1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
1 G2228 Know ye not, G50 brethren, G80 (for G1063 I speak G2980 to them that know G1097 the law,) G3551 how that G3754 the law G3551 hath dominion over G2961 a man G444 as long as G1909 G3745 G5550 he liveth? G2198
2 For G1063 the woman G1135 which hath an husband G5220 is bound G1210 by the law G3551 to her husband G435 so long as he liveth; G2198 but G1161 if G1437 the husband G435 be dead, G599 she is loosed G2673 from G575 the law G3551 of her husband. G435
3 So then G686 G3767 if, G1437 while her husband G435 liveth, G2198 she be married G1096 to another G2087 man, G435 she shall be called G5537 an adulteress: G3428 but G1161 if G1437 her husband G435 be dead, G599 she is G2076 free G1658 from G575 that law; G3551 so that she G846 is G1511 no G3361 adulteress, G3428 though she be married G1096 to another G2087 man. G435
4 Wherefore, G5620 my G3450 brethren, G80 ye G5210 also G2532 are become dead G2289 to the law G3551 by G1223 the body G4983 of Christ; G5547 that G1519 ye G5209 should be married G1096 to another, G2087 even to him who is raised G1453 from G1537 the dead, G3498 that G2443 we should bring forth fruit G2592 unto God. G2316
5 For G1063 when G3753 we were G2258 in G1722 the flesh, G4561 the motions G3804 of sins, G266 which G3588 were by G1223 the law, G3551 did work G1754 in G1722 our G2257 members G3196 to bring G1519 forth fruit G2592 unto death. G2288
6 But G1161 now G3570 we are delivered G2673 from G575 the law, G3551 that being dead G599 G599 wherein G1722 G3739 we were held; G2722 that G5620 we G2248 should serve G1398 in G1722 newness G2538 of spirit, G4151 and G2532 not G3756 in the oldness G3821 of the letter. G1121
7 What G5101 shall we say G2046 then? G3767 Is the law G3551 sin? G266 God forbid. G3361 G1096 Nay, G235 I had G1097 not G3756 known G1097 sin, G266 but G1508 by G1223 the law: G3551 for G1063 G5037 I had G1492 not G3756 known G1492 lust, G1939 except G1508 the law G3551 had said, G3004 Thou shalt G1937 not G3756 covet. G1937
8 But G1161 sin, G266 taking G2983 occasion G874 by G1223 the commandment, G1785 wrought G2716 in G1722 me G1698 all manner of G3956 concupiscence. G1939 For G1063 without G5565 the law G3551 sin G266 was dead. G3498
9 For G1161 I G1473 was alive G2198 without G5565 the law G3551 once: G4218 but G1161 when the commandment G1785 came, G2064 sin G266 revived, G326 and G1161 I G1473 died. G599
10 And G2532 the commandment, G1785 which G3588 was ordained to G1519 life, G2222 I G3427 found G2147 G3778 to be unto G1519 death. G2288
11 For G1063 sin, G266 taking G2983 occasion G874 by G1223 the commandment, G1785 deceived G1818 me, G3165 and G2532 by G1223 it G846 slew G615 me.
12 Wherefore G5620 G3303 the law G3551 is holy, G40 and G2532 the commandment G1785 holy, G40 and G2532 just, G1342 and G2532 good. G18
13 Was then G3767 that which is good G18 made G1096 death G2288 unto me? G1698 God forbid. G3361 G1096 But G235 sin, G266 that G2443 it might appear G5316 sin, G266 working G2716 death G2288 in me G3427 by G1223 that which is good; G18 that G2443 sin G266 by G1223 the commandment G1785 might become G1096 exceeding G2596 G5236 sinful. G268
14 For G1063 we know G1492 that G3754 the law G3551 is G2076 spiritual: G4152 but G1161 I G1473 am G1510 carnal, G4559 sold G4097 under G5259 sin. G266
15 For G1063 that which G3739 I do G2716 I allow G1097 not: G3756 for G1063 what G3739 I would, G2309 that G5124 do I G4238 not; G3756 but G235 what G3739 I hate, G3404 that G5124 do I. G4160
16 If G1487 then G1161 I do G4160 that G5124 which G3739 I would G2309 not, G3756 I consent G4852 unto the law G3551 that G3754 it is good. G2570
17 Now G3570 then G1161 it is no more G3765 I G1473 that do G2716 it, G846 but G235 sin G266 that dwelleth G3611 in G1722 me. G1698
18 For G1063 I know G1492 that G3754 in G1722 me G1698 (that is, G5123 in G1722 my G3450 flesh,) G4561 dwelleth G3611 no G3756 good thing: G18 for G1063 to will G2309 is present G3873 with me; G3427 but G1161 how to perform G2716 that which is good G2570 I find G2147 not. G3756
19 For G1063 G3739 the good G18 that I would G2309 I do G4160 not: G3756 but G235 the evil G2556 which G3739 I would G2309 not, G3756 that G5124 I do. G4238
20 Now G1161 if G1487 G3739 I do G4160 that G5124 I G1473 would G2309 not, G3756 it is no more G2089 G3765 I G1473 that do G2716 it, G846 but G235 sin G266 that dwelleth G3611 in G1722 me. G1698
21 I find G2147 then G686 a law, G3551 that, G3754 when I G1698 would G2309 do G4160 good, G2570 evil G2556 is present G3873 with me. G1698
22 For G1063 I delight G4913 in the law G3551 of God G2316 after G2596 the inward G2080 man: G444
23 But G1161 I see G991 another G2087 law G3551 in G1722 my G3450 members, G3196 warring against G497 the law G3551 of my G3450 mind, G3563 and G2532 bringing G163 me G3165 into captivity G163 to the law G3551 of sin G266 which G3588 is G5607 in G1722 my G3450 members. G3196
24 O wretched G5005 man G444 that I am! G1473 who G5101 shall deliver G4506 me G3165 from G1537 the body G4983 of this G5127 death? G2288
25 I thank G2168 God G2316 through G1223 Jesus G2424 Christ G5547 our G2257 Lord. G2962 So then G686 G3767 with the mind G3563 I G1473 myself G846 serve G3303 G1398 the law G3551 of God; G2316 but G1161 with the flesh G4561 the law G3551 of sin. G266
1 Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth?
2 For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from the law of the husband.
3 So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man.
4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, `even' to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet:
8 but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin `is' dead.
9 And I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died;
10 and the commandment, which `was' unto life, this I found `to be' unto death:
11 for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me.
12 So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.
13 Did then that which is good become death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good; --that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I know not: for not what I would, that do I practise; but what I hate, that I do.
16 But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good `is' not.
19 For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practise.
20 But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.
21 I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
1 Are ye ignorant, brethren -- for to those knowing law I speak -- that the law hath lordship over the man as long as he liveth?
2 for the married woman to the living husband hath been bound by law, and if the husband may die, she hath been free from the law of the husband;
3 so, then, the husband being alive, an adulteress she shall be called if she may become another man's; and if the husband may die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, having become another man's.
4 So that, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of the Christ, for your becoming another's, who out of the dead was raised up, that we might bear fruit to God;
5 for when we were in the flesh, the passions of the sins, that `are' through the law, were working in our members, to bear fruit to the death;
6 and now we have ceased from the law, that being dead in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.
7 What, then, shall we say? the law `is' sin? let it not be! but the sin I did not know except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the law had not said:
8 `Thou shalt not covet;' and the sin having received an opportunity, through the command, did work in me all covetousness -- for apart from law sin is dead.
9 And I was alive apart from law once, and the command having come, the sin revived, and I died;
10 and the command that `is' for life, this was found by me for death;
11 for the sin, having received an opportunity, through the command, did deceive me, and through it did slay `me';
12 so that the law, indeed, `is' holy, and the command holy, and righteous, and good.
13 That which is good then, to me hath it become death? let it not be! but the sin, that it might appear sin, through the good, working death to me, that the sin might become exceeding sinful through the command,
14 for we have known that the law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by the sin;
15 for that which I work, I do not acknowledge; for not what I will, this I practise, but what I hate, this I do.
16 And if what I do not will, this I do, I consent to the law that `it is' good,
17 and now it is no longer I that work it, but the sin dwelling in me,
18 for I have known that there doth not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good: for to will is present with me, and to work that which is right I do not find,
19 for the good that I will, I do not; but the evil that I do not will, this I practise.
20 And if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin that is dwelling in me.
21 I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, with me the evil is present,
22 for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man,
23 and I behold another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of the sin that `is' in my members.
24 A wretched man I `am'! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
25 I thank God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord; so then, I myself indeed with the mind do serve the law of God, and with the flesh, the law of sin.
1 Are ye ignorant, brethren, (for I speak to those knowing law,) that law rules over a man as long as he lives?
2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband so long as he is alive; but if the husband should die, she is clear from the law of the husband:
3 so then, the husband being alive, she shall be called an adulteress if she be to another man; but if the husband should die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, though she be to another man.
4 So that, my brethren, *ye* also have been made dead to the law by the body of the Christ, to be to another, who has been raised up from among [the] dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
5 For when we were in the flesh the passions of sins, which [were] by the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit to death;
6 but now we are clear from the law, having died in that in which we were held, so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.
7 What shall we say then? [is] the law sin? Far be the thought. But I had not known sin, unless by law: for I had not had conscience also of lust unless the law had said, Thou shalt not lust;
8 but sin, getting a point of attack by the commandment, wrought in me every lust; for without law sin [was] dead.
9 But *I* was alive without law once; but the commandment having come, sin revived, but *I* died.
10 And the commandment, which [was] for life, was found, [as] to me, itself [to be] unto death:
11 for sin, getting a point of attack by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].
12 So that the law indeed [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13 Did then that which is good become death to me? Far be the thought. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death to me by that which is good; in order that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but *I* am fleshly, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do, I do not own: for not what I will, this I do; but what I hate, this I practise.
16 But if what I do not will, this I practise, I consent to the law that [it is] right.
17 Now then [it is] no longer *I* [that] do it, but the sin that dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell: for to will is there with me, but to do right [I find] not.
19 For I do not practise the good that I will; but the evil I do not will, that I do.
20 But if what *I* do not will, this I practise, [it is] no longer *I* [that] do it, but the sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then the law upon *me* who will to practise what is right, that with *me* evil is there.
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man:
23 but I see another law in my members, warring in opposition to the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which exists in my members.
24 O wretched man that I [am]! who shall deliver me out of this body of death?
25 I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then *I* *myself* with the mind serve God's law; but with the flesh sin's law.
1 Or don't you know, brothers{The word for "brothers" here and where context allows may also be correctly translated "brothers and sisters" or "siblings."} (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives?
2 For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband.
3 So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit to God.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law, worked in our members to bring forth fruit to death.
6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn't have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn't have known coveting, unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."
8 But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
9 I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10 The commandment, which was for life, this I found to be for death;
11 for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.
12 Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.
13 Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.
15 For I don't know what I am doing. For I don't practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.
16 But if what I don't desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.
17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don't find it doing that which is good.
19 For the good which I desire, I don't do; but the evil which I don't desire, that I practice.
20 But if what I don't desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.
22 For I delight in God's law after the inward man,
23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God's law, but with the flesh, the sin's law.
1 Is it not clear, my brothers (I am using an argument to those who have knowledge of the law), that the law has power over a man as long as he is living?
2 For the woman who has a husband is placed by the law under the power of her husband as long as he is living; but if her husband is dead, she is free from the law of the husband.
3 So if, while the husband is living, she is joined to another man, she will get the name of one who is untrue to her husband: but if the husband is dead, she is free from the law, so that she is not untrue, even if she takes another man.
4 In the same way, my brothers, you were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, even to him who came again from the dead, so that we might give fruit to God.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the evil passions which came into being through the law were working in our bodies to give the fruit of death.
6 But now we are free from the law, having been made dead to that which had power over us; so that we are servants in the new way of the spirit, not in the old way of the letter.
7 What then is to be said? is the law sin? in no way. But I would not have had knowledge of sin but for the law: for I would not have been conscious of desire if the law had not said, You may not have a desire for what is another's.
8 But sin, taking its chance through that which was ordered by the law, was working in me every form of desire: because without the law sin is dead.
9 And there was a time when I was living without the law: but when the law gave its orders, sin came to life and put me to death;
10 And I made the discovery that the law whose purpose was to give life had become a cause of death:
11 For I was tricked and put to death by sin, which took its chance through the law.
12 But the law is holy, and its orders are holy, upright, and good.
13 Was then that which is good, death to me? In no way. But the purpose was that sin might be seen to be sin by working death to me through that which is good; so that through the orders of the law sin might seem much more evil.
14 For we are conscious that the law is of the spirit; but I am of the flesh, given into the power of sin.
15 And I have no clear knowledge of what I am doing, for that which I have a mind to do, I do not, but what I have hate for, that I do.
16 But, if I do that which I have no mind to do, I am in agreement with the law that the law is good.
17 So it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me.
18 For I am conscious that in me, that is, in my flesh, there is nothing good: I have the mind but not the power to do what is right.
19 For the good which I have a mind to do, I do not: but the evil which I have no mind to do, that I do.
20 But if I do what I have no mind to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me.
21 So I see a law that, though I have a mind to do good, evil is present in me.
22 In my heart I take pleasure in the law of God,
23 But I see another law in my body, working against the law of my mind, and making me the servant of the law of sin which is in my flesh.
24 How unhappy am I! who will make me free from the body of this death?
25 I give praise to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So with my mind I am a servant to the law of God, but with my flesh to the law of sin.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Romans 7
Commentary on Romans 7 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 7
Ro 7:1-25. Same Subject Continued.
Relation of Believers to the Law and to Christ (Ro 7:1-6).
Recurring to the statement of Ro 6:14, that believers are "not under the law but under grace," the apostle here shows how this change is brought about, and what holy consequences follow from it.
1. I speak to them that know the law—of Moses to whom, though not themselves Jews (see on Ro 1:13), the Old Testament was familiar.
2, 3. if her husband be dead—"die." So Ro 7:3.
3. she be married—"joined." So Ro 7:4.
4. Wherefore … ye also are become dead—rather, "were slain."
to the law by the body of Christ—through His slain body. The apostle here departs from his usual word "died," using the more expressive phrase "were slain," to make it clear that he meant their being "crucified with Christ" (as expressed in Ro 6:3-6, and Ga 2:20).
that ye should be married to another, even to him that is—"was."
raised from the dead—to the intent.
that we should bring forth fruit unto God—It has been thought that the apostle should here have said that "the law died to us," not "we to the law," but that purposely inverted the figure, to avoid the harshness to Jewish ears of the death of the law [Chrysostom, Calvin, Hodge, Philippi, &c.]. But this is to mistake the apostle's design in employing this figure, which was merely to illustrate the general principle that "death dissolves legal obligation." It was essential to his argument that we, not the law, should be the dying party, since it is we that are "crucified with Christ," and not the law. This death dissolves our marriage obligation to the law, leaving us at liberty to contract a new relation—to be joined to the Risen One, in order to spiritual fruitfulness, to the glory of God [Beza, Olshausen, Meyer, Alford, &c.]. The confusion, then, is in the expositors, not the text; and it has arisen from not observing that, like Jesus Himself, believers are here viewed as having a double life—the old sin-condemned life, which they lay down with Christ, and the new life of acceptance and holiness to which they rise with their Surety and Head; and all the issues of this new life, in Christian obedience, are regarded as the "fruit" of this blessed union to the Risen One. How such holy fruitfulness was impossible before our union to Christ, is next declared.
5. For when we were in the flesh—in our unregenerate state, as we came into the world. See on Joh 3:6 and Ro 8:5-9.
the motions—"passions" (Margin), "affections" (as in Ga 5:24), or "stirrings."
of sins—that is, "prompting to the commission of sins."
which were by the law—by occasion of the law, which fretted, irritated our inward corruption by its prohibitions. See on Ro 7:7-9.
did work in our members—the members of the body, as the instruments by which these inward stirrings find vent in action, and become facts of the life. See on Ro 6:6.
to bring forth fruit unto death—death in the sense of Ro 6:21. Thus hopeless is all holy fruit before union to Christ.
6. But now—On the same expression, see on Ro 6:22, and compare Jas 1:15.
we are delivered from the law—The word is the same which, in Ro 6:6 and elsewhere, is rendered "destroyed," and is but another way of saying (as in Ro 7:4) that "we were slain to the law by the body of Christ"; language which, though harsh to the ear, is designed and fitted to impress upon the reader the violence of that death of the Cross, by which, as by a deadly wrench, we are "delivered from the law."
that being dead wherein we were held—It is now universally agreed that the true reading here is, "being dead to that wherein we were held." The received reading has no authority whatever, and is inconsistent with the strain of the argument; for the death spoken of, as we have seen, is not the law's, but ours, through union with the crucified Saviour.
that we should—"so as to" or "so that we."
serve in newness of spirit—"in the newness of the spirit."
and not in the oldness of the letter—not in our old way of literal, mechanical obedience to the divine law, as a set of external rules of conduct, and without any reference to the state of our hearts; but in that new way of spiritual obedience which, through union to the risen Saviour, we have learned to render (compare Ro 2:29; 2Co 3:6).
False Inferences regarding the Law Repelled (Ro 7:7-25).
And first, Ro 7:7-13, in the case of the UNREGENERATE.
7, 8. What … then? Is the law sin? God forbid!—"I have said that when we were in the flesh the law stirred our inward corruption, and was thus the occasion of deadly fruit: Is then the law to blame for this? Far from us be such a thought."
Nay—"On the contrary" (as in Ro 8:37; 1Co 12:22; Greek).
I had not known sin but by the law—It is important to fix what is meant by "sin" here. It certainly is not "the general nature of sin" [Alford, &c.], though it be true that this is learned from the law; for such a sense will not suit what is said of it in the following verses, where the meaning is the same as here. The only meaning which suits all that is said of it in this place is "the principle of sin in the heart of fallen man." The sense, then, is this: "It was by means of the law that I came to know what a virulence and strength of sinful propensity I had within me." The existence of this it did not need the law to reveal to him; for even the heathens recognized and wrote of it. But the dreadful nature and desperate power of it the law alone discovered—in the way now to be described.
for I had not known lust, except, &c.—Here the same Greek word is unfortunately rendered by three different English ones—"lust"; "covet"; "concupiscence" (Ro 7:8)—which obscures the meaning. By using the word "lust" only, in the wide sense of all "irregular desire," or every outgoing of the heart towards anything forbidden, the sense will best be brought out; thus, "For I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not lust; But sin, taking ('having taken') occasion by the commandment (that one which forbids it), wrought in me all manner of lusting." This gives a deeper view of the tenth commandment than the mere words suggest. The apostle saw in it the prohibition not only of desire after certain things there specified, \ but of "desire after everything divinely forbidden"; in other words, all "lusting" or "irregular desire." It was this which "he had not known but by the law." The law forbidding all such desire so stirred his corruption that it wrought in him "all manner of lusting"—desire of every sort after what was forbidden.
8. For without the law—that is, before its extensive demands and prohibitions come to operate upon our corrupt nature.
sin was—rather, "is"
dead—that is, the sinful principle of our nature lies so dormant, so torpid, that its virulence and power are unknown, and to our feeling it is as good as "dead."
9. For I was alive without the law once—"In the days of my ignorance, when, in this sense, a stranger to the law, I deemed myself a righteous man, and, as such, entitled to life at the hand of God."
but when the commandment came—forbidding all irregular desire; for the apostle sees in this the spirit of the whole law.
sin revived—"came to life"; in its malignity and strength it unexpectedly revealed itself, as if sprung from the dead.
and I died—"saw myself, in the eye of a law never kept and not to be kept, a dead man."
10, 11. And—thus.
the commandment, which was, &c.—designed
to—give
life—through the keeping of it.
I found to be unto death—through breaking it.
For sin—my sinful nature.
taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me—or "seduced me"—drew me aside into the very thing which the commandment forbade.
and by it slew me—"discovered me to myself to be a condemned and gone man" (compare Ro 7:9, "I died").
12, 13. Wherefore—"So that."
the law is—"is indeed"
good, and the commandment—that one so often referred to, which forbids all lusting.
holy, and just, and good.
13. Was then that which is good made—"Hath then that which is good become"
death unto me? God forbid—that is, "Does the blame of my death lie with the good law? Away with such a thought."
But sin—became death unto me, to the end.
that it might appear sin—that it might be seen in its true light.
working death in—rather, "to"
me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful—"that its enormous turpitude might stand out to view, through its turning God's holy, just, and good law into a provocative to the very things which is forbids." So much for the law in relation to the unregenerate, of whom the apostle takes himself as the example; first, in his ignorant, self-satisfied condition; next, under humbling discoveries of his inability to keep the law, through inward contrariety to it; finally, as self-condemned, and already, in law, a dead man. Some inquire to what period of his recorded history these circumstances relate. But there is no reason to think they were wrought into such conscious and explicit discovery at any period of his history before he "met the Lord in the way"; and though, "amidst the multitude of his thoughts within him" during his memorable three day's blindness immediately after that, such views of the law and of himself would doubtless be tossed up and down till they took shape much as they are here described (see on Ac 9:9) we regard this whole description of his inward struggles and progress rather as the finished result of all his past recollections and subsequent reflections on his unregenerate state, which he throws into historical form only for greater vividness. But now the apostle proceeds to repel false inferences regarding the law, secondly: Ro 7:14-25, in the case of the REGENERATE; taking himself here also as the example.
14. For we know that the law is spiritual—in its demands.
but I am carnal—fleshly (see on Ro 7:5), and as such, incapable of yielding spiritual obedience.
sold under sin—enslaved to it. The "I" here, though of course not the regenerate, is neither the unregenerate, but the sinful principle of the renewed man, as is expressly stated in Ro 7:18.
15, 16. For, &c.—better, "For that which I do I know not"; that is, "In obeying the impulses of my carnal nature I act the slave of another will than my own as a renewed man?"
for, &c.—rather, "for not what I would (wish, desire) that do I, but what I hate that I do."
16. If then I do that which I would not—"But if what I would not that I do,"
I consent unto the law that it is good—"the judgment of my inner man going along with the law."
17. Now then it is no more I—my renewed self.
that do it—"that work it."
but sin which dwelleth in me—that principle of sin that still has its abode in me. To explain this and the following statements, as many do (even Bengel and Tholuck), of the sins of unrenewed men against their better convictions, is to do painful violence to the apostle's language, and to affirm of the unregenerate what is untrue. That coexistence and mutual hostility of "flesh" and "spirit" in the same renewed man, which is so clearly taught in Ro 8:4, &c., and in Ga 5:16, &c., is the true and only key to the language of this and the following verses. (It is hardly necessary to say that the apostle means not to disown the blame of yielding to his corruptions, by saying, "it is not he that does it, but sin that dwelleth in him." Early heretics thus abused his language; but the whole strain of the passage shows that his sole object in thus expressing himself was to bring more vividly before his readers the conflict of two opposite principles, and how entirely, as a new man—honoring from his inmost soul the law of God—he condemned and renounced his corrupt nature, with its affections and lusts, its stirrings and its outgoings, root and branch).
18. For, &c.—better, "For I know that there dwelleth not in me, that is in my flesh, any good."
for to will—"desire."
is present with me; but how to perform that which is good—the supplement "how," in our version, weakens the statement.
I find not—Here, again, we have the double self of the renewed man; "In me dwelleth no good; but this corrupt self is not my true self; it is but sin dwelling in my real self, as a renewed man."
19, 21. For, &c.—The conflict here graphically described between a self that "desires" to do good and a self that in spite of this does evil, cannot be the struggles between conscience and passion in the unregenerate, because the description given of this "desire to do good" in Ro 7:22 is such as cannot be ascribed, with the least show of truth, to any but the renewed.
22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man—"from the bottom of my heart." The word here rendered "delight" is indeed stronger than "consent" in Ro 7:16; but both express a state of mind and heart to which the unregenerate man is a stranger.
23. But I see another—it should be "a different"
law in my members—(See on Ro 7:5).
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members—In this important verse, observe, first, that the word "law" means an inward principle of action, good or evil, operating with the fixedness and regularity of a law. The apostle found two such laws within him; the one "the law of sin in his members," called (in Ga 5:17, 24) "the flesh which lusteth against the spirit," "the flesh with the affections and lusts," that is, the sinful principle in the regenerate; the other, "the law of the mind," or the holy principle of the renewed nature. Second, when the apostle says he "sees" the one of these principles "warring against" the other, and "bringing him into captivity" to itself, he is not referring to any actual rebellion going on within him while he was writing, or to any captivity to his own lusts then existing. He is simply describing the two conflicting principles, and pointing out what it was the inherent property of each to aim at bringing about. Third, when the apostle describes himself as "brought into captivity" by the triumph of the sinful principle of his nature, he clearly speaks in the person of a renewed man. Men do not feel themselves to be in captivity in the territories of their own sovereign and associated with their own friends, breathing a congenial atmosphere, and acting quite spontaneously. But here the apostle describes himself, when drawn under the power of his sinful nature, as forcibly seized and reluctantly dragged to his enemy's camp, from which he would gladly make his escape. This ought to settle the question, whether he is here speaking as a regenerate man or the reverse.
24. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?—The apostle speaks of the "body" here with reference to "the law of sin" which he had said was "in his members," but merely as the instrument by which the sin of the heart finds vent in action, and as itself the seat of the lower appetites (see on Ro 6:6, and Ro 7:5); and he calls it "the body of this death," as feeling, at the moment when he wrote, the horrors of that death (Ro 6:21, and Ro 7:5) into which it dragged him down. But the language is not that of a sinner newly awakened to the sight of his lost state; it is the cry of a living but agonized believer, weighed down under a burden which is not himself, but which he longs to shake off from his renewed self. Nor does the question imply ignorance of the way of relief at the time referred to. It was designed only to prepare the way for that outburst of thankfulness for the divinely provided remedy which immediately follows.
25. I thank God—the Source.
through Jesus Christ—the Channel of deliverance.
So then—to sum up the whole matter.
with the mind—the mind indeed.
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin—"Such then is the unchanging character of these two principles within me. God's holy law is dear to my renewed mind, and has the willing service of my new man; although that corrupt nature which still remains in me listens to the dictates of sin."
Note, (1) This whole chapter was of essential service to the Reformers in their contendings with the Church of Rome. When the divines of that corrupt church, in a Pelagian spirit, denied that the sinful principle in our fallen nature, which they called "Concupiscence," and which is commonly called "Original Sin," had the nature of sin at all, they were triumphantly answered from this chapter, where—both in the first section of it, which speaks of it in the unregenerate, and in the second, which treats of its presence and actings in believers—it is explicitly, emphatically, and repeatedly called "sin." As such, they held it to be damnable. (See the Confessions both of the Lutheran and Reformed churches). In the following century, the orthodox in Holland had the same controversy to wage with "the Remonstrants" (the followers of Arminius), and they waged it on the field of this chapter. (2) Here we see that Inability is consistent with Accountability. (See Ro 7:18; Ga 5:17). "As the Scriptures constantly recognize the truth of these two things, so are they constantly united in Christian experience. Everyone feels that he cannot do the things that he would, yet is sensible that he is guilty for not doing them. Let any man test his power by the requisition to love God perfectly at all times. Alas! how entire our inability! Yet how deep our self-loathing and self-condemnation!" [Hodge]. (3) If the first sight of the Cross by the eye of faith kindles feelings never to be forgotten, and in one sense never to be repeated—like the first view of an enchanting landscape—the experimental discovery, in the latter stages of the Christian life, of its power to beat down and mortify inveterate corruption, to cleanse and heal from long-continued backslidings and frightful inconsistencies, and so to triumph over all that threatens to destroy those for whom Christ died, as to bring them safe over the tempestuous seas of this life into the haven of eternal rest—is attended with yet more heart—affecting wonder draws forth deeper thankfulness, and issues in more exalted adoration of Him whose work Salvation is from first to last (Ro 7:24, 25). (4) It is sad when such topics as these are handled as mere questions of biblical interpretation or systematic theology. Our great apostle could not treat of them apart from personal experience, of which the facts of his own life and the feelings of his own soul furnished him with illustrations as lively as they were apposite. When one is unable to go far into the investigation of indwelling sin, without breaking out into an, "O wretched man that I am!" and cannot enter on the way of relief without exclaiming "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord," he will find his meditations rich in fruit to his own soul, and may expect, through Him who presides in all such matters, to kindle in his readers or hearers the like blessed emotions (Ro 7:24, 25). So be it even now, O Lord!