Romans 7
1-4 Are you Married?
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.
The Doctrine of the Law: Are we under the law as long as we are physically alive on this Earth? No. Verse one is giving an analogy of how we are not under the law since our former spouse (the Law) has died, and now we are married to another, Jesus Christ. The law became dead through the death (burial and resurrection) of the Lord Jesus Christ; and thus, we are now freed from the law and can be married to another… i.e. to Christ. Also, your sin nature effectively died when you were spiritually born-again (not ceasing to exist, but rather, separated). You will not be able to produce any fruit if you are married to the Law (trying to obey it in regards to your salvation). Fruit here is likened unto ‘fruit of the womb’ via this ‘marriage’ (spiritually). Anyone (or is it speaking only to believers?) who believes that they have to keep the Law in order to be saved or to stay saved is likened here unto an adulterer. Those who become saved are, in effect, married to Jesus Christ. I wonder if this could be a reference to the Bride of Christ?…
5-13 No law, no sin; Know law, know sin
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.
The Doctrine of the Law: We are no longer under the old law of the flesh (i.e., sin), but are now under a new law, the law of the mind (i.e., spirit). We are to serve the Lord in this new law via the spirit and not by following the technicalities of the law (6). The old law is not bad; it shows us what bad is. The law explains to us clearly what is sinful. But, do you really think that you would not know that lusting after a woman was wrong (i.e. a sin) if there was no ‘official’ law against such?! (7). Review our previous lecture notes to see how that we all have a law written upon our hearts (Gentiles).
“It is significant that, beginning with verse 7 and continuing through this chapter, the Apostle Paul turned to the first person singular, presenting his personal experience. Up to this point he had used the third person, the second person, and even the first person plural. But now he described his own experience, allowing the Holy Spirit to apply the truth to his readers.” (Bible Knowledge Commentary)
Sin has no life if there is no law declaring what constitutes a certain sin. Concupiscence means ‘strong, passionate desire’ (8). As a child, we don’t really understand the law of God too well and are not aware of our sin very well; but, when we clearly understand His law, then sin becomes sin to us (9).
“Law is only the means of disclosing this sinful propensity, not of producing it; as a bright beam of the sun introduced into a room shows millious of motes which appear to be dancing in it in all directions; but these were not introduced by the light: they were there before, only there was not light enough to make them manifest; so the evil propensity was there before, but there was not light sufficient to discover it.” (Adam Clarke’s Commentary)
Paul went to the law for help (Judaism), and, it eventually slew him (showed Paul that he was doomed to Hell as a sinner). The law and its commandments is good, but, it is what kills us; for when we understand it and then break it, we are sentenced to death (10,11). The law of God is not a bad thing, though. It is God’s standard for mankind. It isn’t the law that is the big negative, but the sin within us! (13) When we truly understand God’s standard from the Bible, we finally understand just how sinful sin really is. When you see that because of just one sin you are condemned to eternal Hellfire, you can understand better just how exceeding sinful sin is. When you see that because of your sin, Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, had to suffer, bleed, and die for this sin so that it could be payed for properly…then you can better understand just how excedding sinful sin is!
14-25 The Law of Sin and the Law of the Mind
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.
The Doctrine of Sin: Paul begins here to explain just how sinful he is; and the frustration with having two laws working within him; the battle that goes on. There are some (so-called) Christians that say that once one is saved, they stop sinning; and, they say, how can a Christian ‘go into sin’?… It is very clear that one of the greatest spiritual giants that ever lived (the apostle Paul) struggled with sin, and even gave into sin, seemingly on a daily basis! Paul states that the things he knows that are right to do, he doesn’t always do; and the things that he knows are wrong to do, he oftentimes does them! (14,15,19) It is clear that we saints of God still have the flesh to deal with, and that flesh is what still sins within us; there is absolutely nothing good in our ‘flesh’ (17,18). The new creature (the “I”, the new you, the inward man, the spiritual part of your being) no longer sins (it is incapable of it), but there is still sin dwelling in you (i.e., the ‘flesh’, the old sin nature) (20). There is the ‘law of the mind’ and the ‘law of sin’ working within the members, or parts, of your fleshly body. There is a huge battle going on all the time between the two; typically, the law of sin is holding captive the new inward man! (22, 23) The Holy Spirit works through your spirit to try and affect the real you through your ‘soul’. But, the sinful nature is still present in the real you, your soul. Also, devils can try to affect you by trying to influence the soul. Paul understood how wretched he still was, despite being a blood bought born again child of the living God! (24) We can have victory over it right now, but only through Jesus Christ our Lord. This last statement of verse 25 sums up the last several chapters: our mind — our spirit, the new creature, the inward man, the new man — is not capable of sinning and is the only part of us that is capable of serving God’s law victoriously (25). But, we still have the flesh, the old man, corruption, sin, and with it we are very capable of following this law of sin in our members, and sadly, usually do!
“The law of sin and death is counteracted by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It is not by submitting to outward laws that we grow in holiness and serve God acceptably, but by surrendering to the indwelling Spirit of God. We cannot fulfill the righteousness of the Law by our own strength; the Spirit fulfills it in us by His power (8:3-4).”
(Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament)