Verse by Verse

“Therefore,” as we know, is a key word in the study of logic … It is not strange, then, that we find this word used, in one form or another, no less than 70 times in the Romans Epistle, for Romans is a logical, as well as a theological, treatise.

… The word “therefore” stands out prominently in Paul’s discussion of the logic of the plan of salvation, in which he presents a series of logical propositions.

The first of these propositions is found in Romans 2:1 where, having proved that all men are sinners, including even the most self-righteous, he declares:

Therefore thou art inexcusable …

Then, demonstrating the fact that the Law cannot justify, but can only condemn the sinner, he offers his second logical proposition in Romans 3:20:

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His [God’s] sight …

Following this declaration with the good news that now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested … through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, he takes a third logical step in the proposition of Romans 3:28:

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Then an in-depth discussion of the imputation of the believer’s sins to Christ and of Christ’s righteousness to the believer leads the Apostle to his fourth logical proposition in Romans 5:1:

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This, in turn, leads him into a discussion of the believer’s deliverance from the bondage of sin (Chapter 6) and of the Law (Chapter 7), to his fifth logical proposition in Romans 8:1:

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

This proposition is his introduction to a precious chapter, in which the utter inefficacy of the Law is set over against the glorious efficacy of the Holy Spirit’s working in and through the believer, a chapter which opens with “no condemnation” and closes with “no separation.” — Stam, page 180-181.

²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

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.

body — physical body, the instrument of sin.

Paul doesn’t ask “What shall I do?, but “Who shall deliver me?”

I thank God — Paul’s answer to the question in verse 24. The Lord will deliver us when He returns and our bodies are redeemed.

law of God and law of sin — the stress is on the nature of each law.

²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

²² For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

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

law (verse 21) — probably referring to the principle laid out in the rest of the verse, but perhaps to the Mosaic Law

law (verse 22) — the same as “the law of my mind” in verse 23.

law in my members (verse 23) — principle that evil is present despite the desire to do good.

mind = new nature (in contrast to the flesh)

law of sin (verse 23) — the “another law” earlier in the verse

¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

Verse 15 contrasts good desires with bad acts.

Verse 19 contrasts good desires with a failure to act.

¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

But now = this being the case (not referring to time)

Do = practice, as in verse 15

no longer = it can no longer be maintained as an argument

flesh (as in Romans 6:19) = human nature apart from divine influence

good (agathos — first usage in verse 18) = beneficial

nothing good — even those things that seem good from a natural point of view are void of goodness without a right relationship with God

good (kalos — second usage in verse 18) = intrinsically good

Paul is saying that he is incapable of doing anything beneficial in his flesh that will produce real good.

¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

¹⁶ If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

understand — to recognize as a result of an experience. Paul is saying he doesn’t understand the results and character of being sold under sin.

that I do not — “do” (here) should be “practice” — it’s an ongoing activity to not do what he would

that I do — “do” (here) is a different word indicating mechanical acts without conscious aim.

law = moral excellence — Paul agrees with the law by disapproving what the law forbids. He acts contrary to the law but has a good opinion of it. His conflict isn’t with the law but with sin.

It is indeed true that a Christian is not the servant of iniquity. A Christian tries to resist the impulses of sin that dwell within him. To say that a Christian yields himself up to sin, that he cannot help obeying sin, this is sheer lawlessness — antinomianism. So also is the attempt to take these words the evil I would not, that I do, and make them mean that the Christian does and must serve sin. I do not deny that lawlessness has been taught from this passage, but certainly not rightfully so. Are the words “to do evil” capable of no other meaning than that in which we apply them to the habitual service of sin? Is there no inner man, no inward world of thought and feeling which His eye scrutinizes? Is not a thought of foolishness sin? (Proverbs 24:9). Is not sin the slightest bias toward anything false or wrong? Or the slightest turning from the path of holiness? We do things which in “the new man” we hate. Although the world will call it not sin but human frailty, the law of God determines otherwise. It is characteristic of lawlessness to say that impulses to sin are not sin, if resisted.

Grace, it is true, does not impute these impulses to a believer as sin; but we are here discussing not the pardoning power of grace, but what grace pardons. If an active power within us hinders, mars and taints our efforts toward good and renders hopeless the performance of perfect good, and if we cannot free ourselves from the presence of this evil power, or its working, then we are subject to its actions which, in “the new man,” we hate. — Barnhouse, page 240.

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It is reported that near Tarsus, where Saul was born, a tribe of people lived who inflicted a most terrible penalty upon a murderer. They fastened the body of the victim to that of the killer, tying shoulder to shoulder, back to back, thigh to thigh, arm to arm, and then drove the murderer from the community. So tight were the bonds that he could not free himself, and after a few days the death in the body communicated itself to the living flesh of the murderer. As he stalked the land, there was none to help him. He had only the frightful prospect of gangrenous death. He could well cry in horror, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? — Barnhouse, page 241.

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Even though the believer can live in triumph over eruptions of sin, the old carnal nature is still within, contaminating everything. Suppose sewage is carried away in a wooden flume which passes a clear-flowing spring. The flume loses a board, and the sewage pours into the spring, thoroughly contaminating it. Its waters become unsafe to drink. Just as this condition can be remedied, the sewage of the believer’s Adamic nature also can be contained, its death dammed so that it cannot completely contaminate the spring. The Holy Spirit enters the believer, and holiness flows from His presence. But in some Christians the Adamic nature spurts through at weak spots. Such Christians are carnal, living like unsaved man (1 Corinthians 3:3). This need not be, for God tells us, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). There are no ifs, ands, buts or maybes about that promise. It is categorical and final. To apply my illustration, the flume need not lose any boards; the restraining power of the Holy Spirit will confine the sewage so that the contamination of death need never more flow.

However, my illustration in no way supports the false doctrine of the eradication of the old nature. The first phase of the illustration condemns the doctrine of antinomianism. But that flume and its sewage are within every one of us. Even though no boards come off to foul the spring, there is always seepage; this keeps the water from having the unmixed perfection of Jesus Christ, which we shall possess only in Heaven. When technicians analyze the water of natural ponds, lakes and springs, they never find it completely sterile. Although it may be fit for human use, every analyst reports “traces” of contamination. — Barnhouse, pages 242-243.

What student of the Word can read Romans 7:15-25 without being reminded of Galatians 2:20? I am crucified with Christ —  nevertheless I live —  yet not I …

Indeed, in Romans 7:15-25, more than in Galatians 2:20 or any part of Paul’s epistles, the question keeps arising: Of whom does the Apostle speak here, of the “old man,” the “new man,” or the whole man? Here we must ask God for special insight to grasp the sense of His Word. In some cases, however, the meaning is quite clear.

In verse 18 the words “in me” obviously refer to the “old man,” for he immediately explains, that is, in my flesh.” But in verse 15 the words “I allow not” and “I hate” clearly refer to the “new man.”

In verse 17 the “sin that dwelleth in me” must, of course, be associated with the “old man,” but the “me” in which the sin dwells is the whole man, or the man as a whole, while the word “I” in “it is no more I that do it” clearly refers to the “new man.”

In verse 21 the phrase “evil is present with me” might at first seem to mean that evil is at hand to tempt, but the preceding verse (verse 20), followed by the words “I find then a law,” indicates that in verse 21 he speaks of sin in him. Why then does he use the term “present with“? The explanation is found in the identity of the person referred to. Here the “I” that “would do good” is obviously the “new man,” and the “old man,” who does the evil, is “present with” him, both the old and the new residing in the whole man.

These are but examples of the problem and its basic solution. The child of God who sincerely desires to please Him and recognizes the fact that the old nature and the new dwell side-by-side within will not find it too difficult to understand “Who’s Who” in this passage.

The phrase “it is no more I that do it,” found twice in this passage (verses 17, 20), might seem to the careless reader to indicate that Paul is shedding the blame for the sins he commits. This is by no means the case. It is rather a note of rejoicing that the new man in him has no connection with sin. It does not and cannot sin, for it is Christ in him. The new man is the resurrected man, living the resurrection life of Christ. Also, the Apostle does what he urges us to do in Romans 6:11; he reckons himself to be “dead indeed” unto sin, for while the old nature is still active in us experientially, and will be until “the redemption of the body,” it has died so far as God is concerned, for He sees us now in the person of His crucified, buried, risen Son. Thus the same man who cried, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me ..?” could also exclaim, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord” and “There is therefor now no [more] condemnation“! — Stam, pages 176-177.

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

If the law is good, why can’t it bring holiness? Because I am carnal (Romans 8:3).

Paul’s progression:

1. The law is spiritual (verse 14).

2. There is nothing good in the flesh (verse 18).

3. So there’s a result — when I would do good, evil is present (verse 21).

spiritual = holy, righteous and good (verse 12). Invisible and powerful — originating with God and in harmony with His character.

carnal = fleshly (in ethical, as opposed to material, sense)

sold under = fully dominated by — refers to the futility of the law as a means of deliverance.

Verse 14 is the end of Paul’s answer to the question in verse seven and an introduction to the rest of the chapter.

¹¹ For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

¹² Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

¹³ Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

Satan deceived Eve. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat (Genesis 3:13). And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression (1 Timothy 2:14). Here, sin deceives Paul.

law is holy — It contains the nature and character of God and brings life with total obedience (which nobody can achieve).

commandment — law in detail

holy and just and good (beneficial) — character of the lawgiver, God

The purpose of the law was to show the heinous character of sin.

What sin worked was God’s purpose through the law, demonstrating the true nature and effects of sin.