Page 810 - The MacArthur Daily Bible

TN_08_MacArthur_Bible_Aug.qxd 8/8/03 16:20 Page 791

AUGUST 6
apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
9
once without the law, but when the command- 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh)
10
ment came, sin revived and I died. And the nothing good dwells; for to will is present with
commandment, which was to bring life, I me, but how to perform what is good I do not
19
found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do;
11
by the commandment, deceived me, and by it but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer
12
commandment holy and just and good. I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
13 Has then what is good become death to 21 I find then a law, that evil is present with
22
me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might me, the one who wills to do good. For I de-
appear sin, was producing death in me light in the law of God according to the inward
23
through what is good, so that sin through the man. But I see another law in my members,
commandment might become exceedingly warring against the law of my mind, and bring-
sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, ing me into captivity to the law of sin which is
14
15
but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am in my members. O wretched man that I am!
24
doing, I do not understand. For what I will to Who will deliver me from this body of death?
do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
16
I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree So then, with the mind I myself serve the
17
with the law that it is good. But now, it is no law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
DAY 5: In Romans 7:7–25, is Paul describing his own experience as a believer or unbeliever?
Paul uses the personal pronoun “I” throughout this passage, using his own experience as an
example of what is true of unredeemed humanity (7:7–12) and of true Christians (7:13–25). Some
interpret this chronicle of Paul’s inner conflict as describing his life before Christ.They point out that
Paul describes the person as “sold under sin”(7:14), as having “nothing good”in him (7:18), and as a
“wretched man” trapped in a “body of death” (7:24). Those descriptions seem to contradict Paul’s
earlier description of the believer (6:2,6,7,11,17,18,22).
It is correct, however, to understand Paul here to be speaking about a believer. This person
desires to obey God’s law and hates sin (7:15,19,21). He is humble, recognizing that nothing good
dwells in his humanness (7:18). He sees sin in himself, but not as all that is there (7:17,20–22). And
he serves Jesus Christ with his mind (7:25).Paul has already established that none of those attitudes
ever describe the unsaved (1:18–21,32; 3:10–20). Paul’s use of the present tense verbs in 7:14–25
strongly supports the idea that he was describing his current experience as a Christian.
Even those who agree that Paul was speaking as a genuine believer, however, still find room
for disagreement. Some see a carnal, fleshly Christian under the influence of old habits. Others see
a legalistic Christian, frustrated by his feeble attempts in his own power to please God by keeping
the Mosaic Law.But the personal pronoun “I”refers to the apostle Paul,a standard of spiritual health
and maturity. This leads to the conclusion that Paul, in 7:7–25, must be describing all Christians—
even the most spiritual and mature—who, when they honestly evaluate themselves against the
righteous standard of God’s law, realize how far short they fall. Notice, particularly, Paul’s honesty
and transparency in the four laments (7:14–17,18–20,21–23,24–25).

May that day be darkness;
4
AUGUST 6 May God above not seek it,
Nor the light shine upon it.
5
May darkness and the shadow of death
claim it;
Job 3:1–4:21 May a cloud settle on it;
May the blackness of the day terrify it.
After this Job opened his mouth and
6 As for that night, may darkness seize it;
3 cursed the day of his birth. And Job
2
spoke, and said: May it not rejoice among the days of
the year,
3 “May the day perish on which I was May it not come into the number of the
born, months.
And the night in which it was said, 7 Oh, may that night be barren!
‘A male child is conceived.’ May no joyful shout come into it!
791