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What we are discussing here is why it is so
important to interpret Romans 7 correctly. We are not getting into details
in this article and comparing Scriptures. We will do that later.
Ever since the church began there have been unsettled debates over certain
issues. People are divided into camps that take one side or the other and
there they drop anchor and most refuse to be persuaded, or even consider the
other point of view, no matter how graciously or convincingly it is
presented. Some of these issues are not really that important, and there is
really very little consequence of believing either side of the issue. For
example, we are told in Col. 2:16-17:
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or
in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath
days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
The next verse continues by talking about
“worshipping of angels,” and “intruding into those things which he hath not
seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” There are a lot of people who
make much of things that God doesn’t. According to the Scripture we just
read it is because they are vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind. It seems
that the tendency of people is to “be religious” or at least to appear that
way. People tend to substitute knowledge and education, religious dress,
customs, or activities for true holiness. The defending of these things
becomes their life’s purpose. They are blinded to the really important
issues that affect the way sinners and saints perceive and understand the
gospel. They are blinded to the things that God really does expect of the
redeemed, and to those things that truly please Him. They become arrogant
and haughty toward anyone who doesn’t agree with them on some point of
religious practice. This is nothing but old-fashioned Pharisee-ism and God
hates it!
We are commanded to “…earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints.” There are issues that are critically important
and define what the gospel message is, what it does for a sinner, and what
salvation really is. Romans chapter 7 is one of those issues. How you
interpret Romans 7 reveals what you think about the gospel and salvation.
Either you believe that there is real deliverance for the sinner, or you
believe the Christian life is one of continual bondage in sin and misery. In
times past there was much more debate about Romans 7, but in this day of
apostasy we have seen the liberal interpretation become almost universally
accepted. Easy-believism has filled the churches with unconverted people who
are deceived and think they are saved because they have done what the
soul-winner or preacher told them to do. This liberal interpretation of
Romans chapter 7 explains perfectly why these people can sit on the church
pews, tithe, and participate in all the church activities while living in
adultery, fornication, drunkenness, hatred, strife and all the other sins of
the flesh.
According to the most commonly accepted interpretation of Romans chapter 7
we are all “carnal, sold under sin,” even though we are saved. We want to do
right, but simply are not able, and this is the BEST you can expect to
obtain in your Christian life. This abomination is preached everywhere and
most who sit in the pews woo and coo as they hear a preacher explain how
they can sin and get away with it. They identify with all the things that
the Bible elsewhere ascribes to a lost person and claim it as their
Christian experience. After all, it sure does take the load of guilt off
your back if you are dabbling in sin. “I can’t help it” is the best excuse
there is.
Some seem to think this is not an important matter and criticize anyone who
makes an issue of it. However, this IS a VERY important matter. This liberal
interpretation of Romans 7 is the foundation or starting point for all of
the modern sinning religion. It is also one of the major building blocks of
Calvinistic doctrine. If Romans 7 is a description of the normal Christian
experience, then we need to somehow get rid of Romans 6 and 8, as well as a
great deal of the rest of the New Testament because it completely
contradicts this teaching.
Your interpretation of Romans 7 will determine how you live your life. It
will make the difference in whether you strive to live a holy life or just
give up to the inevitable and make allowances for sin in your life because
you just “can’t help it.”
The way the preachers interpret Romans 7 will determine whether the churches
they preach in seek after holiness or just become worldly, carnal, and
careless about sin. If a preacher preaches to people that they are carnal,
sold under sin, and that the best they can expect as a Christian is simply
to desire to do right, but never be able, he need not expect them to hunger
and thirst after righteousness. He has very effectively annihilated any
incentive or desire to deny their lusts and seek after holiness. What’s the
point? No matter how hard I try I will never be able! “O wretched man that I
am!” What a pitiful representation of the salvation that Christ provided for
us by dying in our place and rising again from the dead!
Since this interpretation is almost universally accepted now, is it any
wonder that the churches are filled with sin, worldliness, and carnality?
The tragedy is that the churches are filled with people who are as lost as
they can be, but who have been deceived into thinking they are saved. There
are also multitudes that are outside the church who are laying claim to the
same watered-down gospel that doesn’t deliver from sin. When you make the
way that broad there is room for anyone, no matter how they live or how
black their heart is. We now live in a day when even pornographic movie
stars claim to be born-again Christians who pray and read their Bible every
night. Because preachers have preached this abominable distortion of the
Scriptures they are absolutely powerless to deny such claims. Things like
this are the direct result of preaching that makes no difference between the
clean and the unclean; between the holy and the unholy.
If we accept this liberal interpretation of Romans 7 as correct, then we
really have no message of deliverance to proclaim. There is no deliverance
for the sinner here in this world – only an offer of “pie-in-the-sky
bye-and-bye.” Jesus is really not the Saviour because what He did really
didn’t deliver us from our sins. Death is our saviour because it is the only
real hope of freedom from sin that we have. We cannot tell the hopeless
sinner that God will deliver him because we don’t believe that He will. All
we can tell him is that if he will trust Christ he will always WANT to do
good, but he will never be able. He will never have victory over his sin in
this world, but he can look forward to death when he will finally be freed
from his sin. His testimony as a Christian will be “O wretched man that I
am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?”
If we are going to believe that Romans 7 describes a normal saved person
then we need to rewrite our songbooks. Have you ever noticed that most of
the hymns in our songbooks are about victory and deliverance from sin. “O
Happy Day, when Jesus washed my sins away!” “He set me free, yes He set me
free, He broke the bonds of prison for me.” “I am so wondrously saved from
sin, Jesus so sweetly abides within.” The next verse of that song says, “I
am so glad I have entered in; there Jesus saves me and keeps me clean; Glory
to His Name!” “Tell to sinners far and wide, Jesus saves, Jesus saves!”
“Standing on the promises I now can see, perfect, present cleansing in the
blood for me.” We could go on with this endlessly because any church hymnal
you pick up is going to be full of songs that talk about deliverance from
sin and victory in Jesus. The old songwriters didn’t believe this modern,
liberal interpretation of Romans 7. They believed the Bible in its entirety
and they believed that salvation was more than defeat and misery. There are
some of us who still believe that way today. Jesus DOES save sinners from
their sin. “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature.” “Whatsoever is
born of God overcometh the world.”
And it DOES matter what we believe about Romans 7!
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