Does this passage describe the true Christian, the unregenerate person, or someone else? Explain.
Romans 7:7-25
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HTacianas
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The writer is describing himself and his struggle with self control. In answer to your question, he is "the true Christian". Its the same sentiment discussed in 1 John:
1Jo 2:16 - For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
Both describe the "carnal mind" and its desires that conflict with the spiritual mind. It never goes away but needs always be resisted.
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The options seem to be that Paul is referring to...
- The struggle of the unconverted person
- The struggle of the weak, immature Christian
- The struggle of every Christian - including the mature.
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- Oct 16, 2004
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If I may slightly nitpick your answer. In my opinion the church still has no clue that revival and santification are the same thing. Pentecost initiated, in my view, the greatest outpourings/revivals in history, rivaled only by the days of Moses, and such massive outpourings brought some believers such as Paul to a degree of maturity - a degree of holiness and rest - that you and I can only dream of.
The mature believer doesn't regularly struggle. For example Christ didn't abide in the wilderness of temptation - He only visited it.
"Come unto me, all ye who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me...for my yoke is easy and my burden is light".
When's the last time you woke up from a good night's rest stating, 'Boy, that rest was a real struggle! It was a lot of work!" It's sad that most Christians have no concept of revival and rest. They think that Christ intended the Christian life to be a daily struggle.
I'm not saying your answer is wrong but I think, for the most part, choice 2 is generally a better fit.
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Yes. That's what I said. I said Paul rose to a level of maturity "that you and I can only dream of." Like you, I'm in category-2.
The main point is that Christians have been approaching sanctification all wrong for the last 2,000 years. They should be praying for outpourings/revivals. Instead, they are bibliocentric - they try to find the commands/laws of God in the written Word and then try to obey them. That's precisely the Galatian error harped on in chapter 3.
I once had an alcoholic roommate who seemed to know Scripture inside and out and yet was on the verge of death from liver poisoning. Basically all his Christian friends and counselors advised him to keep believing harder, putting more faith in the power of the Holy Spirit to deliver him.
Typically that doesn't work very well. When you're tormented by desire, you're in absolute misery until you quench it, typically by succumbing to it. So is the Christian life supposed to be one of absolute misery? Anyone who thinks that we are SUPPOSED to be constantly struggling with the flesh, constantly facing the agony of temptation, is defining the Christian life as a miserable one.
What this alcoholic needed was deliverance. He needed an outpouring of holiness so massive that it would purge his desire for alcohol. And that's what revival can do.
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Disciple of Jesus
True Christian is defined by this:
Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, "If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
John 8:31-32
If, Christian still means a disciple of Jesus.
Paul seems to be talking about himself and perhaps about people who have sin.
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