By Prem Lee.
The Romans 7 and Romans 8 conundrum has often divided Christians into two camps.
Was Romans 7 Paul’s experience as a Christian or his experience as a Pharisee? The divide is unnecessary as it is most likely both and need not divide us into camps.
The fact is that most of us go through a fairly long sanctification process with the help of the Holy Spirit after giving our life to Jesus. A few rare individuals may experience a powerful transformation the day they give their life to Jesus, but most experience it slowly.
Another aspect is what is called the Second Experience, which was experienced by people like John Wesley and others. I call it the step from faith to surrender. We try ‘living’ by faith and find it a struggle, as we try to do our day-to-day activities without transgressing the teachings of Jesus and the Bible, and often we fail.
We have the Holy Spirit with us, but we seem to be failing still. Then we realize where the problem is; we have not surrendered our life to Jesus and given up our life for Jesus’ life and purpose. Once we renounce our life, the power of temptation is broken, as the power of temptation is our desires, and these have been removed or tempered.
James 1:14-15 reads as “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death”. Along with the breakage of the power of temptation, the Holy Spirit takes control of the surrendered life and we have this resurrected power available to us to live the kind of life God wants us to live, and we move from the reality of Romans 7 to the reality of Romans 8.
Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live