The Chapters That Changed My Life

This article opens a study of Romans 7–8, focusing on inner conflict, discipline, and the power of setting the mind.

The subject of this series of studies is Romans 7 and 8. Hopefully you think that’s odd. I mean, why choose only two chapters out of the middle of a book to study? The answer is simple. They changed my life.

Let me explain.

Many years ago, my wife and I were doing missionary work in the Persian Gulf when things began to get difficult. The work was hard, which isn’t too unusual for mission work. We found that the ecclesia in Dubai did not meet regularly, and some members were understandably cautious and worried about engaging in missionary work. 

We mainly were self-funding, and the expenses started to add up. We lived in Qatar, and a local housing company had “borrowed” over $40,000 from us. We did not know if, or how, we would get it back. In the middle of this, my wife became pregnant with our first child. This development would have otherwise been a joy, but at the time, we were living in an apartment with no hot water, a non-working stove, and no way to cook hot food. 

So, things were hard, and within the depths of my body, I felt a rebellion begin to grow. I did not want to do the mission work. I did not want to spend every hour preparing classes, teaching, or working to support myself. I felt tired, aggravated, and angry about the way things had turned on me. I felt that God owed me some breaks for the sacrifices I had made for Him. 

During this troubled time, I began to read Romans, and I naturally gravitated to Chapter 7, where Paul speaks so honestly about human nature. As Paul wrote about the conflict within him, I began to understand better the conflict within me. As I finished reading chapter 7, I moved on to chapter 8. It was in reading chapter 8 that my eyes were opened to see the power of a few simple spirit-guided words (which, if you could hear me read this article, I would be saying both slowly and deliberately): “Set thy mind.”

At the time, I was reading out of the RSV, so I’ll quote here from that version: 

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5).¹

Hopefully, in these articles, we’ll see the power in these words, and I will be able to impart to you the incredible spiritual lessons that God’s word opened up to me. However, I’ll admit that this will be difficult. 

Why the pessimism? 

Well, for this reason, I, like Paul, learned these lessons during a time of deep emotional turmoil, when God was disciplining me. When I knew them, I was ready to learn. I needed to understand them! When I drank in the Scripture, I was changed. If you are enduring a time of internal difficulty and hardship, you too may see the power of Paul’s exhortation and exposition found in Hebrews 12:11: 

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

God willing, you are not at one of those moments. So, my actual goal for these articles is simpler. I would like to introduce you to two amazing chapters so that when you go through a season of discipline, hardship, pain, anxiety, or struggle, you will know that you are not alone; others have gone before you, and God has written words to guide and strengthen you. and if you are willing, change you, during that difficult time. 

Introduction to Romans

Even though our studies, of course, concentrate on Romans 7 and 8, simply starting in Romans 7 is like starting arithmetic with algebra. Let me give you an example. Look at Romans 7:7, 

What shall we say then? Is the law sin?

Clearly, Paul is in the middle of an argument here. I mean, you don’t begin too many conversations by saying, “Is the law sin?” Somehow, in the context of what Paul has previously written, someone might get the impression that the Law is sin. Where would that idea come from? 

To help us answer that question, let’s trace the line of Paul’s argument in Romans up to chapter 5. We’ll revisit Chapter 6 in a future article. 

Romans is a fascinating book because Paul sent it even before he visited.  It was written from Corinth (almost certainly during the time described by Acts 20:3) in anticipation of his future arrival in Rome. That’s unique. Paul wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians after visiting Corinth, and wrote Galatians after visiting Lystra, Iconium, and Derbe. Paul writes in anticipation of visiting Rome (Romans 1:13). But why?

At heart, he was dealing with a city that included a mix of believing Jews and Gentiles. He may have heard from his good friends Aquila and Priscilla (they had moved back to Rome as Romans 16:3 proves) regarding the trouble of unity in the ecclesia between Jews and Gentiles. Questions were being asked: “Were both Jews and Gentiles now equal in Christ?” “Is there any difference between them in Christ?” Below are a few of the many questions Paul poses in Romans, which demonstrate that the subject of Jews versus Gentiles was the primary question he was addressing. For example: 

“What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?” (Romans 3:1).

“What then? Are we better than they?” (Romans 3:9).

“Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles?” (Romans 3:29).

“Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also?” (Romans 4:9).

To answer those questions, Paul will address the problem that all humanity, both Jew and Gentile, shares: the fact that they have a common ancestor in Adam. Both Jew and Gentile need salvation from the “Adam problem,” and Jesus is the means of salvation for both. 

To explain this, Paul must also address the benefits and failings of the Law entrusted to the Jews. Understandably, in the minds of the Jews, the Law is what sets them apart. Keeping its statutes made them holy, and failing to keep its laws showed how the Gentiles were profane.

So, briefly, how does Paul in Romans deal with the questions, “What advantage does the Jew have?” and “Are we [the Jews] better than they [the Gentiles]?” 

Let’s quickly sketch Paul’s argument in the first few chapters of Romans. In Chapter 1, Paul makes several allusions back to Genesis 3 to show that all humanity is accountable before God and essentially repeats the mistakes of their first parents.

Just as it would have been evident to our first parents that God exists, we too are accountable because creation itself clearly shows that there must be an eternal, creative God.    

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed [it] unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead. (Romans 1:19-20 KJV).

Because God’s existence is evident through the witness of creation, we are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20) if we do not seek to know the mind of the Creator.

But, like their first parents, men don’t seek to know His mind. Instead, they “[profess] themselves to be wise” (v. 22 KJV) and ignore the righteousness of God. Since they were seeking after their own wisdom and the vanity of their imaginations, God gave them over to debauched and sinful lifestyles “filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit.” (v. 29 KJV).

Of course, a pious Jew hearing this critique (but perhaps forgetting he too descended from Adam) would likely applaud Paul’s argument. He would likewise conclude that Gentiles, without knowledge of God’s wisdom, persistently show themselves to be flagrant sinners, following the prideful example of their first parents.

In Chapter 2, Paul turns his attention to the Jews. Were they in any better position? In Chapter 2, Paul shows firstly that God is consistent. If the Jew sins and does evil, he will perish like a Gentile, naturally. Therefore, if the Gentile patiently continues doing good and seeks glory, honor, and immortality (Romans 2:7), God will bless him by the same consistent standard.

But the question remains, are the Jews better off? They should be, because they have God’s wisdom, as evidenced in the Law. But Paul says that the Law shows them to be sinners because they regularly break it. Look at Romans 2:17, 23:

Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God… You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?

So, chapter 2 concludes that Jews are also guilty before God because they break the Law.

Now that Paul has shown that the Gentiles are guilty without the Law and the Jews are guilty by the Law, in chapter 3, he concludes that all have sinned. Note Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 

You see, the Law serves a very important purpose. It defines right from wrong. It draws a line in the sand and makes clear that law-keeping is approved, and law-breaking is not. In a court of justice, the judge uses the law to determine guilt vs. innocence.

According to the Law, we are guilty or unjust. Chapter 3 emphasizes this point when it says:

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:19-20 NKJV).

By the deeds of the Law, no flesh will be justified. Why not? The Law cannot make a sinner right. Imagine if someone committed murder. Does it matter if the murderer never ran a red light? No, he’s still guilty of murder. What if the murderer never stole anything? Would any criminal justice system just brush the murder charge under the rug if he didn’t commit any other crime? No. Once you are guilty, the law can’t do anything else for you.

While it’s natural to think that our good works put God in our debt, what does God truly want? Chapter 4 explains that if we are all truly unrighteous, on what basis God is willing to impute righteousness to sinners. Paul shows that Abraham was right with God because of faith. If that was God’s criteria for saying Abraham was right or just, then it applies to those who come after Abraham, for we are all Abraham’s children by faith.

The key verse is Romans chapter 4:16,

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. (NKJV).

In Chapter 5, Paul then addresses the critical question. If we are guilty, the Law and works cannot save us, but only condemn us, and God truly imputes righteousness based on faith. What must we have faith in?

We must have faith that God can choose to forgive us and change us from being in Adam, in which we inherited sinful flesh and its deathly consequences, to being in Christ, who destroyed sinful flesh in obedience, and through which we are made righteous.

In Christ, we are renewed as children of God, leaving direct descent from Adam behind. We do not deserve this gift; it’s available based on faith in Christ. Unfortunately, there’s no single verse in Chapter 5 that summarizes all these thoughts, but the closest is Romans 5:19,

By one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Chapter 6 begins this way:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Human nature’s reaction to the free gift of salvation is to abuse the privilege, and perhaps even blame the Law for making me sinful. Hence, our opening question, “Is the law sin?” Rather than blame the Law, Paul will squarely point the finger at human nature. This characteristic is the real issue and the source of our wretchedness, and this is what Jesus overcame.

Paul explains all this in Chapters 7 and 8. In our next article, we’ll look more deeply at the question of whether the Law is sin, why that was such a relevant question, and how Paul will use it to teach us about ourselves.

Ben Brinkerhoff,
Christchurch North Ecclesia, NZ