¹⁴ For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

Consternation in the Christian life finds no comfort in the Law, but rather conflict. A sort of love-hate relationship. The Law is inherently spiritual and good (see vs. 13). But we are “of flesh” and there is the rub, like skin against sandpaper. So Paul launches into the back-and-forth struggle well known to many honest souls. The inner struggles of two desires: to do the will of God as embodied in the Law, and to do the will of one’s own self, as embodied in the flesh. It leaves one feeling “wretched” as Paul summarizes in verse 24, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Before we get there, though, let’s look at how he describes this struggle.

Earlier in Romans the flesh referred to the physicality of a person (Rom 2:28) or simply to a person’s humanness (Rom 3:20). But earlier in this chapter (Rom 7:5), it came to apply to the place where sinful passions are aroused, which seems to be the mindset of living under the mastery of the Law. That is, being “in the flesh” was tantamount to the kind of spiritual living that attempts to merit or earn justification by keeping the Law. When that way of thinking carries over into the Christian life (or when a Christian reverts to that mindset) then Paul envisions this as being “of the flesh.”

Theologians debate this passage (Rom 7:14-25) as to its overall reference. Some say Paul is speaking of his previous struggle with righteousness, but using the present tense to convey the inner conflict vividly. Others feel he speaks rhetorically of the principle of the struggle in which religious people often find themselves. This popular notion was captured by the famous illustrator Walt Disney in his depiction of a character in the midst of temptation, with a miniature good angel and evil demon on opposite shoulders whispering alternatively in the character’s ear.

Paul is talking about the struggle Christians feel acutely, which is the result of the temptation to fall back into the old religious thinking and its inability to produce holiness. We must constantly focus on our justification, as we shall see. But, easy as that sounds, Paul elaborates on the experience that wrong thinking creates in us, an inner turmoil that paralyzes spiritual growth and neutralizes the joy of the Christian life. Notice, in our passage today, the initial problem: complete confusion that our new resurrected life in Christ is not producing the desired results that we would expect.

Lord, help me be honest about my struggle for holiness and not pretend.