Praise the Lord! I finally have some time to post.
Here's my post for Romans 7:1-14.
Romans 7:1-3 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.
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.
Romans 7:4 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 God.
“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.” (Morris)
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.
Romans 7:5 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: 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.
Romans 7:6 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.
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 we 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.
Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? 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.”
Is the law sin? 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 the law!”
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.” The 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.
Romans 7:8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.
But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment: Paul describes the dynamic where the warning “don’t do that” may become a call to action because of our sinful, rebellious hearts. It isn’t the fault of the commandment, but it is our fault.
In his book Confessions, the great theologian of the ancient church Augustine described how this dynamic worked in his life as a young man: “There was a pear tree near our vineyard, laden with fruit. One stormy night we rascally youths set out to rob it and carry our spoils away. We took off a huge load of pears - not to feast upon ourselves, but to throw them to the pigs, though we ate just enough to have the pleasure of forbidden fruit. They were nice pears, but it was not the pears that my wretched soul coveted, for I had plenty better at home. I picked them simply in order to become a thief. The only feast I got was a feast of iniquity, and that I enjoyed to the full. What was it that I loved in the theft? Was it the pleasure of acting against the law? The desire to steal was awakened simply by the prohibition of stealing.”
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 isn’t 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.
“The word opportunity in the original is a military term meaning a base of operations. Prohibition furnishes a springboard from which sin is all too ready to take off.” (Harrison)
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.
Romans 7:9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
I was alive once without the law: 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.
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.
Romans 7:10-12 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.
And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death: 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
For sin . . . deceived me: It isn’t 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. (John 8:32) The truth makes us free from the deceptions of sin.
And by it killed me: 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.
Therefore the law is holy: 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 (Romans 6:2) and we must die to the law (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.
Romans 7:13 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.
We need sin to appear sin, because it always wants to hide in us and conceal its true depths and strength. “This is one of the most deplorable results of sin. It injures us most by taking from us the capacity to know how much we are injured. It undermines the man’s constitution, and yet leads him to boast of unfailing health; it beggars him, and tells him he is rich; it strips him, and makes him glory in his fancied robes.” (Spurgeon)
“Those who preach only the Gospel to sinners, at best only heal the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly. The law, therefore, is the grand instrument in the hands of a faithful minister, to alarm and awaken sinners.” (Clarke)
So that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful: 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.
“Instead of being a dynamo that gives us power to overcome, the Law is a magnet that draws out of us all kinds of sin and corruption.” (Wiersbe)
Exceedingly sinful: “Why didn’t he say, ‘exceeding black,’ or ‘exceeding horrible,’ or ‘exceedingly deadly’? Why, because there is nothing in the world so bad as sin. When he wanted to use the very worst word he could find: to call sin by, he called it by its own name, and reiterated it: ‘sin,’ ‘exceeding sinful.’ ” (Spurgeon)
Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
But I am carnal: The word carnal simply means “of the flesh.” Paul recognizes that a spiritual law cannot help a carnal man.
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.
Luther on but I am carnal, sold under sin: “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.”
God bless.
