Romans 7:17

So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.

In using the conscience of the inner man to affirm the justice of the law, Paul raised another problem which Barrett paraphrased thus:

We find man in a state of rebellion against God, and under sentence of death. For this unhappy situation, the law is not to blame; but neither, it now appears, am "I," for I agree with the law and disapprove of the sins I commit. Who then is to blame?[17]

Paul answered that problem by stating that it is not my real self who does evil works but sin dwelling in me. This fact of a person's acting out of character is seen in the inspired words of the Master relative to the prodigal son, of whom it was said that "when he came to himself, etc."

It is in this verse that the theory of applying these words to Christians relies on the fact that the conscience, or inner self, of the person spoken of approves of God's law; but again, there is enough of the divine image left in every man, regardless of how reprobate, to produce this inward approval of God's law (see under preceding verse). That Paul was still speaking of the noble Jew under the law is still evident, as attested by Brunner:

Of course, Paul speaks of this contradiction in man, of him who is under the Law, who does not know Christ. Only he who disrupts the order of the verses can deny this.[18]

And yet it is also a fact that there is an inward conflict in every man, as proved by the pangs of conscience upon wrongdoing; but the inward conflict in Christians is fantastically diminished and cannot be thought of in the terms used here. That there is in the child of God, even the best and truest, disturbing echoes of the old conflict is certain; and it may even be that Paul here fused the consideration of the two conflicts (the savage one under the law, and the far milder one for the Christian), speaking in a certain sense of both of them. In the same paragraph of Brunner's quotation just cited, that author said,

Of which (conflict) is Paul speaking? Does he speak of that experience which Ovid has expressed, "I perceive the better and approve of it but I follow that which is worse"? Yes, and no. Of course, Paul speaks of this contradiction in man, of him who is under the Law, who does not know Christ. Only he who disrupts the order of the verses can deny this. And yet, the Christian Paul speaks quite differently from the heathen Ovid of the misery of man under the Law! Paul thus does not speak of what man outside Christ knows of himself but of how matters really stand with the godless man outside Christ. This is one thing upon which the blunt Yes or No is wrecked.[19]

We may be thankful for Brunner's perception here; because, once this difference is noted, it is quite easy to account for some of Paul's assertions in these verses, which apart from facts observed: by Brunner would be more difficult. Significantly, Paul's words here go far beyond any analysis of the conflict under law that could have been made without the knowledge imparted through the acceptance and obedience of Christ. Thus, through his greater knowledge as a Christian, Paul was dealing here with the inward conflict of the legal Jew in terms of the way it actually was, rather than in terms of the legal Jew's perception of it. Thus, if there is any reference whatever in this passage to the conflict within Christians (and this author cannot believe that there is), then it would have to be in the sense suggested here by Brunner. In any case, Paul's analysis here is even far too strong a statement of even the Jew's knowledge of his conflict, and thus even further removed from being a statement of any so-called Christian experience.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Emil Brunner, The Letter to the Romans (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1956), p. 63.

[19] Ibid., p. 64.