ROMANS 7
OPENS WITH THE WEAKNESS OF THE LAW EXPOSED
Verses 1-3 tells us The law has authority ONLY over the living.
"Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man."
In Romans 6:14, Paul told us that sin shall NOT have dominion over you, for you are NOT under law but under grace. After the discussion in Romans 6:15-23 regarding practical implications of this, he now explains more completely how it is that we are NO longer under the dominion of the law.
That the law has dominion over a man: The ancient Greek wording here has no before law. This means that Paul speaks of a principle broader than the Mosaic Law. The law that has dominion over us includes the Law of Moses, but there is a broader principle of law communicated by creation and conscience, and these also have dominion over a man.
The law has dominion over a man as long as he lives...
Paul makes the point that death ENDS ALL obligations and contracts. A wife is NO longer bound to her husband if he dies because death ends that contract. If her husband dies, she is free from that law.
Verses 4 tells us Our death with Jesus sets us FREE from the law.
"Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another; to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God."
You also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ...
In Romans 6:3-8, Paul carefully explained that we died with Jesus and we also rose with Him, although Paul there only spoke of our death to sin. Now he explains that we also died to the law.
Some might think, "Yes, we were saved by grace, but we must live by law to please God." Here Paul makes it plain that believers are dead to the law as far as it represents a principle of living or a place of right standing BEFORE ALMIGHTY GOD.
MORRIS explains it well, "Believers are through with the law. It is not for them an option as a way of salvation. They do not seek to be right with God by obeying some form of law, as the adherents of almost all religions have done."
That you may be married to another...
However, we are NOT free from the law so we can live unto ourselves; we are free so that we can be "married" to Jesus and so that we can bear fruit to God.
Verse 5 tells us The problem with the law.
"For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death."
When we were in the flesh...
MEANING under the law, we did not bear fruit to God. Instead we bore fruit to death, because the law aroused the passions of sins within us.
Paul will explain this problem of the law more fully in Romans 7:7-14. But now we see his point - that we only come fully to the place of bearing fruit for God when we are free from the law.
Verse 6 tells us Delivered from the law.
"But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter."
But now we have been delivered from the law...
The theme of Romans 7:1-5 is summarized. Because we died with Jesus at Calvary, we are dead to the law and delivered from its dominion over us as a PRINCIPLE of justification or of sanctification and salvation.
The law DOES NOT justify us; it DOES NOT make us right with God. The law DOES NOT sanctify us; it DOES NOT take us deeper with God and make us more holy before Him.
So that we should serve in the NEWNESS of the Spirit...
Our freedom is given not so we can stop serving God; but so that we can serve Him BETTER, under the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
How well do you serve in the newness of the Spirit?
It is a shame that many serve sin or legalism with more devotion than those who should serve God out of the newness of the Spirit. It's too bad when fear motivates us more than love.
Verse 7a tells us Our problem with God's perfect law. Paul asks: Is the law (equal to) sin?
"What shall we say then? Is the law sin?"
Is the law sin?
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
If we follow his train of thought we can understand how someone could infer this. Paul insisted that we must die to the law if we will bear fruit to God. Someone must think, "Surely there is something wrong with GOD'S law!"
Verse 7b answers that thought and question. No, the law is good because it reveals sin to us.
"Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."
I would not have known sin except through the law...
The law is like an x-ray machine; it reveals plainly what might have always been there, but was hidden before. You can't blame an x-ray for what it exposes.
For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."
SIMPLY PUT GOD'S MOSAIC LAW sets the "speed limit" so we know exactly if we are going too fast. We might never know that we are sinning in many areas (such as covetousness) if the law did not spell this out to us specifically.
Verse 8 tells us Sin corrupts the commandment (law).
"But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead."
Paul describes the dynamic where the warning "DO NOT do that" may become a call to action because of our sinful, rebellious hearts. It isn't the fault of the commandment=LAW but it is our fault.
In American history, we know that the Prohibition Act didn't stop drinking. In many ways it made drinking more attractive to people, because of our desire to break boundaries set by the commandment.
Once God draws a boundary for us, we are immediately enticed to cross that boundary - which is no fault of God or His boundary, but the fault of our sinful hearts.
SIN, taking opportunity by the commandment...
The WEAKNESS of the law IS NOT in the law - it is in us. Our hearts are so wicked that they can find opportunity for all manner of evil desire from something good like the law of God.
A waterfront hotel in Florida was concerned that people might try to fish from the balconies, so they put up signs saying, "NO FISHING FROM THE BALCONY." They had constant problems with people fishing from the balconies, with lines and sinker weights breaking windows and bothering people in rooms below. They finally solved the problem by simply taking down the signs - and no one thought to fish from the balconies. Because of our hearts, the law can actually work like an invitation to sin.
Apart from the law, sin was dead...
This shows how great the evil of sin is - it can take something good and holy like the law and twist it to promote evil. Sin warps love into lust, an honest desire to provide into greed, and law into a promoter of sin.
Verse 9 tells us Paul's state of innocence before he knew the law.
"I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died."
SIMPLY PUT...Children can be innocent before they know or understand what law requires. This is what Paul refers to when he says I was alive once without the law.
LENSKI says it well of Paul, "He was quite secure amid all his sin and sinfulness. He lived in the sense that the deathblow had not yet killed him. He sat secure in the house of his ignorance like a man living on a volcano and thought that all was well."
But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died...
But when we do know the law, the law shows us our guilt and it excites our rebellion, bringing forth more sin and death.
Verses 10-12 tells us Sin CORRUPTS the law and defeats its purpose of giving life; once law is corrupted by sin, it brings DEATH.
"And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good."
Sin does this by deception. Sin deceives us:
- Because sin falsely promises satisfaction
- Because sin falsely claims an adequate excuse
- Because sin falsely promises an escape from punishment
It IS NOT the law that deceives us, but it is sin that uses the law as an occasion for rebellion. This is why Jesus said you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free in John 8:32. The truth makes us free from the DECEPTIONS of sin.
Sin, when followed, leads to death - not life.
One of Satan's GREATEST DECEPTIONS is to get us to think of sin as something good that an unpleasant God wants to deprive us of. When God warns us away from sin, He warns us away from something that will kill us.
Paul understands how someone might take him as saying that he is against the law - but he isn't at all.
It is true that we must die to sin told to us in ROMANS 6:2 and we must die to the law told to us in ROMANS 7:4.
But that should NOT be taken to say that Paul believes that sin and law are in the same basket. The problem is in us, NOT in the law. Nevertheless, sin corrupts the work or effect of the law, so we must die to both.
Verse 13 tells us The law exposes and magnifies sin.
"Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful."
Sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good...
Though the law provokes our sin nature, this can be used for good because it more dramatically exposes our deep sinfulness. After all, if sin can use something as good as the law to its advantage in promoting evil, it shows how evil sin is.
Sin "becomes more sinful" in light of the law in two ways.
FIRST...sin becomes exceedingly sinful through contrast with the law.
SECOND...sin becomes exceedingly sinful because the law provokes its evil nature.
Verse 14 tells us The spiritual law CAN NOT restrain a carnal man.
"For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin."
The word carnal simply means "of the flesh." Paul recognizes that a spiritual law cannot help a carnal man.
DID YOU KNOW...Carnal uses the ancient Greek word sarkikos, which means, "characterized by the flesh." It speaks of the person who can and should do differently but does not. Paul sees this carnality in himself, and knows that the law, though it is spiritual, has no answer for his carnal nature.
Sold under sin...
Paul is in bondage under sin and the law can't help him out. He is like a man arrested for a crime and thrown in jail. The law will only help him if he is innocent, but Paul knows that he is guilty and that the law argues against him, not for him.
Even though Paul says that he is carnal, it doesn't mean that he is not a Christian. His awareness of his carnality is evidence that God has done a work in him.
MARTIN LUTHER says it well, "That is the proof of the spiritual and wise man. He knows that he is carnal, and he is displeased with himself; indeed, he hates himself and praises the Law of God, which he recognizes because he is spiritual. But the proof of a foolish, carnal man is this, that he regards himself as spiritual and is pleased with himself."
Verses 15-19 tells us The struggle of obedience in our own strength as Paul describes his sense of helplessness.
"For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice."
Paul's problem IS NOT desire - he wants to do what is right (what I will to do, that I do not practice).
Paul's problem IS NOT knowledge - he knows what the right thing is.
Paul's problem IS a lack of power - how to perform what is good I do not find.
Paul LACKS power because the law gives NO power.
SIMPLY PUT...The law says: "Here are the rules and you had better keep them." But it gives us no power for keeping the law.
It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me...
SOME POINT TO THIS AND WRONGLY BELIEVE, TEACH AND PREACH THAT Paul IS denying his responsibility as a sinner?
BUT HE IS NOT....He recognizes that as he sins, he acts AGAINST his nature as a new man in Jesus Christ. A Christian must own up to his sin, yet realize that the impulse to sin does not come from who we really are in Jesus Christ.
SIMPLY PUT...JUST AS A NEW CREATION IN JESUS, WHO WAS ONCE A MASTER THIEF, DOES NOT STEAL ANYMORE, HE STILL STRUGGLES IN HIS ((THOUGHT)) LIFE ABOUT STEALING. SO EVEN AS WE CONQUER THE PHYSICAL SINS OF THE LAW, WE AND PAUL STILL STRUGGLE AGAINST OUR CARNAL ((THOUGHT)) LIVES.
Verse 20-23 tells us The BATTLE between two selves.
"Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 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."
C.S. LEWIS says it well, "I find then a law, that evil is present with me. Anyone who has tried to do good is aware of this struggle. We never know how hard it is to stop sinning until we try. "No man knows how bad he is until he has tried to be good."
For I delight in the law of God according to the INWARD man...
Paul knows that his real inward man has a DELIGHT in the law of God. He understands that the impulse to sin comes from another law in my members. Paul knows that the "real self" NOW IN JESUS is the one who does delight in the law of God.
The old man is not the real Paul; the old man Saul of Tarsus is dead. The flesh is not the real Paul; the flesh is destined to pass away and be resurrected. The new man is the real Paul; now Paul's challenge is to live like God has made him.
DID YOU KNOW...There is a debate among SOME Christians as to if Paul was a Christian during the experience he describes. Some look at his struggle with sin and believe that it must have been BEFORE he was born again.
Others believe that Paul is just a Christian STRUGGLING with sin.
In a sense this is an irrelevant question, for this is the struggle of anyone who tries to obey God in their OWN strength. This is something that a Christian may do, but something that a non-Christian can ONLY do.
MORRIS says it well, "The one point of the passages is that it describes a man who is trying to be good and holy by his own efforts and is beaten back every time by the power of indwelling sin; it thus refers to anyone, regenerate or unregenerate."
Warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin...
Sin is able to war within Paul and win because there is no power within himself, other than himself, to stop sinning. Paul is caught in the desperate powerlessness of trying to battle sin in the power of self.
THE ANSWER...The victory OVER SIN IS found in Jesus Christ.
Verse 24 tells us Paul's desperation and perspective.
"O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"
DID YOU KNOW...The ancient Greek word "wretched" is more literally, "Wretched through the exhaustion of hard labor." Paul is completely worn out and wretched because of his unsuccessful effort to please God under the principle of Law.
AND THINK ABOUT THIS...It is worth bearing in mind that the great saints through the ages do not commonly say, 'How good I am!' Rather, they are apt to bewail their sinfulness."
LEGALISM ALWAYS brings a person face to face with their own wretchedness, and if they continue in legalism, they will react in one of two ways.
THEY WILL DENY their wretchedness and become self-righteous Pharisees.
OR THEY WILL DESPAIR because of their wretchedness and give up following after God.
The entire tone of the statement shows that Paul is desperate for DELIVERANCE. He is overwhelmed with a sense of his own powerlessness and sinfulness. We must come to the same place of desperation to find victory IN Jesus Christ.
PAUL IS SAYING OF HIMSELF AND TO US ALL...Your desire must go beyond a vague hope to be better. You must cry out against yourself and cry out unto JESUS with the same desperation Paul did.
Who will deliver me...
Paul's perspective finally turns to something (actually, someone) outside of himself. Paul has referred to himself some 40 times since Romans 7:13. In the pit of Paul's unsuccessful struggle against sin, he CONFESSES THAT HIS THOUGHTS HAD become entirely SELF-focused and SELF-obsessed. This is the place of ANY believer living under law, who looks to self and personal performance rather than looking FIRST AND ONLY to Jesus.
DO YOU NOTICE...The words "Who will deliver me" show that Paul has given up on himself, and asks "Who will deliver me?" Instead of "How will I deliver myself?"
When Paul describes this body of death, some commentators see a reference to ancient kings who tormented their prisoners by shackling them to decomposing corpses. Paul longs to be cut free from the wretched body of death clinging to him.
DID YOU KNOW...It was the custom of ancient tyrants, when they wished to put men to the most FEARFUL punishments, to tie a dead body to them, placing the two back to back; and there was the living man, with a dead body closely strapped to him, rotting, putrid, corrupting, and this he must drag with him wherever he went.
Now, this is just what the Christian has to do. He has within him the NEW life; he has a living and undying principle, which the Holy Spirit has put within him, but he feels that every day he has to drag about with him this dead body, THIS DEAD PAST, THE DEAD AND GONE AND BURIED BAGGAGE, this body of death, a thing as loathsome, as hideous, as abominable to his new life, as a dead stinking carcass would be to a living man.
Verse 25 tells us Paul finally looks outside of himself TO JESUS.
"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."
FINALLY!!! Paul looks outside of himself and unto Jesus. As soon as he looks to Jesus, he has something to thank God for - and he thanks God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
DID KNOW YOU "THROUGH" in this passage means that Paul sees Jesus standing between himself and God, bridging the gap and providing the way to God. Lord means that Paul has put Jesus in the right place - as Lord and master of his life.
He acknowledges the state of struggle, but thanks God for the victory in Jesus. Paul DOES NOT pretend that looking to Jesus takes away the struggle - Jesus works through us, not instead of us in the battle against sin.
ROMANS 7, IS NOT LIKED BY THE SUPER-CHRISTIAN, SUPER-RELIGIOSITY MINDSET....THAT FALSELY SEE, SAY, TEACH, AND BELIEVE THAT GOD'S GRACE THROUGH SALVATION IN JESUS...NOW MAKES THEM INSTANTLY LIKE JESUS. INSTANTLY PERFECT. THEY DO NOT SIN...THEY HAVE NO STRUGGLES AGAINST SIN, THE WORLD, AND THE DEVIL. THEY ARE LITTLE "GODS" THEMSELVES, NOW EQUAL IN THOUGHT, WORD, AND DEED WITH JESUS. THEY ALSO FALSELY SAY, TEACH, AND PREACH THAT PAUL WAS INSTANTLY SINLESS...PERFECT IN THIS LIFE...THAT IS A LIE....AND PAUL CONFESSES IT HIMSELF RIGHT HERE IN ROMANS 7.
The glorious truth remains...
There IS victory in Jesus! Jesus didn't come and die just to give us more or better rules, but to live out victory through those who believe. The message of the gospel is that there is victory over sin, hate, death, and all evil as we surrender out lives to Jesus and let Him live out victory through us.
CALVIN says it well, "Romans 7:25: "A short epilogue, in which he teaches us, that the faithful NEVER reach the goal of righteousness as long as they dwell in the flesh, but that they are running their course, until they put off the body."
IN ROMANS 7 Paul shows that even though the law is glorious and good, it CAN NOT save us - and we need a Savior.
Paul CONFESSES AND SHOWS US THAT HE NEVER FOUND any peace, any praising God until he looked outside of himself and beyond the law to his Savior, Jesus Christ.
PAUL CONFESSES, SHOWS AND TEACHES ALL OF US THESE SIMPLE TRUTHS.
MANY THINK the problem was that THEY didn't know what to do to save yourself - but the law came as a teacher, taught you all what to do and you couldn't do it. You DO NOT need a teacher, you NEED a Savior.
MANY THINK the problem was that THEY didn't know what to do to save yourself - but NEED A RELIGIOSITY WITH RULES & RITUALS & ROTE SACRAMENTS TO INTERPRET, LEAD, GUIDE AND DIRECT YOU all what to do and you couldn't do it. You DO NOT need MAN-CREATED AND TWISTED RELIGIOSITY, you NEED a Savior.
OTHERS THINK the problem was that THEY weren't motivated enough, but the law came in like a coach to encourage you on to do what you need to do and you still didn't do it. You DO NOT need a coach or a motivational speaker, you NEED a Savior.
STILL OTHERS THINK the problem was that you didn't know yourself enough - but the law came in like a doctor and perfectly diagnosed your sin problem - but it couldn't heal you. You DO NOT need a doctor, you NEED a Savior.
JESUS CHRIST IS...THE GREAT I AM....
JESUS CHRIST IS...I AM....YOUR SAVIOR.
I AM...YOUR TEACHER, HEALER, PROTECTOR, DEFENDER, HOPE, JOY, PEACE...
JESUS CHRIST ALONE...NO ONE AND NOTHING ELSE BUT JESUS CHRIST SAVES.