In my last blog I suggested that the issue that Paul is dealing with in Romans 7 is the inability of The Law to deal with sin. Even Romans 8:3 summarizes this suggestion by stating "God has done what the law....could not do." What The Law could not do is deal with sin.....only Life in The Spirit can deal with sin (Romans 8)
But one final concern that people often have is whether Romans 7 is referring to a Christian. This concern is usually connected to Paul's use of the present tense when describing himself. He says, "I do not do what I want, but do the very thing I hate (7:15)." This sounds like the present state of Paul.
However, if one is reading this in context of Romans 6 it seems he has contradicted his statements in Romans 6 where he states that sin no longer has dominion over you (6:14). How can the mastery of sin of which Paul sees to be referring in Romans 7 make sense with what Paul states in Romans 6?
So, is Paul contradicting himself in the space of a chapter or is there another explanation? I would say there is another explanation to this dilemma that Paul is describing his present state and it is specifically related to a different understanding of the present tense.
The specifics of this feature of present tenses will be in my next blog
REFLECTION: If a passage appears to contradict itself with other passages what do you do? Can something appear to be a contradiction because there Is the need for more information?