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Romans Chapter
Seven
Romans 7
We have considered the effect of the death and
resurrection of Christ with reference to justification and to practical life.
In the early part of the epistle (to chap. 5:11) He has died for our sins. From
chapter 5:12, He having died, we reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God
through Him. Our state as under the two heads, Adam and Christ, has been
discussed. Another point remained to be treated of by the apostle-the effect of
this last doctrine upon the question of the law. The Christian, or, to say
better, the believer, has part in Christ as a Christ who has died, and lives to
God, Christ being raised from the dead through Him. What is the force of this
truth with regard to the law (for the law has only power over a man so long as
he lives)? Being then dead, it has no longer any hold upon him. This is our
position with regard to the law. Does that weaken its authority? No. For we say
that Christ has died, and so have we therefore; but the law no longer applies
to one that is dead.
In bringing out the effect of this truth, the apostle uses the example
of the law of marriage. The woman would be an adulteress if she were to be to
another while her husband was alive; but when her husband is dead she is free.
The application of this rule changes the form of the truth. It is certain that
one cannot be under the authority of two husbands at once. One excludes the
other. The law, and Christ risen, cannot be associated in their authority over
the soul. But in our case the law does not lose its force (that is, its rights
over us) by its dying, but by our dying. It reigns over us only while we live.
It is with this destruction of the bond by death the apostle began. The husband
died, but in application it is annulled by our dying. We are then dead to the
law by the body of Christ (for we have to do with a Christ risen after His
death), that we should be to Him who is raised from the dead, in order that we
should bear fruit for God; but we cannot belong to the two at once.
When we were in the flesh-when, as man, any one was held
to be walking in the responsibility of a man living in the life of nature, as a
child of Adam, the law to him was the rule and perfect measure of that
responsibility, and the representative of the authority of God. The passions
which impelled to sin acted in that nature, and, meeting with this barrier of
the law, found in it that which, by resisting it, excited the will, and
suggested, even by the prohibition itself, the evil which the flesh loved and
which the law forbade; and thus these passions acted in the members to produce
fruit which brought in death. But now he was outside its authority, he had
disappeared from its pursuit, [1] being dead in that law to the authority of
which we had been subjected. Now to have died under the law would have been
also condemnation; but it is Christ who went through this and took the
condemnation, while we have the deliverance from the old man which is in death.
Our old man is crucified with Him, so that it is our deliverance to die to the
law. It did but condemn us, but its authority ends with the life of him who was
under that authority. And being dead in Christ, the law can no longer reach those
who had been under it: we belong to the new husband, to Christ risen, in order
that we should serve in newness of spirit, the goodwill of grace in our new
life, and-as the apostle will afterwards explain, [2] -not in the bondage of the letter.
This is the doctrine. Now for the conclusions that may be
deduced from it. Is the law, then, sin, that we are withdrawn from its
authority? By no means. But it gave the knowledge of sin, and imputed it. For
the apostle says, that he would not have understood that the mere impulse of
his nature was sin, if the law had not said, Thou shalt not covet. But the
commandment gave sin occasion to attack the soul. Sin, that evil principle of
our nature, [3] making use of the commandment to provoke the
soul to the sin that is forbidden (but which it took occasion to suggest by the
interdiction itself, acting also on the will which resisted the interdiction),
produced all manner of concupiscence. For, without the law, sin could not
plunge the soul into this conflict, and give the sentence of death in it, by
making it responsible in conscience for the sin which, without this law, it
would not have known. Under the law lust acted, with the conscience of sin in
the heart; and the result was death in the conscience, without any deliverance
for the heart from the power of concupiscence.
Without the law, sin did not thus agitate a will which
refused submission to that which checked it. For a barrier to the will awakens
and excites the will: and the conscience of sin, in the presence of God's
prohibition, is a conscience under sentence of death. Thus the commandment, which
in itself was unto life, became in fact unto death. "Do this and
live" became death, by shewing the exigencies of God to a sinful nature
whose will rejected them, and to a conscience which could not but accept the
just condemnation.
A man walks in quiet indifference, doing his own will, without
knowledge of God, or consequently any sense of sin or rebellion. The law comes,
and he dies under its just judgment, which forbids everything that he desires.
Lust was an evil thing, but it did not reveal the judgment of God; on the
contrary, it forgot it. But when the law was come, sin (it is looked at here as
an enemy that attacks some person or place), knowing that the will would
persist and the conscience condemn, seized the opportunity of the law, impelled
the man in the direction contrary to the law, and slew him, in the conscience
of sin which the law forbade on the part of God. Death to the man, on God's
part in judgment, was the result. The law then was good and holy, since it
forbade the sin, but in condemning the sinner.
Was death then brought in by that which was good? [4] No. But sin, in order that it might be seen
in its true light, employed that which was good to bring death upon the soul;
and thus, by the commandment, became exceedingly sinful. In all this, sin is
personified as some one who seeks to kill the soul.
Such then was the effect of the law, that first husband,
seeing sin existed in man. To bring this out more plainly, the apostle
communicates his spiritual apprehension of the experience of a soul under the
law.
We must remark here, that the subject treated of is not
the fact of the conflict between the two natures, but the effect of the law,
supposing the will to be renewed, and the law to have obtained the suffrage of
the conscience and to be the object of the heart's affections-a heart which
recognises the spirituality of the law. This is neither the knowledge of grace,
nor of the Saviour Christ, nor of the Spirit. [5] The chief point here is not condemnation
(although the law does indeed leave the soul under judgment), but the entire
want of strength to fulfil it, that it may not condemn us. The law is
spiritual; but I, as man, am carnal, the slave of sin, whatever the judgment of
my inward man may be: for I allow not that which I do. That which I would I do
not; and that which I hate I practise. Thus loving and thus hating, I consent
to the law that it is good. It is not that I do the evil as to moral intent of
the will, for I would not the evil which I do; on the contrary I hate it. It is
the sin then that dwells in me, for in fact in me (that is, in my flesh-the
whole natural man as he is) there exists no good, for even where there is the
will, I do not find the way to perform any good. Power is totally wanting.
In verse 20 the apostle, having this explanation, lays
stress upon the I and me. "If that which I myself would" (we should
read), and "It is no longer myself that does it, but the sin that dwelleth
in me." I find then evil present with the myself which would do good; for,
as to the inward man, I delight in the law of God. But there is in me another
constant principle which wars against the law of my mind, which brings me into
captivity to this law of sin in my members. So that, whatever my desires may
be, the better even that they are, I am myself a miserable man. Being man, and
such a man, I cannot but be miserable. But, having come to this, an immense
step has been taken.
The evil here spoken of is the evil that is in our
nature, and the want of power to get rid of it. The forgiveness of sins hadbeen
fully taught. What distresses here is the present working of sin which we
cannot get rid of The sense of this is often a more painful thing than past
sins, which the believer can understand as put away by the blood of Christ. But
here we have the conscience of sin still in us, though we may hate it, and the
question of deliverance is mixed up with our experience, at least till we have
learned what is taught us in this part of the epistle, to judge the old man as
sin in us, not ourselves, and reckon ourselves dead. Christ, through whom we
now live, having died, and being a sacrifice for sin, our condemnation is
impossible, while sin is condemned and we free through "the law of the
Spirit of life in him." It is not forgiveness, but deliverance, sin in the
flesh being condemned in the cross.
Under divine grace the renewed man learned three things.
First, he has come to the discovery that in him, that is, in his flesh, there
is no good thing; but, secondly, he has learned to distinguish between himself,
who wills good, and sin which dwells in him; but, further, that when he wills
good, sin is too strong for him. Having thus acquired knowledge of himself, he
does not seek to be better in the flesh, but deliverance, and he has it in
Christ. Power comes after. He is come to the discovery and to the confession
that he has no power. He throws himself upon another. He does not say, How can
I? or, How shall I? but, Who shall deliver me? Now it was when we were devoid
of all strength that Christ died for the ungodly. This want of strength is
discovered; and we find grace at the end, when with regard to what we are, and
to all hope of amelioration in ourselves, grace is our only resource.
But happily, when we cast ourselves upon grace, there is
nothing but grace before us. Deliverance is accomplished by our not being alive
in the flesh at all: we have died away from it, and from under the law, which
held us in bondage and condemnation, and we are married to another, Christ
raised from the dead; and as soon as the distressed soul has said, "Who
shall deliver me?" the answer is ready, "I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord." The answer is not, He will deliver. Deliverance is
already accomplished: he gives thanks.
The man was wretched in conflict under law, without
knowledge of redemption. But he has died in the death of Christ out of the nature
which made him so; he has quite done with himself. The deliverance of God is
complete. The two natures are still opposed to each other, but the deliverance
is not imperfect. This deliverance wrought of God, and the progress of its
manifestation, are developed in the next chapter.
We may here remark that the apostle does not say,
"We know that the law is spiritual, and we are carnal." Had he done
so, it would have been to speak of Christians, as such, in their proper and
normal condition. It is the personal experience of what the flesh is under law,
when the man is quickened, and not the state of a Christian as such before God.
Observe, also, that the law is looked at from the point of view of christian
knowledge-"we know"-when we are no longer under it, and when we are
capable of judging concerning its whole import, according to the spirituality
of him who judges: and who sees also, being spiritual, what the flesh is;
because he is now not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. [6] Literally, this passage is not the condition
of anyone at all; but principles opposed to each other, the result of which is
laid open by supposing a man under the law: the will always right, but good never
done, evil always. Nevertheless to the conscience this is the practical
condition of every renewed man under the law. We may remark one other important
principle. Man in this condition is entirely taken up with himself; he desires
good, he does not perform it, he does that which he would not. Neither Christ
nor the Holy Ghost is named. In the normal condition of a Christian, he is
occupied with Christ. But what is expressed in this seventh chapter is the
natural and necessary result of the law, when the conscience is awakened and
the will renewed. For to will is present with him. But he is under law, sees
its spirituality, consents to it, delights in it after the inner man, and
cannot perform what is good. Sin has dominion over him. The sense of unanswered
responsibility, and the absence of peace, cause the soul necessarily to turn in
upon itself. It is taken up entirely with self, which is spoken of nearly forty
times from verse 14. It is well to be so, rather than to be insensible. It is
not peace.
This peace is found elsewhere, and it is in this; when
reduced to the consciousness of one's own inability to do good towards God, one
finds that God has done for us the good which we need. We are not only forgiven
but delivered, and are in Christ, not in the flesh at all.
The conflict goes on, the opposition between the two
natures continues, but we give thanks to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. [7] Remark here that deliverance is only found
when there is the full conviction of our incapacity and want of power, as well
as of our sins. It is much more difficult to arrive at this conviction of
incapacity than at that of having sinned. But the sin of our nature-its
irremediable perversity, its resistance to good, the law of sin in our
members-is only known in its legal gravity by experience of the uselessness of
our efforts to do well. Under the law the uselessness of these efforts leaves
the conscience in distress and bondage, and produces the sense of its being
impossible to be with God. Under grace the efforts are not useless, and the
evil nature shews itself to us (either in communion with God, or by downfalls
if we neglect communion) in all its deformity in presence of that grace. But in
this chapter the experience of sin in the nature is presented as acquired under
the law, in order that man may know himself in this position-may know what he
is as regards his flesh, and that in fact he cannot succeed in this way in
coming before God with a good conscience. He is under the first husband; death
had not yet severed the bond as to the state of the soul.
We must now remember that this experience of the soul
under the law is introduced parenthetically, to shew the sinful condition to
which grace applies and the effect of the law. Our subject is that the believer
has part in the death of Christ and has died, and is alive through Him who is
risen; that Christ, having by grace gone under death, having been made sin, has
for ever done with that state in which He had to do with sin and death in the
likeness of sinful flesh; and having for ever done with all that was connected
with it, has entered by resurrection into a new order of things-a new condition
before God, totally beyond the reach of all that to which He had subjected
Himself for us, which in us was connected with our natural life, and beyond
reach of the law which bound sin upon the conscience on God's part. In Christ
we are in this new order of things.
[1] It
is thus, I doubt not, that this passage should be read. My reader may perhaps
find "the law being dead." The expression, "dead to that wherein
we were held," alludes to verse 4, where it is said, "ye died to the
law." Christ under the law died under its curse. To be in the flesh is to
live under the responsibility of a man in his natural life-a child of fallen
Adam. In that life (unless it is lawless) the law is the rule of human righteousness.
We must not confound the flesh being in the Christian with a man being in the
flesh. The principle of the old life is still there, but it is in no way the
principle of his relationship to God. When I am in the flesh, it is the
principle of my relationship with God; but, its will being sinful, it is
impossible that I should please God. I may seek for righteousness in it-it will
be on the ground of law. But the Christian is dead by Christ to all that state
of things-does not live of that life; his life is in Christ, and he has
received the Holy Ghost. The flesh is no longer the principle of his
relationship with God; on that ground he has owned himself lost. Elsewhere we
learn that he is in Christ on the ground upon which Christ is before God. The
Holy Ghost, as we shall see, places him there in power by faith, Christ being
his life.
[2] He
does not say here by the Spirit, because he has not yet spoken of the gift of
the Holy Ghost in virtue of the work of Christ. He only speaks of the manner,
the character, of the service rendered.
[3] It
will be remembered that all through this part of the epistle (that is, from
chapter 5:12) we have to do with sin, not with sins.
[4] Sin
and death are correlative. The law is introduced in order to make manifest through
the offence what they both are. The apostle first asks, "Is the law
sin?" since its result was death to man. God forbid! but it gave the
knowledge of sin, and wrote death upon the soul through judgment, man being a
sinner. The second question is, "The law being thus good in itself, has it
become death to me?" No. It is sin which (in order that it might appear in
all its enormity) has slain me, using the law as a means, in my conscience. It
found in man's condition the means of perverting this good thing, and making it
death to him.
[5]
There is also conflict, when the Holy Ghost dwells in us. Galatians 5 speaks of
this. "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit," etc. But then we are
not under the law, as the apostle goes on to say, "If ye are led by the
Spirit, ye are not under the law." Here the person spoken of is under the
law: everything is in connection with the law. The law is spiritual; we consent
to the law, we delight in the law. Neither Christ nor the Spirit is mentioned
until the question of deliverance comes in.
[6] This
gives the key to this-alas! because souls are not free-much spoken-of passage.
It is not the present experience of any one, but a delivered person describing
the state of an undelivered one. An undelivered person could not speak exactly
thus, because he is uneasy as to the result for himself. A man in a morass does
not quietly describe how a man sinks into it, because he fears to sink and stay
there; when he is out, he describes how a man sinks there. The end of Romans 7
is a man out of the morass shewing in peace the principle and manner in which
one sinks in it. All this part of the epistle is more complicated than what
precedes chapter 5:12, because our own experience is in conflict withwhat faith
teaches us to say. If through grace I am forgiven and justified, there is no
contradiction in my experience. It is what God has done for me outside myself.
My debt is paid. But if I am to say, I am dead to sin, my experience
contradicts it. Hence we have no rest in this respect, till we give up self or
flesh as wholly bad and irremediable, and learn that, consequent on redemption,
we are not in the flesh at all. Compare chapters 7 and 8.
[7] The
last verse of chapter 7 speaks of the abstract mind and character of the
opposed natures; one the mind, however, and purpose of heart in the renewed
man; the other, the fact of flesh being there, one "I myself," the
other "my flesh." So the "I" is right; only it is not
considered under the law or the contrary.
── John Darby《Synopsis of Romans》
Romans 7
Chapter Contents
Believers are united to Christ, that they may bring forth
fruit unto God. (1-6) The use and excellence of the law. (7-13) The spiritual
conflicts between corruption and grace in a believer. (14-25)
Commentary on Romans 7:1-6
(Read Romans 7:1-6)
So long as a man continues under the law as a covenant,
and seeks justification by his own obedience, he continues the slave of sin in
some form. Nothing but the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, can make any sinner
free from the law of sin and death. Believers are delivered from that power of
the law, which condemns for the sins committed by them. And they are delivered
from that power of the law which stirs up and provokes the sin that dwells in
them. Understand this not of the law as a rule, but as a covenant of works. In
profession and privilege, we are under a covenant of grace, and not under a
covenant of works; under the gospel of Christ, not under the law of Moses. The
difference is spoken of under the similitude or figure of being married to a
new husband. The second marriage is to Christ. By death we are freed from
obligation to the law as a covenant, as the wife is from her vows to her
husband. In our believing powerfully and effectually, we are dead to the law,
and have no more to do with it than the dead servant, who is freed from his
master, has to do with his master's yoke. The day of our believing, is the day
of being united to the Lord Jesus. We enter upon a life of dependence on him,
and duty to him. Good works are from union with Christ; as the fruitfulness of
the vine is the product of its being united to its roots; there is no fruit to
God, till we are united to Christ. The law, and the greatest efforts of one
under the law, still in the flesh, under the power of corrupt principles,
cannot set the heart right with regard to the love of God, overcome worldly
lusts, or give truth and sincerity in the inward parts, or any thing that comes
by the special sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. Nothing more than a
formal obedience to the outward letter of any precept, can be performed by us,
without the renewing, new-creating grace of the new covenant.
Commentary on Romans 7:7-13
(Read Romans 7:7-13)
There is no way of coming to that knowledge of sin, which
is necessary to repentance, and therefore to peace and pardon, but by trying
our hearts and lives by the law. In his own case the apostle would not have
known the sinfulness of his thoughts, motives, and actions, but by the law.
That perfect standard showed how wrong his heart and life were, proving his
sins to be more numerous than he had before thought, but it did not contain any
provision of mercy or grace for his relief. He is ignorant of human nature and
the perverseness of his own heart, who does not perceive in himself a readiness
to fancy there is something desirable in what is out of reach. We may perceive
this in our children, though self-love makes us blind to it in ourselves. The
more humble and spiritual any Christian is, the more clearly will he perceive
that the apostle describes the true believer, from his first convictions of sin
to his greatest progress in grace, during this present imperfect state. St.
Paul was once a Pharisee, ignorant of the spirituality of the law, having some
correctness of character, without knowing his inward depravity. When the
commandment came to his conscience by the convictions of the Holy Spirit, and
he saw what it demanded, he found his sinful mind rise against it. He felt at
the same time the evil of sin, his own sinful state, that he was unable to
fulfil the law, and was like a criminal when condemned. But though the evil
principle in the human heart produces sinful motions, and the more by taking
occasion of the commandment; yet the law is holy, and the commandment holy,
just, and good. It is not favourable to sin, which it pursues into the heart,
and discovers and reproves in the inward motions thereof. Nothing is so good
but a corrupt and vicious nature will pervert it. The same heat that softens
wax, hardens clay. Food or medicine when taken wrong, may cause death, though
its nature is to nourish or to heal. The law may cause death through man's
depravity, but sin is the poison that brings death. Not the law, but sin
discovered by the law, was made death to the apostle. The ruinous nature of
sin, and the sinfulness of the human heart, are here clearly shown.
Commentary on Romans 7:14-17
(Read Romans 7:14-17)
Compared with the holy rule of conduct in the law of God,
the apostle found himself so very far short of perfection, that he seemed to be
carnal; like a man who is sold against his will to a hated master, from whom he
cannot set himself at liberty. A real Christian unwillingly serves this hated
master, yet cannot shake off the galling chain, till his powerful and gracious
Friend above, rescues him. The remaining evil of his heart is a real and
humbling hinderance to his serving God as angels do and the spirits of just
made perfect. This strong language was the result of St. Paul's great advance
in holiness, and the depth of his self-abasement and hatred of sin. If we do
not understand this language, it is because we are so far beneath him in
holiness, knowledge of the spirituality of God's law, and the evil of our own
hearts, and hatred of moral evil. And many believers have adopted the apostle's
language, showing that it is suitable to their deep feelings of abhorrence of
sin, and self-abasement. The apostle enlarges on the conflict he daily
maintained with the remainder of his original depravity. He was frequently led
into tempers, words, or actions, which he did not approve or allow in his
renewed judgement and affections. By distinguishing his real self, his
spiritual part, from the self, or flesh, in which sin dwelt, and by observing
that the evil actions were done, not by him, but by sin dwelling in him, the
apostle did not mean that men are not accountable for their sins, but he
teaches the evil of their sins, by showing that they are all done against
reason and conscience. Sin dwelling in a man, does not prove its ruling, or having
dominion over him. If a man dwells in a city, or in a country, still he may not
rule there.
Commentary on Romans 7:18-22
(Read Romans 7:18-22)
The more pure and holy the heart is, it will have the
more quick feeling as to the sin that remains in it. The believer sees more of
the beauty of holiness and the excellence of the law. His earnest desires to
obey, increase as he grows in grace. But the whole good on which his will is fully
bent, he does not do; sin ever springing up in him, through remaining
corruption, he often does evil, though against the fixed determination of his
will. The motions of sin within grieved the apostle. If by the striving of the
flesh against the Spirit, was meant that he could not do or perform as the
Spirit suggested, so also, by the effectual opposition of the Spirit, he could
not do what the flesh prompted him to do. How different this case from that of
those who make themselves easy with regard to the inward motions of the flesh
prompting them to evil; who, against the light and warning of conscience, go
on, even in outward practice, to do evil, and thus, with forethought, go on in
the road to perdition! For as the believer is under grace, and his will is for
the way of holiness, he sincerely delights in the law of God, and in the
holiness which it demands, according to his inward man; that new man in him,
which after God is created in true holiness.
Commentary on Romans 7:23-25
(Read Romans 7:23-25)
This passage does not represent the apostle as one that
walked after the flesh, but as one that had it greatly at heart, not to walk
so. And if there are those who abuse this passage, as they also do the other
Scriptures, to their own destruction, yet serious Christians find cause to
bless God for having thus provided for their support and comfort. We are not,
because of the abuse of such as are blinded by their own lusts, to find fault
with the scripture, or any just and well warranted interpretation of it. And no
man who is not engaged in this conflict, can clearly understand the meaning of
these words, or rightly judge concerning this painful conflict, which led the
apostle to bemoan himself as a wretched man, constrained to what he abhorred.
He could not deliver himself; and this made him the more fervently thank God
for the way of salvation revealed through Jesus Christ, which promised him, in
the end, deliverance from this enemy. So then, says he, I myself, with my mind,
my prevailing judgement, affections, and purposes, as a regenerate man, by
Divine grace, serve and obey the law of God; but with the flesh, the carnal
nature, the remains of depravity, I serve the law of sin, which wars against
the law of my mind. Not serving it so as to live in it, or to allow it, but as
unable to free himself from it, even in his very best state, and needing to
look for help and deliverance out of himself. It is evident that he thanks God
for Christ, as our deliverer, as our atonement and righteousness in himself,
and not because of any holiness wrought in us. He knew of no such salvation,
and disowned any such title to it. He was willing to act in all points
agreeable to the law, in his mind and conscience, but was hindered by
indwelling sin, and never attained the perfection the law requires. What can be
deliverance for a man always sinful, but the free grace of God, as offered in
Christ Jesus? The power of Divine grace, and of the Holy Spirit, could root out
sin from our hearts even in this life, if Divine wisdom had not otherwise
thought fit. But it is suffered, that Christians might constantly feel, and
understand thoroughly, the wretched state from which Divine grace saves them;
might be kept from trusting in themselves; and might ever hold all their
consolation and hope, from the rich and free grace of God in Christ.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Romans》
Romans 7
Verse 1
[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?
The apostle continues the comparison between
the former and the present state of a believer, and at the same time endeavours
to wean the Jewish believers from their fondness for the Mosaic law.
I speak to them that know the law — To the Jews chiefly here.
As long — So
long, and no longer.
As it liveth —
The law is here spoken of, by a common figure, as a person, to which, as to an
husband, life and death are ascribed. But he speaks indifferently of the law
being dead to us, or we to it, the sense being the same.
Verse 2
[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.
She is freed from the law of her husband — From that law which gave him a peculiar property in her.
Verse 4
[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.
Thus ye also —
Are now as free from the Mosaic law as an husband is, when his wife is dead.
By the body of Christ — Offered up; that is, by the merits of his death, that law expiring with
him.
Verse 5
[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.
When ye were in the flesh — Carnally minded, in a state of nature; before we believed in Christ.
Our sins which were by the law — Accidentally occasioned, or irritated thereby.
Wrought in our members — Spread themselves all over the whole man.
Verse 6
[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.
Being dead to that whereby we were held — To our old husband, the law.
That we might serve in newness of spirit — In a new, spiritual manner.
And not in the oldness of the letter — Not in a bare literal, external way, as we did before.
Verse 7
[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.
What shall we say then — This is a kind of a digression, to the beginning of the next chapter,
wherein the apostle, in order to show in the most lively manner the weakness
and inefficacy of the law, changes the person and speaks as of himself,
concerning the misery of one under the law. This St. Paul frequently does, when
he is not speaking of his own person, but only assuming another character, Romans 3:5; 1 Corinthians 10:30; 1 Corinthians 4:6. The character here assumed is
that of a man, first ignorant of the law, then under it and sincerely, but
ineffectually, striving to serve God. To have spoken this of himself, or any
true believer, would have been foreign to the whole scope of his discourse;
nay, utterly contrary thereto, as well as to what is expressly asserted, Romans 8:2.
Is the law sin —
Sinful in itself, or a promoter of sin.
I had not known lust — That is, evil desire. I had not known it to be a sin; nay, perhaps I
should not have known that any such desire was in me: it did not appear, till
it was stirred up by the prohibition.
Verse 8
[8] But
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
But sin — My
inbred corruption.
Taking occasion by the commandment — Forbidding, but not subduing it, was only fretted, and wrought in me so
much the more all manner of evil desire. For while I was without the knowledge
of the law, sin was dead - Neither so apparent, nor so active; nor was I under
the least apprehensions of any danger from it.
Verse 9
[9] For
I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived,
and I died.
And I was once alive without the law — Without the close application of it. I had much life, wisdom, virtue,
strength: so I thought.
But when the commandment — That is, the law, a part put for the whole; but this expression
particularly intimates its compulsive force, which restrains, enjoins, urges,
forbids, threatens.
Came — In
its spiritual meaning, to my heart, with the power of God.
Sin revived, and I died — My inbred sin took fire, and all my virtue and strength died away; and I
then saw myself to be dead in sin, and liable to death eternal.
Verse 10
[10] And
the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
The commandment which was intended for life — Doubtless it was originally intended by God as a grand means of
preserving and increasing spiritual life, and leading to life everlasting.
Verse 11
[11] For
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Deceived me —
While I expected life by the law, sin came upon me unawares and slew all my
hopes.
Verse 12
[12]
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
The commandment —
That is, every branch of the law.
Is holy, and just, and good — It springs from, and partakes of, the holy nature of God; it is every
way just and right in itself; it is designed wholly for the good of man.
Verse 13
[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.
Was then that which is good made the cause of
evil to me; yea, of death, which is the greatest of evil? Not so. But it was
sin, which was made death to me, inasmuch as it wrought death in me even by
that which is good - By the good law.
So that sin by the commandment became
exceeding sinful — The consequence of which was, that inbred
sin, thus driving furiously in spite of the commandment, became exceeding
sinful; the guilt thereof being greatly aggravated.
Verse 14
[14] For
we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
I am carnal —
St. Paul, having compared together the past and present state of believers,
that "in the flesh," Romans 7:5, and that "in the spirit," Romans 7:6, in answering two objections, (Is
then the law sin? Romans 7:7, and, Is the law death? Romans 7:13,) interweaves the whole process of a
man reasoning, groaning, striving, and escaping from the legal to the
evangelical state. This he does from Romans 7:7, to the end of this chapter.
Sold under sin —
Totally enslaved; slaves bought with money were absolutely at their master's
disposal.
Verse 16
[16] If
then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
It is good —
This single word implies all the three that were used before, Romans 7:12, "holy, just, and good."
Verse 17
[17] Now
then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
It is no more I that can properly be said to
do it, but rather sin that dwelleth in me —
That makes, as it were, another person, and tyrannizes over me.
Verse 18
[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.
In my flesh —
The flesh here signifies the whole man as he is by nature.
Verse 21
[21] I
find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
I find then a law — An
inward constraining power, flowing from the dictate of corrupt nature.
Verse 22
[22] For
I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
For I delight in the law of God — This is more than "I consent to," Romans 7:16. The day of liberty draws near.
The inward man —
Called the mind, Romans 7:23,25.
Verse 23
[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.
But I see another law in my members — Another inward constraining power of evil inclinations and bodily
appetites.
Warring against the law of my mind — The dictate of my mind, which delights in the law of God.
And captivating me — In
spite of all my resistance
Verse 24
[24] O
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Wretched man that I am — The struggle is now come to the height; and the man, finding there is no
help in himself, begins almost unawares to pray, Who shall deliver me? He then
seeks and looks for deliverance, till God in Christ appears to answer his
question. The word which we translate deliver, implies force. And indeed
without this there can be no deliverance.
The body of this death — That is, this body of death; this mass of sin, leading to death eternal,
and cleaving as close to me as my body to my soul. We may observe, the
deliverance is not wrought yet.
Verse 25
[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.
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord — That is, God will deliver me through Christ. But the apostle, as his
frequent manner is, beautifully interweaves his assertion with thanksgiving;'
the hymn of praise answering in a manner to the voice of sorrow, "Wretched
man that I am!" So then - He here sums up the whole, and concludes what he
began, Romans 7:7.
I myself — Or
rather that I, the person whom I am personating, till this deliverance is
wrought.
Serve the law of God with my mind — My reason and conscience declare for God.
But with my flesh the law of sin — But my corrupt passions and appetites still rebel. The man is now
utterly weary of his bondage, and upon the brink of liberty.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Romans》
Chapter 7. Two Laws of Good and of Evil
The New Way of
the Spirit
The Old Way of the Written Code
I. An
Illustration from Marriage
II. Sold to Sin
III. The
Struggle of the Two Laws
── Chih-Hsin Chang《An Outline of The New Testament》
Chapter Seven General Review
OBJECTIVES IN STUDYING THIS CHAPTER
1) To understand the Jewish Christian's relationship to the Law of Moses 2) To comprehend the dilemma one faces without Jesus Christ SUMMARY
Paul has just completed discussing how being baptized into Christ makes us dead to sin and free to present our bodies as instruments of righteousness unto holiness. For the benefit of his Jewish readers (those who know the Law), he now carries the concept of death and freedom one step further: the Jewish believers become dead to the Law that they might be joined to Christ. He illustrates his point by referring to the marital relationship. The result of being freed from the Law is that they might "serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." (1-6) Lest his Jewish readers think he is implying that the Law was sinful, Paul is quick to dispel that notion. The Law, he says, is "holy and just and good." The problem is that the Law only makes known that which is sinful, but sin took opportunity by the commandment to produce evil desire and deceived him, resulting in death (7-12). To further illustrate his point, Paul pictures himself as man under the Law who finds himself in a terrible dilemma. With his mind he knows that which good and wants to do it. He also knows that which is evil and wants to avoid that. But he finds a "law" (or principle) in his flesh which wins over the desire of the mind (13-23). As a prisoner he cries out for freedom. Is there no hope? Yes! God provides the solution through His Son Jesus Christ, upon which Paul will elaborate in chapter eight (24-25). OUTLINE
I. JEWISH BELIEVERS AND THE LAW (1-6)
A. A PARALLEL TO BEING RELEASED FROM MARRIAGE (1-3) 1. Law has dominion over those who live under it (1) 2. As illustrated by a woman who is married to a man (2-3) B. THEY HAVE DIED TO THE LAW (4-6) 1. So they can be married to Christ (4) 2. So they can serve in newness of the Spirit, far superior to serving in the oldness of the letter (5-6) II. LIMITATIONS OF THE LAW (7-25)
A. THE LAW IS HOLY AND JUST AND GOOD (7-12) 1. The Law is not sin, but rather makes known sin (7) 2. But sin takes occasion by the commandment to lead one to death (8-12) B. THE LAW CANNOT SAVE ONE FROM SIN (13-25) 1. The problem is not law, but sin (13) 2. The Law is spiritual, but man is carnal and sold under sin (14) 3. Though one may desire good and hate evil, one is still enslaved by sin (15-23) 4. Deliverance comes only from God, through Jesus Christ (24-25) WORDS TO PONDER
in the flesh - "to be in the flesh is to be under the flesh; and to be
under it is to be controlled by its propensities, evil inclinations, and desires" (Moses Lard) The Law - the Law of Moses, including the Ten Commandments (cf. v.7)
law of my mind - that inner desire, which in the context of this
chapter, is the desire of one to do that which is good and right law of sin in my members - "The law which I see 'in my members' is the
constant tendency which I notice in them to sin, whenever excited by sinful objects" (Moses Lard) REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE CHAPTER
1) List the main points of this chapter
- Jewish Believers And The Law (1-6) - Limitations Of The Law (7-25) 2) Who is Paul speaking to in this chapter? (1)
- Those who know the law (Jewish Christians) 3) What example is given to show their relationship to the Law? (2-3)
- How a woman whose husband dies is free to be married to another without being guilty of adultery 4) What is their relationship to the Law when joined to the body ofChrist? (4-6)
- Dead to the law, delivered from the law 5) How do we know the Law referred to is the Ten Commandments? (7)
- To illustrate his point, Paul mentions "You shall not covet", one of the Ten Commandments 6) Was the Law responsible for death? If not, what was? (13)
- No! It was "sin" that produced death 7) What dilemma does one face in trying to keep the Law? (15-21)
- The DESIRE to do good and avoid evil may be there, but the ABILITY is found lacking 8) What is the end result of this dilemma? (23)
- CAPTIVITY to the law (or principle) of sin in one's members 9) Where can one find freedom from this dilemma? (24-25)
- From God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!
－－《Executable
Outlines》
Two Laws of
Good and of Evil
The New Way of the Spirit
The
I.
An Illustration from Marriage
1.
The Husband Alive
2.
The Husband Dead
3.
Marry to Christ
II.Sold to Sin
1.
The Law Is Spiritual
2.
Flesh Is Unspiritual
3.
The Sin Living in Me
III.
The Struggle of the Two Laws
1.
A Slave to God’s Law
2.
A Slave to the Law of Sin
3.
Who Will Rescue Me?
－－ Chih-Hsin
Chang《An Outline of The New Testament》