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Romans 7 |
King James Version
Author: Youssef Rank: Bishop Posted on: 2023-01-25
The Role of the Law in the Life of the Believer
The Apostle has now anticipated a question that will inevitably arise: What is the Christian's relationship to the law? Perhaps Paul had the Jewish Christians particularly in mind when answering this question, since the law was given to Israel. However, the principles also apply to Gentile believers who foolishly place themselves under the law as a rule of life after being justified.
In Chapter 6, we saw that death ended the tyranny of the sinful nature in the life of God's child. Now we will see that death likewise ends the dominion of the law over those who are under the law.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
Romans 7:1 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?
This verse is related to [Rom 6:14]: "You are not under law but under grace." The connection is: "You should know that you are not under the law, or is it unknown to you that 'the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives'? Paul is speaking to those who are familiar with the fundamental truths of the law and thus should know that the 'law' has nothing to say to a dead person."
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
You’re free from guilt. This was made clear to you in the sections which cover Romans 3:21 to Romans 5:11. You have been liberated from the power of sin. This was made clear in the last part of Romans 5 through Romans 6. Now something else needs to be learned – that you also have been freed from the law. This is what Romans 7 is about. The most difficult thing to accept in faith is freedom from the law because our experience may tell a different story.
Romans 7 shows how difficult it is. You meet someone who has the new life and who, as a result, wants to do good, but all the time he is doing wrong. It is no surprise that he feels miserable. I had a time like this in my life. You’d like to live for the Lord Jesus and yet you go wrong again and again.
This is because consciously or unconsciously, you oblige yourself to do something. You want to serve God and you feel the best way is to keep certain rules, to keep the law. After all, God gave the law. But the effect of such trying to keep it is you feel terribly inadequate. The joy of faith rapidly fades away. Witnessing is out of the question. You’re completely self-centered. The words ‘I’ and ‘me’ occur some forty times in this chapter. The release from this miserable situation comes only at the end, in [Verse 25]. Therefore you have to let the whole of this chapter speak to you.
[Verse 1]. [Verse 1-6] are an introduction. Concerning the application of the law, it is clear to everyone that the law reigns over a man as long as he is alive. Nothing is more absurd than to fine someone who has died in a traffic accident he caused. Someone is fined if he is accountable for an offense and if he is alive to pay for it. With a dead person, this is impossible.
[Verse 2-3]. Paul illustrates this with the example of a marriage. He wants to teach you that a connection between two parties is valid only as long as both parties are alive. But this connection is broken when one of the parties dies. Only then, in marriage, the woman is free to marry someone else. Otherwise she is an adulteress if she becomes the wife of another man while her first husband is still alive.
[Verse 4]. Paul applies this to the believer and the law. He says that according to the law the sinner had to be put to death. But you have already died to the law through the body of Christ. When Christ died, you died. So you are no longer connected with the law, but with the risen Christ Who has nothing to do with the law either. Has not the law been fully applied to Him? You’re now connected with the risen Christ instead of the law. You can now bear fruit for God.
[Verse 5]. When you were in the flesh, that is, when you were an unbeliever and doing your own will, you gave in to “the sinful passions”. The more the law prohibited something, the more you enjoyed doing it. You know how this goes; forbidden things are thrilling. But this was only fruit for death and not for God.
[Verse 6]. You were living as a prisoner of the law. The law told you what you ought to do and it exercised authority over you. You were its slave. Now that you have died, the law has nothing to say about you. You now are serving in an altogether new way. You no longer serve “in the oldness of the letter”, that is, in a way that is exactly prescribed. You’re now serving “in newness of the spirit”, that is, in a way that you let the new spiritual life work in you, the life focused on the Lord Jesus.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
In this Chapter the apostle goes on speaking about the freedom which God's children enjoy under the grace covenant. In the preceding Chapter he spoke abut freedom from the authority of sin, and in this Chapter he speaks about freedom from another authority or dominion, that of the law. Sin and the law then were the two lords to whom humanity submitted in their fall, but in Christ we were set free from sin [Rom 6:22], and from the law [Rom 7:6]. And the apostle disapproves that the Jews who know the law to be ignorant of such a matter, for they wanted to keep the authority and dominion of the law. So, in this Chapter the apostle addresses the problem of the dominion of the law.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
Accordingly, it will be without cause that you will say that God wills not a divorced woman to be joined to another man "while her husband liveth "as if He do will it "when he is dead; "
Author: Tertullian of Carthage Rank: Author AD: 220
In order to strengthen their minds in the divine teaching, Paul uses an example drawn from human law, in order once again to argue for heavenly things on the basis of earthly ones, just as God also is known by the creation of the world. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
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Romans 7:2 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.
To illustrate this, Paul mentions how death ends the marriage covenant. A "woman" is bound by the "law" of marriage to her husband as long as he lives; but if "he" dies, she is released from this "law."
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
You’re free from guilt. This was made clear to you in the sections which cover Romans 3:21 to Romans 5:11. You have been liberated from the power of sin. This was made clear in the last part of Romans 5 through Romans 6. Now something else needs to be learned – that you also have been freed from the law. This is what Romans 7 is about. The most difficult thing to accept in faith is freedom from the law because our experience may tell a different story.
Romans 7 shows how difficult it is. You meet someone who has the new life and who, as a result, wants to do good, but all the time he is doing wrong. It is no surprise that he feels miserable. I had a time like this in my life. You’d like to live for the Lord Jesus and yet you go wrong again and again.
This is because consciously or unconsciously, you oblige yourself to do something. You want to serve God and you feel the best way is to keep certain rules, to keep the law. After all, God gave the law. But the effect of such trying to keep it is you feel terribly inadequate. The joy of faith rapidly fades away. Witnessing is out of the question. You’re completely self-centered. The words ‘I’ and ‘me’ occur some forty times in this chapter. The release from this miserable situation comes only at the end, in [Verse 25]. Therefore you have to let the whole of this chapter speak to you.
[Verse 1]. [Verse 1-6] are an introduction. Concerning the application of the law, it is clear to everyone that the law reigns over a man as long as he is alive. Nothing is more absurd than to fine someone who has died in a traffic accident he caused. Someone is fined if he is accountable for an offense and if he is alive to pay for it. With a dead person, this is impossible.
[Verse 2-3]. Paul illustrates this with the example of a marriage. He wants to teach you that a connection between two parties is valid only as long as both parties are alive. But this connection is broken when one of the parties dies. Only then, in marriage, the woman is free to marry someone else. Otherwise she is an adulteress if she becomes the wife of another man while her first husband is still alive.
[Verse 4]. Paul applies this to the believer and the law. He says that according to the law the sinner had to be put to death. But you have already died to the law through the body of Christ. When Christ died, you died. So you are no longer connected with the law, but with the risen Christ Who has nothing to do with the law either. Has not the law been fully applied to Him? You’re now connected with the risen Christ instead of the law. You can now bear fruit for God.
[Verse 5]. When you were in the flesh, that is, when you were an unbeliever and doing your own will, you gave in to “the sinful passions”. The more the law prohibited something, the more you enjoyed doing it. You know how this goes; forbidden things are thrilling. But this was only fruit for death and not for God.
[Verse 6]. You were living as a prisoner of the law. The law told you what you ought to do and it exercised authority over you. You were its slave. Now that you have died, the law has nothing to say about you. You now are serving in an altogether new way. You no longer serve “in the oldness of the letter”, that is, in a way that is exactly prescribed. You’re now serving “in newness of the spirit”, that is, in a way that you let the new spiritual life work in you, the life focused on the Lord Jesus.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
Does the law still keep its dominion? The apostle Paul indicates that the dominion of the law over the faithful does no longer exist. He gave as example the woman who is bound by the law to here husband as long as he is alive. She cannot violate the law which organizes her marital relationship with her husband while he is still alive. She cannot marry another man otherwise she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies she will be free from the law which binds her with that husband, and she will be entitled to marry another man, being freed from the former relationship. This means that the law keeps its dominion so long as the man is alive, and loses its dominion when the man dies. The same applies to our relationship with the law.
The law had dominion over us when our falling nature was alive, for the law organized our relationship with this falling nature as it organizes the relationship of a woman with her living husband. Therefore God's people in the olden times had no right to put away the commitment of the law which organized their relationship in the light of their mortal falling nature. But the situation differed now, for no longer are connected with the falling sinful and mortal nature, nor are bound with the law which organizes our relationship with it. We now are bound with and united to the body of Christ which died on the cross. We now enter into new relations and new connections, but we have died to the law and united with Christ who arose from the dead. We now are united to another, that is, Christ. Our relationship with Christ is like the relationship between the married couple in the marital life, for as a wife is bound to her husband and cannot marry another so long as he is alive, it is the same in this spiritual unity between us and Christ. We have no right to disregard the law of Christ or His teachings and Person and bind ourselves with another, or as the apostle says, "Those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." [2Cor 5:15] Moreover, our unity with Christ is eternal, for Christ is alive forever.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 2-4
2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
Wherefore the apostle says: "The wife is bound by the law so long as her husband liveth; but if he be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband."
Note how this analogy is different from the subject it refers to. Paul says that the husband dies, so that the woman, freed from the law of her husband, can marry whomever she likes. Paul compares the soul to the woman and thinks of the husband as the passions of sin which work in our members to produce the fruits of death, which are the offspring worthy of such a marriage. The law is given not to take away sin nor to deliver us from it but to reveal what sin is before grace comes. The result is that those who are placed under the law are seized by an even stronger desire to sin and sin even more because of the trespass. But in making this triple analogy—the soul as the woman, the passions of sin as the man and the law as the law of the husband— Paul does not conclude that the soul is set free when its sins are put to death in the way that the woman is set free when her husband is dead. Rather, he says that the soul itself dies to sin and is set free from the law in order that it might belong to another husband, who is Christ. The soul has died to sin, but in a sense sin is still alive. Thus it happens that although desires and certain encouragements to sin remain in us, we do not obey or give in to them because wehave died to sin and now serve the law of God.
This law comes from the gospel, not from Moses or from human justice. For those who learned something from the guidance of nature and those who learned something from the law of Moses have both been made perfect by the gospel of Christ. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
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Romans 7:3 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.
"If" a woman "marries another man" while her husband is still "alive," she commits adultery. "But if" her husband "dies, she is free" to remarry without any hint of guilt falling on her.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
You’re free from guilt. This was made clear to you in the sections which cover Romans 3:21 to Romans 5:11. You have been liberated from the power of sin. This was made clear in the last part of Romans 5 through Romans 6. Now something else needs to be learned – that you also have been freed from the law. This is what Romans 7 is about. The most difficult thing to accept in faith is freedom from the law because our experience may tell a different story.
Romans 7 shows how difficult it is. You meet someone who has the new life and who, as a result, wants to do good, but all the time he is doing wrong. It is no surprise that he feels miserable. I had a time like this in my life. You’d like to live for the Lord Jesus and yet you go wrong again and again.
This is because consciously or unconsciously, you oblige yourself to do something. You want to serve God and you feel the best way is to keep certain rules, to keep the law. After all, God gave the law. But the effect of such trying to keep it is you feel terribly inadequate. The joy of faith rapidly fades away. Witnessing is out of the question. You’re completely self-centered. The words ‘I’ and ‘me’ occur some forty times in this chapter. The release from this miserable situation comes only at the end, in [Verse 25]. Therefore you have to let the whole of this chapter speak to you.
[Verse 1]. [Verse 1-6] are an introduction. Concerning the application of the law, it is clear to everyone that the law reigns over a man as long as he is alive. Nothing is more absurd than to fine someone who has died in a traffic accident he caused. Someone is fined if he is accountable for an offense and if he is alive to pay for it. With a dead person, this is impossible.
[Verse 2-3]. Paul illustrates this with the example of a marriage. He wants to teach you that a connection between two parties is valid only as long as both parties are alive. But this connection is broken when one of the parties dies. Only then, in marriage, the woman is free to marry someone else. Otherwise she is an adulteress if she becomes the wife of another man while her first husband is still alive.
[Verse 4]. Paul applies this to the believer and the law. He says that according to the law the sinner had to be put to death. But you have already died to the law through the body of Christ. When Christ died, you died. So you are no longer connected with the law, but with the risen Christ Who has nothing to do with the law either. Has not the law been fully applied to Him? You’re now connected with the risen Christ instead of the law. You can now bear fruit for God.
[Verse 5]. When you were in the flesh, that is, when you were an unbeliever and doing your own will, you gave in to “the sinful passions”. The more the law prohibited something, the more you enjoyed doing it. You know how this goes; forbidden things are thrilling. But this was only fruit for death and not for God.
[Verse 6]. You were living as a prisoner of the law. The law told you what you ought to do and it exercised authority over you. You were its slave. Now that you have died, the law has nothing to say about you. You now are serving in an altogether new way. You no longer serve “in the oldness of the letter”, that is, in a way that is exactly prescribed. You’re now serving “in newness of the spirit”, that is, in a way that you let the new spiritual life work in you, the life focused on the Lord Jesus.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
Does the law still keep its dominion? The apostle Paul indicates that the dominion of the law over the faithful does no longer exist. He gave as example the woman who is bound by the law to here husband as long as he is alive. She cannot violate the law which organizes her marital relationship with her husband while he is still alive. She cannot marry another man otherwise she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies she will be free from the law which binds her with that husband, and she will be entitled to marry another man, being freed from the former relationship. This means that the law keeps its dominion so long as the man is alive, and loses its dominion when the man dies. The same applies to our relationship with the law.
The law had dominion over us when our falling nature was alive, for the law organized our relationship with this falling nature as it organizes the relationship of a woman with her living husband. Therefore God's people in the olden times had no right to put away the commitment of the law which organized their relationship in the light of their mortal falling nature. But the situation differed now, for no longer are connected with the falling sinful and mortal nature, nor are bound with the law which organizes our relationship with it. We now are bound with and united to the body of Christ which died on the cross. We now enter into new relations and new connections, but we have died to the law and united with Christ who arose from the dead. We now are united to another, that is, Christ. Our relationship with Christ is like the relationship between the married couple in the marital life, for as a wife is bound to her husband and cannot marry another so long as he is alive, it is the same in this spiritual unity between us and Christ. We have no right to disregard the law of Christ or His teachings and Person and bind ourselves with another, or as the apostle says, "Those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." [2Cor 5:15] Moreover, our unity with Christ is eternal, for Christ is alive forever.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 2-4
2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
For just as a woman is freed by the death of her husband from the law of her husband but not from the law of nature, so also they will be set free by the grace of God from the law by which they were held captive, so that it will be dead for them and they will not be adulterers by being joined to Christianity. For if the law lives in them they are adulterers and have no right to be called Christians, since they will be subject to punishment. Nor will he who is joined to the gospel after the death of the law and later returns to the law be an adulterer to the law but to the gospel. For when the law’s authority ceases, it is said to be dead. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:4 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.
When applying this analogy, one must not interpret every detail literally. For example, neither the husband nor the wife represents the law. Instead, the illustration is meant to show that just as death ends the marriage bond, the believer's death with Christ ends the law's dominion over him.
Note that Paul does not say that the law is dead. The law still has an important role in convicting of sin. Also, remember that when he says "we" in this passage, he is referring to those who were Jews before becoming Christians.
We have been "put to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ," where the "body" symbolizes Jesus giving his "body" in death. We are no longer bound to the "law"; we are united with the risen Christ. Just as the one marriage bond was ended through death, a new marriage bond has been established. And because we are now free from the "law," we can "bear fruit for God."
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
You’re free from guilt. This was made clear to you in the sections which cover Romans 3:21 to Romans 5:11. You have been liberated from the power of sin. This was made clear in the last part of Romans 5 through Romans 6. Now something else needs to be learned – that you also have been freed from the law. This is what Romans 7 is about. The most difficult thing to accept in faith is freedom from the law because our experience may tell a different story.
Romans 7 shows how difficult it is. You meet someone who has the new life and who, as a result, wants to do good, but all the time he is doing wrong. It is no surprise that he feels miserable. I had a time like this in my life. You’d like to live for the Lord Jesus and yet you go wrong again and again.
This is because consciously or unconsciously, you oblige yourself to do something. You want to serve God and you feel the best way is to keep certain rules, to keep the law. After all, God gave the law. But the effect of such trying to keep it is you feel terribly inadequate. The joy of faith rapidly fades away. Witnessing is out of the question. You’re completely self-centered. The words ‘I’ and ‘me’ occur some forty times in this chapter. The release from this miserable situation comes only at the end, in [Verse 25]. Therefore you have to let the whole of this chapter speak to you.
[Verse 1]. [Verse 1-6] are an introduction. Concerning the application of the law, it is clear to everyone that the law reigns over a man as long as he is alive. Nothing is more absurd than to fine someone who has died in a traffic accident he caused. Someone is fined if he is accountable for an offense and if he is alive to pay for it. With a dead person, this is impossible.
[Verse 2-3]. Paul illustrates this with the example of a marriage. He wants to teach you that a connection between two parties is valid only as long as both parties are alive. But this connection is broken when one of the parties dies. Only then, in marriage, the woman is free to marry someone else. Otherwise she is an adulteress if she becomes the wife of another man while her first husband is still alive.
[Verse 4]. Paul applies this to the believer and the law. He says that according to the law the sinner had to be put to death. But you have already died to the law through the body of Christ. When Christ died, you died. So you are no longer connected with the law, but with the risen Christ Who has nothing to do with the law either. Has not the law been fully applied to Him? You’re now connected with the risen Christ instead of the law. You can now bear fruit for God.
[Verse 5]. When you were in the flesh, that is, when you were an unbeliever and doing your own will, you gave in to “the sinful passions”. The more the law prohibited something, the more you enjoyed doing it. You know how this goes; forbidden things are thrilling. But this was only fruit for death and not for God.
[Verse 6]. You were living as a prisoner of the law. The law told you what you ought to do and it exercised authority over you. You were its slave. Now that you have died, the law has nothing to say about you. You now are serving in an altogether new way. You no longer serve “in the oldness of the letter”, that is, in a way that is exactly prescribed. You’re now serving “in newness of the spirit”, that is, in a way that you let the new spiritual life work in you, the life focused on the Lord Jesus.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
Does the law still keep its dominion? The apostle Paul indicates that the dominion of the law over the faithful does no longer exist. He gave as example the woman who is bound by the law to here husband as long as he is alive. She cannot violate the law which organizes her marital relationship with her husband while he is still alive. She cannot marry another man otherwise she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies she will be free from the law which binds her with that husband, and she will be entitled to marry another man, being freed from the former relationship. This means that the law keeps its dominion so long as the man is alive, and loses its dominion when the man dies. The same applies to our relationship with the law.
The law had dominion over us when our falling nature was alive, for the law organized our relationship with this falling nature as it organizes the relationship of a woman with her living husband. Therefore God's people in the olden times had no right to put away the commitment of the law which organized their relationship in the light of their mortal falling nature. But the situation differed now, for no longer are connected with the falling sinful and mortal nature, nor are bound with the law which organizes our relationship with it. We now are bound with and united to the body of Christ which died on the cross. We now enter into new relations and new connections, but we have died to the law and united with Christ who arose from the dead. We now are united to another, that is, Christ. Our relationship with Christ is like the relationship between the married couple in the marital life, for as a wife is bound to her husband and cannot marry another so long as he is alive, it is the same in this spiritual unity between us and Christ. We have no right to disregard the law of Christ or His teachings and Person and bind ourselves with another, or as the apostle says, "Those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." [2Cor 5:15] Moreover, our unity with Christ is eternal, for Christ is alive forever.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 2-4
2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
So that none could glory through it, in order that grace might be maintained to the glory of the Christ, not of the Creator, but of Marcion! I may here anticipate a remark about the substance of Christ, in the prospect of a question which will now turn up. For he says that "we are dead to the law.".
whom he immediately after states to have been "raised from the dead"
Author: Tertullian of Carthage Rank: Author AD: 220
Paul’s conclusion does not tally with his premise, for what the context would require is: “so the law does not rule over you, for it is dead.” Instead of saying this openly, Paul only hints at it by expressing himself the other way round.
Vivit enim lex, cum sit spiritalis, et gnostice intelligatur: nos autem "mortui "sumus "legi per corpus Christi, ut gigneremur alteri, qui resurrrexit ex mortuis "qui praedictus fuit a lege, "ut Deo fructificaremus.".
"Et vos ergo mortui estis legi per corpus Christi, ut vos gigneremini alteri, qui surrexit a mortuis."
Author: Clement Of Alexandria Rank: Author AD: 215
Since the Savior allowed the devil to crucify his body knowing that this was for us and against him, Paul says that we have been saved by the body of Christ. For to die to the law is to live to God, since the law rules over sinners. Therefore the one whose sins are forgiven dies to the law; this is what it means to be set free from the law. We receive this blessing through the body of Christ, for by giving up his body the Savior conquered death and condemned sin. The devil sinned against him when it killed him even though he was innocent and entirely without sin. For when the devil claims a man for himself because of sin, he is found to be guilty of the thing he accuses him of. Thus it happens that all who believe in Christ are delivered from the law, because sin has been condemned. For sin, which is of the devil, has been conquered by the body of Christ. Now he has no authority over those who belong to Christ, by whom he has been conquered. For because Christ was sinless yet was killed as if he were guilty, he conquered sin by sin—that is to say, he defeated the devil by his own sin. And what he allowed to get into the devil he condemned, thereby destroying the penalty which had been decreed because of the sin of Adam. When he rose again from the dead an image of new life was stamped upon those who believe in him, so that they cannot be bound by the second death. For this reason we have died to the law by the body of Christ. Thus whoever has not died to the law is still guilty, and whoever is guilty cannot escape the second death…. Whoever perseveres in the grace of Christ belongs to God and is worthy of the promised resurrection. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:5 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.
This mention of fruit reminds us of the type of "fruit" we bore "when we were in the flesh." The term "in the flesh" obviously does not mean "in the body." Here, "flesh" represents our standing before God before we were saved. Back then, "flesh" was the basis of our standing. We depended entirely on what we were or could do to be accepted by God. "In the flesh" is the opposite of "in Christ."
Before our conversion, we were governed by "sinful passions, which were aroused by the law." The law is not their cause; but by naming and then forbidding them, it awakens in us the strong desire to act on these "passions."
These "sinful passions" found their expression in our bodily members, and when we gave in to temptation, we produced poisonous fruit that leads to "death." Elsewhere, the apostle refers to this fruit as the works of the flesh: "sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies" [Gal 5:19-21].
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
You’re free from guilt. This was made clear to you in the sections which cover Romans 3:21 to Romans 5:11. You have been liberated from the power of sin. This was made clear in the last part of Romans 5 through Romans 6. Now something else needs to be learned – that you also have been freed from the law. This is what Romans 7 is about. The most difficult thing to accept in faith is freedom from the law because our experience may tell a different story.
Romans 7 shows how difficult it is. You meet someone who has the new life and who, as a result, wants to do good, but all the time he is doing wrong. It is no surprise that he feels miserable. I had a time like this in my life. You’d like to live for the Lord Jesus and yet you go wrong again and again.
This is because consciously or unconsciously, you oblige yourself to do something. You want to serve God and you feel the best way is to keep certain rules, to keep the law. After all, God gave the law. But the effect of such trying to keep it is you feel terribly inadequate. The joy of faith rapidly fades away. Witnessing is out of the question. You’re completely self-centered. The words ‘I’ and ‘me’ occur some forty times in this chapter. The release from this miserable situation comes only at the end, in [Verse 25]. Therefore you have to let the whole of this chapter speak to you.
[Verse 1]. [Verse 1-6] are an introduction. Concerning the application of the law, it is clear to everyone that the law reigns over a man as long as he is alive. Nothing is more absurd than to fine someone who has died in a traffic accident he caused. Someone is fined if he is accountable for an offense and if he is alive to pay for it. With a dead person, this is impossible.
[Verse 2-3]. Paul illustrates this with the example of a marriage. He wants to teach you that a connection between two parties is valid only as long as both parties are alive. But this connection is broken when one of the parties dies. Only then, in marriage, the woman is free to marry someone else. Otherwise she is an adulteress if she becomes the wife of another man while her first husband is still alive.
[Verse 4]. Paul applies this to the believer and the law. He says that according to the law the sinner had to be put to death. But you have already died to the law through the body of Christ. When Christ died, you died. So you are no longer connected with the law, but with the risen Christ Who has nothing to do with the law either. Has not the law been fully applied to Him? You’re now connected with the risen Christ instead of the law. You can now bear fruit for God.
[Verse 5]. When you were in the flesh, that is, when you were an unbeliever and doing your own will, you gave in to “the sinful passions”. The more the law prohibited something, the more you enjoyed doing it. You know how this goes; forbidden things are thrilling. But this was only fruit for death and not for God.
[Verse 6]. You were living as a prisoner of the law. The law told you what you ought to do and it exercised authority over you. You were its slave. Now that you have died, the law has nothing to say about you. You now are serving in an altogether new way. You no longer serve “in the oldness of the letter”, that is, in a way that is exactly prescribed. You’re now serving “in newness of the spirit”, that is, in a way that you let the new spiritual life work in you, the life focused on the Lord Jesus.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
The apostle asserted that the grace covenant brought with it the characteristic of freedom from the law and from the old obligations. At the same time he asserted that the new spiritual unity with Christ is alone capable of providing us with a spiritual virtuous and fruitful life, because when we were in the life of the flesh, the whims and desires of sin worked within our bodily members, encouraged by the acts prohibited by the law, and it led to death. But now we have been completely freed from the law to which we had been subject and captives, and entered into this new relationship which united us with Christ. We became united with His risen body, and we no longer are slaves to the old state in which the law dominated with its literality that led to our spiritual death, the death of sin. We moved to the life of grace which we obtained through Him, and which we would have never obtained while under the law, for the law lacked the power which man needs in his spiritual struggling to gain strength and to be fortified to keep the commandments and fulfill them. The law did not give with its commandments the spiritual power which man needed to fulfill them. But under the grace covenant God's Holy Spirit works within man to free him from the old man and grant him new life and spirit.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 5-6
5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
You see what we had to gain from our former husband! Paul does not say: “when we were in the law,” because that would merely lend a hand to heretics [who wanted to deny the oracles of the Old Testament] but “when we were in the flesh,” that is, when we were living a sinful and carnal life…. In order to not accuse the flesh Paul does not say that our members were at work but that sinful passions were at work in our members. This was to show that the origin of the trouble was not in our members but in the thoughts which made use of them…. The soul ranks as a performer and the flesh as a harp which produces sound according to the performer’s direction. If the tune is discordant, the fault is with the performer, not with the instrument.
Although he is in the flesh Paul denies that he is “living in the flesh,” even though he is in the body. In this passage “living in the flesh” means following something which is forbidden by the law. Therefore “living in the flesh” can be understood in many different ways. For every unbeliever is in the flesh, i.e., is carnal. A Christian living under the law is in the flesh. Anyone who puts his trust in men is in the flesh. Anyone who does not properly understand Christ is in the flesh. If a Christian leads an extravagant life he is in the flesh. Nevertheless, in this passage we should understand “being in the flesh” as meaning that before we believed we were under the power of the flesh. For then we lived under the flesh, i.e., following our carnal desires we were subject to wickedness and sin. For the mind of the flesh is not to understand spiritual things, e.g., that a virgin might conceive without intercourse with a man, that a man may be born again of water and the Spirit, and that a soul delivered from the bondage of the flesh may rise again in it. Anyone who doubts these things is in the flesh. It is clear that whoever does not believe acts under sin and is led by his captivity to indulge in wickedness and to bear fruit worthy of the second death. When such a person sins, death makes a profit. This discussion concerns the Jews and all those who say they are Christians yet still want to live under the law. Its purpose is to teach them that they are carnal so that they will abandon the law. Nevertheless, Paul says that the sins which rule over those who commit them in the flesh are revealed by the law; they are not caused by the law. For the law is the yardstick of sin, not its cause, and it makes sinners guilty. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:6 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.
Among the wonderful results of our conversion is that we are "released from the law." This is the result of our having died with Christ. Because He died as our substitute, we died with Him. With His death, He fulfilled all the demands of the law by taking the terrible punishment upon Himself. Therefore, we are freed from the law and its inevitable curse. There is no double jeopardy.
God has already dealt with Him according to my sins; therefore, He will not deal with me for them.*
Karl Heinrich von Bogatzky
We are now free to "serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." The motivation for our service is love, not fear; it is a service in freedom, not bondage. It is no longer about slavishly adhering to the smallest details of outward ceremonies but about joyfully dedicating ourselves to the honor of God and the blessing of others.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
You’re free from guilt. This was made clear to you in the sections which cover Romans 3:21 to Romans 5:11. You have been liberated from the power of sin. This was made clear in the last part of Romans 5 through Romans 6. Now something else needs to be learned – that you also have been freed from the law. This is what Romans 7 is about. The most difficult thing to accept in faith is freedom from the law because our experience may tell a different story.
Romans 7 shows how difficult it is. You meet someone who has the new life and who, as a result, wants to do good, but all the time he is doing wrong. It is no surprise that he feels miserable. I had a time like this in my life. You’d like to live for the Lord Jesus and yet you go wrong again and again.
This is because consciously or unconsciously, you oblige yourself to do something. You want to serve God and you feel the best way is to keep certain rules, to keep the law. After all, God gave the law. But the effect of such trying to keep it is you feel terribly inadequate. The joy of faith rapidly fades away. Witnessing is out of the question. You’re completely self-centered. The words ‘I’ and ‘me’ occur some forty times in this chapter. The release from this miserable situation comes only at the end, in [Verse 25]. Therefore you have to let the whole of this chapter speak to you.
[Verse 1]. [Verse 1-6] are an introduction. Concerning the application of the law, it is clear to everyone that the law reigns over a man as long as he is alive. Nothing is more absurd than to fine someone who has died in a traffic accident he caused. Someone is fined if he is accountable for an offense and if he is alive to pay for it. With a dead person, this is impossible.
[Verse 2-3]. Paul illustrates this with the example of a marriage. He wants to teach you that a connection between two parties is valid only as long as both parties are alive. But this connection is broken when one of the parties dies. Only then, in marriage, the woman is free to marry someone else. Otherwise she is an adulteress if she becomes the wife of another man while her first husband is still alive.
[Verse 4]. Paul applies this to the believer and the law. He says that according to the law the sinner had to be put to death. But you have already died to the law through the body of Christ. When Christ died, you died. So you are no longer connected with the law, but with the risen Christ Who has nothing to do with the law either. Has not the law been fully applied to Him? You’re now connected with the risen Christ instead of the law. You can now bear fruit for God.
[Verse 5]. When you were in the flesh, that is, when you were an unbeliever and doing your own will, you gave in to “the sinful passions”. The more the law prohibited something, the more you enjoyed doing it. You know how this goes; forbidden things are thrilling. But this was only fruit for death and not for God.
[Verse 6]. You were living as a prisoner of the law. The law told you what you ought to do and it exercised authority over you. You were its slave. Now that you have died, the law has nothing to say about you. You now are serving in an altogether new way. You no longer serve “in the oldness of the letter”, that is, in a way that is exactly prescribed. You’re now serving “in newness of the spirit”, that is, in a way that you let the new spiritual life work in you, the life focused on the Lord Jesus.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 1-6
1Know 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?2For 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.3So 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.4Wherefore, 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.5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
The apostle asserted that the grace covenant brought with it the characteristic of freedom from the law and from the old obligations. At the same time he asserted that the new spiritual unity with Christ is alone capable of providing us with a spiritual virtuous and fruitful life, because when we were in the life of the flesh, the whims and desires of sin worked within our bodily members, encouraged by the acts prohibited by the law, and it led to death. But now we have been completely freed from the law to which we had been subject and captives, and entered into this new relationship which united us with Christ. We became united with His risen body, and we no longer are slaves to the old state in which the law dominated with its literality that led to our spiritual death, the death of sin. We moved to the life of grace which we obtained through Him, and which we would have never obtained while under the law, for the law lacked the power which man needs in his spiritual struggling to gain strength and to be fortified to keep the commandments and fulfill them. The law did not give with its commandments the spiritual power which man needed to fulfill them. But under the grace covenant God's Holy Spirit works within man to free him from the old man and grant him new life and spirit.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 5-6
5For 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.6But 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.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin, which (passions) used to be efficiently caused through the law, (wrought) in our members unto the bearing of fruit to death; but now we have been emancipated from the law, being dead (to that) in which we used to be held.
Author: Tertullian of Carthage Rank: Author AD: 220
Once again Paul spares the flesh and the law. He does not say that the law was discharged or that sin was discharged but that we were discharged. How did this happen? It happened because the old man, who had been held down by sin, died and was buried.
The law is called the “law of death” because it punishes the guilty and puts sinners to death. It is therefore not evil but righteous. For although evil is inflicted on its victims by the law, the law itself is not evil, because it executes wrath justly. Therefore it is not evil to sinners but just. But to good people it is spiritual. For who would doubt that it is spiritual to forbid sin? But because the law could not save men by forgiving sin the law of faith was given, in order to deliver believers from the power of sin and bring those whom the law had held in death back to life. For to them it is a law of death and it works wrath in them because of sin. Although Paul regards the law as inferior to the law of faith, he does not condemn it…. The law of Moses is not called old because it is evil but because it is out of date and has ceased to function…. The old law was written on tablets of stone, but the law of the Spirit is written spiritually on the tables of the heart that it might be eternal, whereas the letter of the old law is consumed with age. There is another way of understanding the law of the Spirit, which is that, where the former law restrained evil deeds, this law which says that we ought not to sin even in our hearts is called “the law of the Spirit,” because it makes the whole person spiritual. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
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Romans 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.
From all these explanations, it might seem that Paul is criticizing the law. He has said that believers have died to sin and to the law, which might have given the impression that the law is bad. But no thought could be further from the truth!
In [Rom 7:7-13], Paul describes the significant role that the law played in his own life before he was saved. He emphasizes that the law itself is not sinful but rather reveals the sinfulness of man. It was the law that convicted him of the total depravity of his heart. As long as he compared himself with other people, he thought he was quite decent. But when the demands of God's law convicted him, he stood speechless and condemned.
It was the tenth commandment that particularly exposed his sin to him: "You shall not covet." Desires begin in our thoughts. Although Paul might not have committed any gross or repulsive sins, he realized that his thought life was corrupt. He understood that evil thoughts are just as sinful as evil actions. His thought life was tainted with filthy fantasies. His outward life might have been relatively blameless, but his inner life was a horror chamber.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
A lot has already been said about the law. In the following chapters in Romans, and in the other letters of Paul, a lot more will be said about the law. Thus you need to understand why the law was given.
[Verse 7]. You may have started to think the law is something sinful. All it does, it seems, is give you an opportunity to do evil things. This is not the way it is. Romans 3 said: “Through the Law [comes] the knowledge of sin” [Rom 3:20]. Notice the word “knowledge”. It doesn’t say the law causes you to sin, but the law manifests the sin already present. Take lust for example. Lust is something you cannot see. It is in the heart. You wouldn’t have known that lust is sin if the law hadn’t said: “You shall not covet” and: “You shall not desire” [Deut 5:21]. Knowing this is said so clearly in the law, you realize it’s true. Sin living in you awakens lust and so a commandment was given to tell you not to covet.
An example may make this clearer. My children may take a cookie from the cookie jar when they come home from school. Suppose one morning I tell them: ”When you come home, you may not touch the cookie jar nor look in it.“ The result is that, when they come home, they must restrain themselves to obey my commandment. In them the lust has been brought out by the commandment. Sin uses the commandment to bring out lust.
[Verse 8]. As long as I hadn’t given the commandment, there was nothing wrong. Sin was present, but it was dead, that is to say it wasn’t experienced. But once the commandment had come, sin was awakened and they were made aware of its presence. Here you can see the real function of the law in practice.
[Verse 9-11]. Once, being unconverted, you were living without the law. You didn’t care that the law said “you shall not covet”. You did not even think about it. You had no desire to obey the law. Only when you let God into your life did you think about His law. Then your eyes were opened to sin because the law showed it to you. You also discovered that the law condemned you, because you couldn’t keep it. The commandment that was for life – in Leviticus 18 God had said: “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD” [Lev 18:5] – turned out to mean death for you. This was because of sin living in you. Sin used the law by seducing you and bringing you to do wrong and evil deeds.
[Verse 12-13]. So the law is not to blame, for the law came from God and is “holy”. The commandments of the law are “holy and righteous and good”. Would the good that comes from God so you might live through it, mean death to you? This cannot be true, can it? But why then are you under the death-sentence of the law? It is because of sin. Sin used the good to work death for me. Sin used for evil what God had meant for good.
But another thing has happened. The law has shown the real form of sin. Through the law sin became even more sinful. You saw in Romans 5 what this means [Rom 5:20]. Sin was in the world before the law was given. Once the law was given, sin became worse because the law showed what sin was. And now you and I know what sin is.
Here is a simple example to make this clearer. In England the law dictates that people must drive on the left side of the road. If you go to England without knowing it is a left-sided driving country and you drive on the right, you are trespassing. But if they had told you that England is a left-sided driving country and you still drove on the right, you would be even more guilty.
This is how it is with sin and the law. Through the law you are made aware of what sin is. And you are more responsible for the sins you do because now you know what’s allowed and what’s not.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 fulfill 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 favorable 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
It is clear from the preceding verses that freedom from the law was connected with freedom from sin, therefore the apostle inquires: "Is the law sin?" Or in other words, 'Is law a law of evil?' Of course the apostle denies such a conclusion, because the law was given by God who is by nature good. So, what is the relation or the connection between the law and sin? The apostle states that the law is not the source of sin, but the source of our knowledge of sin. This means that the law plays the role of the teacher who guides to the truth that we may discern between good and evil, between the holy and the unclean, between the permitted and the prohibited, between the permissible and the forbidden, and between what we should do and what we have to avoid. The knowledge of sin came only through the law, because I would not have known that lust is evil unless the law had warned me against it (see [Exod 20:17]). The law then did not give me the will to do sin, but only to know sin. The apostle says in another part of his Epistle to the Romans, "By the law is the knowledge of sin." [Rom 3:20]
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
The apostle refrains from any criticism of the law…. What high praise of the law we get from the fact that by it the latent presence of sin becomes manifest! It was not the law which led me astray but sin.
Author: Tertullian of Carthage Rank: Author AD: 220
But, behold, he bears testimony to the law, and excuses it on the ground of sin: "What shall we say, therefore? Is the law sin? God forbid.".
"God forbid! "(See how) the apostle recoils from all impeachment of the law. I, however, have no acquaintance with sin except through the law.
Author: Tertullian of Carthage Rank: Author AD: 220
For how should one care for a thing which is neither forbidden nor necessary to him? And for this reason it is said, "I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."
Note how Paul gradually shows how the law was not merely an accuser of sin but to some extent its producer as well. This was not from any fault in it but from the disobedience of the Jews … for he has taken care to guard against the attacks of the Manichaeans, who accuse the law of being evil in itself.
It is clear from Romans [:] that even without the law the Gentiles knew what was required of them. It must therefore be accepted that they knew, though they did not know everything. For there are things which some Gentiles regard as good and proper while others reject them as bad and unlawful. Therefore the giving of the law was necessary to define for us what should and should not be done, outlining for us and showing us what the behavior of a righteous person is. .
Paul did not say that he had no sin apart from the law but rather that he was unaware of it. Therefore the law is not the cause of sin but rather the instrument which points it out, making it clear to those who did not know what it was. It did not do this in order that, once sin was made known, those who committed it should continue in what they were doing…. On the contrary, its intention was to convert people to better things by making their sins known to them. .
In this passage [to v. ], it seems to me that the apostle is portraying himself as a man set under the law and that he speaks in that role. The law was given not to introduce sin nor to extirpate it but simply to make it known; by the demonstration of sin to give the human soul a sense of its guilt in place of the assurance of its innocence. Sin cannot be overcome without the grace of God, so the law was given to convert the soul by anxiety about its guilt, so that it might be ready to receive grace…. Desire was not implanted in him by the law but was made known to him.
Paul shows that the law is not sin but the yardstick of sin. For Paul demonstrated that sins lie dormant in us and that they will not go unpunished by God. When a man finds this out he becomes guilty and thus does not thank the law. For who would be grateful to someone who tells him that he is running the risk of punishment? But he gives thanks to the law of faith, because the man who was made guilty by the law of Moses has been reconciled to God by the law of faith, even though the law of Moses is just and good in itself (because it is good to show that danger is near)…. Paul takes on a particular role in order to expound a general principle. For the law forbids covetousness, but because it is a matter of desire it was not previously thought to be sin. For nothing could be easier than to covet something which belongs to a neighbor; it is the law which called it sin. For to men of the world nothing seems more harmless and innocent than desire. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
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Romans 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.
"But sin, taking the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of lust." Lust here means desire. When the law forbids all evil desires, it actually provokes the corrupt nature of man to pursue them all the more. For example, the law might say: "You shall not indulge in all sorts of sexual fantasies when such thoughts come to you. You shall not live in a world of lustful imaginations." The law prohibits harboring dirty, disgusting, and lewd thoughts. But unfortunately, it doesn't give us the power to curb such fantasies. As a result, people under the law find themselves more than ever lost in an unclean dream world of sexual impurity. They realize that whenever something is forbidden, they desire it all the more. "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant" [Prov 9:17].
"Without the law, sin is" so to speak "dead," at least in a certain sense. The sinful nature is like a sleeping dog. When the law comes and says, "Don't do it," the dog wakes up to rage and do precisely what is forbidden to the extreme.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
A lot has already been said about the law. In the following chapters in Romans, and in the other letters of Paul, a lot more will be said about the law. Thus you need to understand why the law was given.
[Verse 7]. You may have started to think the law is something sinful. All it does, it seems, is give you an opportunity to do evil things. This is not the way it is. Romans 3 said: “Through the Law [comes] the knowledge of sin” [Rom 3:20]. Notice the word “knowledge”. It doesn’t say the law causes you to sin, but the law manifests the sin already present. Take lust for example. Lust is something you cannot see. It is in the heart. You wouldn’t have known that lust is sin if the law hadn’t said: “You shall not covet” and: “You shall not desire” [Deut 5:21]. Knowing this is said so clearly in the law, you realize it’s true. Sin living in you awakens lust and so a commandment was given to tell you not to covet.
An example may make this clearer. My children may take a cookie from the cookie jar when they come home from school. Suppose one morning I tell them: ”When you come home, you may not touch the cookie jar nor look in it.“ The result is that, when they come home, they must restrain themselves to obey my commandment. In them the lust has been brought out by the commandment. Sin uses the commandment to bring out lust.
[Verse 8]. As long as I hadn’t given the commandment, there was nothing wrong. Sin was present, but it was dead, that is to say it wasn’t experienced. But once the commandment had come, sin was awakened and they were made aware of its presence. Here you can see the real function of the law in practice.
[Verse 9-11]. Once, being unconverted, you were living without the law. You didn’t care that the law said “you shall not covet”. You did not even think about it. You had no desire to obey the law. Only when you let God into your life did you think about His law. Then your eyes were opened to sin because the law showed it to you. You also discovered that the law condemned you, because you couldn’t keep it. The commandment that was for life – in Leviticus 18 God had said: “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD” [Lev 18:5] – turned out to mean death for you. This was because of sin living in you. Sin used the law by seducing you and bringing you to do wrong and evil deeds.
[Verse 12-13]. So the law is not to blame, for the law came from God and is “holy”. The commandments of the law are “holy and righteous and good”. Would the good that comes from God so you might live through it, mean death to you? This cannot be true, can it? But why then are you under the death-sentence of the law? It is because of sin. Sin used the good to work death for me. Sin used for evil what God had meant for good.
But another thing has happened. The law has shown the real form of sin. Through the law sin became even more sinful. You saw in Romans 5 what this means [Rom 5:20]. Sin was in the world before the law was given. Once the law was given, sin became worse because the law showed what sin was. And now you and I know what sin is.
Here is a simple example to make this clearer. In England the law dictates that people must drive on the left side of the road. If you go to England without knowing it is a left-sided driving country and you drive on the right, you are trespassing. But if they had told you that England is a left-sided driving country and you still drove on the right, you would be even more guilty.
This is how it is with sin and the law. Through the law you are made aware of what sin is. And you are more responsible for the sins you do because now you know what’s allowed and what’s not.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 fulfill 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 favorable 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
So, the law is not the cause of sin or its source. Sin is not originated from the law, but it takes its impetus from the things forbidden by the law. As the apostle says sin takes opportunity by the commandment. The law reveals the spirit of violation and disobedience within man. In other words, the spirit of disobedience of a disobedient person appears in his violation of the commands of the law. Sin therefore finds an opportunity in the law to practice its activities, because where there is no law that prohibits or forbids committing a certain act, sin will be in a state of death or stillness. For by the words "apart from the law sin is dead" the apostle does not mean that sin had no existence without the law, but rather that its action and activity were in a state similar to death because there was no law that binds man. In the commandments of the law sin existed, with its spirit of disobedience and rebelling, and found an opportunity to appear, to act, and to raise all types of lusts "produced in me all manner of evil desire". So, sin should not be attributed to the law, but "Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." [Jas 1:14]
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
It is not reasonable to condemn completely someone who has sinned in ignorance. But when the law was given and revealed sin, it gave sin power. This was not a condemnation of the law but a punishment of the contempt shown by those who did not keep it. For if it is true that without the law sin lies dead, it is also true that sin is dead when the law is kept. .
Note how Paul clears the law of all blame. It was sin which took advantage of the commandment and not the law, which increased the covetousness and brought about the opposite of what the law intended. This was caused by weakness rather than by wickedness. For when we desire something but are prevented from obtaining it, all that happens is that the flame of our desire is increased. It was not the law’s fault, because the law hindered us and did what it could to keep us away from desire. It was sin, i.e., our own laziness and bad disposition, which used what was good for the opposite. It was not the fault of the physician but rather of the patient who used the medicine wrongly.
By “sin,” Paul presumably means the devil. For just as Scripture sometimes calls the Savior “life” and “righteousness” because he is the source of life and righteousness, so it calls the opposing power by what it causes—sometimes “sin,” sometimes “lie,” sometimes “death.” .
I think that what Paul means here is something like this: Even though the person who sins in ignorance is guilty, there will be a harsher punishment for the one who sins knowingly. .
Not every sort of lust existed before the prohibition increased it. For since the prohibition increases lust when the Deliverer’s grace is missing, it is clear that not all lust existed beforehand. But when, in the absence of grace, lust was forbidden, it grew so much that it reached its own kind of completeness, to the point that it appeared in opposition to the law and added criminal offense to the transgression. When Paul says: “Apart from the law sin lies dead,” he does not mean that it does not exist but rather that it lies hidden. He makes this clear [in verse ]. The law is therefore good, but without grace it only reveals sins; it does not take them away.
By “all kinds of covetousness” Paul means every sin. [In the last verse] he mentioned covetousness according to the law, and now by adding other sins he shows that all covetousness works in man by the impulse of the devil, whom he calls “sin,” so that the law was given to man to promote the opposite. For when the devil saw the help provided by the law for man, whom he was delighted to have snared as much by his own sin as by the sin of Adam, he realized that this was done against him. For when he saw man placed under the law he knew that he would escape from his control, for now man knew how to escape the punishment of hell. For this reason his wrath was kindled against man, in order to turn him away from the law and get him to do what was forbidden, so that he would again offend God and fall back into the devil’s power. “Apart from the law sin lies dead.” This is to be understood in two ways. First, you should realize that the devil is meant when the word sin is used and that it also refers here to sin itself. The devil is said to have died because before the law came he did not conspire to deceive man and was quiet, as if unable to possess him. But, second, “sin was also dead,” because it was thought that it would not be reckoned by God. For that reason it was dead as far as natural man was concerned, as if he could sin without being punished. In fact sin was not absent, as I have already indicated, but this was not realized until it became clear by the giving of the law, i.e., that sin would revive. But how could it revive unless it had previously been alive and after the fall of man was thought to be dead when in fact it was still living? People thought that sin was not being reckoned to them, when in fact it was. Thus something which was alive was assumed to be dead. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Before Paul was convicted by the law, he "lived," meaning his sinful nature was relatively dormant, and he was unaware of the depth of wickedness in his heart.
"But when the commandment came" (i.e., when it came with its devastating judgment), it thoroughly aroused the desires of his sinful nature. The more he tried to obey, the worse he failed. He "died" because any hope of achieving salvation through his own efforts was destroyed. He "died" to any notion that he could be good in himself. He "died" to any dream of being justified by keeping the law.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
A lot has already been said about the law. In the following chapters in Romans, and in the other letters of Paul, a lot more will be said about the law. Thus you need to understand why the law was given.
[Verse 7]. You may have started to think the law is something sinful. All it does, it seems, is give you an opportunity to do evil things. This is not the way it is. Romans 3 said: “Through the Law [comes] the knowledge of sin” [Rom 3:20]. Notice the word “knowledge”. It doesn’t say the law causes you to sin, but the law manifests the sin already present. Take lust for example. Lust is something you cannot see. It is in the heart. You wouldn’t have known that lust is sin if the law hadn’t said: “You shall not covet” and: “You shall not desire” [Deut 5:21]. Knowing this is said so clearly in the law, you realize it’s true. Sin living in you awakens lust and so a commandment was given to tell you not to covet.
An example may make this clearer. My children may take a cookie from the cookie jar when they come home from school. Suppose one morning I tell them: ”When you come home, you may not touch the cookie jar nor look in it.“ The result is that, when they come home, they must restrain themselves to obey my commandment. In them the lust has been brought out by the commandment. Sin uses the commandment to bring out lust.
[Verse 8]. As long as I hadn’t given the commandment, there was nothing wrong. Sin was present, but it was dead, that is to say it wasn’t experienced. But once the commandment had come, sin was awakened and they were made aware of its presence. Here you can see the real function of the law in practice.
[Verse 9-11]. Once, being unconverted, you were living without the law. You didn’t care that the law said “you shall not covet”. You did not even think about it. You had no desire to obey the law. Only when you let God into your life did you think about His law. Then your eyes were opened to sin because the law showed it to you. You also discovered that the law condemned you, because you couldn’t keep it. The commandment that was for life – in Leviticus 18 God had said: “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD” [Lev 18:5] – turned out to mean death for you. This was because of sin living in you. Sin used the law by seducing you and bringing you to do wrong and evil deeds.
[Verse 12-13]. So the law is not to blame, for the law came from God and is “holy”. The commandments of the law are “holy and righteous and good”. Would the good that comes from God so you might live through it, mean death to you? This cannot be true, can it? But why then are you under the death-sentence of the law? It is because of sin. Sin used the good to work death for me. Sin used for evil what God had meant for good.
But another thing has happened. The law has shown the real form of sin. Through the law sin became even more sinful. You saw in Romans 5 what this means [Rom 5:20]. Sin was in the world before the law was given. Once the law was given, sin became worse because the law showed what sin was. And now you and I know what sin is.
Here is a simple example to make this clearer. In England the law dictates that people must drive on the left side of the road. If you go to England without knowing it is a left-sided driving country and you drive on the right, you are trespassing. But if they had told you that England is a left-sided driving country and you still drove on the right, you would be even more guilty.
This is how it is with sin and the law. Through the law you are made aware of what sin is. And you are more responsible for the sins you do because now you know what’s allowed and what’s not.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 fulfill 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 favorable 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
Sin found in the law the opportunity to act and work, therefore the apostle says that he was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and he died. This means that the apostle at a certain time of his life believed that he was leading a virtuous spiritual life, because he was not aware of the power of sin or the law. But when he knew the commandments of the law he knew the sin that had been within him and he was not aware of its existence. This stage resembles the stage of childhood in the life of all people, because in this stage a person is ignorant of the knowledge of good and evil. A person in this stage performs evil deeds among other deeds, without being aware of doing evil, i.e., out of ignorance. When a person grows and becomes mature and knows what is good and what is evil, then a person becomes aware of the evil state he is in. Then the feeling of blame and remorse arises on doing sin. Without the law man cannot be aware of his spiritual death, so he does not feel sin, or rather sin becomes to him as if dead. Through the law man discovers the state of sin in which he lives and the spiritual death he suffers. This is what the apostle means by the words, "When the commandment came, sin revived and I died."
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
Let us see, then, what it is that we have endeavoured to say respecting the apostle. For this saying of his, "I was alive without the law once".
"But I was alive and blameless before the law, having no commandment in accordance with which it was necessary to live; "but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death."
This looks like a condemnation of the law, but when you look more closely at it you will find that really it is an encomium in praise of the law. For the law did not give existence to a sin which was not there before; rather, it pointed out what had previously escaped notice. This is why Paul is speaking in praise of the law, since before it came people were sinning without realizing it. If they gained nothing else from the law, at least they became aware that they had been sinning. This is no small point if you want to be delivered from wickedness. If they were not in fact set free, this had nothing to do with the law, which framed everything with that end in view. The accusation lies wholly against their spirit, which was perverse beyond all imagining.
If sin “revived” it is clear that it must have been alive at some earlier point and then died. When was that? It was when the devil deceived and defeated Adam, who had received the commandment and knew what transgression meant. Cain too knew that he was sinning, having been commanded not to murder his brother. It was after that that there was no commandment and no law, and so sin was knocked out by the ignorance of those who committed it. .
We were not righteous before the law came, but given that sin was dead as long as there was no law to condemn it, we lived having the excuse that we did not know what it was that we ought to be doing. .
When the commandment, i.e., the power of the discernment of the good, came, the mind did not prevail over the baser thoughts but permitted its reason to be enslaved by the passions. Then sin revived but the mind died, suffering death because of its transgressions.
When he says “I died,” Paul means that he realized that he was already dead, because one who sees through the law what he should do but does not do it sins with transgression.
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
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Romans 7:10 And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.
He saw that "the commandment, which was meant to bring life," actually brought him "death." But what does he mean when he says that the "commandment ... was meant to bring life"? This can be traced back to [Lev 18:5], where God says: "You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord." Ideally, the law promised life to those who kept it. A sign in front of a lion's cage reads: "Please keep a safe distance from the cage." Obeying this command brings life. But to the child who disobeys and reaches in to pet the lion, it brings death.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
A lot has already been said about the law. In the following chapters in Romans, and in the other letters of Paul, a lot more will be said about the law. Thus you need to understand why the law was given.
[Verse 7]. You may have started to think the law is something sinful. All it does, it seems, is give you an opportunity to do evil things. This is not the way it is. Romans 3 said: “Through the Law [comes] the knowledge of sin” [Rom 3:20]. Notice the word “knowledge”. It doesn’t say the law causes you to sin, but the law manifests the sin already present. Take lust for example. Lust is something you cannot see. It is in the heart. You wouldn’t have known that lust is sin if the law hadn’t said: “You shall not covet” and: “You shall not desire” [Deut 5:21]. Knowing this is said so clearly in the law, you realize it’s true. Sin living in you awakens lust and so a commandment was given to tell you not to covet.
An example may make this clearer. My children may take a cookie from the cookie jar when they come home from school. Suppose one morning I tell them: ”When you come home, you may not touch the cookie jar nor look in it.“ The result is that, when they come home, they must restrain themselves to obey my commandment. In them the lust has been brought out by the commandment. Sin uses the commandment to bring out lust.
[Verse 8]. As long as I hadn’t given the commandment, there was nothing wrong. Sin was present, but it was dead, that is to say it wasn’t experienced. But once the commandment had come, sin was awakened and they were made aware of its presence. Here you can see the real function of the law in practice.
[Verse 9-11]. Once, being unconverted, you were living without the law. You didn’t care that the law said “you shall not covet”. You did not even think about it. You had no desire to obey the law. Only when you let God into your life did you think about His law. Then your eyes were opened to sin because the law showed it to you. You also discovered that the law condemned you, because you couldn’t keep it. The commandment that was for life – in Leviticus 18 God had said: “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD” [Lev 18:5] – turned out to mean death for you. This was because of sin living in you. Sin used the law by seducing you and bringing you to do wrong and evil deeds.
[Verse 12-13]. So the law is not to blame, for the law came from God and is “holy”. The commandments of the law are “holy and righteous and good”. Would the good that comes from God so you might live through it, mean death to you? This cannot be true, can it? But why then are you under the death-sentence of the law? It is because of sin. Sin used the good to work death for me. Sin used for evil what God had meant for good.
But another thing has happened. The law has shown the real form of sin. Through the law sin became even more sinful. You saw in Romans 5 what this means [Rom 5:20]. Sin was in the world before the law was given. Once the law was given, sin became worse because the law showed what sin was. And now you and I know what sin is.
Here is a simple example to make this clearer. In England the law dictates that people must drive on the left side of the road. If you go to England without knowing it is a left-sided driving country and you drive on the right, you are trespassing. But if they had told you that England is a left-sided driving country and you still drove on the right, you would be even more guilty.
This is how it is with sin and the law. Through the law you are made aware of what sin is. And you are more responsible for the sins you do because now you know what’s allowed and what’s not.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 fulfill 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 favorable 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
In the law then man discovers his spiritual death because of his disobedience and violation. This means that the commandment which had been given to the man to lead and guide him to life brought on the contrary a different result leading to death. Here we should note that the law is not the cause of this spiritual death, because it was given to give life. It is the cause of knowledge of this spiritual death, or it is the source of our knowledge of the state of sin in which we were abiding.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
Man died when he realized that he was guilty before God when he had previously thought that he would not be held accountable for the sins which he committed. It is true that the law was given for life, but because it made man guilty, not only for the sins which he committed before the coming of the law but also for those which he committed afterward, the law which was given for life turned out to bring death instead. But as I have said, this was for the sinner, because for those who obeyed, it led to eternal life. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].
Paul emphasizes again that the law was not to blame. It was the indwelling sin that drove him to do what the law forbade. Sin deceived him into thinking that the forbidden fruit might not be so bad, that indulging in it would bring happiness, and that he would get away with it. It whispered to him that God was withholding pleasures that would actually benefit him. Thus, sin "killed" him in the sense that it dashed his highest hopes of being worthy of salvation or earning his way to heaven.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
A lot has already been said about the law. In the following chapters in Romans, and in the other letters of Paul, a lot more will be said about the law. Thus you need to understand why the law was given.
[Verse 7]. You may have started to think the law is something sinful. All it does, it seems, is give you an opportunity to do evil things. This is not the way it is. Romans 3 said: “Through the Law [comes] the knowledge of sin” [Rom 3:20]. Notice the word “knowledge”. It doesn’t say the law causes you to sin, but the law manifests the sin already present. Take lust for example. Lust is something you cannot see. It is in the heart. You wouldn’t have known that lust is sin if the law hadn’t said: “You shall not covet” and: “You shall not desire” [Deut 5:21]. Knowing this is said so clearly in the law, you realize it’s true. Sin living in you awakens lust and so a commandment was given to tell you not to covet.
An example may make this clearer. My children may take a cookie from the cookie jar when they come home from school. Suppose one morning I tell them: ”When you come home, you may not touch the cookie jar nor look in it.“ The result is that, when they come home, they must restrain themselves to obey my commandment. In them the lust has been brought out by the commandment. Sin uses the commandment to bring out lust.
[Verse 8]. As long as I hadn’t given the commandment, there was nothing wrong. Sin was present, but it was dead, that is to say it wasn’t experienced. But once the commandment had come, sin was awakened and they were made aware of its presence. Here you can see the real function of the law in practice.
[Verse 9-11]. Once, being unconverted, you were living without the law. You didn’t care that the law said “you shall not covet”. You did not even think about it. You had no desire to obey the law. Only when you let God into your life did you think about His law. Then your eyes were opened to sin because the law showed it to you. You also discovered that the law condemned you, because you couldn’t keep it. The commandment that was for life – in Leviticus 18 God had said: “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD” [Lev 18:5] – turned out to mean death for you. This was because of sin living in you. Sin used the law by seducing you and bringing you to do wrong and evil deeds.
[Verse 12-13]. So the law is not to blame, for the law came from God and is “holy”. The commandments of the law are “holy and righteous and good”. Would the good that comes from God so you might live through it, mean death to you? This cannot be true, can it? But why then are you under the death-sentence of the law? It is because of sin. Sin used the good to work death for me. Sin used for evil what God had meant for good.
But another thing has happened. The law has shown the real form of sin. Through the law sin became even more sinful. You saw in Romans 5 what this means [Rom 5:20]. Sin was in the world before the law was given. Once the law was given, sin became worse because the law showed what sin was. And now you and I know what sin is.
Here is a simple example to make this clearer. In England the law dictates that people must drive on the left side of the road. If you go to England without knowing it is a left-sided driving country and you drive on the right, you are trespassing. But if they had told you that England is a left-sided driving country and you still drove on the right, you would be even more guilty.
This is how it is with sin and the law. Through the law you are made aware of what sin is. And you are more responsible for the sins you do because now you know what’s allowed and what’s not.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 fulfill 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 favorable 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
The apostle repeats what he said before, that sin takes opportunity in the commandment or the law. The law was a mere opportunity to reveal how sin is evil, "For sin, taking occasion by the commandment deceived me." And "it killed me" as the apostle says. Sin which was hidden in him took occasion by the commandment to deceive him. So sin is not the cause of deceit, but the cause of revealing the deceit of sin. The commandment is not the cause of death, but the cause of revealing the death ensuing from sin. So the apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews spoke about "the deceitfulness of sin", and he warned us against the deceit of sin, saying, "But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." [2Cor 11:3]
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
The word sin does not refer to a particular substance but to the manner and life of one who has sinned…. Paul calls nothing sin except the one who is the source and begetter of sin, viz., the devil. .
Paul means either that pleasure’s persuasion to sin is more powerful when something is forbidden or else that, even if a man did do something in accordance with the law’s requirements, if there is as yet no faith resting in grace, then he endeavors to attribute this to himself and not to God, and he sins all the more because of pride.
Paul means by this that the fruit of a forbidden desire is sweeter. For this reason, sins committed in secret are sweeter, even if this sweetness is deadly…. It deceives us and turns into very great bitterness.
“Sin” in this verse is to be understood as the devil, who is the author of sin. He found an opportunity through the law to satisfy his cruelty by the murder of man, so that as the law threatened sinners, man by instinct always did what was forbidden. By offending God he incurred the penalty of the law, so that he was condemned by that which had been given to him for his own good. For as the law was given to man without his asking for it, it inflamed desires to man’s disadvantage in order to stain him even more with sinful lusts, and he could not escape its hands. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
'The law' itself is 'holy, and' each 'commandment' is 'holy and just and good.' We must constantly remind ourselves that there is nothing wrong with the law itself. It is given by God and therefore perfect as an expression of His will for His people. The weakness of the law lay in the 'raw material' it had to work with: it was given to people who were already sinners. They needed the law for the recognition of sin, but beyond that, they also needed a Savior who would free them from the penalty and power of sin.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-01-03 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
A lot has already been said about the law. In the following chapters in Romans, and in the other letters of Paul, a lot more will be said about the law. Thus you need to understand why the law was given.
[Verse 7]. You may have started to think the law is something sinful. All it does, it seems, is give you an opportunity to do evil things. This is not the way it is. Romans 3 said: “Through the Law [comes] the knowledge of sin” [Rom 3:20]. Notice the word “knowledge”. It doesn’t say the law causes you to sin, but the law manifests the sin already present. Take lust for example. Lust is something you cannot see. It is in the heart. You wouldn’t have known that lust is sin if the law hadn’t said: “You shall not covet” and: “You shall not desire” [Deut 5:21]. Knowing this is said so clearly in the law, you realize it’s true. Sin living in you awakens lust and so a commandment was given to tell you not to covet.
An example may make this clearer. My children may take a cookie from the cookie jar when they come home from school. Suppose one morning I tell them: ”When you come home, you may not touch the cookie jar nor look in it.“ The result is that, when they come home, they must restrain themselves to obey my commandment. In them the lust has been brought out by the commandment. Sin uses the commandment to bring out lust.
[Verse 8]. As long as I hadn’t given the commandment, there was nothing wrong. Sin was present, but it was dead, that is to say it wasn’t experienced. But once the commandment had come, sin was awakened and they were made aware of its presence. Here you can see the real function of the law in practice.
[Verse 9-11]. Once, being unconverted, you were living without the law. You didn’t care that the law said “you shall not covet”. You did not even think about it. You had no desire to obey the law. Only when you let God into your life did you think about His law. Then your eyes were opened to sin because the law showed it to you. You also discovered that the law condemned you, because you couldn’t keep it. The commandment that was for life – in Leviticus 18 God had said: “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD” [Lev 18:5] – turned out to mean death for you. This was because of sin living in you. Sin used the law by seducing you and bringing you to do wrong and evil deeds.
[Verse 12-13]. So the law is not to blame, for the law came from God and is “holy”. The commandments of the law are “holy and righteous and good”. Would the good that comes from God so you might live through it, mean death to you? This cannot be true, can it? But why then are you under the death-sentence of the law? It is because of sin. Sin used the good to work death for me. Sin used for evil what God had meant for good.
But another thing has happened. The law has shown the real form of sin. Through the law sin became even more sinful. You saw in Romans 5 what this means [Rom 5:20]. Sin was in the world before the law was given. Once the law was given, sin became worse because the law showed what sin was. And now you and I know what sin is.
Here is a simple example to make this clearer. In England the law dictates that people must drive on the left side of the road. If you go to England without knowing it is a left-sided driving country and you drive on the right, you are trespassing. But if they had told you that England is a left-sided driving country and you still drove on the right, you would be even more guilty.
This is how it is with sin and the law. Through the law you are made aware of what sin is. And you are more responsible for the sins you do because now you know what’s allowed and what’s not.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 fulfill 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 favorable 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
It is true that the apostle spoke about the connection between the law and sin, but he also was keen on removing away from our minds the wrong thought that the law is the cause of sin. Here he affirms this very evidently, by describing the law as "holy", and describing the commandment as "holy and just and good". So the law is holy, and every commandment of its commandments is holy and just and good. The law was given for the benefit of mankind, and for establishing the rules of justice, and keeping order and peace in the world. Its aims were good, therefore the apostle says in his First Epistle to Timothy, "But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully." [1Tim 1:8]
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
Converting souls; the statutes of the Lord (are) direct, delighting hearts; the precept of the Lord far-shining, enlightening eyes. "Thus, too, the apostle: "And so the law indeed is holy, and the precept holy and most good"
Author: Tertullian of Carthage Rank: Author AD: 220
Some people say that here Paul is not talking about the law of Moses but rather about the law of nature or of the commandment given in paradise. But surely Paul’s aim is to reach beyond the authority of the law of Moses; he has no quarrel with the other two. And rightly so, for it was because the Jews feared the abolition of their law that they so obstinately opposed the working of grace. Moreover, it does not appear that Paul ever called the commandment given in paradise a law, nor has any other writer. Following Paul’s logic, let us pursue the argument a little further. Having spoken to the Romans about proper standards of behavior, Paul goes on to say: “Do you not know, brethren—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during his life? But you are discharged from the law.” … Now if these things had been said about the natural law, we would now be without it. And if that were true, we would be more senseless than the irrational creatures are. But surely this is not so.
This is true as far as a sort of training with fear and preparatory discipline goes, leading as it did to the culmination of legislation and finally to grace. ?
Author: Clement Of Alexandria Rank: Author AD: 215
"And that he knows that what is just is good, appears by his saying, "So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good".
Quare "lex quid era est sancta, et man datum sanctum, et just urn, et bonum.".
Wherefore the law is productive of the emotion of fear. "So that the law is holy "and in truth "spiritual".
Jesus, accordingly, does not charge him with not having fulfilled all things out of the law, but loves him, and fondly welcomes his obedience in what he had learned; but says that he is not perfect as respects eternal life, in as much as he had not fulfilled what is perfect, and that he is a doer indeed of the law, but idle at the true life. Those things, indeed, are good. Who denies it? For "the commandment is holy"
Author: Clement Of Alexandria Rank: Author AD: 215
Man needed to be shown the foulness of his malady. Against his wickedness not even a holy and good commandment could avail; by it the wickedness was increased rather than diminished.
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
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Romans 7:13 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 good" refers to the law, as specifically mentioned in the preceding verse. Paul raises the question: "Did the law bring about my death?" This means: "Is the law the culprit that condemned Paul (and, by extension, all of us) to death?" The answer is: "By no means!" Sin is to blame. The law is not the cause of sin but only reveals sin in all its sinfulness. "Through the law comes the knowledge of sin" [Rom 3:20]. But that's not all! How does the human sinful nature react when God's holy law forbids it something? The answer is well known. What was previously a dormant desire becomes a burning passion! Thus, "sin, through the commandment, becomes exceedingly sinful."
There appears to be a difference between this statement and the one in [Rom 7:10]. There, Paul said that he discovered that the law brought him death. Here, however, he denies that the law brings him death. The solution is as follows: The law itself can neither improve the old man nor cause him to sin. It can reveal sin, just as a thermometer shows the temperature. But it cannot control sin, like a thermostat controls the temperature.
What happens, however, is this: The fallen nature of man instinctively wants to do exactly what is forbidden. Therefore, it uses the law as an occasion to awaken otherwise subconscious desires in the sinner. The more the person tries to overcome these desires, the worse it gets, until he is left only with despair. Thus, sin uses the law to rob him of any hope of improvement. And he sees the extraordinary sinfulness of his old nature as never before.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
A lot has already been said about the law. In the following chapters in Romans, and in the other letters of Paul, a lot more will be said about the law. Thus you need to understand why the law was given.
[Verse 7]. You may have started to think the law is something sinful. All it does, it seems, is give you an opportunity to do evil things. This is not the way it is. Romans 3 said: “Through the Law [comes] the knowledge of sin” [Rom 3:20]. Notice the word “knowledge”. It doesn’t say the law causes you to sin, but the law manifests the sin already present. Take lust for example. Lust is something you cannot see. It is in the heart. You wouldn’t have known that lust is sin if the law hadn’t said: “You shall not covet” and: “You shall not desire” [Deut 5:21]. Knowing this is said so clearly in the law, you realize it’s true. Sin living in you awakens lust and so a commandment was given to tell you not to covet.
An example may make this clearer. My children may take a cookie from the cookie jar when they come home from school. Suppose one morning I tell them: ”When you come home, you may not touch the cookie jar nor look in it.“ The result is that, when they come home, they must restrain themselves to obey my commandment. In them the lust has been brought out by the commandment. Sin uses the commandment to bring out lust.
[Verse 8]. As long as I hadn’t given the commandment, there was nothing wrong. Sin was present, but it was dead, that is to say it wasn’t experienced. But once the commandment had come, sin was awakened and they were made aware of its presence. Here you can see the real function of the law in practice.
[Verse 9-11]. Once, being unconverted, you were living without the law. You didn’t care that the law said “you shall not covet”. You did not even think about it. You had no desire to obey the law. Only when you let God into your life did you think about His law. Then your eyes were opened to sin because the law showed it to you. You also discovered that the law condemned you, because you couldn’t keep it. The commandment that was for life – in Leviticus 18 God had said: “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD” [Lev 18:5] – turned out to mean death for you. This was because of sin living in you. Sin used the law by seducing you and bringing you to do wrong and evil deeds.
[Verse 12-13]. So the law is not to blame, for the law came from God and is “holy”. The commandments of the law are “holy and righteous and good”. Would the good that comes from God so you might live through it, mean death to you? This cannot be true, can it? But why then are you under the death-sentence of the law? It is because of sin. Sin used the good to work death for me. Sin used for evil what God had meant for good.
But another thing has happened. The law has shown the real form of sin. Through the law sin became even more sinful. You saw in Romans 5 what this means [Rom 5:20]. Sin was in the world before the law was given. Once the law was given, sin became worse because the law showed what sin was. And now you and I know what sin is.
Here is a simple example to make this clearer. In England the law dictates that people must drive on the left side of the road. If you go to England without knowing it is a left-sided driving country and you drive on the right, you are trespassing. But if they had told you that England is a left-sided driving country and you still drove on the right, you would be even more guilty.
This is how it is with sin and the law. Through the law you are made aware of what sin is. And you are more responsible for the sins you do because now you know what’s allowed and what’s not.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 fulfill 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 favorable 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 7-13
7What 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.8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.9For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.10And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].12Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.13Was 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
"But sin ... was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin"
The apostle asserts what he said before that the law is holy and good. He says, "The law is spiritual", for the law is the gift of God's Holy Spirit, aiming at making man lea a virtuous spiritual life. If man suffers spiritual death, this is not due to the law, but to man himself through slavery to his fleshly desires and becoming sold to sin. Sin possesses man as a lord possesses a slave, and it brings him death and perdition.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 13-14
13Was 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.14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
"Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin,"
If the law has been connected with sin, has then what is good become death? That is, has the law which is holy and good become the cause of death? Certainly we should not believe that the law has been given for our spiritual death, but death has been brought by sin into mankind so that it may be revealed how evil it is. The evil of sin appears in that it has been brought to us through the law which is good and holy, and it brought death for us.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
Why then do you, (O Marcion, ) impute to the God of the law what His apostle dares not impute even to the law itself? Nay, he adds a climax: "The law is holy, and its commandment just and good."
Author: Tertullian of Carthage Rank: Author AD: 220
Because it was given, not for injury, but for safety; for let us not suppose that God makes anything useless or hurtful. What thou? "Was then that which is good made death unto me? "
By the very way he accuses sin, Paul shows how excellent the law is…. It was the commandment which showed us just how evil sin is. At the same time, Paul also shows how grace is so much greater than the law. Grace is not in conflict with the law; it is superior to it.
Here Paul is expounding the person of Adam. For although he had the image of God dwelling in him, he turned away from true life and chose death instead. Moreover, this death was not just the common death of our bodily members but the spiritual death of disobedience as well. .
Even those who do not know God’s will deserve God’s punishment because they sin, even if it is in ignorance. Nevertheless, they have some excuse, for when the law is explained to them they will probably excuse themselves in front of those who are under the law, on account of their ignorance. But those who have chosen to sin and do so not out of ignorance have committed a crime of madness and have completely rejected God. Such people are said to be “sinful beyond measure.” Someone who sins in ignorance is still sinful, but he is not, nor is he said to be, “sinful beyond measure.” .
Here Paul elaborates on what he said [in verse ]. It is not that a good thing (i.e., the law) had become death for him but rather that sin worked death through the law’s goodness, i.e., that it became apparent whereas without the law it had lain hidden. For everyone recognizes that he is dead if he cannot fulfill a precept which he recognizes as just, and because of the criminal offense of the trespass he sins even more than he would have if it had not been forbidden. Before the coming of the law the offense was less, because without the law there is no transgression.
Although even before the law came, the devil obtained death for man because of the first sin of Adam, nevertheless, after the law came he found still greater punishments for him in hell, where death followed him. For to have sinned before the coming of the law was a lesser crime than to have sinned after it. The wording here suggests that a limit was imposed on transgressors when they were forbidden to sin…. What the apostle means is that sinning after the law came was much more serious than sinning before it. He means that after the law came the attacks and tricks of Satan grew worse. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Up to this point, the Apostle has described a past experience in his life—namely, the traumatic crisis when he was convicted of his sinfulness through the ministry of the law.
Now he shifts to the present to describe an experience he has had since being born again—namely, the conflict of the two natures and the impossibility of achieving deliverance from the power of indwelling sin through his own strength. Paul acknowledges that "the law is spiritual"—that is, as such, it is holy and aligned with what benefits the person spiritually. However, he realizes that he himself is "carnal" because he does not know victory over the power of the sin that dwells within him. He is "sold under sin." He feels as if he has been sold into slavery to sin.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 hindrance 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 judgment 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-17
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
"But sin ... was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin"
The apostle asserts what he said before that the law is holy and good. He says, "The law is spiritual", for the law is the gift of God's Holy Spirit, aiming at making man lea a virtuous spiritual life. If man suffers spiritual death, this is not due to the law, but to man himself through slavery to his fleshly desires and becoming sold to sin. Sin possesses man as a lord possesses a slave, and it brings him death and perdition.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 13-14
13Was 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.14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
"For it was not the law of God that became the cause of my being brought into subjection to corruption, but the devil; that he might be made manifested who, through that which is good, wrought evil; that the inventor of evil might become and be proved the greatest of all sinners. "For we know that the law is spiritual; ".
and therefore it can in no respect be injurious to any one; for spiritual things are far removed from irrational lust and sin. "But I am carnal, sold under sin; "
Not only does Paul clear the law of all blame; he bestows very great praise on it as well. For by calling it spiritual he shows that it is a teacher of virtue and hostile to vice, for this is what being spiritual means—taking people away from any kind of sin. This is what the law did by frightening, admonishing, chastening, correcting and recommending every kind of virtue. How then was sin produced, if the teacher was so admirable? It was from the laziness of the pupils. This is why Paul went on to say that he was carnal, giving us here the portrait of a man as he was under and before the coming of the law.
The law is spiritual and makes the person who keeps it spiritual as well. It was given by the Holy Spirit so that those who obeyed it might receive the Spirit and be cleansed by the law’s teaching. Paul was not sold under sin by anyone else but by his own breaking of the law. .
The will of the Spirit is one thing, that of the flesh is another. These two wills fight against each other and can never reach agreement. Man is carnal, but the law is spiritual. How then can the law ever become tolerable to those who struggle so hard against the sickness of sin? There is wisdom here, for if a man is carnal he is in some sense captive and reduced to the condition of slavery. .
The law can only be fulfilled by spiritual men, and these only the grace of God can produce. For the man who has been made spiritual like the law will easily do what it commands. He will not be under the law but at one with it. He will also be someone who is not ensnared by temporal goods or frightened by temporal evils.
Paul is speaking here to those who were under the law. For they would not have submitted to it if they did not know that it was spiritual…. Paul calls man carnal, because he sins. To be sold under sin means to trace one’s origin to Adam, who was the first to sin, and to subject oneself to sin by one’s own transgression…. For Adam sold himself first, and because of this all his descendants are subjected to sin. The law is firm and just and without fault, but man is weak and bound either by his own or by his inherited fault, so that he cannot obey the law in his own strength. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Now the Apostle describes the struggle that takes place within a believer who does not yet know the truth that they have become one with Christ in His death and resurrection. This is the conflict between the two natures within a person who climbs Mount Sinai in search of sanctification.
Harry Foster explains:
Here is a man who is trying to achieve sanctification through his own efforts, fighting with all his might to fulfill God's "holy, righteous, and good" law [Verse 12]. In doing so, he only discovers that his condition worsens the more he struggles. It is no wonder that this is a lost battle, for it is not within the power of fallen human nature to conquer sin and live in sanctification. [1]
Notice the constant repetition of first-person pronouns—I, me, myself, etc. They appear over 40 times in [Verses 9-25]! People going through the experience described in Romans 7 get an overdose of "Vitamin I." They keep looking inward, seeking victory within themselves, where it cannot be found.
It is very sad that today's Christian counseling, often based on psychological principles, frequently directs the client's attention to themselves, thus exacerbating the problem instead of helping. People need to know that they have died and risen with Christ so they can walk in newness of life with Him. Instead of trying to improve the flesh, they will then consign it to the grave with the Lord Jesus.
Paul describes the struggle between the two natures this way: "For what I am doing, I do not understand." He has a split personality (in the sense of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Stevenson's famous novella). He finds himself doing things he doesn't actually want to do, and much of what he does, he fundamentally hates.
Footnote [1] Harry Foster, Artikel in Toward the Mark, S. 110.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 hindrance 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 judgment 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-17
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
With fascinating words the apostle depicts the internal strife which man suffers in his struggle against sin. The apostle clarifies that what he did was out of blindness and drunkenness with the whims of sin, not knowing what he was doing. What he did was not that which he wanted within his heart but what he hated, because he was falling under the darkness and power of sin. For when sin dominates over a person, it robs him of his will and blinds his inner sight. It becomes the source of his thoughts, his deeds and his acts. It brings division inside man and what man does will not be an expression of his real self but another different self created by sin inside him. It makes man do what he does not will or want to do, because he does not do his own will but the will of the sin abiding in him.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
Wherefore even the sainted Paul says "For what I would, that do I not, but what I would not, that I do; ".
Hence evil, as though besieging me, cleaves to me and dwells in me, justice giving me up to be sold to the Evil One, in consequence of having violated the law. Therefore also the expressions: "That which I do, I allow not "and "what I hate, that do I".
Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me-that is, in my flesh-dwelleth no good thing."
And hold out his hand to one who is about to follow? But how can one practise what he teaches, unless he is like him whom he teaches? For if he be subject to no passion, a man may thus answer him who is the teacher: It is my wish not to sin, but I am overpowered; for I am clothed with frail and weak flesh: it is this which covets, which is angry, which fears pain and death. And thus I am led on against my will;
Author: Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius AD: 320
It appears that this refers to the ignorant Gentiles, whose thoughts Paul is reproducing. For having consigned their destiny and future to their own lusts even to the point of regarding vain idols as having some power over our lives, they deprive man of his glory, which is the ability to live freely, and to have full and complete control over his own will to do whatever he wishes…. It may be that someone who is forced to act against his will cannot be blamed for it, but at the same time no rational person will praise him for his godliness and righteousness either. For why should somebody be praised for doing things against his own will, even if he is forced to do so by a power over which he has no control? Explanation of the Letter to the Romans.
This may appear to the less discerning to contradict [verse ]. How can sin be made manifest if it is not understood? But here “I do not understand” means “I do not approve.” For instance, darkness cannot be seen, but it is perceived in contrast to light; in other words, to perceive darkness is not to see it. Likewise sin, because it is not made clear by the light of righteousness, is discerned by not understanding in the way that darkness is perceived by not seeing. “Who understands his own transgressions? on Romans”
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
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Romans 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.
So, if his common sense condemns his actions, then he sides with the law against himself, because the law also condemns these actions. Therefore, he ultimately admits that the law is 'good'.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-01-03 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 hindrance 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 judgment 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-17
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
The apostle deduces from the inner strife within man what proves that the law is good and holy, for if he does what he wills not to do, then as he says, is evidence that the law is good. In other words if he feels disapproval and dissatisfaction with the sins and trespasses he is doing, this means that he agrees and asserts that the commandments of the law are good, though he cannot perform them.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
The law is defended against every accusation, but we must be careful not to think that these words deny our free will, which is not true. The man being described here is under the law, before the coming of grace. Sin overpowers him when he attempts to live righteously in his own strength, without the help of God’s liberating grace. For by his free will a man is able to believe in the Deliverer and to receive grace. Thus with the deliverance and help of him who gives it, he will not sin and will cease to be under the law. Instead, being at one with the law or in the law, he will fulfill it by the love of God which he could not have done through fear.
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Romans 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
This leads to the conclusion that the culprit is not the new man in Christ, but the corrupted sinful nature that still dwells within him. However, we must be very careful here. We must not simply excuse our sin by blaming the indwelling "sin." We are responsible for our actions, and we must not misuse this verse to pass the blame. Paul aims to identify the origin of his sinful behavior, but he does not seek to excuse it.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 hindrance 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 judgment 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-17
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
The apostle goes on depicting the condition of inner strife, indicating that he no longer does what he wills, but what the sin dwelling in him wills. He is in a state of captivity and slavery to sin. It is no longer he who does an act but the sin dwelling in him and dominating over all his powers and desires. This means that sin creates within him another self and compels him to do what he does not want to do, robbing him of all power to fulfill his real desires.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
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Romans 7:18 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.
There can be no progress in sanctification if we do not learn what Paul learned here: "that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing." Here "flesh" refers to the corrupted sinful nature that we have inherited from Adam, and which still exists in every believer. It is the source of all the evil that a person does. Regarding this sinful nature, there is nothing good.
This realization frees us from ever expecting anything good from this old nature. It frees us from disappointment when we find nothing good there. And it frees us from self-occupation. If we only look at ourselves, we will not experience victory. The holy Scotsman Robert Murray McCheyne said that for every look we take at ourselves, we should take ten at Christ.
To confirm the hopelessness of the flesh, the apostle laments that while he has the desire to do what is right, he does not find in himself the power to carry out that desire. The problem is simply that he has anchored his hope in his own abilities.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
We need hearts that pour out in prayer before God, so that He may work in the hearts of sinners and draw them onto His path.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 18-19
18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 18-22
18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
The apostle says that he knows that there is no more anything good in him after having become under the dominion and power of his body which is easily attracted to sin. Regarding his will for doing good and virtue, this will is still under his power and his authority, but to do good and virtue is beyond his control.
We would mention here some remarks:
We notice that the apostle Paul did not connect between the body and sin, for he did not say that the body is sin, as some philosophers and religions do. If the body itself was sin, this would mean that Adam was created sinful, as he was created with a body, but we know that Adam was not created sinful, but he committed sin afterwards by his own will. It is therefore wrong to look to ourselves as composed of two conflicting elements, one is the spirit, representing the element of righteousness in us, and the other is the flesh, representing the element of evil. Righteousness and evil are two things not linked with the body or the spirit regarding their nature and attributes, but they are linked with the will.
The will can do good and can do evil, and man with his body can be virtuous and can be evil. However, the body may easily be deceived and attracted to sin, and sin may easily enter into us through our senses and our bodies. That is perhaps the reason that it is linked with the body, not because the body is the element of sin in man, but because the body may submit and be attracted to sin. On the other hand, our bodies also may be elevated to become a temple of God, that is, a dwelling place for God's Holy Spirit. So the body may be an abode for sin, or an abode for God. What determines the matter is our will. With our will we can make our bodies a dwelling place for evil or a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.
Here also we notice that the apostle distinguishes between the will and the act. He says that the good will is present with him, but to do good is something he cannot do. So, the will corresponds with the desire and the choice. We desire to do virtue, but we are unable to fulfill our desire. The main role of Christianity was strengthening our will.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
Which I am all unfit, being a man of no goodness;.
"For as ye have tendered your members to servile impurity and iniquity, so too now tender them servants to righteousness unto holiness. "For even if he has affirmed that "good dwelleth not in his flesh"
Author: Tertullian of Carthage Rank: Author AD: 220
Paul is not attacking the flesh when he says this. The fact that nothing good dwells in it does not mean that it is evil…. Paul is not finding fault with the body but pointing out that the soul is superior to it. It is the soul which governs the body and is responsible for sin, not the flesh.
Is the sign of our salvation, since it was the Lord Himself who saved them, because they could not be saved by their own instrumentality; and, therefore, when Paul sets forth human infirmity, he says: "For I know that there dwelleth in my flesh no good thing".
"to will is present with him, but he finds not means to perform"
Quod si ii, qui sunt diversae sententiae, repugnantes, existiment Paulum verba sua dirigentem ad versus Creatorem, dixisse ea, quae deinceps sequuntur: "Novi enim, quod non habitat in me, hoc est, in came mea, bonum; "
Author: Clement Of Alexandria Rank: Author AD: 215
Paul says that the evil of the flesh is not good but that when this evil has ceased to exist the flesh will still be there, but … then it will not be defective or corrupt.
It is possible for a good to be performed when there is no yielding to evil lust, but the good is completed or perfected only when evil lust itself no longer exists.
Paul does not say that the flesh is evil, as some think, but that what dwells in the flesh is not good, i.e., sin. How does sin dwell in the flesh when it is not a substance but the perversion of what is good? Since the body of the first man was corrupted by sin and became dissolvable, this same corruption of sin remains in the body because of the state of transgression, retaining the strength of the divine judgment given in Adam, which is the sign of the devil, at whose prompting Adam sinned. Because of this sin is said to dwell in the flesh, to which the devil comes as if to his own kingdom. For the flesh is sinful and sin remains in it in order to deceive man by evil temptations, so that man will not do what the law commands. Man can agree that what the law commands is good; he can say that it naturally pleases him and that he wants to do it. But in spite of all that, the power and the strength to carry out his wishes is lacking because he is so oppressed by the power of sin that he cannot go where he wants nor can he make contrary decisions, because another power is in control of him. For man is burdened by his habit of sinning and succumbs to sin more readily than to the law, which he knows teaches what is good. For if he wants to do what is good, habit backed by the enemy prevents him. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
So the struggle between the two natures continues. Paul realizes that he does not do the good he wants to do, but instead does the evil he hates. He finds himself in the midst of a great tangle of contradictions and inconsistencies.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
It's like a young person who constantly tries to stay vigilant and introspect. Soon, a companion visits him and destroys all the spirituality he possessed. The acquaintance changes the topics and pressures him with an invitation for a change; then he drives him out of his house and goes out with him; he then leads him to that place which he always sought to avoid.
We need hearts that pour out in prayer before God, so that He may work in the hearts of sinners and draw them onto His path.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 18-19
18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 18-22
18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
As the apostle says, I do not do the good which I desire to do and will, but I am unable to fulfill my desire and perform my will. Moreover, because of the sin that dwells in me, the evil which I do not wish to do or desire, I find myself pushed to do it submitting to its authority. If I do the evil which I do not will, this means that I no more have control over myself. It also means that it is not I who do evil, but the sin that dwells in me and captivates me, rendering me a slave to it.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 19-20
19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
Therefore it is in our power to will not to think these things; but not to bring it about that they shall pass away, so as not to come into the mind again; for this does not lie in our power, as I said; which is the meaning of that statement, "The good that I would, I do not; ".
But if any one should venture to oppose this statement, and reply, that the apostle teaches that we hate not only the evil which is in thought, but that we do that which we will not, and we hate it even in the very act of doing it, for he says "The good which I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do; "
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Romans 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
We can rephrase this verse as follows: "But if I" (the old nature) "do what I" (the new nature) "do not want, it is no longer I" (the person) "who do it, but the sin that dwells in me." We should emphasize once again that Paul is not excusing himself or shifting responsibility. He is simply describing that he has not found deliverance from the sin dwelling in him. When he sins, it happens—not at the desire of the new man.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 18-22
18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
As the apostle says, I do not do the good which I desire to do and will, but I am unable to fulfill my desire and perform my will. Moreover, because of the sin that dwells in me, the evil which I do not wish to do or desire, I find myself pushed to do it submitting to its authority. If I do the evil which I do not will, this means that I no more have control over myself. It also means that it is not I who do evil, but the sin that dwells in me and captivates me, rendering me a slave to it.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 19-20
19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
Here Paul clears both the flesh and the soul from responsibility for sin, putting all the blame on the actions themselves. For if the soul does not want to sin it is cleared of guilt, and if it does not perform the action itself the body too is let off the hook. Everything may thus be blamed on the evil moral choice. The essence of the soul and body and that of choice are not the same, for the first two are God’s works and the third is a motion from within ourselves which may go in whatever direction we choose to let it. Of course, willing is natural and Godgiven, but willing in this way is from us and depends on our own mind.
Consequenter subjunxit: "Si autem quod nolo, hoc ego facio, non utique ego id operor, sed quod inhabitat in me peccatum: "quod "repugnans "inquit, "legi "Dei et "mentis meae, captivat me in lege peccati, quae est in membris meis. Miser ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore morris hujus? "
Author: Clement Of Alexandria Rank: Author AD: 215
Is the sinner compelled to sin by a power outside himself? Not at all. For it was by his own fault that these evil things began, for whoever binds himself to sin voluntarily is ruled by its law. Sin persuades him first, and when it has conquered him it takes control. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
He now finds a principle or "law" at work in his life that nullifies all his good intentions. When he wants to do what is right, it ends up with him sinning.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 18-22
18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
If sin inheres in my flesh and corrupts it, it may well be that the law offers help and gives advice, but even so it does not set me free from sin. Yet for those who are bound by the weakness of sin, it is hardly enough to know that they should be doing better; what they need is the strength to do what is right and in accordance with the law. .
Paul says that the law of Moses agrees with his will against sin, which dwells in his flesh and forces him to do something other than what he and the law want to do. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
However, his new nature delights "in the law of God." He knows that the law is holy and an expression of God's will. He wants to do this will of God.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 18-22
18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
Nevertheless, the law of sin did not abolish "the law of God" which I delight in following according to "the inward man". This means in spite of the authority of evil, my mind and heart, which represent the inward man, feel delighted in the commandments of God's law.
Notice that the words "the inward man" refer to the powers and capabilities of man which are sensual, like the mind, the soul, and the heart. We also should not mingle between the meaning of "the inward" and the meaning of "the new", for the new, or the new life, or the new man, compared to the old man, is the work of the Holy Spirit in man. But "the inward" refers to the meaning implied in [Verse 23] and [Verse 25] of the same Chapter, i.e. "the mind". The inward man here refers to the quality with which the human soul is endowed to discern between what is true and good and what is false and evil. This inward man feels delight and joy with regard to God's law and desires to walk according to it in spite of the resistance from sin which dwells in man and dominates over him.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
And the same is denoted by the words, "For I delight in the law of God after 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. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? "
Here Paul is describing the common lot of man. For the ordinary person can see in his mind what ought to be done but cannot achieve it. But the man who has believed in Christ with his mind can achieve it with the help of the Holy Spirit. Such a person is therefore called “spiritual.” .
See wherein we are free, wherein we are delighted with the law of God. Freedom delights. For as long as you do what is just out of fear, God does not delight you. As long as you do it still a slave, he does not delight you. Let him delight you and you are free. .
Paul says that the mind delights in the things which are taught by the law. This is “our inmost self,” because sin does not dwell in the mind but in the flesh…. It is prevented from dwelling in the mind by free will. Therefore sin dwells in the flesh, at the door of the soul as it were, so as to prevent the soul from doing what it wants to do. If it dwelt in the mind it would derange it, so that man would not know himself. As it is, he does know himself and takes delight in the law of God. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:23 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.
Yet Paul sees a principle at work in his life that opposes the will of God, fighting against his new nature and making him a prisoner of the "sin" dwelling within him.
George Cutting writes:
The law gives him no strength, even though he delights in it according to his inner man. In other words, he is trying to accomplish what God has already declared impossible—the fact that the flesh cannot be subjected to the holy law of God. He finds that the flesh is concerned with fleshly matters and is the arch-enemy of God's law and even of God himself. [1]
Footnote [1] George Cutting, »The Old Nature and the New Birth« (Broschüre), S. 33.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 judgment, 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 23-25
23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
The apostle speaks here about two laws: "the law of sin" and "God's law". The law of sin fights and resists the law of the mind, but God's law gains the conviction of the apostle's mind, heart and conscience. This is called by the apostle in another part "the law of mind" [Rom 7:23]
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
For he in a previous verse ascribed sin to the flesh, and made it out to be "the law of sin dwelling in his members "and "warring against the law of the mind.".
-that other law, no doubt, which he has described "in his members as warring against the law of his mind"
Author: Tertullian of Carthage Rank: Author AD: 220
One the law which arises from the assault of evil, and which often draws on the soul to lustful fancies, which, he says "wars against the law of the mind.".
And the third, which is in accordance with sin, settled in the flesh from lust, which he calls the "law of sin which dwells in our members; "
Paul perceives imprisonment where righteousness has not been fulfilled; for when he is delighted with the law of God he is not a prisoner but a friend of the law and thus free, because he is a friend. .
In this life it cannot happen to anyone that a law warring against the law of the mind should be entirely absent from his members, because that law would still be waging war even if man’s spirit were offering it such resistance as not to fall into line with it. .
Paul sees another law in his members fighting against the law of his mind. He sees it is there, not remembers that it was there. He is pressed by what is present, not recalling what is past. And he not only sees this law warring against him but even taking him captive to the law of sin, which is (not was) in his members.
See what a fight we have with our dead sins, as that active soldier of Christ and faithful teacher of the church shows. For how is sin dead when it works many things in us while we struggle against it? What are these many things except foolish and harmful desires which plunge those who consent to them into death and destruction? And to bear them patiently and not give into them is a struggle, a conflict, a battle. And between what parties is this battle if not between good and evil, not of nature against nature but of nature against fault, which is already dead but still to be buried, that is, entirely healed? Against Julian.
Everyone is bound by carnal habit to the law of sin. Paul says that this law wars against his mind and captures him under the law of sin, by which it may be understood that the man being described here is not yet under grace. For if carnal habit were merely to wage war but not to triumph, there would be no condemnation. Condemnation lies in the fact that we freely submit to and serve depraved carnal lusts. But if such lusts exist and we do not give in to them, then we are not ensnared by them, and are under grace instead. Paul speaks of this grace when he calls upon the Deliverer and pleads for his help, that love might accomplish by grace what fear could not achieve through the law. –.
Paul mentions two laws here. One of these he sees in his members, i.e., in the outer self, which is the flesh or the body. This law is hostile to us. It wars with his mind, leading him captive in a state of sin and preventing him from getting out of it and finding help. The other law is the law of the mind, which is either the law of Moses or the law of nature which is innate in the mind. This law is attacked by the violence of sin and by its own negligence, for in that it loves evil it subjects itself to sin and is held captive by the habit of sinning. For man is a creature of habit. For Paul, there are here four kinds of law. The first is spiritual. This is the law of nature, which was reworked by Moses and made authoritative; it is God’s law. Then there is the law of the mind, which agrees with God’s law. Third, there is the law of sin, which is said to dwell in man’s members because of the transgression of the first man. The fourth appears in our members and tempts us to sin, before retreating. But these four laws can be reduced to two—the law of good and the law of evil. For the law of the mind is the same as the spiritual law or the law of Moses, which is called the law of God. But the law of sin is the same as the law which appears in our members, which contradicts the law of our mind. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
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Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Paul now utters his famous outcry. He feels as if he has a decaying body tied to his back. This "body" is, of course, the old nature in all its corruption. In his desperation, he acknowledges that he is unable to free himself from this dreadful, sinful burden. He is dependent on help from outside.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 judgment, 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 23-25
23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
This severe strife which man suffers due to sin makes the apostle cries for the help of God's mercy, saying, "Who will deliver me from the body of death?" The body of death means the body which is captivated and subjected to the authority of sin, and which in its subjection to sin has become the cause and means through which death enters into man.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
Having considered the struggle which was taking place in the body against the soul and how man was imprisoned by this, Paul now seeks a way to escape and tries to rescue man, so that the body of death may be transformed into a body of life…. For Paul wants his body to be a body of life and not a body of death or of sin. .
The law has failed, and conscience has proved to be unequal to the task, even though it praised what is good and even fought against evil…. Where then, is salvation going to come from? Homilies on Romans
Paul uses the term “the body of death” because the body is subject to vices and sickness, disorders and death until it rises in glory with Christ, and what was once fragile clay is purified in the fire of the Holy Spirit into a very solid rock, changing its glory, not its nature.
Showing that the "good thing "of our salvation is not from us, but from God. And again: "Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? "
"Nun quid autem consentit cum divino Apostolo, qui dicit: "Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit a corpore mortis hujus? ".
"For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."
Author: Clement Of Alexandria Rank: Author AD: 215
Paul says that a man born in sin is wretched. For indeed how could man not be wretched when he has succeeded to this inheritance of sin, having this enemy sin with him, through which Satan has access to him? For Adam invented steps by which the despoiler came up to his descendants. Yet the most merciful God, moved by pity, gave us his grace through Christ so that it might be revealed that the human race, once it accepted the forgiveness of sins, might repent and put sin to death. For a man who is pardoned for his sins and cleansed can resist the power of the enemy which is aimed against him, provided that God continues to help him. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
We have a physician—let us follow his remedy! Our remedy is the grace of Christ, and the body of death is our body. Let us therefore be exiled from the body lest we be exiled from Christ. Even if we are in the body let us not follow what is of the body. Let us not neglect the rights of nature, but let us prefer the gifts of grace.
Author: Ambrosius von Mailand Rank: Bishop AD: 397
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Romans 7:25 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 outburst of thanks with which this verse begins can be understood in at least two ways. It can mean: "I thank God" that salvation comes "through our Lord Jesus Christ." Alternatively, it can be an interjection where Paul thanks God that "through" the Lord Jesus, he is no longer as desperate as he described in the previous verse.
The rest of the verse summarizes the conflict between the two natures before the believer has recognized deliverance. "With the" renewed "mind" (or the new nature), the believer serves "the law of God, but with the flesh" (or the old nature), "the law of sin." It is only in the next chapter that we find the explanation of the way to liberation from this dilemma.
Author: William MacDonald Rank: Author Posted on: 2024-06-06 Source:
Title: Commentary on the New Testament Year (original): 1989 Author: William MacDonald Number of pages: 1504 Publisher/Editor: CLV Print: GGP Media GmbH, Pößneck
In these verses you’ll meet someone who’s struggling with the law. He’s converted and has life from God. This is clear from [Verse 22] where it says he delights in the law of God. An unbeliever would never say this. The man of Romans 7 struggles with sin living in him. While struggling, he’s sinking deeper and deeper. He’s like someone who is stuck in the marshes. When you become stuck in marshes, you begin to slowly sink. Every attempt to get yourself out only causes you to sink faster. Marsh-walker, as we’ll call this man, tries to free himself from the power of sin by obeying the law of God, but time and time again, he’s defeated. He always does what he hates to do when he’s trying his best to do well.
Can you relate to this struggle? I think struggling like this is a necessary experience when you earnestly desire to live with God and with the Lord Jesus. This doesn’t mean you’ll be struggling for the rest of your life. There’s a way out, but someone who doesn’t know about this kind of struggle is often just a superficial Christian. This struggle teaches you the tough reality that in you, that is in your flesh, there is nothing good.
[Verse 14]. How does this struggle start? It starts when the law is used incorrectly. What then can you to do with the law? In a general sense you know the law is spiritual – that is, the law makes you God-centered and tells you how to serve Him. Why then don’t you succeed? Because you are “of flesh [or: fleshly], sold into bondage to sin”. This is where the troubles come from.
[Verse 15-16]. You can’t do it; you’d like to serve God, but you don’t. Rather, you do what you hate to do. This experience tells you something. If you do what you don’t want to do, you recognize the law is good, for the law doesn’t want you to do wrong either. So you and the law agree.
[Verse 17-20]. Then there must be something else that does the wrong. Well, there is something else and it is sin living in you. But you can’t blame sin for the wrong you are doing because it’s your fault when you let sin use you. This is because you don’t have the power in yourself to resist sin. You want to do what’s good, but in your flesh, the old sinful nature, there is nothing good. For this reason, you get to the point where you do wrong, but then it’s not you who’s doing it, but sin living in you.
[Verse 21-22]. What are you experiencing? If you desire to do well (and that’s a good desire!), evil is present in you. In your heart you feel joy about God’s law and you desire to live according to it. This desire results from the new life you have, but you still have the old nature which wants to assert itself.
[Verse 23]. This old nature, the law of sin, makes you its prisoner and is fighting to keep you under control. This fight is taking place in the members of your body. What is at stake is who is exercising authority over your members. Since your conversion, your hands, eyes, feet, mind and body are in God’s service [Rom 6:13].
[Verse 24]. But while struggling, it feels as if sin still has them under control. This makes you feel like the most miserable person on earth. Your body is a body in which death is working and from which you’d like to be delivered. How can this go on? Notice the word “who” in [Verse 24]. It’s as if Marsh-walker starts to look around for someone else to save and deliver him.
[Verse 25]. This is the end of all the struggling. His eyes look to God. He sees that God has already prepared the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. One who sees this immediately starts to thank God. (Now you can read again how this salvation was brought about in the beginning of Romans 7.)
The last part of this verse gives a conclusion of the characteristics of the two natures within a believer. You’ll keep these two natures as long as you’re living on earth, but this shouldn’t be distressing since the old nature no longer has authority over you. In the next chapter you’ll see many more things that God has given you to lead a victorious life.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 14-25
14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.15For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.16If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.17Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.18For 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.19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Ger de Koning Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-12-22 Source:
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 judgment, 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.
Verses that belong to this explanation: 23-25
23But 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.24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?25I 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.
Author: Matthew Henry Rank: Priest AD: 1714 Source:
Title: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible Author: Matthew Henry
Here the apostle gives thanks to God, because such severe strife ended with the help of the Lord Jesus Christ who arranged salvation for mankind.
In this verse, the apostle Paul gives a brief summary of all that which he mentioned about such sever strife. We, as human beings, without God's help and assistance, with our body we serve "the law of sin", but with "the law of the mind", i.e. the mind, the conscience, and the other capabilities of the inner men, serve "the law of God". However, this division in man's personality caused by sin, stops and comes to an end under the covenant of grace. Now, thanks to Christ's redeeming work, are able to dedicate all our bodily and inner powers to serve the law of God.
Author: Prof. Dr. Maurice Tawadros Rank: Author Posted on: 2023-03-10 Source:
Title: Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans Author: Professor Dr. Maurice Tawadros Number of pages: 373
And he immediately adds, clearly showing from what kind of death he desired to be delivered, and who he was who delivered him, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ."
These are the words of one who is now under grace but still battling against his own lust, not so that he consents and sins but so that he experiences desires which he resists. .
Though his carnal desires still exist, the man who is renewed by grace by not giving in to sin does not serve them. With his mind he serves the law of God, even though with his flesh he serves the law of sin. Paul calls the law of sin the mortal condition which stems from the transgression of Adam, because of which we are born mortal. It is because the flesh has fallen that the lusts of the flesh entice us. –.
“The law of God” means both the law of Moses and the law of Christ…. A free mind which has been called back to good habits by the help of the Holy Spirit can repulse evil temptations. For it has recovered its power to resist the enemy. If it is no longer subject then Satan cannot appear uninvited. Flesh, though, has no judgment, nor is it able to discern anything, because it is brute nature. It cannot close the door to the enemy, nor can it come in and persuade the mind to do the opposite to what the mind intends. Because man consists of both soul and flesh, the part which knows serves God and the part which is mute serves the law of sin. But if man perseveres in the form in which he was created, the enemy would have no power to reach the flesh and persuade it to act against the will of the soul. But because the whole man was not restored to his pristine state by the grace of Christ the sentence pronounced on Adam remains in force, for it would be unjust to abolish a sentence which was rightly pronounced. So although the sentence remains in force, a cure has been found by the providence of God, so that the salvation which man had lost by his own fault might be given back to him. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.
