing I find? I find that the safe is missing too!” The tense changed, but it is still describing an event in the past. The Spirit of God through Paul either employed this technique, or Paul was in no condition to tell others that they need to be freed from sin.

Paul states in 6:20 and 6:22 that the Saints have been made free from sin and servanthood to sin, and have become servants to God. Did Paul change his mind?

To be “sold under sin” is to sell one’s self to be the servant to sin. Did Paul do that as a Saint? Would his writings be infallible if he were still a (voluntary) slave to sin?

Being carnal is walking after the flesh. Why does Paul refer to those who “do not walk after the flesh” (8:4) as if it is the norm for Saints?

If Paul was still carnal and sold under sin at the time of this writing, he certainly stated that we are not to be carnal or sold under sin! Was he confused about his own status? Nonsense. Paul is either discussing his past as if it is the present, prophesying for another whom he typifies, or he is quite the hypocrite, telling others to do what he never could accomplish until he was dead! Paul was not carnal or sold under sin at this time.

Verses 15 and 16 show the dilemma of the non-spiritual person who desires to do right on his own: he does the opposite of what he knows is right. It is a very part of his carnal nature!

Verse 17 demonstrates the result of “indwelling sin:” the tendency to sin! It is ‘only natural’! There is no ability to do good! (verse 18-20). Evil (only) is present with the sinner, with the carnal person, with the non-Saint. Paul found himself captive to the law of sin that was an integral part of him (when he was carnal, and when he was non-spiritual, verse 23). [In 8:2, he declares that he is free from the law of sin.]

How can anyone get free from carnality, from slavery to sin and from death? Only through Messiah Yeshua our Lord (verse 25). Until that happened, Paul could only serve the law of sin with his flesh. He was a slave. These texts demonstrate the futility of achieving salvation by works. Paul was righteous, a hot zealot, but he was not born of God. He was a slave to sin.

 

Romans 8

(Verse 1) Those who are in Messiah Yeshua have no condemnation, since the Law of the Spirit of life via Messiah Yeshua has made them free from the law of sin and death. One who is freed from the law of sin will no longer serve sin (Romans 6:12).

Was the problem the Law? The Law (verse 3) was weak by its weakest link: the flesh. The flesh could not uphold the righteousness of the Law. Only the Spirit of life could provide the support for the righteous life. Messiah came in the likeness of sinful flesh in order to condemn sin in the flesh. My Grandfather explained it this way: A perfectly sound nail will hold nothing if it is hammered into rotten wood. The Law is the nail, and the flesh is the rotten wood. The nail is weak because of its placement, not its design.

“The righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” There are only two types of individuals: those who “mind the things of the flesh” and those who “mind the things of the Spirit.” The result of being carnally minded is death. The result of being Spiritually minded is both life and peace.

The carnal mind is an enemy against God. It cannot be subject to the Law of God.

Verse 8 teaches that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The contrast is being in the Spirit. The “Spirit of God dwells in you.” No person without the Spirit of Messiah is holy to Messiah—Messiah’s property.

If Messiah is in anyone, the Body is dead (not dying) because of sin, and the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Verse 11 returns back to the original topic of Romans 6:5. If the Spirit of God dwells in anyone, he will be resurrected by God’s Spirit Who dwells in him. Only those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God (verse 14). Those who live after the flesh shall die (verse 13).

 

Sinless Perfection

Anyone who subscribes to the concepts of “sinless perfection” (the idea that the saint can and should reach a point where he cannot sin any longer while in the mortal body) is damnably deceived. The Scriptures warn the Saints of the dangers in this world:

1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

Sinless perfection is a doctrine for fools. Refusing to sin is the obligation and occupation of Saints.

 

Conclusion

Either Paul was a Spiritual schizophrenic or he was describing himself (in the second half of chapter 7) as he was before he turned to Messiah. Anyone who teaches that Paul had a struggle with sin and sinning throughout his Christian life is teaching the opposite of his own declaration of the liberty that every Saint enjoys—liberty from the slavery to sin and sinning.

Paul’s commands to the Romans are absolute: Do not yield the members of your body to sin and sinning under any circumstance. Yield to God and to righteousness.

Anyone who struggles to do right has not yet come to the point of mortifying the deeds of the body (8:13). He is still a slave in need of Salvation from sin.

The Saint has no excuse to continue sinning.