Verse by Verse

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.

⁹ I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

¹⁰ And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.

I was alive — in contrast to “sin is dead” in verse 8. Paul refers to freedom from a disturbing conscience, unaware of his alienation from God.

when the commandment came — He became aware of the law and its restrictions upon his natural tendencies

sin revived — manifested its evil

I died — Paul realized the sinfulness of sin and his lostness.

 bring life — promised life as a reward for obedience

The former imagined state of happiness had given place to a realization of the actual condition in the sight of God.

The blame for man’s condition is placed on man’s sin, not on the law (verses 8, 9, 11, 13).

Having learned this, we must die to everything of self. The law hastens this process by teaching us that there is no hope in self-effort. No man can keep the law of God. Let us not fall into the error of the Pharisees who boasted in the law; actually, they built themselves up, like a short man who buys platform-sole shoes. At the same time, they sought to whittle the divine law to their measure, and consoled themselves with the notion that they were almost reaching the measure of God’s standards. If we are guilty of such smugness, the Holy Spirit must crucify it before we can even begin to be sanctified. Holiness produced by the flesh, no matter what its form, is hateful to God. He wants only the holiness that comes by the Holy Spirit through Christ. — Barnhouse, page 230.

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

⁸ But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.

sin = evil

On the contrary —  “howbeit”

You shalt not covet — The law revealed the evil as such, but also revealed its evil source inside us.

opportunity = a military base. The law gave sin a base of operations.

sin was dead — Sin as a principle was not active, but the person was still sinful. It’s just that the sinfulness of sin wasn’t realized. It was torpid, like a snake in the sun, until stirred.

If freed from the Law, then, can we not live in sin? Yes, we can, but shall we? (Romans 6:2, 15). Did we not come to Christ in the first place to be delivered from sin? And did He not die our death so that the “old man” might truly be “a thing of the past”?

But do we not need the Law to help us live aright? No, for God would not have us do His will because we must, or to gain His favor. He, like any normal parent, would have us do His will because we love Him and respond in gratitude to His love for us. Such an attitude needs no law to threaten it. Does a loving mother need a law to make her care for her children? Does a grateful employee need a law to make him serve his employer faithfully?

Without the law sin was dead, Paul continues. As a fallen son of Adam it did not trouble him. And the Law being dead (in him) he was alive, reveling in the “freedom” of doing what he pleased. “But when the commandment came,” he says, “sin revived and I died,” i.e., the Law made him conscious that sin was alive in him and that he was dead, powerless to deliver himself from it. Thus, he says, “the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death (verse 10). — Stam, page 165-166.

The law does not cause sin, but in the carnal mind, it provokes sin.

⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.

⁶ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

flesh = unregenerate state, united to the law

passions = impulses, passions, affections, emotions

by the law — The law produced desires to do things that it forbade.

members = parts of our bodies

delivered = discharged, to make ineffective

that being dead — Believers have died to the claims of the law.

newness of spirit — new life lived through the Spirit’s power. Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6).

oldness of the letter — outward conformity to the law

Indeed, our relationship to the Law has been doubly dissolved; it has died to us and we have died to it. And now we can serve this blessed One who loved us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 5:25), not in the old, dry dead, “religious” way, because the Law says we must, but in fresh, joyous newness of spirit, our words and works expressing our gratitude and love. — Stam, page 164.

⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

body of Christ = His death, possible because He took on a human body. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14).

By Christ’s death, believers were put to death to the law.

This verse parallels verse three except that it isn’t the “first husband” (the law) that dies, but our former selves. Or, to put it another way, our covenant to the law died.

In the Old Testament we find the death of the Law clearly typified. Recall how, in the face of Israel’s flagrant disobedience, God said to Moses: Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them (Exodus 25:8). Would not this be a breach of the covenant He had just made with them, and which they had ratified? They had not “obeyed” His voice “indeed.” Already they were about to desecrate the very first commandment. But did you notice the first article of furniture God commanded Moses to make for the tabernacle? The words are: And they shall make an ark … (Exodus 25:10). But what is an ark? … The very same work here rendered “ark” is translated “coffin” in the last verse of Genesis. This harmonizes with the use to which this ark was put, for in Exodus 25 the commandment is given:

And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold … And thou shalt put the mercy seat above the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat (Exodus 25:16-17, 21-22).

Beautiful type! The Law had hardly been given when God said: “Put it in a coffin and cover the coffin with a mercy seat (to be sprinkled with the atoning blood — Leviticus 16:14-15), and there from the mercy seat, I will meet with you.” — Stam, pages 161-162.

² For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.

³ So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.

law of her husband = law concerning her husband

called = to be publicly know as, branded

Mark 10:12 — And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.

1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?

In Romans 6:15, Paul asks if we should sin because we’re not under the law but under grace. In the rest of chapter 6, he answered the second part of the question (under grace). Now he goes back to the first part (not under the law).

The point of chapter seven is that sanctification doesn’t come by law any more than salvation does.

Chapter six showed that we were dead to sin. Now chapter seven shows that we are dead to the law. Chapter six shows how we are delivered from sin as our master. Chapter seven shows how we are delivered from the law as our husband.

Paul shows the defeat of trying to keep the law by his use of personal pronouns.

• I — 30 times

• Me — 12 times

• My — 4 times

• Myself — 1 time

• Law — 23 times

This demonstrates failure to live out Galatians 2:20 — I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

law (in this verse) — law as such in the abstract

Out of the fifth verse a question arises. “The sinful passions which were through the law,” Paul says. If the inclination to sin comes from the law, then isn’t the law something  sinful? Paul answers that question in the second division by affirming that the law is holy. Look at the twelfth verse for a clear statement of this fact.

But another question will emerge right here. If the law is holy, then why cannot the law make the Christian holy? The answer follows logically. “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal” (7:14), and that is why a good and holy law cannot make a person holy. Not because there is anything the matter with the law, but because the person is “carnal.” — McClain, page 152.

²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Death is a wage (earned) of sin, but life is a gift (unearned) of God.

through — should be “in”

In the midst of teaching that the believer is free from the law and consequently may live in holiness, the apostle shows the great contrast between the life which was ours by nature and that which is ours by grace. The wages of sin is death. Does this teach that hell is the fate of those who commit sin? I think not; in fact, I do not believe that such teaching occurs in the Bible. True, the Bible warns of eternal punishment and eternal separation of the unregenerate from God; but this separation is based on the nature of the unregenerate man, not on his acts of sin. The born-again believer is free from eternal punishment because Christ bore the guilt of his sin and Adamic nature. Just as good works do not save us, so bad works cannot damn us. — Barnhouse, pg. 174-175