ROMANS 7:7-25

Romans 5-8

A. Christ's Death (Romans 5)

B. Living With Christ (Romans 6) 

B'. Dying to the Law (Romans 7)

A'. Life in the Spirit (Romans 8)

                                                        Romans 7: Dying to the Law

A. Question: “Do you not know...” (7:1)

B. Analogy: United in Marriage (7:2-6)

A'. Question: “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means!” (7:7)

B'. Analogy: Battlefield (7:8-12)

A''. Question: “Did that which is good bring death to me? By no means! It was sin working death in me.” (7:13)

B''. Analogy: Battlefield (7:14-20)

C. Two Laws: Serve God with mind and sin with flesh (7:21-25)

Romans 7:14-20

1. Condition Acknowledged (v.14) “We know...I am carnal.”

2. Conflict Described (v. 15) “I do...I do not do...”

3. Conclusion (vv. 16-17) “If I do...no longer I...but sin...”

1'. Condition Acknowledged (v. 18a) “I know that nothing good dwells in me.”

2'. Conflict Described (vv. 18b-19) “I do...I do not do...”

3'. Conclusion (v. 20) “If I do...no longer I...but sin...”

                                                        (John Stott, Men Made New, p. 75)

Romans 7:7-25 Paul begins to use the first person singular here for the first time in the letter. “I” appears 30 times in these verses. Compare this passage with Ecclesiastes 1:12-14, another first person account. “Between them, Qoheleth and Paul explore for us man's outer and inner worlds: his search for meaning and his struggle for moral victory.” (Derek Kidner)

Leon Morris: “Enormous controversy has surrounded Paul's exact meaning in (these verses).” One commentator suggests that we ignore what Paul says and pay attention to what he means. Autobiographical elements may actually express the pre-Sinai experiences of the Jews. But the emotional content argues for an autobiographical treatment. One interpretation is that Paul is speaking from first-hand experience but broadening the context to include the experience of all Christians.

Barclay: “With this passage there begins one of the greatest of all passages in the New Testament, and one of the most moving passages; because here Paul is giving us his own spiritual autobiography and laying bare his very heart and soul.”

The question arose in Paul's mind or in the mind of his critics: Is the law the same as sin? He points out the relationship between law and sin: the law reveals sin (verses 7-8), the law stimulates sin (verses 9-13), and the law creates a conflict with sin (verses 14-24).

This may be autobiographical in referring to (a) Paul's (a Christian's) present experience of paradoxically being under sin and grace at the same time (Luther, Calvin), (b) a description of the dark periods in a Christian's life when God withdraws his grace to test him, (c) intermittent falls from sanctification when the Christian does not appropriate God's grace, or (d) Paul's retrospective on his unregenerate life (Wesleyan), or more likely (e) Paul describing the man under the law whose true condition was hidden from him (Bultmann).

Romans 7:7-12

Verse 7. Paul feels the need to correct a possible misunderstanding of his words in 5:20 and 6:14, for example. It can be paraphrased, “Is the law sinful/wholly bad?” Paul uses a stronger expression. Law is not sin; in fact, Paul will later say that it is holy (v. 12) and spiritual (v. 14).

“Know” has the same meaning as in the OT: have intimate knowledge of.

“Coveting” is being drawn by created things rather than by the Creator. Coveting leads to the other sins. Desire itself is sinful regardless of the object. It represents love of self. Coveting = striving for achievement. John Murray: “Apparently covetousness was the last vice of which he suspected himself; it was the first to be exposed.” The 10^th Commandment is the one that is all encompassing because it addresses attitude rather than outward actions. See also Romans 3:20.

The law defines sin. What is pardonable in a child is not permitted in an adult. See James 1:22-25.

Verse 8. There is no verb in the Greek here. Thus, it may be “was” in place of “is.” “Dead” means inactive, inert, dormant. Sin is dead apart from law. However, see 5:13. Therefore it may mean that it is less active.

Fascination in the forbidden harkens back to the Garden of Eden.

“Opportunity” = a military term for base of operations. Sin is like a military strategist.

St. Augustine as a boy stole some pears (which he fed to pigs) just for the pleasure of doing something he knew was wrong. Warren Wiersbe (Be Right) tells a story about standing in Lincoln Park in Chicago and watching a number of people touching a bench that had the sign “Do Not Touch. Wet Paint” on it. “Why? Because the sign told them not to. Instruct a child not to go near the water and that is the very thing he will do!”

Verses 9-10.

A. This may be a reference to the story of the fall in the garden caused after the commandment was given and Satan took it as an opportunity. It explains verse 10 since the same word “deceive/beguile” is present in Genesis 3:13. By extension, Adam's experience became mankind's.

B. Or it may refer to Paul at his bar mitzvah when, at age 13, he became morally responsible under the law for his actions. But he certainly knew of its obligations beforehand, so that interpretation is unlikely.

“Alive” does not mean alive in Christ, but blissful, self-complacent.

“Revive” (came to life again). The Greek may only mean “spring to life.”

“I died” = I fell under the judgment of the law.

See I Corinthians 15:56.

“The coming of the law into our lives kills off our cheerful assumption of innocence. We see ourselves for what we really are, sinners, and we die.” (Leon Morris)

“Commandment came” indicates that Paul did not have to vigorously search for it.

Verses 10-11. The law kills in several ways; for one, it can lead to a legalistic attitude. Sin works through the law by convincing man that he can fulfill the law on his own, thus condemning him to defeat. The law does not only serve sin when it is transgressed, but also when it is followed (by fooling man into thinking he is able to do it alone).

Verse 12. “Holy” The Greek root of this word means “different.” “That is to say it is the very voice of God.” (Barclay)

There is nothing wrong with the law itself, just the use that sin made of it.

Romans 7:13-25.

Does this passage refer to the regenerate or the unregenerate? Morris states that there is nothing approaching a consensus on this point.

1. Arguments for the former: exclusive use of the present tense, doesn't fit Paul's own description of himself before conversion (Galatians 1:13-14; Philippians 3:6), the description of one who desires the good doesn't fit the unregenerate and neither does the cry in verse 25.

2. Arguments for the latter: it seems to imply that Christ cannot defeat sin in a believer if it refers to a regenerate state, the Christian life is one of peace (see chap. 8), the Holy Spirit is not mentioned in this passage and Jesus is only mentioned at the end, description of the person as a wretched man and a slave to sin do not seem to apply to a believer, the “Now” in 8:1 seems to mark the commencement of the Christian life.

3. Other possibilities: it refers to a backslider or to an immature or legalistic Christian. Most likely view (Morris) is that it represents part of the story of a Christian's experience (when he has sinned) but not the, on the whole, victorious life.

The experiences of a person in a transitional state: no longer in blissful ignorance but convicted of sin. However, not yet regenerate.

Verse 13. The law reveals the demonic character and origin of sin.

Verses 14-25. Use of the present tense may be for vividness, although describing the past. Five understandings for the use of “I”: autobiographically (Paul's experiences before his conversion), psychologically (a Jewish boy prior to age 12), Adam, a new Christian, or all unregenerate humanity. Fitzmyer believes that it is Paul's view of unregenerate humanity faced with the Mosaic Law, but as seen by a Christian.

He defines our inadequacies: partial human knowledge (just knowing what is right is not enough to do it), of human resolution (weakness of the will), limitations of diagnosis alone without ability to cure. The Jewish idea was that of two natures within man that struggle between themselves. Paul's idea is more of a human's struggle with an alien (sin) who has taken up residence within that person.

Verse 14. At this point, Paul turns from the past tense to the present tense.

“Carnal” = of the flesh. Man oriented toward the physical world rather than toward God.

Paul's earlier paragraph demonstrated that before he became a believer, he could not keep the law. Now he will show that even as a Christian, he (by himself) cannot keep the law.

Verse 15. “Know” may mean understand (just a slave following orders), comprehend why one is doing it, or approve of (acknowledge).

It deals with sins of omission as well as sins of commission.

Another interpretation: Failure is not one of being unable to obey the law, but of not realizing what are the consequences of trying to obey the law. It does not lead to reward, but to condemnation.

Ovid parallel: “I see and approve the better life, but I follow the worse one.” Seneca said that men hate their sins and love them at the same time. Pagan parallels refer to the interesting psychological phenomena in a person who is trying to follow his duty or striving for perfection. Psychologists call this the inner conflict between the organized and disorganized self. This is not really the same situation since Paul is describing a real struggle against the intruder sin.

Ernst Kasemann: “What man wants is salvation. What he creates is disaster.”

Verses 15-17. There is a possible parallel in Galatians 5:17, which deals with a slightly different situation. In Romans, it is indwelling sin that prevents the person under the law from fulfilling the law. The Galatians text addresses Christians who have the Spirit. When they yield to the flesh, the Spirit opposes them; when they follow the Spirit, the flesh opposes them.

Both passages use two Greek words for “do,” but there is no significant difference in meaning because the usage is reversed in v. 19.

Verse 16. Law is good (kalos – beautiful, noble, excellent). In verse 12, law is good (agathe – useful, upright).

Verse 17. Paul is not absolving himself by saying the Devil made me do it.

Verse 21. There are three possibilities for “law”: general principle of behavior, Mosaic Law (this is what I have found out about the Law), or controlling principle in Paul's life. “Law” can also refer to the law of God (v. 22) or the law of evil (23).

Verses 21, 23. “Evil rules in man like a strange law and yet it is an expression of his existence and nature.”

Verse 22. Delight in law is also found in Psalms 1:2; 119:16, 24, 47, etc. This concept is hard for us to relate to. In the OT it may refer to the Pentateuch. Here it may refer to all spiritual truths coming from God.

Verse 24. Morris: It is too easy to take our Christian victory for granted. Paul here expresses himself with great emotion.

“Body of death” may mean this mass of sin. Or it may refer to the physical body in which the law of sin is operative and leads to death. It is called “doomed body,” according to one translation. This condition prevails as long as we occupy these mortal bodies.

Verses 24-25. Both are cries of a mature believer. Stott: “I do not myself believe that the Christian ever, in this life, passes for good and all out of the one cry into the other.”

Verse 25. “Mind” means the higher mental part of a man which initiates thoughts and puts them into action, as opposed to the mere physical component.

Paul's shout recognizes that only in Christ can the struggle against evil be won, since Christ's death conquered evil.

Verse 25b. This recognition that life on earth for the Christian will be one of inner conflict is further developed in the next chapter (especially 8:22ff). It reminds us that the struggle is not over even though we are assured of the victory. It does not mean that the believer will continue to lead a divided life, but it is the recognition of a battle in which one party must triumph ultimately.

Some scholars feel, without any textual evidence, that this belongs better after verse 23. Some even omit this sentence altogether as being a later addition. It is better to take it as a summary of the whole preceding argument.

“I myself” makes it clear that Paul is not avoiding responsibility by saying that the flesh is responsible. 

"Mind" of v. 25 is the same as "inmost man" of v. 22. Paul will elaborate in the next chapter.

One component left out of this whole passage is the Holy Spirit. That will also be covered in the next chapter. Here the conflict is viewed as one between the mind and the flesh. In Romans 8 it will be viewed from a different perspective as between the Holy Spirit and the flesh, with the Holy Spirit coming to the aid of the mind.