THE INWARD BATTLE OF ROMANS SEVEN BUT NOW The words "But now" refer to our status in Christ Jesus. This is the life that has resulted from our burial, death, and resurrection with Christ. It is equivalent to saying, "But now that I am in Christ," or "Now that I am justified," or "Now that I have received the righteousness of God." It is the same as saying, "Now that the body of the sins of the flesh has been removed," or "Now that I am risen with Christ." IT IS NO LONGER I On the surface, this may appear to contradict what Paul has just confessed. First he says, "For what I hate, I do" (verse 15). Then he says, "I do what I will not to do" (verse 16). Now he says, "It is no longer I who do it."
" But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me" (Rom 7:17). Here we come to grips with the heart of this passage. This is the second conclusion drawn from the intrusion of foreign desires and thoughts--expressions of the "old man." Without controversy this is one of the most liberating practical proclamations of Scripture. I use the word "practical" because the affirmation is associated with human experience. Foundational freedom is based upon the belief of the Gospel and consequent identity with Jesus. That aspect of liberty was powerfully declared in the sixth chapter. We were freed from sin: liberated from guilt, and emancipated from an obligation to the flesh. It is essential that this liberty be grasped by the heart. It is not enough to only know it theoretically.
Here is something vital to see. This is not the result of perception, but of identity with Jesus. This is true whether the believer sees it or not. It obtains power when it is seen, but it exists as soon as a person is "joined to the Lord." If you are in Christ, what follows is true of you, whether you have ever seen it or not. The role of this passage is to show us the condition of the saved, not their potential!
Among other things, this shows the complexity of life in Christ Jesus. Too often there is an oversimplification of life in Christ. Actually, the believer is a microcosm of world conflict a sort of miniature world in which both good and evil reside, temporal and eternal, earth and heaven. Within the child of God two worlds collide! One is favorable and one is unfavorable. One promotes destruction and the other promotes life. One is tainted, and one is pure.
In Christ we receive a new identity. "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" NASB (2 Cor 5:17). The "old things" have "passed away" in several ways.
1. They are no longer the center of our attention.
2. They no longer have dominion over us.
3. They no longer condemn us.
4. They are no longer an integral part of us.
5. Our view of them has changed.
"Old things," however, have not become extinct, or non-existent. We still have to contend with them, even though they cannot exercise total control of us. We are required to mortify, or put to death, our "members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth" (Col 3:5-8). In the place of "your members that are upon the earth," the NIV reads, "whatever belongs to your earthly nature." That is the sense of the text. The members properly belong to our body and the Adamic nature, or what we are by natural birth. They are a part of our human constitution, even though they have been circumcised from our regenerated self, or the "new man."
IT IS NO LONGER I because these eruptions do not come from my "new man," or identity in Christ Jesus. The part of me that is in fellowship with Christ has nothing to do with them, and in that sense, "It is not I." That part is real, not merely theoretical.
It is important to understand this is not a mere excuse or alibi, as the wicked are wont to make. It is not a "devil-made-me-do-it" explanation for transgression. There is no transgression here. Paul is not admitting to having fallen into immortality. Something was done, but it was not overt or external. He is speaking of the expressions of the old nature that remains in him, tied, as it was, to his tabernacle of clay.
It was not him because he did not WANT what was expressed. His will was against it. His heart was not in accord with it. That is why he did not allow it to foam out through his words and deeds.
It is quite true that no significant measure of victory will be realized by the believer until some perception of this marvelous reality is obtained. it is the peculiar prerogative of faith to prove that perception.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in Jesus' name, help me to be more understanding of what really comes from me, and what does not.