You guys must be some kind of super-duper Christians... I gratify the flesh all the time and I've been saved for 25 years. Paul couldn't even do what some here suggest.
Romans 7:18-19 KJV
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
[19] For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
You misunderstand Paul in Romans 7.
- You gratify the flesh all the time but you are saved? You need to renew your mind instead. You have accepted defeat. You have justified the flesh, instead of by faith believing in the power of grace. You are to live by the Spirit and not by the flesh. Otherwise you will get a wake up call on judgement day, and it will be too late.
You should read
Romans 6 carefully to understand what God's view of sin is.
Romans 7 talks of
Paul
- once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, he died (i.e. as a child he was free from the law, but once his conscience became aware of the transgression (for example as a 13 year old, or any age of accountability according to God, it slay him that very moment). It is that same conscience that caused Adam and Eve to hide from God in the Garden of Eden.
- Paul was a devout Pharisee. He had a love for God and the Law. Yet in his zeal he found that he could not uphold the law. Because he in his mind knew that the law was good but he found that the power residing within his flesh overcame him and he was not able to uphold the law. All the good he
wanted to do he couldn't, and all the bad he
wanted to avoid he couldn't.
-Paul calls out in desperation ---- who can save me from this body of death? (This is Paul's REPENTANT mindset). If Paul was happy in his sin, then this is NOT a REPENTANT MINDSET. Paul had a repentant mindset (knowing the law was good, and wanting to uphold the law) --- who can save me from this body of Death?
- The solution: Thanks be to JESUS CHRIST (HE IS THE SOLUTION)
Romans 8: Now we are able to live godly lives through the Spirit. Because of Jesus, and what He did on the cross.
If you quote Romans 7 here on the forum as an excuse for your flesh, you haven't really understood this passage at all. You should be, like Paul, crying out --- who can save me from this body of death? Instead of shouting out --- hey, I live in the flesh all the time. There is no repentance.
And without repentance you don't have Christ.
With respect.