Romans 7
The Believer’s Relationship to the Law
1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person as long as he lives?
Any law only has effect over its citizens as long as they are living. Once the citizen dies, either by natural life or execution, then the law no longer has any effect over its citizens.
2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage.
Under the Mosaic Law, only the husband could divorce the wife for adultery. A wife could not divorce her husband under any circumstance. The only way that a wife can be free of her husband is if the husband dies. Then, the wife is free of the Law, and she can remarry.
3 So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress.
If the husband is alive, and the wife joins another man, then according to the Mosaic Law, she is an adulteress. However, if her husband dies, she is free of the Mosaic Law, and she can remarry. Only death can free the wife from the original marriage contract.
4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.
What was true for the wife under the Mosaic Law is the same for the believer. The believer is joined to the Law and cannot escape it, unless the believer dies. Once the believer dies, then the believer is free from the contract of the Law. The Law died when Christ died. Therefore, the Mosaic Law no longer has any authority over the believer.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
Because man has a sinful nature, the Mosaic Law seduced man to sin more. The Mosaic Law aroused man to sin more. This seduction led to more sin, which then led to physical and spiritual death.
6 But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.
Since the believer died in Christ, the Mosaic Law no longer has any authority over the believer. The believer has died to the Law, which at one time was controlling the believer. Now, the believer has a new life under the Spirit. The believer is not under the authority of the written code of the Mosaic Law.
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”
Here is the first objection. Is the Mosaic Law a bad thing? What then, was the purpose of the Mosaic Law? The first purpose of the Mosaic Law was to identify sin. The Mosaic Law gave a definition of sin. Paul did not know that coveting was a sin, until he read the Mosaic Law. Therefore, the Mosaic Law was a good thing, because it identified sin.
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
Even after Paul was saved, he fell into sin and desired to place himself under the Mosaic Law again.
9 And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive
When was Paul ever alive apart from the law? Sometimes in Paul's life, perhaps as a young man, Paul learned that he could not be justified by the Law, but he thought that he could be sanctified through the Law.
10 and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!
When Paul became a believer, he died to the Law. Once he died, he matured spiritually through the Word of God. He learned that the Law could not justify or sanctify. All it could do was to bring death.
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died.
After being saved, Paul went back under the Law, thinking that he would be sanctified. This was a mistake. As Paul matured as a believer, he learned that the Mosaic Law could not sanctify. It could only bring death.
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
The Law is not sin, but it is holy, righteous, and good, because it reveals sin. The problem is not with the Law. The problem is with the sinner, who cannot keep the Law.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
The Law is good, because it reveals the sin nature. However, the sin nature is so evil, that it can read what is holy, righteous, and good in the Law, and actually desire to sin more.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.
Paul will use personal pronouns over forty times. Paul is going to describe his experience without the aid of the Holy Spirit. The Mosaic Law was spiritual, because it was from God. However, Paul was carnal, as he was born with a dead sprit. He was born as a slave to sin.
15 For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate.
Paul was not schizophrenic. He was one person, but he possessed two natures inside of him. Before he was a believer, there was only one nature inside of him. After he became a believer, then there were two natures inside of him. The sin nature was not very happy about this new competition. Therefore, the sin nature and the new nature were at conflict with each other.
16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good.
The Mosaic Law was good, because it revealed to Paul's what was bad.
17 But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.
Paul possessed a new nature, but sometimes, his sin nature takes over. The old sin nature is like a tyrant, attempting to seduce or command Paul back into sin.
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.
Paul learned from experience that anything that a believer does in the flesh, God hates. The new nature wants to serve God, but the old nature wants to serve sin.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!
Paul suffered a conflict inside of his soul. This new sin nature wanted to do good, but his old sin nature wanted to do bad.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.
The old sin nature caused the believer a lot of trouble.
21 So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.
Evil is still present inside of every believer. When a believer wants to do good, an evil thought will emerge.
22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.
The "inner being" is the new nature. Paul hated his old nature, but loved his new nature.
23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.
There was a battle between the old nature and the new nature inside the soul of Paul. The believer does not get rid of the old sin nature at conversion.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
This was not an unsaved man crying out. This was the Apostle Paul. He was pinned to the ground and helpless to move.
The more Bible doctrine that is stored into the soul, the more aware the mature believer is of his sin nature.
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Paul has been pinned to the floor. He made an SOS call to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ helped him to escape. God provided deliverance to Paul through the Lord Jesus Christ.
