Jesus Saves Us – Romans 7:15-25

A text – Romans 7:15-25a

7:15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
7:16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.
7:17 But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.
7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.
7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
7:21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.
7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self,
7:23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
7:25a Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

A reflection:

Anyone who has struggled to practice good habits will recognize herself or himself in Paul’s description of a person feeling divided. Paul gives human beings credit for being good at heart or in soul, and he blames sin for the wicked or lazy things we do instead of habits we’d rather be practicing.

In other places in his writing Paul also says that the earthly body or the flesh can only do what is NOT pure and good. I’m not sure I entirely agree with him. But while we live on this earth in these bodies, we will surely be tempted to do things that are not good for us.

Perhaps this is just another way Paul is arguing that even the strongest, most deep believer with the best disciplines will fail from time to time. None of us will ever be stalwart enough to earn our own way to salvation and be perfect in the law, following all the rules, all the time. And even if we did, we would then start thinking it was our obedience to the law, an act of our own, that had saved us. Mistake.

Paul wants us to know, first, last, and always, that it is Jesus who saves us. Not us. Not laws. Not discipline. Those things are gifts for a healthier life, to be sure, but they don’t create our relationship with God and thus our salvation. God does that. Thank God, or as Paul says in verse 7:325a: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for saving us. Help us to remember that we can do what we must, but in the end we rely on you and your mercy and love to save us. And you will be there to do it. Amen.