Rom. 7:7.24 describes the condition of a quickened soul under law. Some would teach us that it presents proper Christian experience. This is a mistake. Surely a Christian is not a "wretched man," crying out for deliverance, but a happy man, rejoicing in being delivered. Again, can a Christian never do good? must he always do evil? To say so is to falsify the whole Christian position. The Christian is one who is washed in the blood of Christ, delivered from the law, from sin, from the world, from Satan—sealed by the Holy Ghost who is the spring of power to avoid what is wrong, and to do what is right. This, and nothing less, is the Christianity of the New Testament.
But, on the other hand, there are some who maintain that Romans 7 does not set forth the exercises of a quickened soul at all. This too is a mistake. Who but a quickened soul could say, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man"? What does the "inward man" mean but the new nature? We believe this much misunderstood passage sets before us the experience of a quickened soul not delivered, not emancipated, not sealed. It most certainly was not Paul's experience when writing the epistle. He may have passed through it, as many of God's people have; but to say that it is the proper experience of a Christian, is simply to deny the whole teaching of the New Testament, and to rob the Christian of all his distinctive privileges and blessings as a member of the body of Christ.