You see a man (or woman) stumble out of a strip joint drunk as a skunk and higher than a kite. You know this person. They've attended your church and they claim to be a "Christian." You confront them about what you see and they respond, "Well, the good I want to do I don't do. You know, my old man still clings to me." Not only is that an erroneous interpretation of the text, but it is also a convenient excuse, even used by many genuine Christians.
Brothers and sisters, if you are going to live right you need to believe right. You need to stop using these convenient excuses that find no substantiation in Scripture. Remember, just because your pastor spouts it does not make it true. You need to be like the noble Bereans who searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul, an Apostle, said was true. You are commanded in Scripture to "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). Every believer needs to be doing this! Just because he is your pastor does not mean he is correct in everything he says. Sometimes he speaks from pre-supposition of what he thinks the text says rather than what it truly says. Other times he may speak out of ignorance.
I have already dealt with the fact that Romans 7 is not speaking of Paul as a regenerate man nor of his everyday experience as a Christian. Otherwise Paul would be a hypocrite, nothing more than the Pharisee he used to be, because in all his letters he is telling believers what they must do and yet, if Romans 7 is his every day experience, he says emphatically that he never does good and always does bad (vv.15 & 19). Further, in the last verse, "of myself" is emphatic, which indicates going it alone in your own strength. Notice there is no mention of the Spirit anywhere in Romans 7:7-25. Romans 7:13-25 is an expansion from 7:7-12, which is an expansion from 7:5. The context and language prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Romans 7 is not speaking of a regenerate man, regardless of what certain Christians choose to believe in their error. For a fuller reading on this issue, refer to these past articles:
Brothers and sisters, if you are going to live right you need to believe right. You need to stop using these convenient excuses that find no substantiation in Scripture. Remember, just because your pastor spouts it does not make it true. You need to be like the noble Bereans who searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul, an Apostle, said was true. You are commanded in Scripture to "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). Every believer needs to be doing this! Just because he is your pastor does not mean he is correct in everything he says. Sometimes he speaks from pre-supposition of what he thinks the text says rather than what it truly says. Other times he may speak out of ignorance.
I have already dealt with the fact that Romans 7 is not speaking of Paul as a regenerate man nor of his everyday experience as a Christian. Otherwise Paul would be a hypocrite, nothing more than the Pharisee he used to be, because in all his letters he is telling believers what they must do and yet, if Romans 7 is his every day experience, he says emphatically that he never does good and always does bad (vv.15 & 19). Further, in the last verse, "of myself" is emphatic, which indicates going it alone in your own strength. Notice there is no mention of the Spirit anywhere in Romans 7:7-25. Romans 7:13-25 is an expansion from 7:7-12, which is an expansion from 7:5. The context and language prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Romans 7 is not speaking of a regenerate man, regardless of what certain Christians choose to believe in their error. For a fuller reading on this issue, refer to these past articles:
Some people will turn to Galatians 5:17 and claim that this verse also teaches a defeated Christian life. Brothers and sisters, anyone who tells you this is a liar, no matter how earnestly they believe it or how godly they are. Read the context of the passage beginning with verse 16 through 25. The entire passage is about victory—not defeat. Who is this passage speaking in regard to? The Spirit. In a dog fight between flesh and the Holy Spirit, who do you think is going to win? The Spirit, hands down. Bet your life on it. Notice how verse 17 begins with the conjunction "for"? It is connecting it to what was just said in verse 16: "Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." He does not say the flesh and Spirit are warring, as some Scripture twisters declare. He says they are contrary to each other, opposed to each other. Examine the Greek that ends the verse. Remember, it is relating back to verse 16. If you walk by the Spirit you will not gratify the desires of the flesh because the Spirit is opposed to the flesh "so that you do not do the things that you would do." There is no declaration about the possibility or impossibility or the ability or inability to do these things. It is a statement of fact. "The things you would do." If you did not have the Spirit, you would be doing them. This agrees with Romans 8:13: "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
Notice what verse 24 of Galatians 5 says: "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." It is a fact. Paul says in Romans 6:11, "Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ." The Greek there is logizomai (λογιζομαι), which is used 11 times in chapter 4. He is saying that it is a fact. If you have died with Christ you are dead to sin. In verse 6 Paul says, "We know that our old man was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin." This brings us to our next point. If you are in Christ Jesus, your old man is crucified. He is dead. A Christian does not possess two natures, the old man and the new man. That is false teaching in opposition to what Scripture says. Again, whoever tells you that you have two natures is a liar. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17). The word "behold" means "to pay attention." Brothers and sisters, pay attention! Whenever you see the word "therefore," you need to ask, "What is it there for?" What does Paul say earlier? Let us look: "From now on we regard no one according to the flesh" (v.16). Why do you suppose he says that? Could it be because Christians are no longer of the flesh but of the Spirit? You can bet your bottom dollar on it. Look what Paul says in Romans 8:9: "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."
"Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with its practices and have put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Col. 3:9-10). Notice how both statements are past tense? You have put off the old man. You have put on the new man. When Christians sin, we walk contrary to our new nature. It resembles the old man but is not the old man because the old man is crucified—dead. If the old man is crucified, how can we say that part of him remains? Where is this taught anywhere in Scripture? Paul never teaches that some or most of our old man has been crucified. He says our flesh has been crucified (Gal. 5:24). He says our old man has been crucified (Rom. 6:6). If he is dead, part of him cannot remain. It is a logical impossibility. Brothers and sisters, this is where 1 John comes in. Even though we are a new creation, a new man, we are still going to fall into sin from time to time. John says, "I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (2:1). "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1:9).
Brothers and sisters, you need to believe right if you ever plan to live right. Remember, the Christian life is all about faith and "without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Heb. 11:6). Remember that we "walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). You need to believe what the Bible says about you. Not having a proud arrogance as if you have already arrived, which Paul himself denied (Phil. 3:12), but having a confidence in Jesus Christ who accomplished all of this for you. We boast in Christ and His accomplishments. Romans 8 is the normal life of the regenerate Christian. Our new man is constantly in a state of renewal, being made into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ our Lord. "We are more than conquerors" (Rom. 8:37). "Put on the armour of God and stand against the schemes of the devil" (Eph. 6:11). When you sin, do not try to blame it on an old man that has been crucified; confess it to the Lord and keep walking by faith. The victory is ours. Walk in the newness of life you have been given through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Notice what verse 24 of Galatians 5 says: "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." It is a fact. Paul says in Romans 6:11, "Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ." The Greek there is logizomai (λογιζομαι), which is used 11 times in chapter 4. He is saying that it is a fact. If you have died with Christ you are dead to sin. In verse 6 Paul says, "We know that our old man was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin." This brings us to our next point. If you are in Christ Jesus, your old man is crucified. He is dead. A Christian does not possess two natures, the old man and the new man. That is false teaching in opposition to what Scripture says. Again, whoever tells you that you have two natures is a liar. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17). The word "behold" means "to pay attention." Brothers and sisters, pay attention! Whenever you see the word "therefore," you need to ask, "What is it there for?" What does Paul say earlier? Let us look: "From now on we regard no one according to the flesh" (v.16). Why do you suppose he says that? Could it be because Christians are no longer of the flesh but of the Spirit? You can bet your bottom dollar on it. Look what Paul says in Romans 8:9: "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."
"Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with its practices and have put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Col. 3:9-10). Notice how both statements are past tense? You have put off the old man. You have put on the new man. When Christians sin, we walk contrary to our new nature. It resembles the old man but is not the old man because the old man is crucified—dead. If the old man is crucified, how can we say that part of him remains? Where is this taught anywhere in Scripture? Paul never teaches that some or most of our old man has been crucified. He says our flesh has been crucified (Gal. 5:24). He says our old man has been crucified (Rom. 6:6). If he is dead, part of him cannot remain. It is a logical impossibility. Brothers and sisters, this is where 1 John comes in. Even though we are a new creation, a new man, we are still going to fall into sin from time to time. John says, "I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (2:1). "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1:9).
Brothers and sisters, you need to believe right if you ever plan to live right. Remember, the Christian life is all about faith and "without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Heb. 11:6). Remember that we "walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). You need to believe what the Bible says about you. Not having a proud arrogance as if you have already arrived, which Paul himself denied (Phil. 3:12), but having a confidence in Jesus Christ who accomplished all of this for you. We boast in Christ and His accomplishments. Romans 8 is the normal life of the regenerate Christian. Our new man is constantly in a state of renewal, being made into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ our Lord. "We are more than conquerors" (Rom. 8:37). "Put on the armour of God and stand against the schemes of the devil" (Eph. 6:11). When you sin, do not try to blame it on an old man that has been crucified; confess it to the Lord and keep walking by faith. The victory is ours. Walk in the newness of life you have been given through Jesus Christ. Amen.