Why Do I Still Sin?

Romans 7 ~ Two Words That Narrow Down the Sin Problem

Having said that once born again we are made righteous and no longer have a sin nature, one could raise the question, “Then why do we still sin?”  This was the question I was asking.  As discussed in A Question Remains, a righteousness that was only “positional” and not practical would still leave me unable to fulfill those admonitions to be holy and walk as He walked.  Would God require things impossible to realize?  Perhaps God was just looking at me through rose-colored glasses.  Was He just overlooking my sin?  From what I had seen He had cleansed, not just covered.  Additionally, I had heard the apostle Paul allude to deliverance at the end of the desperation he recounted in Romans 7, so I returned there for more answers.

In verses 14-25 I again noted the battle between good and evil raging in Paul….my battle.  I saw that Paul acknowledged that his “inner man” agreed with and willed to keep God’s law, revealing the reality that he indeed had a new, righteous nature in that inner man.  I had seen the same reality.  Sin was no longer my nature.  I was an entirely new creation, recreated in righteousness.

However, Paul also acknowledged another reality…the reality that sin still had a presence in him.

…sin which indwells me. v.17

…sin which dwells in me.  v.20

…evil is present in me. v.21

Paul’s strongest declaration of the lingering presence of evil within is made in verse 18.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me…

What a disheartening statement!  I might have been devastated once again…thinking possibly I did still have that sin nature…had it not been for the next two words in that verse.  Thank God for those next two words…

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is…”

Those two words make all the difference.  The words “that is”, used seventeen times in the New Testament, are always used to explain or make clear what has just been said.  For example…

the veil, that is, his flesh

a few, that is, eight persons

“Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani”, that is, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

As you can see, the words ‘that is’ identify and clarify the word or phrase previously used by adding another defining term.  Therefore, it is vitally important to note what follows the use of the words.  Since Paul used these two words in what appears to be an all encompassing and utterly discouraging statement, if we read the entire verse we can expect to find more clarification.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. Romans 7:18

We can now see that he is identifying and defining the word “me” as being “my flesh”.  In qualifying his statement in this way, Paul is narrowing the location of the evil dwelling within to “his flesh”.  He again identifies its locale in verse 23, declaring the limit of its boundary to just his “body”.

…I see a different law in the members of my body, making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. v23

I could now see that although my sin nature had indeed passed away, and that I (my spirit man, the real me) was recreated in righteousness and made new, nevertheless, there was still an element of me that had not yet been renewed.

When we are born again it is our spirit that is new.  Our soul and body were not changed.  Paul later confirms this…

And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.  Rom. 8:23

In a sense, our redemption is only one third complete.

So again, if my sin nature is not the source of my continuing sin, what is?  If my old man is dead and gone, why do I still sin?

As anyone who has ever been to a funeral or dealt with death knows…when someone dies, they leave behind a body.  Likewise, when our old man died, he left behind a body.  It is the body that Paul identified as the problem.  Now I truly understood exactly what Paul meant when he cried,

Who will set me free from the body of this death? Romans 7:24

Paul goes on to say the redemption of our bodies is something we don’t see yet…something we are waiting for.

…waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.  Romans 8:24,25

Truly, I was eager for that day, but what was I to do till then?  After having received so much was I still subject to constant failure and sin because of an unredeemed body?  A new question had now developed….Was my body to be my boss?

Don’t even think of missing the hilarious P.S. (“post” script) here

…and My Story continues here