Is Romans 7 describing a real stage of Paul’s life or a ‘hypothetical’ position in the absence of the Spirit’s ministry?
This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘The Gospel of Jesus Christ’ (1994).
That's the part where Paul says, 'O wretched man that I am', isn't it? People debate about this, whether he is relating his own experience at some time or whether it's a hypothetical thing. My first reaction is to judge Paul by my own heart. That's a wicked thing to do! I might be very wrong, but it's no hypothetical situation with me. I presume it wasn't with Paul. Perhaps, however, it could be that the vexed old question—was this Paul before he was converted or after he was converted—is a little bit beside the point. What we should be asking is why does that chapter and the part about 'the good that I would do I don't do, and the evil that I wouldn't do, that I do', come here at this point in the Epistle? We have to ask why that bit is there in the Epistle. If it were merely to expose sin to the unconverted, why isn't it in part one of the things where Paul is exposing the sins of the unconverted? Why has he left it until he's got nearly towards the end of his section on sanctification?
And my answer is that it is doing a tremendous function there. If we're going to be truly sanctified, we shall presently need to know the damage that sin has done to us. We hear about what we can do: yield ourselves to Christ that we may bring forth fruit to God through his gracious power. That's all we have to do. Any believer who takes it seriously will tell you the mysterious thing is that they sometimes don't do it. Why don't we? It is there that we have to face the damage that sin has done to us, and it is a very real lesson that all of us as believers have to learn. We're more damaged than we thought we were. Our intellect, our emotions, and our will are not by themselves able, either to lead us to salvation or, when we're saved, to produce our sanctification. You'll need more than a stiff upper lip and determination to be a sanctified believer. Our only hope of holiness is in the Holy Spirit's power. We shall only learn to rely on him when we come to take very seriously God's description of the damage that sin has done to us, and that is exposed by God's holy law, and our inability to keep it.
