The Struggle Within

Various strands of what we may call Christian perfectionism have existed throughout the history of the church. Although the different strands of Christian perfectionism have not agreed on all the details, those who have held to this general view agree that at some point before death, a Christian can reach a point of sinlessness. Some limit this sinlessness to freedom from sinning intentionally, whereas others extend it to unintentional sins as well. They agree, though, that sanctification can be essentially completed before we are glorified, usually by some kind of special second work of the Holy Spirit after conversion.

Christian perfectionists have to deal with many Scriptures that seem to run contrary to their view. One of these is Romans 7:7–25, which portrays Paul’s conflict with sin. Many perfectionists interpret this text as referring to Paul’s preconversion life, not his life in the Holy Spirit after he came to know Christ. If it is the case that Paul does not describe the believer’s struggle with sin, the case for Christian perfectionism becomes more plausible, for it would mean that Romans 7 does not constitute a defeater for the perfectionist position.

Complicating matters is the fact that it is likely that Paul is talking about his life before Christ in at least part of the text. Verses 7–13 refer to Paul’s coming into contact with the law of God and how it brought spiritual death to him. One has to die before one can be resurrected by Jesus through the Holy Spirit, so Paul’s entering into a state of death would seem to portray a preconversion reality: he died and then sometime later was spiritually resurrected by the Lord.

There does seem to be a shift in Paul’s thinking in verse 14, however, as evidenced by his wrestling with sin. Dead people cannot physically wrestle, and spiritually dead people cannot spiritually wrestle (see Eph. 2:1–7; Rom. 3:9–18). Unconverted people cannot silence the voice of conscience completely, but they do not experience the intense struggle with sin that Paul portrays in Romans 7:14–25. It takes a new heart granted by the Spirit in regeneration to battle the remnants of sin that are with us until we are glorified. Believers can make real progress in sanctification, but moral perfection is not possible on this side of glory. Thanks be to God, however, that the Lord will one day finally remove all sin from us (v. 25).