Chapter 7 of Romans is all about the struggle. The struggle between law and faith, bondage and freedom, death and life. It’s about Paul answering their objections, then diving headlong into his own challenges. He says this:
For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! … I can will it, but I can’t do it.
He talks through his challenges and struggles a bit more, and its as if he’s describing the human condition in a single paragraph. You can feel him throwing his hands up in the air at the end, exasperated, exhausted. And as he asks if anyone can help, he answers his own question with this:
The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does.
Which then becomes the perfect set-up for chapter 8…
Omer Redden 