In Romans 7:14-25 Paul the apostle wrote a poignant description of a soul in conflict with himself.
For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the goodthat I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
Paul loved God’s moral law and wanted to obey it, but felt pulled away from doing so by the sin that was in him.
The scholars and many Christians are conflicted about this — Is Paul talking about a Christian (perhaps even himself) or a non-Christian? Can Christians feel such bondage to sin? Do non-Christians often express such a desire to do good? It’s a conundrum. Christians cannot be bound by sin, but non-Christians don’t desire to keep the law of God.
Paul wrote “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin” (verse 14) and “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh; I want to do good, but I cannot do it” (verse 18). Those who believe this passage speaks of a non-Christian say that Christians know how to do what is good in God’s eyes and they see an obvious lack of the Holy Spirit’s power in this passage.
Verse 24 “Wretched man that I am!” does seem distant from the promise of Romans 5:1-2 of “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 6 has many examples of the believer’s freedom from sin’s power. How can the person who said all that turn around and say “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin?”
Paul did a marvelous job of capturing the messiness that is grace. Chapter 6 emphasize the new creation, nature, and identify in Christ. Now redeemed, the believer has broken sin’s dominion. Chapter 7 shows the other side of the Christian life.
Honestly, every Chrisitan knows from experience that though she is a new creature in Christ, sin is still a problem. Chapter 6 even points out the conflict in verses 12-13: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts.” Because it is still possible for Christians to yield to sin, we are commanded not to.
Arguing that chapter 7 cannot refer to a Christian because of statements in Chapter 6 is to misunderstand the entire gospel as presented in the letter to the Romans.
We are saved through grace by faith, not from anything that we have or will do, so that we have no cause to boast of our accomplishments. But Jesus isn’t done with us after that. We don’t get our “fire insurance” and go on upon our merry way setting fire to the world with our sin. Faith without works is indeed death because it is a mental and verbal assent that returns no fruit.
Romans 8:7 explains that the unregenerate person (the non-Christian) is not subject to the law of God. You didn’t consent. You don’t have to comply. Christians, however, did consent and we owe God the respect of our compliance with His laws. Paul proclaimed that he joyfully concurred with the law of God in his inner man (verse 7:22), but he struggles with his desire to do right because his flesh is weak.
Ah, a carnal Christian! the gossips among us pounce. Surely it couldn’t be a Spirit-filled missionary to the European continent! It must be someone with a low level of spirituality who is trying in his own strength to keep the law.
Poppycock!
My own experience is that the more spiritual or mature a believer is, the greater his sensitivity to his shortcomings are. An immature Christian doesn’t have such an honest self perception. The legalist is under the illusion that he is very spiritual. I believe Paul was describing himself, which should certainly explain the extensive use of the personal pronoun “I.”
Was Paul describing his struggles before he was saved? Really? No! Paul was persecuting Christians before the bright light on the road. There’s no evidence he struggled with his conscious or with righteous living at the time. Besides, it is the mature Christian who possesses an honest self-evaluation, which Paul often exhibited (1 Corinthians 15:9-10; Ephesians 3:8). Paul was very precise in his language in Romans 7. He states that he hates committing sin (v. 15), that he loves righteousness (vv. 19, 21), that he delights in the law of God from the bottom of his heart (v. 22), and that he thanks God for the deliverance that is his in Christ (v. 25). Those are the responses of a mature Christian.
The change in verb tenses is a clue that this passage applies to a Christian. The verbs in Romans 7:7-13 are in the past tense. They refer to Paul’s life before his conversion and the process of conviction he experienced when he stood face-to-face with the law of God. However in verses 14-25, where we see the battle with sin taking place, they are in the present tense.
Romans 7:14-25 is Paul’s own testimony of the struggle between living as a Spirit-controlled, mature believer who loves the holy law of God with his whole heart, but finds himself wrapped in human flesh and unable to fulfill it the way his heart desires.
This is part of a series What if Character Went Viral?
Like this:
Like Loading...
I used to have a cartoon on my wall — drawn by a talented artist friend of mine — of a man trying to hold a multi-story brick building on his back, sweat pouring from his brow, his legs trembling with the strain. The caption read:
Be careful that the weight of sin does not crush you
A bunch of my husband’s coworkers were playing Risk at the house. A non-Christian flippantly remarked that he didn’t feel the weight of sin. What did it weigh anyway?
I’m sure he thought he would get agreement from all the other guys in the group, and that Brad would blame it all on me, but our friend Tim (the best Risk player on the planet, by the way) had been invited to join (because he is the best Risk player in the world) and he said “Does a dead body feel a weight?”
Well, no, of course it doesn’t, people agreed around the table. Even if the weight is so great it turns the dead body into goo, the body doesn’t feel it because it’s — well, dead.
The person who doesn’t know Christ is equally dead. It doesn’t matter how great the weight of sin on a spiritually dead human … he can’t feel it.
Christ made Christians alive through the grace-faith relationship. In His mercy, He did not give us the wages of sin (which we deserve), but instead gave us forgiveness (which we haven’t earned). We responded in faith, believing that He could change us as He sees fit. And He did. We were transformed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and for the first time in our existence, we became aware of our sin — our disobedience to God’s principles. Unlike the average non-Christian, Christians are not indifferent to the weight of sin — we’re hypersensitive to it. When we came to Christ, our senses were awakened to the reality of sin and our sensitivity to sin intensifies as we mature spiritually.
The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:14-25:
For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the goodthat I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
What a poignant description of someone in conflict with himself, who loves God’s moral law and wants to obey it, but is pulled away from doing so by the sin that is in him. This is a soul in conflict .. a human being who knew what it was like to have a desire to obey God, but to live in a world that is utterly fallen into sin.
This article is part of an ongoing series – What If Character Went Viral. Stay tuned for more discussion.
Like this:
Like Loading...
There are writers and there are authors. Unlike some in the publishing field, I am not convinced that all that separates a writer from becoming an author is publishing a book. I think some unpublished writers are authors in progress while some published writers will never be authors.
It’s a painful truth, but one does not simply sit down and write a good novel. There’s research, there’s writing, there’s rewriting and editing … and more than anything else, there is critique.
How you accept critique is part of what separates writers and authors.
I’ve been scribbling stories since I was 12. I had some critique on my fiction in high school from my teachers, but for most of the decades between then and publishing my first novel I was writing fiction for my own amazement. Then I decided I really wanted to advance a book to publication and I started to submit it to friends to read.
I guess my friends love me. They all said pretty glowing things about the manuscript that would become the seedbed for Daermad Cycle. Somehow I knew that wasn’t completely honest. I went one step further and submitted it to the writers site Authonomy. Mostly I got good reviews and that felt a little bit more honest because these people didn’t know me. Some of the reviewers gave minor critique — moves a bit slowly, takes a long time to get to the point, it’s awfully long — but I wasn’t really sure what to do with that critique.
Then it happened. Somehow I attracted the attention of a notorious misanthrope on the site and he (or that iteration was a she, I think) decided to critique my book.
If you’ve never been run over by a Mac truck, I don’t recommend it.
I knew this was a mean, mean person, but her words bit deep. She (or he) really hated my book. Worse, though a truly miserable human being, this person was also a great writer.
There are three ways to handle that sort of critique:
- throw the project in the trash bin where the critic suggested … thereby proving that you’re a writer and not an author in progress;
- ignore the critique and keep the project as it is … also suggesting that you may not be an author in progress;
- learn from the critique what is worth learning.
The author in progress does the third thing. After I got done being mad and sad in cycles, I resolved to come back to the critique in a while (that turned out to be three months) and mine it for what was worthwhile. Because this person had a history of being deleted from the site, I printed out the critique and put it away for later consumption. In the meantime, more nicer reviews came in that sort of agreed (in a nice way) with the mean review. I recognized that this mean critic had given me solid advice in a truly despicable manner and her critique was really not substantially different from the more soft-soap critique of the nicer reviews. He was brutally honest and that was exactly what I needed.
I went back to the book and applied the critique in a reasonable manner. I broke the manuscript into smaller more manageable portions (thereby creating a series, which is almost never a bad thing in epic fantasy). I was honest about how slow it was and I resolved to change that. I included death and mayhem much earlier than I was comfortable with. I excised the info dumps and limited the beautifully detailed descriptions I like. I added more complex characters, including some actual bad guys. And I got a better book, which got better reviews, but I also gained the confidence to pick a date to publish. You see, buried in that really mean review, was a off-hand statement that I had to mull for a long while and when I came back to it after the rewrite of the book that would become The Willow Branch, Book 1 of the Daermad Cycle, I realized that it was a very subtle compliment. Nasty guy actually thought there was a kernal of something in the book worth saving.
But if I’d done what I thought he was advising — burn the manuscript, eat dirt and die — I never would have come to that realization and either one of two things would have happened. Either The Willow Branch never would have been published or … I shudder to think this — the book entitled that would have been a mediocre book that should not have been published.
One of the major things separating writers from authors in progress is how they handle critique. All critique is useful to those who are willing to use it.
Lela Markham is the author of two published books The Willow Branch (Book 1 of Daermad Cycle), an epic fantasy, and Life As We Knew It (Book 1 of Transformation Project), an apocalyptic headed toward dystopian.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Today’s interview is with debut novelist, CL Wells. Welcome to the blog.
Thanks so much for having me, Lela!
Tell us something about yourself.
Well, I was born in raised in Kansas, but I don’t plan on spending the rest of my life here. As soon as I can, I will try to move far, far, far away from winter.
For the last ten years I’ve worked in Finance at a major corporation. While I’m grateful for my job… because it does pay the bills… and for food, which is important, and publishing, which is really important, I always say real life starts once I’m walking out the door at the end of the workday.
We only have four legged children and they’re both older than us in their respective fur-years. We have a senior doggie that is around 13 or 14 and our cat is 17. I’ll stop there otherwise I will talk about them forever.
We have two dogs (one who is quite geriatric) and we’ve had lots of cats (just not now). At what point did you know you wanted to be a writer?
My first real memory of enjoying the writing process was in grade school. We’d been learning about the science of the weather and our assignment was to write a weather report. Our teacher said we could pick any location. So, I chose Mars and my meteorologist was abducted by aliens midway through his report. Figured it was okay since she didn’t specify the location had to be on this planet. I got an A and note in red from the teacher telling me how creative I was! It felt good.
I rocked out some fun papers in college and I blogged for a year or so, but until I started this project … I guess I didn’t take myself seriously.
Tell us about your writing process.
So far, I’m a pantser. For Memoirs of a Girl Who Loves God, I just started writing. I was inspired by someone close to me and the story just came to me. But when you’re writing, you think about your characters all the time. So in my head, I knew where I was taking the story. I just didn’t know how I was going to get there until I was at my computer – actively writing.
I tried to do an outline for my current WIP, but so far it’s not working for me. I have to just think it out and write it.
I totally understand. What is your favorite genre … to read … to write?
My favorite genre to write is Faith & Spirituality. But, I love to read all kinds of books. I love YA Fiction, Faith Fiction, Historical, Romance every now and again, Suspense, Thrillers …
What are you passionate about?
Animals-I will be any animal’s advocate. One day I hope to open an animal shelter
If you lived here in Alaska, you could become a dog musher. What is something you cannot live without?
God first. My family. Then air, water, food… those are important too. J
I like the order. When you are not writing, what do you do?
Publishing. Seriously, getting this book out has consumed my life. It’s a lot of work. There are so many steps, but God has made sure I could handle it all. I’ve met some amazing people. My editors, formatter, cover people, bloggers, and the WEBSITE. Oh my goodness, God sent me help for my website. I almost threw my laptop out the window trying to deal with that. I’m okay now though, lol.
Where do you get the inspiration for your novels?
Memoirs is my first, but I always go back to God on this. As writers, we all draw from our life experiences. Once you need to write something else in, it’s time for research.
What sort of research do you do for your novels?
All kinds. Sometimes you just need Google. But for Memoirs, I visited our local homeless shelter and took a tour. I spoke with and interviewed soldiers and asked a million questions. It’s important to ensure what is being written is reflective of real life. This isn’t a fantasy book so if someone who has self-harmed picked it up or a soldier who was in Desert Storm, I want them to relate. Now each person’s individual experience will vary… For instance, one of the soldiers I spoke with who was in Desert Storm was in a troop who was right in all the action. Their access to water was limited. Another soldier whose troop wasn’t in the thick of the action said they had plenty of water. So much of it, in fact, that they were building houses with the bottles when they were bored.
Do you have a special place where you write?
Not yet. I desperately want a special place to write. Right now, our home is very small and though it’s just the two of us with our pets, we need more room.
Do you write from an outline or are you a discovery writer? Why?
More discovery in the details. With Memoirs, I knew where I was going, but needed the ‘discovery’ aspect to get there.
Do you head-hop?
I do. It was out of control for a minute, but my super-duper content editor whipped me into shape. So now I do it, but appropriately. No Dramamine needed.
I’m going to drop you in a remote Alaska cabin for a month. It’s summer so you don’t have to worry about freezing to death. I’ll supply the food and the mosquito spray. What do you do while you’re there and what do you bring with you? If you’re bringing books, what are they?
Oh, this is easy. I will explore, of course. It’s a must to be aware of your surroundings. But I would take that time to write. I would love to have a whole month to myself with no other obligations… such a dream. I would probably stick to reading before bed. That’s how I get my reading time in now. I would take some of my favourite movies for down time. But I bet I could write an entire book in a month under those circumstances.
Talk about your book.
Memoirs of a Girl Who Loves God took me two years to write because of… well, life. My inspiration for the story was based on someone very close to me. She was very open and honest about her experiences and I drew all I could from her.
Was it your intention to write a story with a message or a moral?
I didn’t think of it that way in the beginning. Not in a literal sense. I never said, ‘I’m going to write this to give hope to those who have self-harmed or…’ But my moral in life… real-life, is all about showing God’s love. So if I decide to write a book, I certainly want God’s love built-in.
What do you want readers to think or feel after reading one of your books?
I want people to read it and have a new or renewed sense of how much God loves them. My characters are not far fetched. They’re out there. They exist in someone and when we are looking for them, we’ll find them.
What influenced your decision to self-publish?
Research. I did a ton of research and reading. I’m still so new that there are some things I can’t make heads or tails of. But it appears that traditional publishers don’t operate the way they used to. The market has changed drastically with ebooks and self-publishing so publishers have been forced to change with it. I wasn’t sure I wanted to invest another couple of years in finding an agent and then publisher. I’m a pretty good people person and as for marketing, I will try a hundred things that don’t work to find the one thing that does. So in the end I decided to self-publish and I think I’m glad I did.
There are people who believe that traditional publishing is on the ropes, that self-publishing is the future. Do you agree? Why?
I can see why people say that. While self-publishing has put a huge dent in the market, I still think traditional publishers have their place. Who doesn’t want to be signed by a ‘big dog’ and get an advance… have someone else take care of all your editing needs and pour money into promoting you?
What do you find to be the greatest advantage of self-publishing?
Having 100% control over your own success or failure. That can be good and bad. You have to be a go-getter. You can’t just write it and put any humdrum cover on it and hope people are going to buy it. You have to take it seriously, make it the best it can be, and then market forever. If you don’t plan market your own book, you may want to consider trying the traditional way.
What do you think self-published authors might be missing out on?
Less stress. Don’t get me wrong; I know that authors who are signed with traditional publishers have their own stress. Deadlines for one thing. But! A traditional publisher handles a lot of expenses and if you received a decent advance, you’re not working a 9-to-5. That alone is a dreamy thought.
As a self-published author who also works a day job, you won’t get an argument from me. With the number of self-published books increasing by such a huge rate, it is really difficult for authors to make their books stand out. How do you go about this?
Yes. I’ll do it anyway. I will try those hundred things. As long as I’m trying I know God will open the right doors at the right time.
Who designed your book cover/s?
A lot of people, lol. I took the photo for it and commissioned Zei Llamas to create the cover. Much of the idea for design came from my spouse. He’s quite creative in ways I’m not and I’m so glad. Zei really brought the ideas to life. Victorine Lieske gave the title/font a facelift and Carey Bradshaw polished it until it shined.
Do you believe that self-published authors can produce books as high-quality as the traditional published? If so, how do you think we should go about that?
Absolutely. It’s harder for us, but it’s important to do it right. If you’re writing anything you ever plan or hope to have published then you need to network. It’s time consuming but it’s a must. You have to make connections and meet people who know all the things you don’t. Find groups on Facebook to be a part of and get on twitter and meet people. Talk to them. Make real friends. You never know what can come from it. I’m in a group on Facebook called Clean Indie Reads (CIR) and they are the best! I can’t rave about them enough. I wouldn’t be this far without the folks I’ve met in that one group.
Do you write specifically for a Christian audience? Why or why not?
No, definitely not. I write what I love and I happen to love God so that will come through.
What are some of the special challenges of being a Christian writer?
There’s no special challenge for me. I’ve never looked at it like that. I don’t write to appease any group of people. I love God, but I’m not into religious titles. I don’t mean that sound rude, but I want to be real. I don’t hide the fact I love God but at the same time, mainstream Christianity isn’t something I cater to.
We’re in total agreement on that subject. Christians are told to be “in the world, but not of it.” As a Christian writer, how do you write to conform to that scripture?
Anyone who really loves God and is working on his or her relationship with God is already on the right path. You will be set apart by being real and loving and kind.
Do you feel that Christian writers are expected to conform to some standards that are perhaps not realistic to the world?
Yes, probably so. But we have to push against that. I’m not writing to be in a Christian writing club of some sort. If you can’t be real about what you write and what you believe, then you shouldn’t bother.
Do you feel that Christian writers should focus on writing really great stories or on presenting the gospel clearly in everything they write? Or is it possible to do both?
I think if a writer is a Christian, they should write like any other writer. They should listen to their heart and focus on their craft and write amazing stories. If you write a story and you’re focused on external expectations, then you’re writing will not be true to you.
If you write speculative fiction, do you find that the Christian reader community is accepting of that genre?
I haven’t written it, but I’m not saying I never will.
Some will be accepting and some won’t. But who cares? The only one you’ll ever have to really answer to is God. Mainstream Christianity has got to stop finding ways to point fingers. If all believers would just focus on God, we’d be so much better off. If someone writes something I don’t like, I don’t read it. It’s that simple.
Where can readers find you and your books?
http://www.amazon.com/Memoirs-Girl-Who-Loves-God-ebook/dp/B0100W0G7O/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434749113&sr=1-1&keywords=Memoirs+of+a+Girl+Who+Loves+God
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/552520
Fourteen-year-old Krystal finds herself flailing when her parents separate. Unable to cope, she begins cutting. No one knows.
At her new school, she makes one single friend, Em, who invites her to volunteer at the local homeless shelter. There, Krystal discovers fellow misfits, including Brandon, a boy from her school. How can Krystal start a new life when the scars of her old one will never fully heal?
What readers are saying about “Memoirs of a Girl Who Loves God”
“This is a heartwarming story that was written from the heart. It brought real meaning to me––of some things in life––that never made sense before. It made me smile, and also brought tears to my eyes. This is a must read. I wasn’t able to put it down once I started.”
“A compelling story that will have readers touched and unable to put it down. I’ve read it more than once and each and every time it brings tears to my eyes.”
“WOW! It is not an easy book to read, but it is a powerful book. Heartbreaking, heartwarming, challenging and uplifting.”
Connect with C.L. Wells
Facebook – facebook.com/Author.CLWELLS
Twitter – twitter.com/clwellsauthor
Website – theclwells.com
Blog – http://theclwells.com/ramblings
Newsletter – http://theclwells.com/newsletter
e-Mail – clwells.author@gmail.com
Additional contact information for C.L. Wells
Like this:
Like Loading...
Was Paul describing his struggles before he was saved? Really? No! Paul was persecuting Christians before the bright light on the road. There’s no evidence he struggled with his conscious or with righteous living at the time. Besides, it is the mature Christian who possesses an honest self-evaluation, which Paul often exhibited (1 Corinthians 15:9-10; Ephesians 3:8). Paul was very precise in his language in Romans 7. He states that he hates committing sin (v. 15), that he loves righteousness (vv. 19, 21), that he delights in the law of God from the bottom of his heart (v. 22), and that he thanks God for the deliverance that is his in Christ (v. 25). Those are the responses of a mature Christian.
Christians, why are you shocked that the secular temple has betrayed God’s law? Jesus told us that the world would hate us and reject what we believe. Don’t be shocked that it’s doing what Jesus predicted!
aurorawatcherak 