Conflicts In Romans 7

Born-again or just here again?

Walking through the Glendale Galleria with not too much money to spend after the holidays, I

find myself caught in-between a rock and a hard place. There are things a need to buy with the money I

have I left, and here, I just so happen to be surrounded by the things I have always wanted but of

course, do not need. I come across these kinds of predicaments often, because in the end I walk out of

the mall with bags of "stuff" that I will put down to never pick up again and a wallet full of receipts.

Why do I do the things that I do not want to do and do not do the things that I have set my mind to do?

I discovered Paul the Apostle had the same sort of problems. The question is this, is this the average

dilemma of a true Christian, or is this a picture of the life without the power of the Spirit? In this paper,

I will dissect the verses that make up Romans 7 and discover for myself whether Paul is not yet living

by the power of the Spirit or that these are problems I should continue to face in my born-again life.

Looking through the opening scriptures of chapter 7, I realize that 1-12 are written in the past

tense and the verses concerning defeat against self are written in present tense. This shows me this fight

within Paul is going on at the time he is writing the rest of this chapter. This is not something he has

just gone through in the past if you read the frustrations he pours out in verse 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 that I

hate.” this is the cry of a present struggle.

In reading in the context of Romans 6,7 and 8, Paul just got done stating in verse 18 of chapter 6 that we have

been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. That means that we are no longer