Romans 7

RISE SLOW

Human weakness and imperfection aren’t tragic defects to be erased—they’re the very conditions that push us toward growth, balance, and transformation. When people continue to make the same mistakes or live in the same patterns of sin, they tend to go to one of two unhelpful extremes: a life of constant self-torment, which is intellectually strong, or a rigid, joyless purity based on one's own understanding.

Both approaches fail because they assume human nature must be tightly controlled or denied. In reality, it works more like the U.S. Constitution: progress emerges not from eliminating imperfection but from structuring it, channeling it, and letting opposing forces keep each other honest.

Weakness cultivates humility and creates space for grace. Real development happens when challenges—between intellectual and spiritual shortcomings—draw from each of their strengths.

Turning POINT

Paul’s experience in Romans 7 is often read as a bleak confession of failure—a picture of someone trapped in a cycle of wanting to do good but constantly falling short. For generations, his story has been treated as a discouraging portrait of human existence, where people endlessly chase a perfection they can never reach.

But Paul’s breakthrough comes through his struggles.

When a nation tries to break free from habitual sin, it usually falls into one of two suffocating extremes:

Perpetual misery—becoming intellectually strong but spiritually empty and trapped in a cycle of frustration and self‑condemnation.

Sterile abstinence—becoming spiritually rigid but intellectually stunted, living a hypervigilant life that leans on one's own understanding.

Both approaches fail because they assume human nature is fundamentally corrupt. Paul's struggle to switch back and forth between situational awareness and spiritual meekness is something he... simply doesn't understand.

This pattern—the danger of extremes and the need for balance—is also reflected in the U.S. Constitution. The Founders recognized that human beings are capable of both great good and great harm. Instead of choosing one extreme (absolute freedom) or the other (absolute control), they created a system of checks and balances. This structure does not eliminate human error; it channels it. It assumes imperfection and makes room for growth through accountability. In a civic sense, the Constitution teaches the same principle Paul and the Book of Mormon teach: progress emerges when opposing forces draw strength from one another, rather than destroying each other.

The turning point comes through the freedom Jesus offers.

Paul and the Book of Mormon affirm this truth: “It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” This means that when the spiritually inclined are free to grow intellectually, they rise upward—reaching heights not even the elite can go to. Likewise, when those whose strength lies in intellect become free to stop overthinking and begin following the deeper yearnings of their hearts, they become grounded and walk with a peace that rests at the footstool of God’s throne. Each draws strength from the other in their weaknesses, and together they become a force that grows. Patiently and faithfully, they rise slowly.

Neither the flesh nor the spirit is destroyed; both are strengthened. King Benjamin taught that the natural man is not overcome through suppression but by yielding to the Spirit (Mosiah 3:19). Paul teaches a similar principle: when we yield our thoughts to the mind of Christ, we are free to engage the world without becoming enslaved by it. Through this freedom, we pursue worldly desires that test and refine our souls, and by yielding to the enticings of the Spirit, we open our minds to realities beyond the skies.

Progress becomes steady enough to persevere, but the struggle does not end. The liberation in Christ Paul speaks of strengthens and humbles us to go further before we stumble once again and then return, adjust, and nourish whatever part needs growth. Weakness becomes a catalyst for development, a truth taught in Ether 12, verse 27:

“And if men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me, for if they humble themselves before me and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”

Ultimately, Romans 7, the Book of Mormon, and the U.S. Constitution all present human weaknesses not as a limitation but as an opportunity for transformation and growth. When a nation grows mentally and spiritually by drawing from its strengths during times of weakness, God... is made strong.