Scripture

Sermon Description

Romans 7:14-25 is one of the most famous and debated sections in the entire Bible. The main debate is about the identity of the man Paul is describing in this section. In this sermon introducing Romans 7:14-25, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains that there have been three main views in the history of the church. The first view is that Paul is describing an unregenerate man. The second that he is describing a regenerate man at his best, and Paul himself at the time he wrote this letter. The third view argues that Paul is describing an immature Christian who hasn’t yet received a second blessing experience. Most church fathers of the first three centuries regarded this section as a description of the unregenerate man. Augustine began that way, but then changed his mind and championed the view that it describes the regenerate man. The Protestant reformers, the Puritans, and almost all Reformed teachers afterwards have followed Augustine’s exposition. Arminians, on the other hand, continued to champion the unregenerate man view. A later group of Reformed teachers came to believe it describes a regenerate man, but not at his best. In this introduction, DR. Lloyd-Jones argues that we should never allow a “party spirit” to blind us to truth. As such, he does not reveal his own view in this opening sermon, preferring to wait until the passage has been fully examined before doing so.