The Wrestle
Denver Bluffs - Daybreak
The Sin, The Struggle, and The Holy Spirit
Romans 6, 7, and 8
Before we step too far into the series and the question of Willing and Obedient, we need to sit with one of the most honest and challenging passages in Scripture: Romans chapters 6, 7, and 8.
These chapters are inseparable. Read in isolation, they can confuse. Read together, they tell a coherent and confronting human story about sin, freedom, struggle, and the life available, when lived out through the Holy Spirit.
Before we start, I strongly encourage you to read through all 3 of these chapters in Romans now. Create a space where you can be free from distraction and quiet for a moment. Peace, be still.
Soak the scriptures in. Let them speak to your heart. Listen carefully to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you through these holy words. And consider how these words sit with you. Truly sit with you, based on your own life’s lived experience and how your heart responds to these words. Be honest with yourself.
And then come back here to read on.
Romans 6: Freedom from Sin’s Dominion
Romans 6 makes a clear claim. “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2) Paul is not speaking theoretically. He is declaring a decisive break:
Sin is no longer our master.
We are no longer slaves to sin.
Grace is not permission to continue in sin.
This chapter leaves no room for complacency. If sin rules your life without resistance, Paul says something is fundamentally wrong.
This is salvation accomplished, a past event with real authority. We are no longer under the rule of sin. We belong to a new kingdom. “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” Colossians 1:13 - The kingdom is now. We have been moved spiritually. Born of Adam (humanity - sons and daughters of Adam, our very human nature – sin) translated through salvation by the work of the Holy Spirit to be Sons and Daughters of God.
Romans 7: The War Within
Then Paul shocks us with his honesty. Instead of describing a clean, upward Christian walk and trajectory, he opens the door and shares with us about his inner conflict. “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:19)
Though sin no longer reigns, it still resides.
The old nature (son of Adam) has lost its authority, but not its influence.
The believer now lives in tension — wanting what is right, yet feeling the pull of what is wrong.
This is not defeat. This is real life across the ages. We are saved into the kingdom, but not yet fully free from the presence of sin. This is the “already, but not yet” reality.
“You have been raised with Christ…” (past), “Put to death, therefore…” (present, ongoing) Colossians 3:1, 5
Romans 8: The Power to Walk: Transformation Day by Day
Romans 8 does not deny the struggle, it reframes it.
There is no condemnation for those in Christ.
And there is also a call to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit empowers a real, ongoing transformation.
This is salvation being worked out, not re-earned. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27. The kingdom is present, and the fullness is still coming.
Back to the Debate
Chapter 7 has generated centuries of debate, particularly around this one question. Is Paul describing his life before salvation, or the ongoing experience of what it is to be a Christian believer? There are two respected positions that are worth considering here.
For clarity, a regenerate believer is someone who has been born again, through the Holy Spirit of God, received a new heart and a new disposition toward God, and is no longer spiritually dead, but alive to God in Christ.
By ‘son of Adam,’ we mean our inherited human nature. Fallen, vulnerable to sin, and shaped by the old order from which Christ rescues us.
Two Readings to Wrestle With
1. The “Pre-Conversion” Reading
For example: scholars like Douglas J. Moo. This view suggests:
Romans 7 describes Paul under the Law, before life in the Spirit.
The struggle reflects moral awareness without spiritual power.
Romans 8 is the true Christian experience. Victory, freedom, and the Holy Spirit empowered life.
This reading protects the transforming power of salvation and avoids normalising ongoing defeat.
But this position raises a serious pastoral challenge. Why does Paul use present tense? Why does this struggle sound so familiar to sincere believers?
2. The “Believer in Tension” Reading
For example: articulated by John Piper. This view holds that:
Romans 7 describes a regenerate believer.
The struggle exists precisely because the Holy Spirit is present (God in us).
The hatred of sin is evidence of new life in us, not the absence of sin.
Piper argues that Romans 6, 7, and 8 must be read as a single movement.
Romans 6: Sin’s reign and dominion over us (humanity) is broken.
Romans 7: Sin’s presence (son of Adam – humanity) remains.
Romans 8: The Holy Spirit empowers real, transformation, day by day.
This reading refuses both despair and denial. It rather insists:
Ongoing struggle does not cancel salvation.
And salvation does not excuse surrender to sin.
Willing and Obedient
This debate is not just academic. If Romans 7 is dismissed as pre-salvation, struggling believers may conclude they are not truly saved. Honest confession can feel dangerous.
If Romans 7 is used as a resting place, sin can be tolerated instead of resisted. Obedience is dangerously postponed.
The Holy Scriptures allow neither. Paul ends Romans 7 with a cry. “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” And he answers that cry immediately with, “Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Then Romans 8 opens with hope and responsibility. “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1), “Put to death the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). Freedom and fight. Assurance and obedience. Mercy and transformation.
John Piper’s reading refuses two dangerous distortions. Despair, which says, “If I still struggle, salvation must not be real.” Denial, which says, “If I am saved, my struggle doesn’t matter.”
Scripture allows neither. We are saved (justified), being saved (sanctified), and will be saved (glorified).
The reign of sin is broken. The presence of sin remains. The power of the Spirit is at work, day by day. This is not a contradiction. This is Christian reality.
Why This Connects with the Human Condition
This is why characters like Kichijirō in the movie Silence resonate so deeply with us in our humanity.
They are not at peace with sin. They are not triumphant over it either. They live in the uncomfortable middle, willing and wanting even, yet often failing, ashamed, yet still returning.
Romans 7 gives language to that ache. Romans 8 gives direction for that ache. And Isaiah 1:19 reminds us that mercy still invites obedience, not as a threat, but as a promise.
An Invitation
You don’t need to land conclusively on one position here. But to sit with the question honestly is the right posture. I would encourage you to Read Romans 6, 7, and 8 again now in one sitting. Consider both Douglas Moo’s and John Piper’s readings. And ask what does this reveal about my own struggle with sin, obedience, and grace?
Because the goal is to learn how to keep turning back toward the Father, even when obedience feels costly, slow, and incomplete. That turning back, again and again, is not failure. This is what faithfulness looks like in a fallen world.
Authors Note: Stay tuned - I’m currently working on a series aligned to this topic of willing and obedience along with these chapters from Roman and the movie Silence. I look forward to sharing that with you soon.