{"id":1681,"date":"2010-05-02T14:58:57","date_gmt":"2010-05-02T20:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1681"},"modified":"2010-05-02T14:58:57","modified_gmt":"2010-05-02T20:58:57","slug":"romans-715-that-thing-you-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-715-that-thing-you-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 7:15 – That Thing You Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Romans 7:15<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul battled his sin nature just as you and I do.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDoing<\/span>\u201d is from the word katergadzomai<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto work fully, to finish, or to fully accomplish.\u201d In other words, it is not simply something that Paul comes close to doing or that he does a little bit of, it is something that he does completely.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstand<\/span>\u201d is from ginosk\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto come to know completely or to understand thoroughly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The words \u201cwhat I will<\/span>\u201d are a translation of ho thel\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cthat thing which I desire to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPractice<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek word prass\u014d<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto practice, to do habitually, or to do repeatedly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The word translated \u201cbut<\/span>\u201d is alla<\/span><\/em>. It is an adversative participle which can best be expressed here as \u201cbut contrary to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cI do<\/span>\u201d is translated from the Greek word poie\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means \u201cto make or do.\u201d It is expressed in the present tense, active voice, indicative mood, implying continual action.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is one of the most important verses of the entire book of Romans. It is Paul expressing the frustration concerning the power that his sin nature has over him. He starts out this verse by confessing that he doesn\u2019t understand why he acts the way he does. The thing which he wants to do (be obedient to God) he doesn\u2019t always do. He is not saying that he never does the things he wants to do. He is saying that he doesn\u2019t consistently do them. Paul wants to obey God and do those things which will glorify Him, but he doesn\u2019t always do them.<\/p>\n

Instead, Paul finds that the thing which he hates is the very thing that he continually finds himself doing.<\/p>\n

This is a very revealing (and to the rest of us, comforting) aspect of Paul\u2019s walk with God. He is the Apostle to the Gentiles, the most prolific writer of the New Testament and probably the finest example of \u201cObedience to God\u201d in the entire New Testament. And yet, he has a constant battle with his sin nature and has not reached a state of perfect submission to Christ. Allow me to paraphrase this verse,<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t understand my actions. For that which I want to do I don\u2019t always do. On the other hand, that which I hate to do I keep on doing.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Can you identify with Paul? Of course you can! Any Christian who is completely committed to God will undergo this same sense of frustration as he or she contemplates his or her daily walk with God. We want to be obedient, but we don\u2019t always obey and we don\u2019t understand why.<\/p>\n

The answer, my friend, is our sin nature. It is constantly battling against us to produce sin in our lives, even when we want to be totally obedient to God.<\/p>\n

But you must understand that doesn\u2019t excuse us! We are still guilty of the sin, but confession, and forgiveness through the grace of God, will restore our fellowship with Him even when we do that thing which we hate!<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

<\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \"\"(618) 614-3070<\/span><\/span><\/span> and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:\"e-mail<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 7:15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. Truth to Learn Paul battled his sin nature just as you and I do. Behind the Words \u201cDoing\u201d is from the word katergadzomai, meaning \u201cto work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[834,487,805,835,836,837,838,839,840,841,525],"class_list":["post-1681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alla","tag-doing","tag-ginosko","tag-hate","tag-katergadzoman","tag-poieo","tag-practice","tag-prasso","tag-thelo","tag-understand","tag-will"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-r7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}