The Believer’s Battle, Part 1

Romans 7:14-25
[14] For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. [15] For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. [16] Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. [17] So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [18] For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. [19] For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. [20] Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

[21] So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. [22] For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, [23] but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. [24] Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [25] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

DEEP SHEET: Sermon Study Questions
1.   Why has Paul’s language given rise to debate over whether he is talking about a believer or an unbeliever?
2.   In what ways does this passage assure and encourage Christians?
3.   What is the disconnected experience described in vv. 14-15?  In what ways have you seen this play out in your life?
4.   How does Paul describe the “I” in these verses?  How does he contrast it with indwelling sin?
5.   Why does Paul’s explanation of the divided person not allow us to shift blame away from ourselves when we sin?

References: Romans 6:12; 10:2; 2:29; 8:13; Jeremiah 31:33; Galatians 5:16-18.