God promised to establish an everlasting covenant with Israel, Ezekiel 16:63; and the consequence was to be, that they should loathe themselves and be confounded when God was pacified towards them. — In the 7th verse he had strongly denied that there was anything sinful in the law; and, in the intermediate verses, had shown, by its effects, that, so far from being the cause of sin, it had been the means of enlightening his mind, in giving him to discover the evil nature of sin, and its deceitful workings in himself. So then. He would have warned them not to think of him above that which is written, 1 Corinthians 4:6. If there were no law, sin would not have that power. These are the matured opinions concerning themselves of men who had been taught by the same Spirit as the Apostle Paul. If, on the other hand, on account of anything done either by him or in him, of any zeal, excellency, or attainment, Paul, or any man, should fancy himself in a state of sinless perfection, the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of the Apostle John, charges him with self-deception. Beyond this no child of God can go while in this world; it will ever remain the character of the regenerate man. Nothing, then, could serve more fully to illustrate his doctrine in the preceding part of it, respecting human depravity and guilt, and the universality of the inveterate malady of sin, than to show that it was capable, even in himself, with all the grace of which he was so distinguished a subject, of opposing with such force the principles of the new life in his soul. When the Apostle and the believers at Rome were in the flesh, the desires or affections forbidden by the law forcibly operated in all the faculties of their depraved nature, subjecting them to death by its sentence. For if he had had such a view of the law previously, he would not, in his own opinion, have been blameless concerning its righteousness. An exegesis (interpretive study) in the book of Romans, the revealed Word of God! Ver. Of course not! The view, however, which he gives, through the remainder of the chapter, of this working of sin in his members, in no respect contradicts his assertion in the preceding chapter, that believers are ‘dead to sin;’ for there he refers exclusively to its guilt, but here to its power. Romans 7:1-6 Released from the Law by Death The Apostle Paul uses the comparison of being married until death parts them and they are legally free to remarry to that of being freed from the law and the penalty of it because “the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives” (Rom 7:1b). His very reason and conscience are defiled, Titus 1:15. What gives peace to the conscience is, that by faith our sins are no more ours, but Christ’s, upon whom God has laid them all; and that, on the other hand, all Christ’s righteousness is ours, to whom God hath given it. I consent unto the law that it is good. It is a mere figment to suppose that there is here a kind of discussion between the Apostle and a Jewish objector. 6. At death Paul was to be entirely freed from the evil of his nature. In Christ, we have much help (Romans 8:26; Galatians 5:22-26; etc.). All men, Jews and Gentiles, are by nature bound to the moral law, under its condemning power and curse, from which nothing but Christ can to all eternity deliver them. After the inward man. The commandment was meant to bring life but I found it brought death,. Let it be remarked, also, that, as signifying the greatest wickedness, the expression is not more suitable to their own view, than it is to that of those whom they oppose. There is then no ground whatever for denying that he here related his own personal experience, according to the plain literal, and obvious import of the expressions he employs. 7 What shall we say, then? That it is thus natural to the corrupt mind to desire what is forbidden, is a fact attested by experience, and is here the clear testimony of Scripture. (14-25) Commentary on Romans 7:1-6 (Read Romans 7:1-6) Was then Paul an exception to this? An occasion of sin and a cause of sin are two things essentially different. For. SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. He affirms, nevertheless, that the law is holy, and just, and good; and, lastly, he now further asserts that it is spiritual. A Bible Study in EasyEnglish (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Romans. 8:7. The expression by no means imports, as Mr. Stuart understands it, that Paul at the period referred to was really under the sentence of death as a sinner who had not fled to Jesus. — This respects what the Apostle was in himself. 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. I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.’ ‘I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee: wherefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes,’ Job 40:4, 42:5, 6. Every Christian knows by experience the truth of all the Apostle declares in this verse. ‘Not fatal to the sinner, but fatal to his view of salvation by the law. Thus Paul was without the law during all that time when he profited in the Jews’ religion above many of his equals, when, according to the straightest sect of their religion, he lived a Pharisee, and when, as touching the law, according to the common estimation, he was blameless. And every regenerate man, the more he is convinced of sin, which in his natural state never disturbed his thoughts, the more he advances in the course of holiness, and the more nearly he approaches to the image of his Divine Master, the more deeply will he groan under the more vivid conception and the stronger abhorrence of the malignity of his indwelling sin. He was confident of the Divine favor. Looking to the external form of the law, the Apostle declares ( Philippians 3:6) that he was, in his unconverted state, blameless; and in respect to his conduct afterwards as before men, he could appeal to them ( 1 Thessalonians 2:10) how holily, and justly, and unblameably he had behaved himself among them. And what is the purpose of the Christian armor, but to fit us to fight with flesh and blood, namely, our corruptions, as well as other enemies, against which Paul says, we wrestle? The consolation of the Christian against the corruption of his nature is, that although he shall not get free from it in this world, he shall hereafter be entirely delivered. 11 because sin, finding its opportunity by means of the commandment, beguiled me and, by means of it, killed me.. 12 So then, the Law is holy, and what it commands is holy and upright and good. And could it be otherwise in men who, by the Spirit of God, were convinced of sin? This proves that it is of himself, as to his present state, that the Apostle speaks. Questions for Reflection for Study of Romans 7-8 Posted on October 25, 2017 by Mark Shields Paul writes the letter of Romans to the church at Rome while in … Although he had there described believers as dead to the guilt of sin, he had, notwithstanding, by his earnest exhortations to watchfulness and holiness, clearly intimated that they were still exposed to its seductions. C. The purpose and character of the law. By no means! Afterwards, when the veil of self-delusion was removed, he discovered that he had been a blasphemer, a persecutor, injurious, and in unbelief; so that, when he was an Apostle, he calls himself the chief of sinners. But this is not the ground of obedience; and those who have endeavored to place the foundation of morals on the principle of utility, or of the happiness of the many, have only proved their shortsighted ignorance, and verified the declaration of Scripture, ‘professing themselves to be wise, they become fools.’. The Apostle does not mean what, in English, is understood by the passions, but the working of the passions. Perceiving, then, that it requires truth in the inward parts, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, not only prohibiting the smallest outward deviation from holiness, but detecting every hidden ambush of the deceitful heart, Paul the Apostle, a man of like passions with ourselves, exclaims, I am carnal, sold under sin. But when he understood its real character, he discovered the deceitfulness and sinfulness of sin closely cleaving to him, and inherent in him. Such a feeling no unregenerate man ever possessed. 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. He then discerns sin, not only in its various ramifications and actings, both internal and external, but also sees that it is inherent in him, and that in his flesh dwells no good thing; that he is not only by nature a sinner and an enemy to God, but that he is without strength, Romans 5:6, entirely unable to deliver himself from the power of sin, and that this can only be effected by the Spirit of God, by whom he is at the same time convinced of the righteousness of God — that righteousness which has been provided for those who are destitute in themselves of all righteousness. It then destroyed all the hope he had founded on it, and showed him that he was obnoxious to the curse which it pronounces on all transgressors. Certainly not! Released from the Law. RomansChapter 7. — The words in the original, as far as respects the phraseology, are capable of being rendered, either as long as he liveth, or as long as it liveth. In one point of view, then, Paul the Apostle could truly say that he was spiritual; in another, with equal truth, that he was carnal: literally and truly both spiritual and carnal. The law requires us to love God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength; and our neighbor as ourselves. Romans 7 - NIV: Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? Chapter Contents. In every believer, and in no one else, there are these two principles, — sin and grace, flesh and spirit, the law of the members and the law of the mind. He might have described more generally the incessant combat between the old and new natures in the believer; but he does this more practically, as well as more efficiently, by laying open the secrets of his own heart, and exhibiting it in his own person. We are said not to know a person whom we do not choose to recognize. Copyright StatementThese files are public domain. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ice/romans-7.html. (14-25) Commentary on Romans 7:1-6 (Read Romans 7:1-6) 8 But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! - When you marry, you are bound to your spouse until death do you part. Romans 7 Commentary, One of over 110 Bible commentaries freely available, this commentary, as set of 17 volumes on the New Testament, the result of Barclay's dedicated work 9 Once, when there was no Law, I used to be alive; but when the commandment came, sin came to life. He hath made it the inviolable law of His kingdom. If the law is holy, and just, and good, how could it be found by the Apostle to be unto death? But when this Apostle, whose life was spent in laboring for the glory of God; when he, whose blameless conduct was such as to confound his enemies who sought occasion against him; when he, who finished his course with joy, having fought a good fight, and kept the faith; when he, whose conscience enabled him to look back with satisfaction on the past, and forward with joy to the future; when he, who stood ready to receive the crown of righteousness which, by the eye of faith, he beheld laid up for him in heaven, — when one so favored, so distinguished, as the great Apostle of the Gentiles, is himself constrained, in turning his eye inward upon the rebellious strivings of his old nature, to cry out, ‘O wretched man that I am!’ — what a wonderful exhibition do we behold of the malignity of that sin, which has so deeply poisoned and corrupted our original nature, that death itself is needful in order to sever its chains and destroy its power in the soul! 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