Our last Forced Choice asked you to vote on your favorite part of the NT. And I guess we shouldn’t be terribly surprised that the gospels won by a fair margin (48%). Paul made a respectable showing (33%), but couldn’t close the gap. And the rest of the NT barely got a nod. Apparently we really like Jesus around here.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a new Forced Choice, and this one comes as a special request from someone who would be interested in knowing what we think. Who is Paul talking about in Romans 7? If you don’t recall off the top of your head, this is the chapter where Paul is lamenting the power of sin in a person’s life, making them do things they don’t want to. People have long debated Paul’s meaning in this chapter and I’m sure I could include more options than these. But, for the sake of simplicity, these are your choices.
Paul is referring to:
- A Non-Christian Jew: This could be autobiographical (i.e. Paul’s own experience before conversion) or more general (i.e. the experience of all Jews). Either way, it’s a description of a Jewish person struggling to obey the Law but unable to do so.
- Any Unconverted Person: This is similar to the first one, but makes the referent even more general. Here the person in view is any unconverted person struggling to do what they know they should, but unable to do so.
- A “Carnal” Christian: This chapter describes the experience of the person who has been converted, but does not yet experience the full power of salvation. Paul could be describing his own experience or a more general Christian experience.
- A “Mature” Christians: Paul is describing the experience of every Christian, even mature ones. This struggle won’t end until Christ returns. Again, this could be autobiographical or general.
- Adam: This chapter describes the experience of Adam falling under the power of sin.
If you have a favorite way of reading this chapter that I haven’t included, go ahead and vote for the option that is closest to yours. But let us know in the comments what you think is a better approach.
Use the poll in the sidebar to vote. Let me know what you think!
Too hot to handle
Coward!
I think Adam/unconverted person + outer person of the converted person since in Rom 5 the Adam/Christ juxtaposition is presented, in 6 and 7 it explains the struggle to live in Christ, and 8 tells us how the Spirit makes that happen as we move toward resurrection life. In other words, the believer is included in the old person in that they are transitioning. If we examine Paul’s thought in 2 Cor and Ephesians on the inner person being renewed already while we await the resurrection of the outer person this adds more flesh to Paul’s thinking…I think!
any beiever who thinks that they can live the christian life by law-keeping…
Paul is using the rhetorical device known as prosopopoiia, where the speaker presents a vivid characterization of some figure or position through first-person speech. The past tense of Romans 8:2 shows Romans 7:23 (and thus Rom 7:7–25 as a whole) to be describing a past state as well, even though it uses the present tense characteristic of prosopopoiia. So Paul is describing the life of a Jew living under the Torah. This view is held by Wright, Moo, DeSilva, and Witherington.
Fascinating! Sounds like a better-educated perspective similar to my informally-deduced English-Lit-informed perspective posted below. Question, though: If your proposition about prosopopoiia is true (which sounds very reasonable to me), does it necessarily follow that Paul is therefore describing the life of a Jew living under the Torah? Could another alternative not be that he is using that device to indicate a more general truth–that Rom. 7:7-25 living should be (indeed is!) past tense for ANY person living by the Spirit?
I see I posted this in the wrong spot initially, so let me copy it here:
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None of the above! At least not directly. Let me explain.
I am convinced that this question (“Who is Romans 7 about?”), despite its popularity, is the wrong question to use to begin understanding this text. A much better starting point is to ask, “WHAT is Romans 7 about?” The answer are is clear: “The Law–it’s nature, effect, and intended function.”
This becomes abundantly evident when one examines what questions are preoccuppying Paul (not us!) in this chapter:
1) In v. 7 he asks: “Is the law sin(ful)?” Answer: “No! It is holy, but sin mis-uses it.”
2) In v. 13 he asks: “Does the law cause death?” Answer: “No! Sin does.”
Then, after having said what the law is NOT and what it does NOT do, in vv. 14-23 he goes on to summarize what it DOES: the effect of the Law in the life of ANYONE who is trying to fulfil its requirements in the power of the flesh. This passage demonstrates in the life of an individual “I” the role of Law as schoolmaster that brings us to Christ (vv. 24-25; cf. Gal 3:19-27). The focus is on the Law, not on the question of the identity of the person presented as “I.”
I conclude, therefore, that the “I” is an editorial “I,” refering to anyone who tries to fulfil the Law in the power of the flesh. This, in answer to the poll question, I would suggest “All of the above,” with the LEAST likely (by God’s grace!) being the “Mature Christian.” A mature Christian is not characterized by living in the flesh (despite being very aware of fleshly lapses when they do occur)–see Paul’s clear-conscience testimony of victorious living in multiple other NT passages, as well as 1 John’s confident exhortations. Rather, a mature Christian is characterized by living in the Spirit–as Romans 8 immediately proceeds to describe in direct contrast to the sad picture of Romans 7.
How could this passage possibly be designed to describe the mature Christian? Surely Paul was the consummate mature Christian, and in no other passage does he suggest that he lives a life characterized by defeat and sin. Less than a year after writing Romans he said “I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day” (Acts 23:1; cf. 1 Cor 4:4; Acts 20:26-27, 33-36; 24:16; 25:8; Phil 1:20; 2 Tim 3:3).
Rather than allowing our own prior questions to drive our analysis and interpretation of biblical texts, how much better to listen to the questions driving the inspired authors. Doing so could prevent reams of well-intentioned but misguided commentary on Romans 7 and help us to grasp the freedom offered in Romans 8.