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Today's Pathway: Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

There are differences of opinion among commentators and preachers as to the focus of the last 12 verses of Romans 7. Some believe that Paul is describing his previous condition before he got saved. However, it is my opinion, based upon the verb tenses that are used, that Paul is discussing his current condition as a believer. Please note that in verses 7-13 that almost all the verbs are in the past tense (vs. 7 "had not"; vs. 8 "wrought"; vs. 9 "died"; vs.10 "found", vs. 11 "deceived", "slew"; vs. 13 "was"). However, beginning in verse 14 most of the verbs are in the present tense (vs. 14 "am"; vs. 15 "do"; vs. 16 "consent"; vs. 17 "dwelleth"; vs 18 "dwelleth"; vs 19 "do"; vs. 20 "dwelleth"). Something changed between verses 13 and 14. That change is Paul's salvation. In the previous verses he is talking about how sin impacted him before he got saved. Beginning in verse 14 he will be discussing how sin is affecting him since he got saved.

In verse 14 Paul once again states that the law is spiritual, indicating that whatever sin issues he had were not the fault of God or God's law. The problem is that Paul is "carnal". The word "carnal" simply means "fleshly", or "pertaining to the flesh". Galatians 5:19-21 spells out seventeen "works of the flesh" (same root Greek word as "carnal"), all of which are sinful. Paul is no longer a slave to sin as he was before his conversion, but the passions of sin that his flesh previously desired are still present with him. He is not completely under their influence; but the tendency of his flesh is to indulge in them. Paul also refers to himself in verse 14 as being "sold under sin". It is interesting to note that Paul did not say that he sold himself. In I Kings 21:25 it is written that the evil King Ahab "did sell himself to work wickedness". This is not what Paul did. He was sold by something else: his sin nature. He is not sin's slave; but he indicates that there are times when he is sin's captive against his will. In Romans 7:23 he describes this as "bringing me into captivity to the law of sin". Even though it was against his will and consent, he was still subject to the lusts and assaults of sin.

How is it possible for a believer, who has been freed from sin and crucified with Christ, to still be carnal and subject to sin? George Zeller answered this question well, and I will let him do the talking here.

"First of all we recognize that there is a sense in which a true believer is not carnal. Romans 8:9 says

"ye are not in the flesh (carnal), but in the Spirit." Paul referred to his unsaved life as the time when he was "in the flesh".

In other words, positionally speaking, a true believer is no longer in the carnal realm, but he is in the Spirit realm. He is in Christ and Christ is in him. Also, positionally speaking, the saved person is no longer a slave of sin as we have seen in Romans 6:17. However, in Romans 7:14 Paul is not referring to his glorious position, but to his actual condition. He is referring to his actual experience of living the Christian life. And it is possible for a true Christian to have a carnal "walk" (I Cor. 3:1-4). This does not mean that Paul’s Christian life was marked by and characterized by carnality. This is contradicted by everything we know about the apostle. But we must say that Romans 7:15-24 was the apostle’s very real experience and every honest believer must confess that to one degree or another he too has experienced the very same thing and gone through the same struggle that is here depicted by the apostle."

Tomorrow we will look at how Paul describes this struggle