Even on a day when we have resolved not to compare ourselves with others, envy may be our first response to someone else’s good news. In Book VIII of his Confessions, Augustine describes the anguish of a new will and an old will struggling within him. In his sermon on Romans 7:7–25, Pastor David Jang, founder of Olivet University in the United States, addresses the wretchedness of those who want to do good yet keep repeating their sins. In the midst of that struggle, Paul gives thanks to God as he looks to Jesus Christ, who delivers him.
We come to see our wrongdoing more clearly, yet our lives fail to keep pace with that awareness. As the gap widens, it is easy to conclude that God’s commandments are too demanding or that we are incapable of change. Paul explains this predicament by distinguishing the goodness of the law from the power of sin. One important reason to study this passage is to understand how an honest recognition of sin can become a prayer for grace, and how that prayer can lead to obedience.
The Covetousness the Law Reveals in Our Hearts
Paul begins by asking whether the law is sin. After hearing God’s commands, we may become more acutely aware of the sin within us, making the commands themselves seem to be the problem. Yet the law is holy, righteous, and good. If we confuse the standard that exposes sin with the cause that produces it, we end up blaming the very Word we need to hold fast to.
The commandment “You shall not covet” makes this distinction clear. We may think we have lived honestly because we have never taken what belongs to someone else. Yet that does not mean our hearts are free from resentment toward another person’s happiness. The congratulations we offer outwardly can conflict with the envy we harbor within. God’s Word looks beyond visible behavior to reveal the direction of our desires, exposing the covetousness concealed in a discontented heart.
Sin, however, exploits that very good commandment. In Genesis 3, which the sermon also examines, the serpent holds out the promise of becoming like God by eating the fruit God has forbidden. A command intended to protect life begins to look like a restriction that keeps people from enjoying something good. Sin leads us to question God’s goodness and encourages us to believe that following our desires is in our own best interest.
We, too, may want to lower the standard when we encounter God’s Word challenging our desires. But setting aside the commandment does not make covetousness disappear. The sermon compares the law to a mirror. Removing a mirror may keep us from seeing a stain on our face, but the stain remains. Likewise, avoiding the Word that points out our wrongdoing deprives us of the opportunity to examine ourselves. An uncomfortable realization can help us honestly face the sins we have kept hidden.
Why We Repeat the Same Sins Even When We Want to Do Good
Why, then, do we stumble in the same places even when we know what is wrong? Because wanting to do good does not, by itself, remove the influence of the sin that remains within us. There is a real conflict between a heart that agrees with God’s Word and actions that follow familiar desires. Pastor David Jang reads Paul’s confession as an account of sanctification: the process in which believers who have received salvation struggle against sin and learn to live in holiness.
Even when we know we should not envy others, the desire to feel valuable by staying ahead of them does not easily release its grip. Our resolve to stop comparing ourselves may be sincere, but resolve alone cannot address the roots of our desires. Paul’s confession reveals that knowing what is good is not the same as being able to do it fully. Those who have become aware of sin through the law need grace to be freed from sin’s dominion.
Here we must not read Paul’s reference to the sin dwelling within him as an attempt to evade responsibility. Even as we acknowledge sin’s power, we must confess our own choices before God. At the same time, one wrong action gives us no reason to give up on ourselves altogether. When we examine specifically what we coveted and how we justified ourselves, our attention can move beyond vague self-loathing toward the changes our lives need.
Such honesty also calls us to examine our desire to keep up religious appearances. The more excuses we make out of fear that admitting sin will make us appear to lack faith, the more we conceal the areas where we actually need help. Paul does not hide the contradiction of doing the evil he does not want to do. His candid confession invites us to use the energy we once spent concealing our wrongdoing to repent and seek help.
How a Wretched Person Can Give Thanks
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). The word to listen for in this lament is “who.” Paul’s gaze does not remain fixed on finding stronger resolve within himself; it turns toward the One who will deliver him. Confronted with the sin and death exposed by the law, he cries out desperately for deliverance.
He immediately follows this with the confession, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). There is no account between these two statements of Paul having completely overcome every sin. His gratitude rests on the fact that Christ bore sin on the cross and accomplished salvation. The reason we can give thanks even in our wretchedness is Jesus Christ, who delivers us.
Pastor David Jang explains this relationship in terms of the tension between the grace of salvation already received and the ongoing process of sanctification. Believers justified by grace still have desires and habits that need to change. They therefore seek the Holy Spirit’s help and learn obedience. When we hold together the reality that we are not yet perfect and the salvation already given to us, we can honestly bring ourselves before God instead of hiding our failures or abandoning our faith.
But could speaking of the grace of forgiveness lead us to take sin lightly? Gratitude that looks to the cross is a response to the love of Christ, who bore our sin. Knowing that love leads us to ask whether we can continue harboring desires that destroy us. Assurance of forgiveness gives us less reason to hide our wrongdoing. Our motive for obedience gradually shifts from the anxiety of trying to prove ourselves worthy of salvation to gratitude that responds to the love we have already received.
When Repentance Changes the Choices We Make Today
When we bring this passage into daily life, even our prayers can become more specific. On a day when someone else’s good news makes us uncomfortable, we can bring that discomfort before God and examine why it is so difficult to bear. We can reflect on our longing for praise or our fear of falling behind without using those feelings to justify our envy. As we confess the covetousness that has been exposed and seek the Holy Spirit’s help, we move toward obedience by stopping the words and actions that diminish another person’s joy.
Meditating on Scripture also deepens as our attention shifts from deciding who is more at fault to examining our own motives. The more we learn of God’s good purposes within his commandments, the more we see how obedience is connected to love that protects both ourselves and our neighbors. Even after confessing our wrongdoing, we can ask whether we are still repeating choices that encourage comparison. Prayer that relies on grace must go hand in hand with a watchful attitude toward our desires in everyday life.
If this process feels too difficult to bear alone, we can ask trusted fellow believers for prayer and counsel. The church must speak clearly about sin while helping those who repent find restoration. Honest confession struggles to grow in an atmosphere where people feel they must hide their wrongdoing to be accepted. Relationships in which we read Scripture, pray together, and encourage one another in obedience help us persevere in confronting the struggles we have repeatedly faced alone.
Sanctification also requires patience. Encountering the same temptation again does not make every previous prayer and act of obedience meaningless. We can also consider whether we are learning to admit failure sooner, make fewer excuses, and ask for help. Rather than judging ourselves solely by the outcome of a single day, examining what we need to turn from today and whom we will rely on helps us continue walking in faith.
Someone else’s good news may stir our hearts again tomorrow. Yet those who once struggled to conceal their envy now have a way to confess it to God. With gratitude for the grace Christ has given, we can let go of the habit of treating another person’s joy as evidence of our own failure. If we remember the grace we have received today, what will be in our hearts as we congratulate someone on their good news?
Dr. David Jang has proclaimed the gospel in various regions of the world through field missions and digital media ministry, and as the fruit of that ministry, many people devoted to the Great Commission have been raised up. Based on this missionary vision, Olivet first began as a small church school for missionary training. Later, in order to provide more systematic theological education and cultivate missionary leaders, Olivet Theological College and Seminary was established in Los Angeles and Seoul in 2000.
As the school grew, Dr. Jang officially founded Olivet University in San Francisco in 2004. In the diverse and dynamic environment of San Francisco, Olivet expanded its educational fields beyond theology to include music, journalism, art and design, and technology. The university also strengthened its educational capacity by recruiting faculty members, including Dr. William Wagner, and in 2005 moved to the former UC Berkeley Downtown Extension campus, further solidifying its foundation as a university.
In 2006, Dr. Jang transferred the presidency to Dr. David James Randolph in order to focus more fully on missionary work, while continuing to lead global missions as International President. Olivet University later received institutional accreditation in 2009, added a language education college and a business college, and continued to grow as a Christian educational institution for world missions by expanding its degree programs and international partnerships.
