Romans 7

CHAPTER 7

An Illustration from Marriage (7:1-6)

1 The law which Paul refers to in this verse is the Jewish law, which God handed down to Moses about 1500 years before the time of Christ. This law contained many rules and commandments. The Jews believed that in order to be declared righteous by God, it was necessary for them to obey every one of these rules and commandments. For the Jews, the law was like a master. Just as—in the Jews’ eyes—the husband was the “master” of the wife, so was the law the master of the Jews.

From verse 1, we can tell that many of the Roman Christians Paul was writing to were converted Jews, because he says here: I am speaking to men who know the law—that is, to Jews.

The law has no authority over a dead man; a dead man doesn’t have to obey the law!

2-3 In these verses, Paul compares the law with a husband, and the Jews with a wife. His point is that the relationship between the law and the Jews is essentially the same as the relationship between a Jewish husband and his wife (see 1 Corinthians 7:39). According to Jewish tradition, as long as a husband lived his wife had to remain under his authority. But if the husband died, then his wife was freed from his authority and could marry another man. In the same way, whenever a person believes in Christ, the religion or the religious law that he or she had previously followed becomes as if “dead,” and that person is then “free” to follow Christ. That person no longer remains under the authority of his former religion and its law.

4 So … you also died to the law. Paul doesn’t say that the law itself died; he says, you died to the law. Paul means that, as far as we are concerned, the law is as if it were dead. Therefore, we are free to “marry another”—namely, Christ. We are free from our first husband (the law), and thus can marry a second husband (Christ).

We died to the law through the body of Christ—that is, through the death of Christ’s body on the cross. We have been united in Christ’s death, so that we might be united with Him in new life (Romans 6:4-5).

One of the main purposes of marriage is to bear fruit, that is, to bear children. When we are “married” to Christ, then we will bear fruit to God: new believers will be born through our witness, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit will appear in our lives—such as love, joy, peace (see Galatians 5:22-23).

5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature,³² we were, in a sense, “married” to the law; as a result, we bore fruit for death. The fruit for death is sin. Instead of doing good works for God, we did sinful works which led to death.

The Greek word which Paul uses for sinful nature literally means “flesh.” The word “flesh” can have two meanings: first, “body” (eyes, arms, legs, etc); and second, “sinful nature” (sinful desires and sinful will).

Here in this verse, Paul uses the Greek word “flesh” to mean sinful nature. The body itself is not sinful; only our old nature is sinful. Where does sin arise? Sin does not arise from our eyes, hands, and feet; rather it arises from the sinful desires in our heart and mind.³³ Then, after sin has arisen in our heart and mind, our bodies (eyes, hands, feet) come under sin’s control, and we begin to do the works of sin. Thus the word “flesh” is used in this verse to mean a “body under the sin’s control.” This meaning is most clearly expressed by the term sinful nature.³⁴

Paul mentions here sinful passions aroused by the law. How can sinful passions be aroused by the law? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! However, where there is no law there is no transgression (Romans 4:15). Because the law exists, sinful passions also exist.

For example, a small child may take something belonging to someone else. The child doesn’t realize this is called “stealing.” He sees something, he likes it, and so he takes it. Afterwards, his mother and father say to the child: “You must not do this. This is called stealing; it is a sin.” Now the child knows; he has received the “law.” If he again takes something belonging to someone else, that will be counted against him as a sin.

But in spite of the warning of his parents, in spite of the “law,” the child still desires to take what belongs to others; he still desires to steal. He still falls into the temptation to sin. And perhaps the temptation is even greater, now that the child knows it is wrong. It is a common experience that when we are told not to do something, we desire all the more to do it. When someone says to us, “Don’t look,” we want to look all the more! That’s why Paul says here that sinful passions are aroused by the law.

6 But now, by dying to what once bound us (that is, by dying to the law), we are released from the law. Having been released from the law, we are now free to serve in the new way of the Spirit. In the beginning we were under the control of the written code, that is, the law. Now we live under the freedom of the Holy Spirit. Now when we obey God, we do so not out of obligation but freely and willingly from our hearts (see Jeremiah 31:33; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 8:10).

Sin and the Law (7:7-13)

7 Just as a human father tells his children what is right and wrong, so the law tells men what is right and wrong. Even without the law, men have some knowledge of right and wrong, some knowledge of God (see Romans 1:19-20 and comment). But most of our knowledge of sin comes from the law.

For example, the last of the ten commandments is: You shall not covet (Exodus 20:17). If this commandment had never been written, no one would know that it was a sin to covet.

8 When Paul first learned about the command, “Do not covet,” every kind of covetous desire arose in him. At that time, Paul had not yet believed in Christ.

Paul’s experience was just like that of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-6). Every kind of fruit was available for them to eat; only the fruit of one tree was not to be eaten. Yet it was to that very fruit that they were drawn by their covetous desire. of all the fruits, they desired most to eat the one fruit they had been forbidden to eat.

Therefore, as with Adam and Eve, Paul says that sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment (law), produced in him covetous desires. We could say, in other words, that the law brought sin to life (verse 9).

9 Paul, speaking of his childhood, says here: Once I was alive apart from the law. When Paul grew older, he became aware of the law; then he began to experience sin in his life. His happy and carefree life as a child was over. The sense of his sinfulness came upon him; in other words, sin sprang to life. Paul’s conscience began to accuse him.

10 The law was meant to be a lamp that would light men’s way (Psalm 119:105). The law was meant to lead men into righteousness, and thence into eternal life (Leviticus 18:5; Romans 10:5). But instead, the law condemns men to death, because it is impossible for anyone to obey every part of the law completely. The law does not forgive sin; the law does not give men the power to overcome sin. Therefore, through the law comes only condemnation and death.

Let us remember that, although Paul is speaking here of the Jewish law, what he says is true of the laws of all other religions as well. All religious laws result in condemnation and death. Except for Christians, the followers of all other religions try to get to heaven by observing various religious laws. Each religion has its own rules and commandments, but none of these can make a person righteous in God’s sight. In this regard, the laws of other religions are just like the Jewish law. Men try by their own effort to obey these laws, but in the end these laws lead only to discouragement, condemnation, and death. Only by God’s grace through faith in Christ can man be declared righteous in God’s eyes and obtain salvation.

11 The experience Paul relates in this verse is the same as the experience of Adam and Eve described in Genesis 3:16. Eve was deceived by the serpent (sin). The serpent said to Eve: “Even if you eat the forbidden fruit, you will not die (Genesis 3:4). Instead, you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).

12 But let us not blame the law, the commandment, for our sin. The law was given by God; it is holy, righteous and good. Rather, we must blame the “serpent”—that is, the sin in our heart. The law gives sin an opportunity; but sin itself, not the law, does the evil work. We must never blame God for the evil in our own hearts (James 1:13-15).

13 The law, which is good, did not bring death. It is sin that brings death, because sin makes man unrighteous and therefore deserving of the death sentence. When sin has brought us the death sentence, we can then recognize it more easily! At first, Eve did not recognize the serpent’s deception. But after she had sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, she was able to see her sin.

Where there is no law, sin does not appear so sinful (see Romans 5:13,20). But through the commandment (law), sin is made to appear utterly sinful. That is, compared to God’s holy law, sin appears all the more sinful.

Paul’s Inner Struggle With Sin (7:14-25)

14 From verse 14 to the end of this chapter, Paul continues to speak of his own experience. Paul wanted to be a good Jew, to please God, to be righteous; but he could not. And Paul’s experience is shared by all men who try by their own effort to become righteous by following some religious law or by doing good works: it is not possible.

As we read this section of Chapter 7, a question arises: Is Paul speaking here of experiences that took place before he became a Christian, or after? It is not easy to answer this question with certainty; some Bible scholars say one thing, some another.

However, we can say two things. First, many people who are not Christians sincerely seek God and try to please Him. They even confess their sins, and try—by their own power—to stop sinning. Many Jews in Paul’s time were certainly like that. Therefore, what Paul writes here could possibly describe his experience before becoming a Christian.³⁵

The second thing we can say is that all Christians experience the same thing Paul describes in this section. Even after we become Christians, we experience a struggle between our “new self’ and our “old self,” between our spirit (or spiritual nature) and our “flesh” (or sinful nature). In fact, the struggle usually becomes much greater after we have become Christians. Even though we have believed in Christ and “our old self has been crucified” (Romans 6:6), it still seems as if our old self was not completely dead. From time to time we sin (see 1 John 1:8). Therefore, some scholars think that Paul is speaking here of his experience after becoming a Christian.³⁶

Whether we believe that Paul is speaking in this section about his experience before becoming a Christian or after, it is a fact that we all have experienced these same things at one time or another—either before we became Christians, or after. Probably most of us have experienced this inner spiritual struggle both before and after becoming Christians.

In verse 14, Paul writes: I am unspiritual.³⁷ He is speaking here of his “old self,” which is under the control of his sinful nature. To be “unspiritual” is the same as to be controlled by the sinful nature (verse 5). All men are “unspiritual” from birth. That is, they are not controlled by the Spirit; rather, they are slaves to sin. When we believe in Christ, our old selves are crucified, that we should no longer be slaves to sin (Romans 6:6).

Paul writes: I am … sold as a slave to sin. In Paul’s time, slaves were bought and sold like animals. They were the property of whoever bought them. Thus Paul’s experience was like that of a slave who has been sold to a master—the master being sin.

15 We have all experienced what Paul writes in this verse. We know what is good, and we want to do it. But sin comes and we do evil instead. Afterward, we are upset with ourselves. We don’t understand our own behavior. There is a struggle going on in our minds between our sinful nature and the Spirit (see Galatians 5:16-17 and comment).

16 Even though Paul does what he does not want to do (that is, evil), he still agrees in his inner being that the law is good.

17 The sin living in me that Paul mentions here is the impulse to sin, which arises from Paul’s sinful nature. When Paul sins, it is not his spiritual self that is sinning; it is his old unspiritual self that is sinning, which is under the control of his sinful nature. Inside Paul’s body, it seems as if there were two people—two laws—struggling with each other.

18 There is naturally no good in us—that is, in our sinful nature (see Romans 3:1012). The desire to do good is present in Paul’s inner being (verse 22); but Paul’s sinful nature prevents him from carrying out his good desire. Paul’s “inner spiritual being” doesn’t have the power to overcome his sinful nature. Paul’s body (eyes, arms, legs, etc.) obeys his sinful nature and not his inner being.

19 Here Paul repeats what he wrote in verse 15.

20 Here Paul repeats what he wrote in verse 17. Paul says that it is no longer I (my inner being) who does it (sin), but it is sin (my sinful nature) living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work. What law? The “law” that there is within Paul a continual struggle between good and evil. This struggle occurs in all men; it is like a principle or “law” of life.

22 The expression inner being means man’s human spirit, together with his conscience.³⁸ From our “inner being” come our highest thoughts and aspirations. In God’s sight, our inner being is more important than our “outer being,”—our outward appearance and behavior (Romans 2:28-29). Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

If verses 14-24 describe Paul’s experience before he was a Christian, then the term inner being would mean “conscience”; for all men have consciences, by which they can distinguish right from wrong. All men, through their consciences, know that they are sinners (see Romans 1:20; 13:5 and comments).

But if verses 14-24 describe Paul’s experience after he had become a Christian, then the term inner being would mean Paul’s new Spirit-controlled self. Both meanings are possible.

23 When Paul uses the word law in this verse, he means “principle.” The expression law of my mind,³⁹ can also mean “rule of my mind”; and the expression law of sin can mean “rule of sin.”

Paul writes: I see another law at work in the members of my body. This law is the law of sin mentioned later in the verse. This “law of sin” is waging war against the law of [Paul’s] mind. The “law of Paul’s mind” is the law or rule of Paul’s spirit, or inner being (verse 22).

Thus in every one of us, there are these two “laws,” (or principles, or forces): the “law of our mind” (that is, the law of our inner being), and the “law of sin” (that is, the law of our sinful nature).

The “law of sin” is at work in Paul’s members (eyes, hands, feet, etc.), causing them to do evil. The “law of sin” works to make Paul a prisoner or slave of sin (verse 14).

24 What a wretched man I am! This is the cry of every man who recognizes his sin and wants to overcome it.

Who will rescue me from this body of death? The body of death is the ‘body of sin.’ They are the same, because sin leads to death. Here the word body means physical body (eyes, hands, feet). The physical body is not evil or sinful in itself. The desire to sin comes not from our physical body but from our sinful nature.

25 Who will rescue me from this body of death, from my sinful nature? Here Paul gives the answer: Thanks be to God—I will be rescued through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Our rescuer is Jesus Christ. He will rescue not only Paul, but every person who calls upon Him in faith. It is Christ who gives us the power to overcome the law of sin within us. It is Christ who rescues us from the punishment of sin, which is death. Thanks be to God!

In our Christian lives, this struggle between good and evil, between our old self and new self, between our sinful nature and spiritual nature, does not need to go on forever. Through Christ, that is, through the power of Christ given to us by the Holy Spirit, we can overcome the ‘law of sin’ within us. In Chapter 7, Paul has described the inner struggle experienced by all of us. Now in Chapter 8, he will show us the way to obtain victory in that struggle, victory over sin. That way is to live in accordance with the Spirit (Romans 8:5), and to be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14). Christ has given us the Holy Spirit; if we live by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature (Galatians 5:16).

---