Romans 7 – The Law and Sin.

The Problems of Sanctification Experienced.

Before we discuss these problems, it is good to summarise what sanctification is and means to the believer. Sanctification is to be set apart to God to live a holy life, and as we have seen is our state before God, and can be defined as follows.

1. Under the power of the spirit

2. To manifest the character of Christ

3. To show forth the fruits of salvation

4. To own the Lordship of Christ over one’s life

5. To walk in fellowship with Christ Jesus, saying no to all things that would break that fellowship

6. To be at peace with God

7. That sin may appear exceeding sinful

Paul commences Romans 7 with the statement, ‘Know ye not?’ Paul is addressing the Jewish Christians (to them that know the Law) the principle of the law, that the law has dominion over a man as long as the man liveth.

The opening statement, ‘Know ye not?’ connects chapter 7 with chapter 6, explaining the statement in 6v14, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law but under grace.

7v15 – What then, shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

7v16 – ‘Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourself servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness.’

The discussion in this chapter is to do with the law which is always a thorny issue at all times in regard to the question of sanctification. The problem of our two natures, the old nature versus the new nature, by the old nature we serve sin, by the new nature we serve Christ, as the above Scriptures tell us.

In chapter 6 we have been set free from the law, in order to live in the newness of life, by the grace of God, empowered by God to render our service to him.

In chapter 7v1-6, we have an illustration how we have been set free from the old nature.

7v2 – Paul uses the illustration of marriage to show how death breaks a marriage contract. A woman is bound by the marriage law to her husband as long as he lives, but if he dies she is released from the law.

7v3 – If a woman marries another man while her husband is living she is guilty of adultery. If however her husband dies, she is free to marry again without any cloud of guilt of wrongdoing. Marriage is an indissoluble union, which in general is broken by death of one of the partners.

7v4 – In applying the illustration, just as death breaks the marriage relationship, so death of the believer with Christ breaks the jurisdiction of the law over him. The law is not stated as dead, the law is still needed to produce the conviction of sin, Paul having in mind the Jewish believers before they come to Christ. We have been dead to the law through the body of Christ i.e. the giving up of his body in death, in order that we may be joined to the risen Christ, one marriage has been broken by death and a new one has been formed, and now we are free from the law in order to bear fruit to Christ.

7v5 – In our flesh we did manifest fruit unto death. The flesh was our standing before God in our unconverted days. We depended upon what we were in ourselves, what we could do, to win acceptance with God. In the flesh is opposite to being in Christ.

7v6 – No longer are we in bondage to the law, the death of Christ has made us free to serve in the newness of the Spirit. The manifesting of the spirit filled life, giving joyful service with adoring love for our Lord and Saviour.

7v7-8 – The problem of indwelling sin is the law sin? God forbid. I had not known sin apart from the Law. The law reveals the fact of sin. Sin is unknowable without the law. The law reveals the power of sin.

7v9 – Paul lived without regard to the law in his unconverted days. When he came to realise the fact of the law, he became a guilty sinner unable to keep it and therefore condemned to death by it.

7v10-11 – ‘The commandment which was ordained to life I found unto death.’ If man could have fulfilled the law, being obedient in all its demands and requirements, it would have been unto life, due to the fall of man this became impossible. The law gave a dimension to sin, brought man into bondage, making him a slave unto sin therefore death.

7v12 & 13 – The law is holy, just and good. The law is an expression of God’s righteousness, and is intrinsically good. Sin, not the law produces death. The law shows us that we are helpless, under the control of sin. Points us to Christ, the only one who can help us.

7v14 & 15

The Natural man – receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.

The Carnal man – child of God undelivered, practicing the desires of the flesh.

The Spiritual man – the Christian who lives and walks in the spirit (see 1Corinthians 3v1-4).

The carnal man is sold under sin, subject to the power of an evil nature, although he has died in Christ, he is not bearing fruit of the new life.

No power to choose the good and hate the evil.

No power to show forth the new nature.

The indwelling sin in the carnal man’s life dominates his desires, controlling his life which constantly gives way to the fleshly desires of the old nature. Thus he says, I find in my members a desire to do good, but evil is present, and the good I would I do not, and what I hate that I do.

7v16 – But if what I would not that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good. In this verse we find 1. The moral excellency of the law.

2. The believer admitting that what he does he would not, he is upholding the law that it is good.

7v17 – ‘So now it is no more I that do it but sin dwelleth in me.’ The word ‘I’, no more, and sin, are to be stressed. I, is the true self. From verse 16 we draw the conclusion, the culprit is not the new man in Christ, but the sinful corrupt nature that dwells in him.

We must be careful here, not to excuse our sinning by passing it off to indwelling sin. We are responsible for what we do and we must not use this verse to abdicate our responsibility for our own actions. All Paul is doing here is tracking down the source of his sinful behaviour, not excusing it.

7v18 – 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. It is noteworthy the personal pronoun ‘I’ is used 25 times from v14-25, as stated above ‘I’ is the true self. Paul uses the word flesh. This term means the evil corrupt nature which is inherited from Adam and is in every believer. It is the source of every evil action a person performs. There is nothing good in it as long as the flesh rules –

1. There will be no holiness of life.

2. No walking in fellowship with God.

3. No growth spiritually.

4. No power to commit good.

5. No power to overcome evil.

6. No pleasure for God.

Death to the flesh by dying with Christ is the only answer. The hopelessness of the flesh is expressed by Paul in the words – but how to perform that which is good I find not.

7v19 – ‘For the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do.’

Thus the conflict of the two natures. The good I would I do not. Paul expresses a total failure to act, instead evil is practiced. The old nature in total domination.

7v20 & 21 – ‘Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me.’

The above verse should be read along with verse 17 above. Paul continues dealing with the old nature and the new. The sin principle, the desire, and the action is the fruit of the old nature, proving the flesh in every believer does not come under the work of redemption. There is a battle to be fought, the power to say ‘no’ is required. The believer must be an overcomer, called upon to live a victorious life.

Again let me make it clear, that Paul is not excuses himself, or disclaiming responsibility, he is simply stating he has not found deliverance from the power of indwelling sin, and when he sins it is not with the desire of the new man. He finds a principle or law at work in his life causing all his good intentions to end in failure. When he wants to do what is right he ends up by sinning.

7v22-23 – For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.

1. The law of God – the revealed will of God.

2. The inward man – the new nature.

3. The law of the mind – guides the inward man approving the revealed will of God.

4. The law of sin – is that which brings death (spiritual).

For I rejoice in the revealed will of God by the new nature in Christ Jesus.

7v23 – There is a contrary principle at work in his life, striving against the nature and making him a captive of indwelling sin. In this verse, the other law is the law of sin, a principle of evil keeping the will captive. The warring member is the law of God in v22 and the law of sin in v23 both want mastery in the life of the believer, and to whom ye yield his servants ye are to obey.

7v24 – O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death. Paul groans due to the tragic condition of defeat and frustration with sin, the body of this death. Not the physical body, but the inherited sin nature received from Adam. In his wretchedness, he acknowledges that he is unable to deliver Himself, from the bondage of a sinful nature, the power to deliver must come from outside himself.

7v25 – I thank God through the Lord Jesus Christ so then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God but with my flesh the law of self. Total deliverance from the law of sin i.e. the flesh, will only occur when the Lord raptures our bodies, then we will have a new body not subject to sin. In the present, the old nature will constantly war with the new nature. The answer is found in a sanctified life, knowing the power of deliverance (giving the power to say no to sin, and to lead a triumphant life). The subject of chapter 8 will affirm this, giving assurance for the present and the future.