Passage: Romans 7:21-8:2
The Big Idea
Every believer discovers a hard “law”: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. My flesh only knows how to sin, and the more I focus on fixing myself, the more I fail. That failure teaches us where salvation is not, so we can finally cry, “Who will deliver me?” and answer, “Thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Then comes Romans 8: there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. The Spirit of life has already set us free. We’re not fighting for victory; we’re walking in a victory already won.
The Law I Find (7:21-23)
Paul says he finds this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. In his inner being he delights in God’s law, but he sees another law in his body, waging war against the law of his mind and making him a prisoner of the law of sin (Romans 7:21-23).
- My flesh only knows how to sin.
- My mind, will, emotions and body.
- It’s a law we have to find, discover by experience.
- We find it when we try our best to do good and fail.
- My body still wants to be number one.
- My mind still thinks wrong things.
- My desires are still off and selfish.
- My emotions are all over the place: one day I feel perfect, the next I feel like giving up.
- My flesh has been corrupt ever since Adam fell.
- But God’s Spirit is with me, giving me new desires and guiding me to do His will.
- I’m not blind anymore. I can see what’s good.
- But I keep failing to do it.
- Every Christian walks this path.
Why do we have to fail?
To learn where salvation comes from.
- We can’t learn the secret of salvation until we learn where it isn’t.
- It isn’t in our flesh.
- We can’t save ourselves. We can’t change ourselves. We can’t do any of it.
- The more I focus on the person I should be or the changes I should make, the more I fail, and the more self-focused I actually become.
Who Will Deliver Me? (7:24)
When we finally see that our flesh can’t deliver us, there’s only one thing left to say:
O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24).
My flesh is broken. If I trust in it, I’ll fall.
Would you board a plane that was just a little broken? Drive a car with one broken wheel? Climb a ladder with one broken rung?
Yet our flesh is completely corrupt and spiritually bankrupt, and we keep insisting on trusting ourselves.
Thank God! (7:25)
I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh the law of sin (Romans 7:25).
- Jesus is our only hope, because these “laws” don’t change. Our flesh will always lean toward sin. His Spirit is always free from sin and completely righteous.
- Only Jesus can carry us from one to the other.
- Only by faith in Jesus do we cross over.
No Condemnation (8:1-2)
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2).
Romans 7 describes the struggle we all go through until we learn to stop trusting ourselves. Romans 8 shows the life of freedom that trusting Jesus brings.
Let’s break it down.
There is no condemnation.
- No matter how much we struggle, no matter how many times we fail, we are never condemned, never given up on, never rejected.
- That’s grace: receiving what we could never deserve.
- Our fleshly weakness is no longer part of the equation.
For those who are in Christ Jesus.
- How are we “in Christ”? By faith alone. No works. No rules. Only faith.
- So simple faith in Jesus sets us free from all condemnation. Period. Always and forever.
Who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
- Having been set free in such an incredible way, we keep walking by the Spirit and don’t turn back to the flesh we were stuck in back in Romans 7.
- Once we learn our flesh isn’t good, we can choose to walk by the Spirit.
- How? Walking in the flesh is about pride and self-confidence. So walking in the Spirit is about humility and faith in Jesus, not ourselves.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free.
- Paul makes it so simple.
- The Holy Spirit has already set us free.
- We’re not fighting a war for our freedom anymore. We’ve already been delivered.
- We’re not fighting for victory. We’re walking in a victory already won.
- We just keep looking at the One who won it, and keep trusting His victory. It’s all about faith.
Grace Takeaway
If you’re tired of trying to fix yourself and failing, you’re in good company. Paul felt it too, and it led him to the right question: not “How can I do better?” but “Who will deliver me?” The answer is Jesus. In Him there is no condemnation, no matter how often you’ve stumbled. The Spirit has already set you free. Stop trusting the broken ladder of your flesh, and walk in humility and faith in the victory Jesus already won.
For Discussion
- What does it look like to walk in humility?
- What does it look like to walk by faith?
- Why do you think God lets us discover our failures?
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