ΡΩΜΑΙΟΥΣΡΩΜΑΙΟΥΣ

1. Je, Sheria ni Dhambi? (7:7-12)1. Is the Law Sinful? (7:7-12)

Baada ya kumfungua mwamini kutoka kwa sheria katika 7:1-6, Paulo anajua swali dhahiri linalofuata. Ikiwa sheria ni kitu ambacho tumekifia, kitu tunachokitumikia katika hali mpya badala ya hali ya zamani ya andiko — je, sheria yenyewe imekuwa dhambi? Je, tatizo limekuwa katika sheria?After releasing the believer from the law in 7:1-6, Paul knows the next obvious question. If the law is something we have died to, something we serve in newness rather than the oldness of the letter — has the law itself been sinful? Has the problem been with the law?

Jibu lake ni kama radi: mē genoito. Hasha. Sheria haijawa tatizo. Sheria imekuwa mpimaji anayetambua ugonjwa. Paulo anaandika kwamba asingalijua dhambi isipokuwa kwa sheria. Asingalijua kutamani ni nini kama amri isingalisema, "Usitamani." Sheria haikuumba dhambi. Sheria ilifunua dhambi.His answer is a thunderclap: mē genoito. By no means. The law has not been the problem. The law has been the diagnostician. Paul writes that he would not have known sin except by the law. He would not have known what coveting was if the commandment had not said "You shall not covet." The law did not create sin. The law revealed sin.

Ifikirie sheria kama tochi katika chumba chenye giza. Tochi inafunua hatari zilizo sakafuni — pembe za meza, vinyago vya watoto, waya uliopita juu ya zulia — lakini tochi yenyewe si hatari. Zima tochi na hatari hizo hazitoweki; zinakuwa tu hazionekani mpaka ujikwae juu yake. Sheria hufanya kazi kwa namna hiyo hiyo. Haiumbi dhambi iliyo mioyoni mwetu. Inafichua dhambi iliyokuwa tayari pale.Think of the law as a flashlight in a dark room. The flashlight reveals the hazards on the floor — the table corners, the toys, the cord across the rug — but the flashlight is not the hazard. Switch off the flashlight and the hazards do not disappear; they only become invisible until you trip over them. The law functions the same way. It does not create the sin in our hearts. It exposes the sin that was already there.

Paulo anamaliza sehemu hii kwa mstari unaostahili kukaririwa. Basi torati ni takatifu, na ile amri ni takatifu, na ya haki, na njema. Hakuna ugomvi na sheria. Tatizo halikuwa kamwe katika kipimo cha Mungu. Tatizo limekuwa daima katika mioyo yenye dhambi ambayo kipimo hicho huifichua.Paul ends the section with a verse worth memorizing. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. No quarrel with the law. The problem was never with God's standard. The problem has always been with sinful hearts that the standard exposes.

2. Jinsi Dhambi Inavyoitumia Amri (7:8-13)2. Sin's Use of the Commandment (7:8-13)

Lakini Paulo anaendelea mbele zaidi. Kuna kitu kilichopotoka katika namna asili ya kibinadamu yenye dhambi inavyoitikia sheria. Mwambie mtoto asiguse jiko la moto, na umeshazaa swali la haraka la jiko hilo linavyohisi likiguswa. Mwambie mtu lolote utakalofanya, usilifikirie neno "tembo" naye atawafikiria tembo mchana mzima. Amri haizai msukumo huo, lakini inaupa msukumo huo shabaha iliyo wazi. Dhambi, asema Paulo, "ikipata nafasi kwa ile amri, ilifanya ndani yangu kila namna ya kutamani."But Paul presses further. There is something perverse in the way sinful human nature responds to the law. Tell a child not to touch the hot stove and you have just created the urgent question of how the stove feels. Tell someone whatever you do, don't think of the word "elephant" and they will think of elephants for the rest of the afternoon. The commandment does not produce the impulse, but it gives the impulse a clear target. Sin, Paul says, "taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire."

Hili si kasoro katika sheria. Ni tabia ya dhambi. Dhambi huyatumia makatazo yale yale yaliyokusudiwa kuizuia kama malighafi ya uasi zaidi. Sheria ambayo ingepaswa kuongoza kwenye uzima inakuwa — kupitia upotovu wa dhambi ikaayo ndani — sababu ya mauti. Paulo analifanya hilo kuwa wazi katika mstari wa 13: haikuwa sheria njema iliyoleta mauti; ilikuwa dhambi, ikitumia kilicho chema, iliyofanya kazi ya mauti ndani yake, ili dhambi ifichuliwe kuwa dhambi kupita kiasi.This is not a flaw in the law. It is a feature of sin. Sin uses the very prohibitions designed to restrain it as raw material for further rebellion. The law that should have led to life becomes — through the perversity of indwelling sin — the occasion of death. Paul makes that clear in verse 13: it was not the good law that brought death; it was sin, using what is good, that worked death in him, so that sin might be exposed as exceedingly sinful.

3. Vita vya Ndani (7:14-20)3. The Internal War (7:14-20)

Kisha Paulo anafanya jambo ambalo waandishi wengi wa theolojia katika ulimwengu wa kale wasingelifanya. Anakuwa wa binafsi kwa kina. Anafunua mapambano ya kila siku ya mwamini na dhambi ikaayo ndani. Mtu aliyeandika hati muhimu zaidi ya kitheolojia katika historia ya kanisa anasimama ili kukiri kwamba yeye mwenyewe haelewi analolitenda. Anataka lililo jema. Anachukia lililo baya. Na bado anaendelea kuanguka katika uovu ule ule anaouchukia.Then Paul does something most theological writers in the ancient world would not have done. He becomes intensely personal. He opens up the daily struggle of the believer with indwelling sin. The man who wrote the most important theological document in church history pauses to confess that he himself does not understand what he does. He wants the good. He hates the evil. And yet he keeps falling into the very evil he hates.

Kila Mkristo ambaye amewahi kushindana na dhambi ya muda mrefu ataitambua sentensi hiyo. Haielezi kushindwa kujua lililo sahihi. Inaeleza kushindwa kutenda kile mtu anachojua ni sahihi. Paulo anaeleza muundo huu wa ajabu wa mapambano haya. "Mimi" anayetaka lililo jema ni nafsi mpya — mwamini aliyezaliwa upya na Roho. "Mimi" anayeendelea kutenda uovu ni asili ya dhambi iliyobaki ambayo bado inakaa mwilini. Wote wawili wapo ndani ya mtu mmoja. Hawalingani — asili mpya ndiyo yenye mamlaka ya juu — lakini asili ya zamani bado haijafa, nayo inaendelea kushawishi kwa ajili ya tamaa zake mpaka ufufuo.Every Christian who has ever wrestled with a long-standing sin will recognize that sentence. It does not describe failure to know what is right. It describes failure to do what one knows is right. Paul lays out the strange anatomy of this struggle. The "I" that wants the good is the new self — the believer regenerated by the Spirit. The "I" that keeps doing the evil is the residual sinful nature still resident in the body. Both are present in the same person. They are not equals — the new nature is supreme — but the old nature is not yet dead, and it goes on lobbying for its desires until the resurrection.

Paulo anasisitiza jambo hilo katika mstari wa 17: Basi sasa si mimi tena ninayelitenda neno hilo, bali ni dhambi ikaayo ndani yangu. Hatoi kisingizio. Hajaribu kukwepa wajibu. Anatambua chanzo cha msukumo huo. Nafsi mpya aliyoifanyika wakati wa kuokoka si ile inayozalisha dhambi. Chanzo ni asili ya dhambi ikaayo ndani ambayo bado haijaondolewa. Mwamini anabaki kuwa na wajibu — lakini mwamini pia yuko wazi kuhusu ni sehemu ipi ya nafsi yake iliyo tatizo.Paul presses the point in verse 17: Now then, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. He is not making an excuse. He is not trying to evade responsibility. He is identifying the source of the impulse. The new self he became at conversion is not the one generating the sin. The source is the indwelling sinful nature that has not yet been removed. The believer remains responsible — but the believer is also clear about which part of himself is the problem.

4. Sheria Mbili Ndani (7:21-23)4. The Two Laws Within (7:21-23)

Kutokana na mapambano haya Paulo anataja "sheria" — kanuni, mpangilio wa kawaida — inayofanya kazi katika viungo vyake. Neno la Kigiriki nomos linaweza kumaanisha Sheria ya Musa, lakini linaweza pia kumaanisha kanuni thabiti ambayo daima hufanya kazi kwa namna fulani. Paulo anasema anaona kanuni hii kwamba nikitaka kutenda lililo jema, lililo baya liko pamoja nami. Mpangilio huo ni wa kudumu kiasi kwamba unafanya kazi kama sheria.Out of this struggle Paul names a "law" — a principle, a regularity — that operates in his members. The Greek word nomos can mean the Mosaic Law, but it can also mean a fixed principle that always operates a certain way. Paul says he finds the principle that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. That regularity is so consistent it functions like a law.

Kuna "sheria" kadhaa zinazofanya kazi katika Warumi 7. Kuna sheria ya Mungu — kipimo cha Musa. Kuna sheria ya akili — furaha ya ndani katika sheria ya Mungu inayoitambulisha asili mpya. Kuna sheria iliyo katika viungo — kanuni ya dhambi ikaayo ndani ambayo bado inafanya kazi katika mwili wa kimwili. Na asili mpya na asili ya zamani hupigana vita ndani ya mwamini kila siku.There are several "laws" at work in Romans 7. There is the law of God — the Mosaic standard. There is the law of the mind — the inner delight in God's law that marks the new nature. There is the law in the members — the principle of indwelling sin still operating in the physical body. And the new nature and the old nature wage war in the believer every day.

Hiki ndicho kitendawili kikuu cha Kikristo. Mwamini amehesabiwa haki, amewekwa huru mbali na utawala wa dhambi, amefufuliwa pamoja na Kristo — na bado anashindana na uwepo wa dhambi uliobaki mpaka ufufuo. Kuhesabiwa haki kulikuwa kwa papo hapo; utakaso ni vita. Kutukuzwa kutakuwa siku ambayo vita hivyo vitakoma.This is the great Christian paradox. The believer has been justified, set free from sin's dominion, raised with Christ — and yet still wrestles with the residual presence of sin until the resurrection. Justification was instantaneous; sanctification is a war. Glorification will be the day that war ends.

5. Kilio cha Mtu Maskini (7:24)5. The Wretched Man's Cry (7:24)

Utambuzi huu unamtoa Paulo kilio cha binafsi zaidi katika waraka mzima. Ole wangu, maskini mimi! Ni nani atakayeniokoa na mwili huu wa mauti? Wahubiri mara nyingi hufafanua maneno "mwili wa mauti" kwa adhabu ya kikatili ambayo mshairi wa Kirumi Virgil anaisimulia kuhusu dhalimu mmoja wa kale: watu walio hai walifungwa kwa minyororo kwenye maiti, wakilazimishwa kuukokota mwili uliokufa kila walikokwenda mpaka wao wenyewe walipokufa. Kama Paulo alikuwa na hadithi hiyo akilini haijulikani kwa hakika, lakini picha hiyo inafaa. Paulo anasema dhambi ikaayo ndani ambayo bado imejikita katika mwili wake unaokufa inahisika hivyo. Ni maiti anayolazimika kuikokota, mzigo asioweza kuuweka chini, asili ya zamani ambayo bado haijafa lakini haina tena uhai wa kutosha kuacha kupigana.This realization wrings from Paul the most personal cry in the entire letter. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Preachers often illustrate the phrase "body of death" with a cruel punishment the Roman poet Virgil tells of an ancient tyrant: living men chained to corpses, forced to drag a dead body wherever they went until they themselves died. Whether Paul had that story in mind is uncertain, but the picture fits. Paul says the indwelling sin still lodged in his mortal body feels like that. It is a corpse he must drag, a weight he cannot put down, an old nature not yet dead but no longer alive enough to stop fighting.

Angalia kwamba hiki ni kilio cha mwamini — si cha asiyeamini. Wasioamini hawahuzuniki juu ya dhambi; wanastarehe ndani yake. Ni moyo uliozaliwa upya peke yake unaolia kwa sababu ya pengo kati ya kile unachotaka kufanya na kile unachofanya kwa kweli. Kilio cha "mtu maskini" chenyewe ni ushahidi kwamba asili mpya imeshika mizizi. Wafu hawaziombolezei maiti zao; walio hai ndio wanaoomboleza.Notice that this is the cry of a believer — not an unbeliever. Unbelievers are not wretched over sin; they are comfortable in it. Only the regenerate heart cries out at the gap between what it wants to do and what it actually does. The cry of "wretched man" is itself evidence that the new nature has taken hold. The dead do not lament their corpses; the living do.

6. Mungu Ashukuriwe (7:25)6. Thanks Be to God (7:25)

Paulo hatuachi katika maombolezo. Mara moja anakijibu kilio chake mwenyewe. Namshukuru Mungu, kwa Yesu Kristo Bwana wetu!Paul does not leave us in the lament. He immediately answers his own cry. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Ukombozi umekwisha kuandaliwa. Mkombozi ametajwa kwa jina. Uzoefu kamili wa ukombozi huo — ushindi kamili — unangoja ufufuo, wakati mwili wa mauti utakapobadilishwa kwa mwili wa utukufu. Lakini Mkombozi anafanya kazi sasa, na uhakika kwamba amekwisha kuupata ushindi wa mwisho unatosha kumwezesha mwamini kuendelea kupigana leo.The deliverance has already been provided. The deliverer is named. The full experience of that deliverance — the complete victory — awaits the resurrection, when the body of death will be exchanged for a body of glory. But the deliverer is at work now, and the assurance that He has secured the final victory is enough to enable the believer to keep fighting today.

Angalia sentensi ya mwisho ya sura hii: Basi, kama ni hivyo, mimi mwenyewe kwa akili zangu naitumikia sheria ya Mungu, bali kwa mwili wangu sheria ya dhambi. Asili hizo mbili zinakaa pamoja ndani ya mwamini mpaka ufufuo. Paulo hajifanyi kwamba vita vimekwisha. Anakiri kwamba ni halisi, na anaandaa sura inayofuata — Warumi 8 — ambapo uwezeshaji wa Roho katika vita hivi unakuwa ndiyo mada. Hakuna hukumu ya adhabu. Kuna nguvu ya ushindi. Kuna utukufu mbele yetu. Mwamini aliyelia "mtu maskini" katika sura ya 7 atasikia katika sura ya 8 kwamba hakuna kitu kinachoweza kumtenga na upendo wa Mungu ulio katika Kristo Yesu.Notice the final sentence of the chapter: So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. The two natures coexist in the believer until the resurrection. Paul does not pretend the war is over. He acknowledges it is real, and he sets up the next chapter — Romans 8 — where the Spirit's empowerment in this war becomes the theme. There is no condemnation. There is power for victory. There is glory ahead. The believer who cried "wretched man" in chapter 7 will hear in chapter 8 that nothing can separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Tathmini ya uaminifu ya Warumi 7 ndiyo mlango wa lazima unaoingia katika uhakika mtukufu wa Warumi 8. Yeyote ambaye hajahisi kilio cha mtu maskini hajaelewa kina cha vita vya ndani. Yeyote aliyekihisi lakini akaishia hapo bado hajasikia jibu. Paulo anakataa kuwaacha wasomaji wake waepuke upande wowote kati ya hizo mbili. Dhambi ni nzito zaidi kuliko dini nyepesi inavyokubali; neema ina nguvu zaidi kuliko dini iliyochoka inavyoamini. Nusu zote mbili za sentensi hiyo ndizo hoja ya Warumi 7.The honest assessment of Romans 7 is the necessary doorway into the glorious confidence of Romans 8. Anyone who has not felt the wretched-man cry has not understood the depth of the war within. Anyone who has felt it but stops there has not yet heard the answer. Paul refuses to let his readers off either hook. Sin is more serious than easy religion admits; grace is more powerful than weary religion believes. Both halves of that sentence are the point of Romans 7.