Do true Christians have addictions or bad habits?

Beginning in the 5th century, we find Latin speaking Christians who were not familiar with the Hellenistic culture and the use of the rhetorical “I” getting confused. However, Augustine did understand that Romans 7:14-25 was the experience of an unregenerate Jew. Very late in his life, however, after prolonged discussions and debates with the heretic Pelagius, Augustine recanted some of his earlier beliefs and expressed belief that Romans 7:14-25 was Paul’s Christian experience. The very large majority of scholars, however, continued to interpret Romans 7:14-25 as a Jewish experience, and the recantations of Augustine that are found in his writing, “The Retractions,” were considered to be very unfortunate and were almost never incorporated into collections of his writings. And even today, when one purchases the collected writings of Augustine, one will not find his “The Retractions” included. Indeed, they are very seldom met with and very difficult to find even on the internet.

The rejection of Augustine’s later view of Romans 7:14-25 continued until the time of John Calvin. Since that time, however, the interpretation of Romans 7:14-25 has been hotly debated. During the times of Christian revival, Romans 7:14-25 was primarily seen as a Jewish experience. During times of spiritual decadence, Romans 7:14-25 was primarily seen as Paul’s mature Christian experience. During the Victorian era, the expositors mostly preached and wrote that we have victory over sin through Christ and saw Romans 7:14-25 as either a Jewish experience or the experience of a Christian who had not yet come to realize in a practical way the grace of God. And, of course, as the Church is now slipping into another time of spiritual decadence, we see that it is very popular to preach and teach that Romans 7:14-25 was Paul’s mature Christian experience and the normal experience for all Christians.

One thing, however, is most obvious. Those expositors and teachers who believe that Romans 7:14-25 was Paul’s mature Christian experience are those expositors and teachers whose spiritual life is described in Romans 7:14-25 as the life of one who is “of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” And that was true of my own life for three years until one day when I was studying Roman 6 and the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to what it meant to be dead to sin. Immediately, of course, Romans 7 came to mind, and I read that chapter again, having read it very many times during the past three years, and I saw that the first four verses,

1. Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?
2. For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.
3. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.
4. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

continued to teach that I was made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that I might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that I might bear fruit for God. And I continued reading, and I saw that the “I” in Romans 7:5-13 was clearly rhetorical because it is in radical conflict with what Paul tells us about himself in other places in the Bible. And I continued reading, and I saw that the “I” in Romans 7:14-25 also had to be rhetorical for the same reason.

At the time, having been a Christian for only three years, I had in my personal library only 13 commentaries on Romans. I pulled them all off the shelf and read what they had to say about Romans 7:14-25, and 12 of the 13 expressed the view that Romans 7:14-25 was a description of Paul’s life as a Christian at one time or another in his life. The remaining commentary did not express a clear view on the matter. I was very discouraged and realized that these scholars knew a lot more about the Bible than I did, so I prayed and asked God to really open my eyes to the truth in His Word. And God spoke to me, not audibly, but very clearly and distinctly, and told me that the Holy Spirit had already opened my eyes and that I had already seen the truth of this matter and that I was not to doubt Him.

I knew that God had spoken to me, and I experienced a freedom and victory over sins that had hitherto held me captive, and I experienced a freedom in Christ that I had never even imagined was possible and my entire life was vitalized with boldness and energy and I knew that the bonds of sin had been broken.

Having been educated as a scientist, however, I had a very curious mind, and I wondered why it was that those 12 commentaries on Romans were wrong. Therefore, I began studying the history of the interpretation of Romans and every commentary on Romans that I could get my hands on. Today, I have 233 commentaries on Romans in my personal library, and hundreds of additional volumes on Paul, his theology, and his writings, and I can most confidently say that God’s Word is true, and that many others besides me have seen and witnessed that truth, and that it is NOT a message of bondage to sin, but a message of freedom from sin through faith in the blood atonement of Christ on the cross.