The Battle That Rages: Notes

Discussion Guide
10.24.21
ONE gospel
Romans 7:7 – 8:39

“Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (Rom 7:21).

OPEN
The “I” and “me” language throughout today’s text is likely more of a rhetorical device to
describe Israel’s relationship to the Law of Moses rather than simply one man’s (i.e., Paul’s)
personal experience. Paul is not, of course, saying that his own experience is fundamentally
different from that of his fellow Israelites. So read today’s text as an explanation of Israel’s
experience with Torah – and see in that experience both Paul’s personal life history and your
own.

NEXT
Beginning at 5:12, Paul has contrasted the status of humans in Adam and in Christ. In Adam,
we are linked to sin, death, and slavery; in Christ, we are given grace, life, and freedom! Since
Paul feared some of his readers would take this to mean that we are free to continue to sin,
how did he respond to such an interpretation of the gospel he was preaching? Cf. 6:1-2, 15.
Is it possible that some Christians in our own time have misunderstood grace and freedom in
the same way Paul feared in his own time? Why does this happen? How do you guard your
own heart from the temptation to “presume on grace”?

Paul presses his point by arguing that the “problem” both Jews and Gentiles face is not that
God has given laws to which we are accountable. Torah is “holy, righteous and good” (7:12).
Humanity has been guilty of sin since Adam, and the Law of Moses only made it possible that
“sin might be recognized as sin” (7:13) – that is, exposed for the God-defying action it is (cf.
1:20-32). Why is it crucial for “sin” to be known for its true nature? What does the biblical
concept of repentance require?

Holy commandments not only expose sin as offensive to God and dehumanizing to us but
also remind us that we do not have the spiritual strength to change what needs changing in
human character. “Flesh” (i.e., God-defying behavior) underscores our connection with Adam
in sin, guilt, and death. How does the cry of 7:24 summarize both Israel’s plight under Torah
and our personal need before Christ came?

Why is it correct to call the flesh-Spirit contrast “the battle that rages” in the cosmos? In every
life?

How does Paul’s triumphant statement in 7:25 answer Israel’s longings? Your personal need?
Chapter 8 explains how “flesh” yields to the “Spirit of God” for all who live in Christ. What is
the ultimate contrast of 8:4? What is meant by the “realm” of flesh/Spirit at 8:9? How does
8:13 answer the earlier question of 6:1? The raging battle between flesh and Spirit has been
won for us by Christ’s death!

Please read 8:31-39 aloud. What difference does it make in your life to have this confidence?

CLOSING
This text is something of a crescendo to Paul’s explanation of the gospel. God’s wrath is being
revealed against sin (1:18), but Christ’s death has rescued those who believe in Christ from
judgment (8:1) and has made us secure in God’s redeeming love in Christ Jesus (8:31). How
will you thank him?