week 13 day 5

Read Romans 7

7:1–6 Paul continued to establish the law (3:31) by showing that through Christ believers have died to the law’s condemnation so that they might live lives of righteousness. Apart from Christ, the demands of the law are upon the flesh. This continues the thrust from Romans 4. First, faith precedes and makes possible the way to righteousness (Rom. 4). Second, faith is secure (Rom. 5). Third, through the death of Christ believers are free to present themselves to God (Rom. 6). There is a standard for behavior under grace (6:1, 15–17).

Paul showed one exception to his observation in 7:1; one can live and still be free from the law’s demands. In 6:14 Paul made the statement “you are not under law,” and now he returns to develop that subject. The major point that he makes is that death dissolves the dominion of the law. Paul used marriage to illustrate the concept (7:2–3) and then applied the teaching (7:4–6). Believers have died to the law and have been joined to a new master, Christ. Paul consistently taught that death brings an end to a marriage (7:2; cf. 1 Cor. 7:39). Used in this context, the word “bound” (7:2) means married. What is the parallel being drawn here? Just as a woman and man become one flesh in marriage (Gen. 2:24), people are bound to the law while living as sons of Adam. Just as the woman is free from her husband when he dies, believers are free from the law when they have died to the law and sin. The death to sin and the law experienced by believers opens them up to a new state of freedom from the law. They are free to live out the death and resurrection of Christ through the Holy Spirit’s power.
To match the Christian experience of dying to sin and living to God, Paul used an illustration in which someone is set free by death, but still lives. Jesus Christ acted both as the husband in the believer’s bondage to the law and as the new and living husband in righteousness. The human illustration requires two husbands to make its point. But the great truth of Romans 7 is that Christ is at the same time the one husband who dies to the state of bondage and the one who brings his bride, the church, into a new state of freedom. Romans 6 shows that believers are dead to sin; Romans 7 shows they are dead to their old relationship to law.

7:7 These are Paul’s final words on the law, completing the thought begun in Romans 6. The key question of 7:7 continues the line of thought from 6:1–2, 15 concerning how law is to be viewed from the standpoint of grace. Paul’s point here is that the law reveals what sin is and must be distinguished from the sin itself. The law is not sin (5:20; 7:4–6), just as light is not that which it illuminates. Paul attacked legalism, not the law (7:14). Paul kept the situation in Romans 5 behind his discussions of law and righteousness. The believer could never escape his deathlink to Adam by keeping the law.

7:8–12 Paul’s focus in these verses was not on whether the person is regenerate or unregenerate. The power of sin is present in any person who tries to keep the law on his own. Note Galatians 5:17–26 as a summary of Romans 7–8.

7:13–20 Does the law cause death? Sin is based on the reality of being in Adam (Rom. 5). The presence of sin is what creates the inherent tension within people. This paves the way for the explanation in Romans 8 regarding this time of groaning (8:22–23, 26).

Who is this person who struggles so much with sin? Among the most prominent views, it is held that these verses describe (1) Paul’s life either before or after he became a Christian, (2) the experience of all people in Adam, (3) the experience of any person who relies on the law and his own efforts for sanctification, or (4) the experience of someone whose “true self” is struggling with the flesh (physical desires of the human body). It is likely that Paul was using himself as a picture of every human’s struggle with good and evil.

7:21–25 How does this relate to the Christian? Romans 7 is talking about a walking-in-the-flesh approach to being righteous. After describing the believer’s struggle with the flesh, Paul affirms that believers are not without hope for deliverance (7:25). The answer comes generally in 7:25 and more specifically in Romans 8.


Discussion question

When Paul says “we have been released from the law (vs 6), what implication does this have for Christian living?

Reflection question

In what area of your life is the spirit willing but the flesh is weak: Diet? Work? Spiritual disciplines? Exercise? other?