Revisiting the sermon addressed to the choir

I talked with Dr. Sloop about Stott’s belief about the identity of “I” in Romans 7. Sloop disagrees with the view that “I” is pre-Pentecost Jews, but he agreed with the application. The only reason I felt it was important to note this is just so that no one assumes I think I know the “right” answer. There are different opinions, but I think most people can agree with Stott’s application: We need to be careful not to rely on the law but on the Spirit inside of us. So, yes. Please don’t think everything I say is the “final word” on the subject. I am very likely to get it wrong.

It’s called preaching to the choir

I was reading my commentary on Romans for class, and today I came to the section on Romans 7. Most of you know the passage I’m talking about–the one in which Paul expresses his anguish over doing what he knows is wrong and not doing what he knows is right. A lot of us use this as way to pat ourselves on the back, saying, “See, even Paul struggled like I do. He kept repeating the same sins over and over again too.”

What a lot of people don’t know is that there is a serious debate over the “I” in Romans 7. Is Paul referring to himself? Is he talking about an unsaved person? Is he talking about a born again believer? John R. W. Stott (the author of the commentary I’m reading) believes that “this is the conflict of a regenerate person who knows, loves, chooses and longs for God’s law, but finds that by himself he cannot do it. … He wants to obey [the law]. And when he sins, it is against his reason, his desire, his consent. But the law cannot help him. Only the power of the indwelling Spirit could change things…”

Rather than making this too long for easy reading, let me just sum up: Stott believes that Paul is referring to a group he calls “Old Testament Christians.” They were Jews who had been saved, but they had not experienced the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (pre-Pentecost) and were therefore still relying on the law to save them. The question is: is there any application for us today as post-Pentecost believers? Can we really justify using this passage as a way to assure ourselves that a lifestyle of sin after conversion is normal?

“We need then to keep a watch on ourselves and others, lest we should ever slip back from the new order into the old, from a person to a system, from freedom to slavery, from the indwelling Spirit to an external code, from Christ to the law. God’s purpose is not that we should be Old Testament Christians, regenerate indeed, but living in slavery to the law and in bondage to indwelling sin. It is rather that we should be New Testament Christians who, having died and risen with Christ, are living in the freedom of the indwelling Spirit.”

Basically… HELL NO!