Romans 7 Explained

Romans 7 is one of those chapters that can make people stop and say, “Wait a minute.  What exactly is Paul talking about?”  The chapter moves through several connected ideas, and if we read it carefully, Paul is not blaming God's Law for the problem.  He is showing us what the Law can do, what it cannot do, and why we need Jesus Christ.

Paul begins by speaking to people who understand law.  He uses marriage as an example because everyone could understand that a law has authority over a person while that person is alive.  A married woman, for example, is bound to her husband while he lives.  If her husband dies, that legal bond ends.  Paul uses that simple picture to explain something much bigger about believers and the Law.

Then he brings the comparison directly to believers.  He says, “So then, my brothers, you also were put to death to the Law through the body of Christ,” Romans 7:4.  Notice what Paul actually says.  He does not say that the Law died. He says that we were put to death to the Law through Christ's body . The purpose was not to leave us without direction or make us lawless.  It was “so that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God,” Romans 7:4.

That is the first major point Paul establishes. The believer's relationship has changed. We are no longer under the Law as the governing covenant that once held us. We now belong to Christ. And Paul immediately tells us why that matters. We are supposed to bear fruit for God.

Paul then explains the condition we were in before this change: “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the Law were at work in our bodies to bear fruit for death,” Romans 7:5. The important expression here is “in the flesh.” Paul's word is sarx, meaning “flesh.” He is not simply talking about having a physical body. He is describing human life operating according to the flesh rather than according to God. The Law could identify what was wrong, but it could not change the sinful power working within a person.

That leads Paul to the next point. “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to what bound us, so that we serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the written code,” Romans 7:6. The word translated “released” comes from a Greek word meaning to be discharged, released, or set free from an obligation. Paul is describing a genuine change in relationship. The believer now serves God in “newness of the Spirit.”

Paul knows exactly what someone might ask next: “If we have been released from the Law, does that mean the Law itself is sinful?”

His answer is immediate: “Absolutely not!” Romans 7:7.

Then Paul explains why. “I would not have known sin except through the Law. For I would not have known coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet,’” Romans 7:7. The word he uses for coveting or desiring wrongly is epithymeō. The command did not create sin. It revealed sin.

Think about what Paul is saying. The Law can put a name on something that is already wrong. It can say, “This is sin.” Without that command, Paul would not have understood the sinful nature of that particular desire in the same way. The Law shines a light on the problem, but shining a light on a problem is not the same thing as removing the problem.

Paul goes even further. He says, “But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the Law, sin was dead,” Romans 7:8. The word for “opportunity” is aphormē. It can describe a starting point or an opportunity from which something begins to act.

Paul personifies sin here. Sin takes the commandment and uses it as an opportunity to stir up rebellion. The commandment itself is not evil. Sin is taking something good and using it for an evil purpose.

Paul describes what happened to him: “Once I was alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died,” Romans 7:9. The commandment that was intended to bring life became, through sin, an occasion that resulted in death. Paul explains, “For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me,” Romans 7:11.

Now Paul makes his position about the Law completely plain. “So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good,” Romans 7:12.

There should be no confusion about Paul's argument. The Law is not the enemy. Sin is the enemy. The Law is holy. The commandment is righteous. The commandment is good. What sin does with the commandment is the problem.

Paul asks another question: “Did that which is good, then, become death to me?”

Again, his answer is, “Absolutely not!” Romans 7:13. Sin produced death through something that was good. The purpose was to expose sin for what it really is, so that sin might be shown to be exceedingly sinful.

At this point Paul changes the way he describes the struggle. He says, “For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am fleshly, sold as a slave under sin,” Romans 7:14. The Greek word for “spiritual” is pneumatikos. The Law comes from God and reflects God's holiness. The problem is not that the Law is inadequate in itself. The problem is the condition of the person confronting God's holy standard while still dealing with sin in the flesh.

Paul now describes the conflict in very personal language: “For I do not understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want; instead, I do what I hate,” Romans 7:15. He recognizes that what he is doing is wrong. His mind agrees with what is right, yet his actions do not always follow that knowledge.

That distinction becomes important because Paul is not saying that he has no desire for what is good. Quite the opposite. He says, “For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present with me, but the doing of the good is not,” Romans 7:18. Notice the qualification: “in my flesh.” Paul is not saying that every part of him is evil or that he has no desire for good. He is identifying the flesh as the place where sin operates.

He continues, “For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil that I do not want, this I keep on doing,” Romans 7:19. Paul is describing a battle between what he knows and wants inwardly and what sin is producing through the flesh.

That brings him to a very important conclusion: “So now, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me that is doing it,” Romans 7:17. He says the same thing again in verse 20. Paul is not giving himself an excuse for sin. He is identifying the source of the conflict. There is a sinful power operating within the flesh that is fighting against what he knows to be right.

Then Paul uses the word nomos, which normally means “law,” in another way. He says, “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me,” Romans 7:21. Here Paul is not suddenly talking about the Law of Moses as though the Law itself is evil. He is describing an operating principle or power that he has discovered through this struggle.

He explains the conflict even more clearly: “For I delight in the Law of God according to the inner person,” Romans 7:22. That sentence matters. Paul says he delights in God's Law. His inner person agrees with it.

“But I see another law at work in my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me,” Romans 7:23.

Now the picture is complete. Paul has shown us two things operating in conflict. His inner person delights in God's Law, while another power is working through the flesh and fighting against what his mind knows to be right.

And that conflict brings him to his cry for help: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Romans 7:24.

Notice the question. Paul does not ask, “What rule will rescue me?” He asks, “Who will rescue me?” That is the point toward which the entire chapter has been moving. The Law can reveal sin. The Law can identify sin. The Law can show what is righteous and good. But the Law cannot rescue a person from the power of sin.

Paul immediately gives the answer: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:25.

Then he summarizes the conflict one last time: “So then, I myself serve the Law of God with my mind, but with my flesh the law of sin,” Romans 7:25.

Romans 7 therefore leaves us with a very clear understanding. God's Law is not sinful. It is holy, righteous, and good. The problem is sin. Sin uses what is good as an opportunity to expose the weakness and rebellion of the flesh. The Law can tell us what sin is, but it cannot rescue us from sin's power. Even knowing what is right and wanting what is right does not give the flesh the power to carry it out.

Paul ends the chapter by pointing us directly to the One who can rescue us. The answer is Jesus Christ. And that is exactly where Romans 8 begins to take us: away from the helplessness of trying to overcome sin through human strength and into the life and power of the Spirit.

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Prayer:

Father, I thank You for showing me the truth about sin and for reminding me that I cannot rescue myself. Help me to recognize what is wrong within me, to turn from it, and to trust completely in Jesus Christ, my Rescuer. Teach me to walk in the newness of Your Spirit and to bear fruit for You. Amen.

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Don't take my word for it. Like the Bereans in Acts 17:11, search the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so. Open your Bible, study God's Word for yourself, and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth. Don't simply accept my conclusions. If what I've written agrees with Scripture, hold fast to it. If it doesn't, let God's Word be your final authority.

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