That would be one reason. To say verse 14 is a saved man is laughable to say the least. When Paul says, I am carnal, he is referring to being of this world, earthy, versus being born from above, spiritual. To be "sold under sin", is to say he is lost. I don't know how much more clear it can be than that. We are not "sold under sin", we have bought with a price, the blood of Christ!
The human body, and that is what he explicitly identifies as his continuing subject (vv. 18, 24,25) is sold under sin and the proof is that it will die. The saint is not glorified yet and so there is an aspect of his human nature that has not yet been redeemed from the POWER and PRESENCE of sin and death which is the wages of sin proves. Deliverance by Christ from sin in regard to our body is yet future. The flesh is indwelt by sin, corrupting by sin and finally dying and will be buried because of the indwelling presence and power of sin.
Here again this is just another verse that should confirm Paul is speaking of his past life, or all of our past lives. but how to perform that which is good I find not. Paul goes into detail many places on how to overcome sin, but here he does not know how, so I am to believe this is, Paul the apostle, the man that has scolded many for not walking in truth? WOW!
First, one must recognize they have a problem and know the solution to that problem BEFORE they can be held accountable to deal with that problem. Romans 7:14-25 defines the problem. Romans 8:1-27 defines the solution to that problem. Hence, the responsibility is "put off the old man" and "put on the new man" or "mortify the deeds of the flesh" and be "led by the Spirit."
Romans 7:24;O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Wretchedness is always in Paul's past! "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death", is in this man's present, but it is in a believer's past.
Only by divorcing verse 24 from verse 25 are you able to maintain your past/present or lost/saved contrast. However, verse 25 proves that both are present.
Second, it is "the body of this death" that he is talking about. I personally do not know of any living Christian that will avoid "death" in "the body" as the principle of indwelling sin will rule and reign over this body until Christ delivers it in the yet future from the grave.
The man here knows where the problem lies, in his flesh. Many people come to this same place of despair and want to be free from what troubles them so much so they commit suicide, so am I to believe everyone that wants to be free from sin so much so that they would commit suicide is saved?
Paul is referring to the ancient custom of Roman guards. When a prisoner became troublesome to the guards, they would take a dead corpse and fasten it to the prisoner, face to face, arms to arms, leg to legs and make that prisoner live attached to that body. This is Paul's analogy of the believer who is still attached to a body where the presence and power of death (disease, decay, and finally physically death) still resides in the human nature. He is expressing in the most graphic way the agony of the believer whose inward man delights in the law of God as opposed to the lost man whose inward man is at enmity with God and not subject to the law of God.
Paul in his excitement of not being this man in Romans 7 any longer thanks God through Jesus Christ our Lord
He is thanking God that there is deliverance from this condition for the child of God through Jesus Christ. Ultimately, full deliverance is only at the resurrection when the body is raised without the indwelling principle of sin. However, now there is deliverance through Jesus Christ by "mortifying the deeds of the flesh" through the power of the indwelling Spirit of God (Rom. 8:1-16). There is also deliverance from "the flesh" at physical death when the born again "inward man" is separated from "the body of this death."
However, until physical death occurs, the child of God is stuck in "the body of this death" (v. 25) and there is NO REDEMPTION of the flesh while in this life as it will surely die. Hence, the law of sin shall continue to dominate the flesh right into the grave and the reborn man shall continue to delight in the law of God. This dichotomy will continue to the grave. However, Romans 8:1-27 provides the PRESENT solution for overcoming the power and presence of indwelling sin in "the body of this death." By faith we must put to death the deeds of the body and live by the power of the Spirit. When we do not then we EXPERIENCE death due to manifest sin which SEPARATES us from fellowship with God. Death is separation and sin separates the believer from fellowship with God and thus we EXPERIENCE death (disease, lack of fellowship, lack of joy, chastening, sorrow, etc.).
What it is not saying is, I can't overcome sin, because I'm carnal and sold under sin.
I am sorry, but that is exactly what it is saying - "I" can't overcome sin, because "I" am carnal and sold under sin. Jesus said the same thing this way, "without me ye can DO NOTHING." Paul is making the case that the believer cannot overcome indwelling sin by his own will power or strength but MUST depend SOLELY upon the Spirit of Christ within him if any victory is to be EXPERIENCED in his life or otherwise he will EXPERIENCE a "wretched state" of frustration and failure every moment he attempts to defeat indwelling sin by HIS OWN ABILITIES.
I do believe you are adding just your opinion here. Now just to be clear, are you saying a lost man does not have an inward man?, as this is an excepted belief among Calvinist. or are you just saying a lost man's inward man does not delight in the law of God? At any rate both are wrong!
Paul tells us the Jew rested in the law way back in Romans 2:17. "Delight" is simply to have pleasure in. The problem Paul had with the Jews was they were TOO pleased with the law and not pleased enough in Who gave the law!
Paul is simply making the case that the born again man who has been given a new heart that loves and submits to the revealed will of God cannot live the Christian life in HIS OWN STRENGTH and why he cannot. Romans 7 is making the case that the redeemed man is not sanctified by the Law of God any more than he is justified by the law of God. He is making the case that just as the saint received Christ by faith so he must also "walk in him" by faith or else he will not EXPERIENCE victory but only defeat in his battle with indwelling sin. He is making the case that the saved man can "DO NOTHING" in Romans 7 without the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8 in the PROGRESSSIVE CONFORMATION in this life unto the image of Christ.
