Is the experience of Paul in Romans 7 previous to his conversion, or is it after his conversion?

This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘God’s Power for Salvation’ (2005).

Well, that is a very interesting question and is much debated. Some people will say, 'This is very much my own experience as a believer.' Others will say, 'How can a believer talk like that? Does he know nothing of the liberating power of the Holy Spirit?' And so some say this is Paul before he got converted; and others say, 'No, he couldn't have experienced this after he got converted.'

If I may, I will make a third suggestion, which is neither one nor the other. Consider the context in which it comes. Paul is discussing sanctification, and what purpose the law, as law, has to contribute to the process of sanctification. And he is making this point. Are we saying that the law is sinful when we say that you cannot in that sense be sanctified by the law? We are not saying it is sinful, but look at its inadequacy, as Paul sums it up in chapter 8, 'what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh' (Romans 8:3). God has interposed to do something that the law could not do, and therefore, though we may all from time to time feel the way that Paul describes in Romans 7 onwards, we ought to go beyond it to see that we are not under law in that sense, but we are married to another (Romans 7:4). We are not under the old covenant, with us desperately trying to keep law in our own strength. We are married to another; we are under the new covenant, and we have the Holy Spirit within. That is the difference of principle.

And it would be odd if a believer would say now, after fifty years, 'I don't know what you're talking about when you talk about the power of the Holy Spirit. I don't know what that is. What on earth is this new covenant, and what does it do, and what is it supposed to do?' Surely, we know something of what the new covenant is about, not only in forgiveness, but in the reality of the Holy Spirit within our hearts. Yes, we have to practice. Yes, we have to learn how to take advantage of the Holy Spirit's presence and power. Yes, surely; but I don't think that Romans 7:7 onwards is meant to be the norm of Christian behaviour—always struggling and always defeated. We are, after all, under the new covenant: 'sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not under law' (Romans 6:14). We are being empowered by the Holy Spirit and should know increasingly in practical experience the gracious help of the Holy Spirit. Not that we are perfectly sinless, of course not.

I personally feel that this difference between the law on tables of stone as a rulebook, and the new covenant with its laws written on the heart, is very important. If you keep the Lord's Supper weekly, as many do, it would be a pity not to remember from time to time that that is a celebration of the new covenant, which is this matter, first and foremost, of writing God's laws on our hearts. So when I take the cup I am saying, 'Yes, Lord, certainly I thank you for dying for me that my sins shall be forgiven and not remembered against me anymore. Lord, this last week I have not done what I should have done. I confess it, Lord. Thank you for your forgiveness, and thank you for this promise. It is your promise. You have promised that you will write your laws on my heart. Lord, write them ever more deeply.' Because, in the end it is not my determination, merely, and trying to behave; it is the pledge of what he does: 'I will write my laws on your heart.'

Therefore when we come we are to discern ourselves. You see, I must know now by experience that not all of my attitudes, at my age, are necessarily right. My friends know it more than I do, of course, and can see it. It is not a question merely of discerning what I've done wrong, but of discerning attitudes that are wrong. I need to do it, for to come to the symbol of the new covenant and not see any need to discern myself, and where my attitudes are wrong that they be corrected, well then, I'm neglecting what is one of the major things of the new covenant. But even when I confess my sin and see that my attitudes are wrong, and I've got wrong habits and things, and I confess that too, then, oh, the marvellous, positive side as I take that cup! I can come. I don't have to stay away. I can come in that spirit therefore, and claim the promise pledged to me by the cup of the new covenant: 'I will write my laws on your heart.' He does it! And this is magnificent gospel!

And what happens if I become careless and don't discern myself? If I do that, it is after all a covenant, and it is the Lord who covenants it, not me. I didn't initiate the covenant. It is he that does the covenanting. If I don't cooperate with him, then he will fulfil his covenant: he'll write his laws on my heart. He'll do it in a way that is happy and convenient; but if not, if I'm careless and I am a believer, he is going to write them. So we are judged of the Lord and chastened, so 'that we are not condemned with the world' (1 Corinthians 11:32), for he is covenanted to do it. And he will do it now, and we are chastened of the Lord so that we shall not be condemned with the world. A believer will never be condemned with the world, but if he's careless in this life and doesn't, in that sense, cooperate with the Lord, the Lord will take him in hand, because the Lord is covenanted to do it. It is marvellous, isn't it? Or perhaps you don't think so. But to me it is gospel!