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Chapter VII

Contents

The apostle, having shown in the preceding chapter that the doctrines of grace do not give liberty to sin, but, on the contrary, are productive of holiness, in this chapter first illustrates and confirms his position, that we are not under the law, but under grace, and shows the consequences of this change in our relation to god. While under the law, we brought forth fruit unto sin; when under grace, we bring forth fruit unto righteousness. This occupies the first section, Romans 7:1-6. The second, vv. 7-25, contains an exhibition of the operation of the law, derived from the apostle’s own experience, and designed to show its insufficiency to produce sanctification, as he had before proved it to be insufficient for justification. This section consists of two parts, Romans 7:7-13, which exhibit the operation of the law in producing conviction of sin; and Romans 7:14-25, which show that in the inward conflict between sin and holiness, this law cannot afford the believer any belief. His only hope of victory is in the grace of the lord jesus christ.

Romans 7:1-6

Analysis

This section is an illustration of the position assumed in Romans 7:14 of the preceding chapter: we are not under law, but under grace. Paul remarks, as a general fact, that the authority of laws is not perpetual, Romans 7:1. For example, the law of marriage binds a woman to her husband only so long as he lives. When he is dead, she is free from the obligation which that law imposed, and is at liberty to marry another man, Romans 7:2, Romans 7:3. So we being free from the law, which was our first husband, are at liberty to marry another, even Christ. We are freed from the law by the death of Christ, Romans 7:4. The fruit of our first marriage was sin, Romans 7:5. The fruit of the second is holiness, Romans 7:6.

The apparent confusion in this passage arises from the apostle’s not carrying the figure regularly through. As a woman is free from obligation to her husband by his death, so we are free from the law by its death, is obviously the illustration intended. But the apostle, out of respect probably to the feelings of his readers, avoids saying the law is dead, but expresses the idea that we are free from it, by saying, we are dead to the law by the body of Christ. “Caeterum nequis conturbetur, quod inter se comparata membra non omnino respondent: praemonendi sumus, apostolum data opera voluisse exigua inversione deflectere asperioris verbi invidiam. Deburat dicere, ut ordine similitudinem contexeret: Mulier post mortem viri soluta est a conjugii vinculo, Lex, quae locum habet mariti erga nos, mortua es nobis: ergo sumus ab ejus potestate liberi. Sed ne offenderet Judaeos verbi asperitate, si dixisset legem esse mortuam, deflectione est usus, dicens nos legi esse mortuos.” Calvin.

Commentary

Romans 7:1

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? In the English version of the words, ἤ ἀγνοεῖτε, the particle ἤ or, is overlooked. As that particle is almost always used in reference to the immediately preceding context, Meyer and others insist on connecting this verse with Romans 6:23 : ‘The gift of God is eternal life; or are ye ignorant.’ That is, you must recognize eternal life as a gift, unless ye are ignorant that the law does not bind the dead. But this is evidently forced. The idea which ἤ is used to recall, is that in Romans 6:14 : “Ye are not under the law, but under grace.” This is the main idea in the whole context, and is that which the following passage carries out and enforces. The thing to be proved is, that we are not under the law. The proof is, that the law does not bind the dead. But we are dead, therefore we are free from the law. This idea, that the law binds a man only so long as he lives, is presented as a general principle, and is then illustrated by a specific example. That example is the law of marriage, which ceases to bind the parties when one of them is dead. So the law, as a covenant of works, ceases to bind us when death has loosed its bonds. We are as free as the woman whose husband is dead. “Sit generalis propositio,” says Calvin, “legem non in alium finem latam esse hominibus, quam ut praesentem vitam moderetur: apud mortuos nullum ei superesse locum. Cui postea hypothesin subjiciet, nos illi esse mortuos in Christi corpore.” Brethren; a mode of address applicable to all believes. He speaks to his spiritual brethren, and not to the Jewish converts alone, his brethren according to the flesh. For I speak to them that know the law. That is, I speak to you as to persons who know the law; not, I speak to those among you who know the law. He does not distinguish one class of his readers from another. That would require the article in the dative, τοῖς γινώσκουσιν, to the knowers, as opposed to those among them who did not know. He assumes that all his readers were fully cognizant of the principle, that the law has dominion over a man so long as he liveth. What law does the apostle here refer to it? It may be understood of law without any restriction. Law, all laws, (in the aspect in which they are contemplated,) bind a man only so long as he lives. Or, it may mean specifically the Mosaic law; or, more definitely still, the marriage law. There is no reason for these limitations. The proposition is a general one; though the application is doubtless to the law of which he had been speaking, and specially to the law referred to in Romans 6:14, from which he says we are now free. That certainly is not the Mosaic law considered as a transient economy, or as a system of religious rites and ceremonies designed for one people, and for a limited period. It is the Mosaic law considered as a revelation of the moral law, which is holy, just, and good, and which says, “Thou shalt not covet.” He illustrates the mode of our deliverance from that law, as a covenant of works, by a reference to the admitted fact, that law has no dominion over the dead.

The original leaves it doubtful whether the last clause of the verse is to be rendered “as long as he lives,” or “as long as it lives.” The decision of this point depends on the context. In favor of the latter it may be said,

1. That it is better suited to the apostle’s design, which is to show that the law is dead or abrogated.

2. That in Romans 6:6 (according to the common reading) the law is spoken of as being dead.

3. And, especially, that in Romans 7:2, Romans 7:3, the woman is said to be free from the law, not by her own, but by her husband’s death; which would seem to require that, in the other part of the comparison, the husband (i.e. the law) should be represented as dying, and not the wife, that is, those bound by the law. But, on the other hand, it must be admitted that the law lives, and the law dies, are very unusual modes of expression, and perfectly unexampled in Paul’s writings, if the doubtful case in Romans 7:6 be excepted.

4. This interpretation is inconsistent with Romans 7:2. It is not the law that dies: “The woman is bound to her husband as long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead,” etc.

5. Throughout the passage it is said that we are dead to the law (Romans 7:4,) delivered from the law (Romans 7:6,) and not that the law is dead. The common interpretation, therefore, is to be preferred: ‘The law has dominion as long and no longer than the person lives, to whom it has respect. For example, the law of marriage ceases to be binding when one of the parties is dead.’ Instead of understanding the words, as long as he liveth, of the natural or physical life, as is done by the great body of interpreters, Philippi and others say the meaning is, ‘That the law binds a man so long as his natural, corrupt, unregenerated life continues.

When the old man is crucified, he is free from the law.’ We have here, he says, the same idea as is expressed above, Romans 6:7, ‘He that dieth is justified from sin.’ This interpretation is not only unnatural, but it necessitates a forced allegorical interpretation of the following verses.

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Romans 7:2

For the woman which hath a husband, γυνὴ ὕπανδρος, viro subjecta, married, answering to úÇÌçÇú àÄéùÈÑäÌ, Numbers 5:29. Is bound by the law to her living husband, τῷ ζῶντι ἀνδρί i.e. to her husband while living. But if her husband be dead, she is freed from the law of her husband. Is freed from, κατήργηται ἀπό is an expression which never occurs in common Greek. The same idiom is found in Romans 7:6 of this chapter, and in Galatians 5:4. Καταργεῖν means to invalidate, to render void. The idea is, that the relation to her husband is broken off, and she is free. Law of her husband means law relating to her husband. The phrase is analogous to those often used in the Old Testament — “law of the sacrifice;” “law of leprosy;” “law of defilement.” According to the common interpretation of this verse ga&r (for) introduces a confirmatory illustration: ‘Law is not of perpetual obligation; for example, a married woman is free from the law which bound her to her husband, by his death.’ There is of course a slight incongruity between the illustration and the form in which the principle is stated in the first verse. There it is said that the law has dominion over a man so long as he lives. The illustration is, that a wife is free (not when she dies),when her husband dies. For this and other reasons, many interpreters do not regard this verse as presenting an example, but as an allegory. Those who take this view give different explanations. After Augustine, Melanchthon, Beza, and others, say: ‘The husband is our corrupt nature, (vis illa nativa, as Beza calls it, ciens in nobis affectiones peccatorum;) the wife is the soul, or our members. When, therefore, the corrupt nature (or old man) dies, the soul is free from that husband, and is at liberty to marry another.’ Others, with much more regard to the contest, say that the wife is the Church, the husband the law; so Origen, Chrysostom, Olshausen, Philippi, etc. This is indeed the application which the apostle makes in the following verses, but it is not what is said in Romans 7:2, Romans 7:3. Here we have only an example, illustrating the truth of the assertion in Romans 7:1.

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Romans 7:3

Romans 7:3 is an amplification and confirmation of what is said in Romans 7:2 : That a woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives, is plain, because she is called an adulteress if she marries another man while her husband lives. And that she is free from that law when he dies, is plain, because she is in that case no adulteress, though she be married to another man. She shall be called, χρηματίσει authoritatively and solemnly declared to be. Χρηματίζειν (from χρῆμα) is literally to transact business, and specially the business of the state, to give decisions, or decrees; and specially in the New Testament, to utter divine responses, oracula edere, divinitus admonere; see Matthew 2:12, Matthew 2:22; Luke 2:26; Acts 10:22; Hebrews 8:5; Hebrews 11:7. Compare Romans 11:4.

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Romans 7:4

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ. As the woman is free from the law by the death of her husband, so ye also (καὶ ὑμεῖς) are freed from the law by the death of Christ. This is the application made by the apostle of the illustration contained in Romans 7:2, Romans 7:3. The law is our first husband; we were bound to satisfy its demands. But the law being dead, (i.e., fulfilled in Christ,) we are free from the obligation of obedience to it as the condition of justification, and are at liberty to accept the gospel. “Lex velut maritus fuit,” says Calvin, “sub cujus jugo detinemur, donec mortua est. Post legis mortem Christus nos assumpsit, id est, a lege solutos adjunxit sibi. Ergo Christo e mortuis suscitato copulati adhaerere ei soli debemus; atque ut aeterna est Christi vita post resurrectionem, ita posthac nullum futurum est divortium.” Instead of saying, The law is dead, as the consistency of the figure would demand, the apostle expresses the same idea by saying, Ye are dead to the law, or rather, are slain, put to death, ἐθανατώθητε. This form of expression is probably used because the death of Christ, in which we died, was an act of violence. He was put to death, and we in him. To be slain to the law, means to be freed from the law by death. Death, indeed, not our own, but ours vicariously, as we were crucified in Christ, who died on the cross in our behalf, and in our stead. It is therefore added, by the body of Christ, i.e., by his body as slain. He redeemed us from the law by death; “by being a curse,” Galatians 3:13; “by his blood,” Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:13; “by his flesh,” Ephesians 2:15; “by the cross,” Ephesians 2:16; “by the body of his flesh,” Colossians 1:22. These are all equivalent expressions. They all teach the same doctrine, that Christ bore our sins upon the tree; that his sufferings and death were a satisfaction to justice, and, being so intended and accepted, they effect our deliverance from the penalty of the law. We are therefore free from it. Although the law continues evermore to bind us as rational creatures, it no longer prescribes the conditions of our salvation. It is no longer necessary that we should atone for our own sins, or work out a righteousness such as the law demands. Christ has done that for us. We are thus freed from the law, that we should be married to another, εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι, as expressing the design. The proximate design of our freedom from the law, is our union with Christ; and the design of our union with Christ is, that we should bring forth fruit unto God, that is, that we should be holy. Here, therefore, as in the preceding chapter, the apostle teaches that the law cannot sanctify; that it is necessary we should be delivered from its bondage, and be reconciled to God, before we can be holy. He to whom we are thus united, is said to be he who is raised from the dead. As Christ is spoken of, or referred to as having died, it was appropriate to refer to him as now living. It is to the living and life-giving Son of God that we are united by faith and the indwelling of the Spirit; and therefore it is that we are no longer barren or unfruitful, but are made to bring forth fruit unto God. “Sed ultra progreditur apostolus,” says Calvin, “nempe solutum fuisse legis vinculum, non ut nostro arbitrio vivamus, sicuti mulier vidua sui juris est, dum in coelibatu degit; sed alteri marito nos jam esse devinctos: imo de manu (ut aiunt) in manum a lege ad Christum nos transiisse.”

It need hardly be remarked, that the law of which the apostle is here speaking, is not the Mosaic law considered as the Old Testament economy. It is not the doctrine of this or of similar passages, that Christ has merely delivered us from the yoke of Jewish institutions, in order that we may embrace the simpler and more spiritual dispensation of the gospel. The law of which he speaks, is the law which says, “The man that doeth these things shall live by them,” Romans 10:5; Galatians 3:12; that is, which requires perfect obedience as the condition of acceptance. It is that which says, “Thou shalt not covet,” Romans 7:7; without which sin is dead, Romans 7:8; which is holy, just and good, Romans 7:12; which is spiritual, Romans 7:14, etc. It is that law by whose works the Gentiles cannot be justified, Romans 3:20; from whose curse Christ has redeemed not the Jews only, but also the Gentiles, Galatians 3:13, Galatians 3:14. It is plain, therefore, that Paul here means by the law, the will of God, as a rule of duty, no matter how revealed. From this law, as prescribing the terms of our acceptance with God, Christ has delivered us. It is the legal system, which says, “Do this and live,” that Christ has abolished, and introduced another, which says, “He that believes shall be saved.” Since, however, as remarked above (Romans 6:14), the Old Testament economy, including the Mosaic institutions, was the form in which the law, as law, was ever present to the minds of the apostle and his readers; and since deliverance from the legal system, as such, involved deliverance from that economy, it is not wonderful that reference to that dispensation should often be made; or that Paul should at times express the idea of deliverance from the law, as such, by terms which would seem to express only deliverance from the particular form in which it was so familiar to his readers. So, too, in the epistle to the Galatians, we find him constantly speaking of a return to Judaism as a renunciation of the method of gratuitous justification, and a recurrence to a reliance on the righteousness of works. The reason of this is obvious. The Old Testament dispensation, apart from its evangelical import, which lay, like a secondary sense, beneath the cover of its institutions, was but a reenactment of the legal system. To make, however, as is often done, the whole meaning of the apostle to be, that we are freed from the Jewish law, is not only inconsistent in this place with the context, and irreconcilable with many express declarations of Scripture, but destructive of the whole evangelical character of the doctrine. How small a part of the redemption of Christ is deliverance from the Mosaic institutions! How slight the consolation to a soul, sensible of its exposure to the wrath of God, to be told that the law of Moses no longer condemns us! How void of truth and meaning the doctrine, that deliverance from the law is necessary to holiness, if the law means the Jewish economy merely.

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Romans 7:5

For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law, etc. The apostle having, in Romans 7:4, stated that believers are freed from the law by the death of Christ, in this and the following verse, shows the necessity and the consequences of this change: ‘We have been thus freed, because formerly, when under the law, we brought forth fruit unto death; but now, being free from the law, we are devoted to the service of God.’ The force of for, at the beginning of this verse, is therefore obvious. The former legal state of believers is here described by saying, they were in the flesh. In the language of Scripture, the word flesh expresses, in such connections, one or the other of two ideas. or both conjointly. First, a state of moral corruption, as in Romans 8:8, “Those that are in the flesh;” secondly, a carnal state, i.e., a state in which men are subject to external rites, ceremonies, and commands; or more generally, a legal state, inasmuch as among the Jews, that state was one of subjection to such external rites. Galatians 3:3, “Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Compare Galatians 4:9, where the expression “weak and beggarly elements” is substituted for the phrase “the flesh;” see Romans 4:1. In the present case, both ideas appear to be included. The meaning is, ‘when in your unrenewed and legal state.’ The opposite condition is described (Romans 7:6) as a state of freedom from the law; which, of course, shows that the second of the two ideas mentioned above was prominent in the apostle’s mind when he used the words in the flesh.” In Romans 6:14, the apostle says, “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law;” and here, in the exposition of that passage, he shows why it is that while under the law sin does have dominion. It is because, while in that state of condemnation and alienation from God, the effect of the law is to produce sin. He says the παθήματα τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν are διὰ τοῦ νόμου. This does not mean that the passions of sin (i.e., which manifest themselves in sinful acts) are simply made known by the law, but they are by it, that is, produced by it. The word παθήματα literally means what is suffered, afflictions: here it is used in a secondary sense for passions, (motions, in the sense of emotions, feelings.) These two meanings of the word are nearly allied, inasmuch as in passion, or feeling, the soul is rather the subject than the agent. These sinful feelings, aroused by the law, the apostle says ἐνηργεῖτο, wrought, (the word is here, as everywhere else in the New Testament, used in an active sense,) in our members; i.e., in us, not merely in our bodily members, but in all our faculties, whether of soul or body. To bring forth fruit, εἰς τὸ καρποφορῆσαι, as expressing the result, not the design. The effect of the excitement of sinful feeling by the law, was the production of fruit unto death; τῷ θανατῷ as opposed to τῷ Θεῷ of the preceding verse. Death is personified. He is represented as a master, to whom our works are rendered. They belong to him. Death, in other words, is the consequence or end secured by our sins. The wages of sin is death. The consequence of sinning is, that we die. The death here meant is no more mere physical death than in Romans 6:23. It is that death which the law of God threatens as the punishment of sin.

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Romans 7:6

But now, (νυνὶ de&, opposed to ὅτε of Romans 7:5,) i.e., since our conversion, we were freed from the law; κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, (the same idiom as in Romans 7:2.) How were we thus freed from the law? By death. If ἀποθανόντος, found in the common text, is the true reading, (that having died,) then it is by the death (i.e., the abrogation or satisfaction) of the law that we are thus freed, even as the woman is freed by the death of her husband. But if, as all modern editors agree, ἀποθανόντες (we having died) is the true reading, then it is by our own vicarious death in Christ, our having died with him whose death is a satisfaction to the law, that we are thus delivered. This is in accordance with Romans 7:4, where it is said we died to the law. The apostle says we died (τούτῳ) ἐν ᾧ κατειχόμεθα, (to that) by which we were bound. The law held us under its authority, and, as it were, in bondage; from which bondage we have been redeemed by death. So that, the consequence of this freedom from the law is, we serve (God) in newness of the Spirit, and not (sin) in the oldness of the letter. That is, we serve God in a new and holy state due to the Spirit, which the Spirit has produced, and not sin in, or according to, the old and corrupt state under the law. Newness of the Spirit is that new state of mind of which the Holy Ghost is the author. Oldness of the letter is that old state of which the law is the source, in so far as it was a state of condemnation and enmity to God. That πνεῦμα here is the Holy Spirit, and not the human soul as renewed by the Spirit, may be inferred from the general usage of the New Testament, and from such parallel passages as Galatians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 3:6, in both of which pneu~ma means the Gospel as the revelation and organ of the Spirit. In the latter passage, the apostle says, “the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” There, as here, the letter, γράμμα, is what is written. The law is so designated because the decalogue, its most important part, was originally written on stone, and because the whole law, as revealed to the Jews, was written in the Scriptures, or writings. It was therefore something external, as opposed to what was inward and spiritual. Luther’s version of this passage gives the sense in a few words: “Als dass wir dienen im neuen Wesen des Geistes, und nicht im alten Wesen des Buchstaben.” Believers then are free from the law, by the death of Christ. They are no longer under the old covenant, which said, “Do this and live;” but are introduced into a new and gracious state, in which they are accepted, not for what they do, but for what has been done for them. Instead of having the legal and slavish spirit which arose from their condition under the law, they have the feelings of children.

Doctrine

1. The leading doctrine of this section is that taught in Romans 7:14 of the preceding chapter, viz., that believers are not under a legal system; and that the consequences of their freedom is not the indulgence of sin, but the service of God, Romans 7:4.

2. This deliverance from the law is not effected by setting the law aside, or by disregarding its demands; but by those demands being satisfied in the person of Christ, Romans 7:4; Romans 10:4.

3. As far as we are concerned, redemption is in order to holiness. We are delivered from the law, that we may be united to Christ; and we are united to Christ, that we may bring forth fruit unto God, Romans 7:4, etc.

4. Legal or self-righteous strivings after holiness can never be successful. The relation in which they place the soul to God is, from its nature, productive of evil, and not of holy feelings, Romans 7:5.

5. Actual freedom from the bondage and penalty of the law is always attended and manifested by a filial temper and obedience, Romans 7:6.

6. The doctrine concerning marriage, which is here incidentally taught, or rather which is assumed as known to Jews and Christians, is, that the marriage contract can only be dissolved by death. The only exception to this rule is given by Christ, Matthew 5:32; unless indeed Paul, in 1 Corinthians 7:15, recognizes willful and final desertion as a sufficient ground of divorce, Romans 7:2, Romans 7:3.

Remarks

1. As the only way in which we can obtain deliverance from the law is by the death of Christ, the exercise of faith in him is essential to holiness. When we lose our confidence in Christ, we fall under the power of the law, and relapse into sin. Everything depends, therefore, upon our maintaining our union with Christ. “Without me ye can do nothing,” Romans 7:4.

2. The only evidence of union with Christ is bringing forth fruit unto God, Romans 7:4.

3. As deliverance from the penalty of the law is in order to holiness, it is vain to expect that deliverance, except with a view to the end for which it is granted, Romans 7:4.

4. Conversion is a great change; sensible to him that experiences it, and visible to others. It is a change from a legal and slavish state, to one of filial confidence; manifesting itself by the renunciation of the service of sin, and by devotion to the service of God, Romans 7:6.

5. A contract so lasting as that of marriage, and of which the consequences are so important, should not be entered into lightly, but in the fear of God, Romans 7:2, Romans 7:3.

6. The practice, common in many Protestant countries of Europe, and in many States of this Union, of granting divorces on the ground of cruel treatment, or ‘incompatibility of temper,’ is in direct contravention of the doctrines and precepts of the Bible on this subject, Romans 7:2, Romans 7:3.

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Romans 7:7-13

Analysis

Paul, having shown that we must be delivered from the law, in order to our justification (chapters 3, 4), and that this freedom was no less necessary in order to sanctification (Romans 6; Romans 7:1-6), comes now to explain more fully than he had previously done, what are the use and effect of the law. This is the object of the residue of this chapter. The apostle shows, first, Romans 7:7-13, that the law produces conviction of sin, agreeably to his declaration in Romans 3:20; and, secondly, Romans 7:14-25, that it enlightens the believer’s conscience, but cannot destroy the dominion of sin. This section, therefore, may be advantageously divided into two parts. Paul introduces the subject, as is usual with him, by means of an idea intimately associated with the preceding discussion. He had been insisting on the necessity of deliverance from the law. Why? Because it is evil? No; but because it cannot produce holiness. It can produce only the knowledge and the sense of sin; which are the constituents of genuine conviction. These two effects are attributed to the operation of the law, in Romans 7:7, Romans 7:8. These ideas are amplified in Romans 7:9-11. The inference is drawn in Romans 7:12, that the law is good; and in Romans 7:13, that the evil which it incidentally produces is to be attributed to sin, the exceeding turpitude of which becomes thus the more apparent.

Commentary

Romans 7:7

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Far from it, etc. The apostle asks whether it is to be inferred, either from the general doctrine of the preceding section, respecting the necessity of deliverance from the law, or from the special declaration made in Romans 7:5, respecting the law producing sin, that the law was itself evil? He answers, By no means; and shows, in the next verse, that the effect ascribed to the law, in Romans 7:5. is merely incidental. Is the law sin? means either, Is the law evil? or is it the cause of sin? see Micah 1:5, ‘Samaria is the sin of Jacob.’ The former is best suited to the context, because Paul admits that the law is incidentally productive of sin. The two ideas, however, may be united, as by Calvin, “An peceatum sic generet, ut illi imputari ejus culpa debeat;” Does the law so produce sin, as that the fault is to be imputed to the law itself? God forbid, μὴ γένοιτο; let it not be thought that the law is to blame. On the contrary (ἀλλά), so far from the law being evil, it is the source, and the only source of the knowledge of sin. I had not known sin, but by the law. Where there is no knowledge of the law, there can be no consciousness of sin; for sin is want of conformity to the law. If, therefore, the standard of right is not known, there can be no apprehension of our want of conformity to it. By the law here, is to be understood the moral law, however revealed. It is not the law of Moses, so far as that law was peculiar and national, but only so far as it contained the rule of duty. It is not the experience of men, as determined by their relation to the Mosaic dispensation, but their experience as determined by their relation to the moral law, that is here depicted. But in what sense does Paul here use the pronoun I? That he does not speak for himself only; that it is not anything in his own individual experience, peculiar to himself, is obvious from the whole context, and is almost universally admitted. But if he speaks representatively, whom does he represent, whose experience under the operation of the law is here detailed? Grotius says, that he represents the Jewish people, and sets forth their experience before and after the introduction of the law of Moses. This opinion was adopted by Locke, Estius, and recently by Reiche. Others say that he speaks out of the common consciousness of men. “Das ἐγω, repraesentirte Subject,” says Meyer, “ist der Mensch überhaupt, in seiner rein menschliehen und natürlichen Verfassung.” The experience detailed is that of the natural or unrenewed man throughout. This view is the one generally adopted by modern commentators. Others again say, that Paul is here speaking as a Christian; he is giving his own religious experience of the operation of the law, as that experience is common to all true believes. This does not necessarily suppose that the preliminary exercises, as detailed in Romans 7:7-13, are peculiar to the renewed. There is a “law work,” a work of conviction which, in its apparent characteristics, is common to the renewed and the unrenewed. Many are truly and deeply convinced of sin; many experience all that the law in itself can produce, who are never regenerated. Nevertheless, the experience here exhibited is the experience of every renewed man. It sets forth the work of the law first in the work of conviction, Romans 7:7-13, and afterwards in reference to the holy life of the Christian. This is the Augustinian view of the bearing of this passage adopted by the Lutherans and Reformed, and still held by the great body of evangelical Christians.

I had not known sin. There are two kinds of knowledge. The one has for its object mere logical relations, and is a matter of the intellect; the other has for its object both the logical relations and the qualities, moral or otherwise, of the thing known, and is a matter of the feelings as well as of the intellect. The kind of knowledge of which the apostle speaks is not mere intellectual cognition, but also conviction. It includes the consciousness of guilt and pollution. The law awakened in him the knowledge of his own state and character. He felt himself to be a sinner; and by a sinner is to be understood not merely a transgressor, but one in whom sin dwells. It was the corruption of his nature which was revealed to the apostle by the operation of the law. This sense of the word ἁμαρτία in this context is almost universally admitted. “Die ἁμαρτία,” says Meyer, “ist das Principe der Sünde im Menschen (1. v. 8. 9. 11. 13. 14.), dessen wir erst durch das Gesetz unbewusst werden, und welches ohne das Gesetz unbewusst geblieben wäre.” That is, “The ἁμαρτία is the principle of sin in men of which we become conscious through the law, and of which we would without the law have remained unconscious.” So De Wette, Tholuck, Rückert, Köllner, Olshausen, and Philippi, among the modern commentators, as well as the older doctrinal expositors.

For I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. This may be understood as merely an illustration of the preceding declaration: ‘I had not known sin but by the law. For example, I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.’ According to this view, there is no difference between sin and lust, ἁμαρτία and ἐπιθυμία except that the latter is specific, and the former general. Lust falls under the general category of sin. But according to this interpretation, neither ἁμαρτία nor ἔγνων (sin nor know) receives the full force which the connection requires. This clause, therefore, is not simply an illustration, but a confirmation of the preceding: ‘I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.’ That is, ‘From the consciousness of desire striving against the law, arose the conviction of the principle of sin within me.’ Desire, revealed as evil by the law, itself revealed the evil source whence it springs. The word ἐπιθυμία means simply earnest desire, and the verb ἐπιθυμέω is to desire earnestly. It depends on the context whether the desire be good or bad, whether it is directed towards what is lawful or what is forbidden. In the tenth commandment, here quoted, the meaning is, Thou shalt not desire to have (i.e., thou shalt not covet) that which belongs to another. The point of the apostle’s argument is, that his knowledge of sin is due to the law, because without the law he would not have known that mere desire is evil, and because these evil desires revealed the hidden source of sin in his nature.

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Romans 7:8

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. This verse is not logically connected with the preceding. It is rather coordinate with it, and is a virtual, or rather, an additional answer to the question, Is the law evil? To this question Paul replies, No; on the contrary, it leads to the knowledge of sin. And hence he adds, It is not evil in itself, although incidentally the cause of sin in us. By sin, in this case, cannot be understood actual sin. It must mean indwelling sin, or corruption of nature; sin as the principle or source of action, and not as an act. “Ἁμαρτία non potest esse hoc loco peccatum ipsum,” says Koppe, “sed ipsa potius prava et ad peccandum proclivis indoles, vitiosa hominis natura, vitiositas ipsa.” To the same effect, Olshausen: “Aus der allgemeinen sündhaften natur des Menschen geht die ἐπιθυμία prava concupiscentia, als erste Äusserung hervor und dann folgt erst die That.” That is, from sin immanent in our nature, comes first desire, and then the act. Thus Köllner says, “ἐπιθυμίαν, so von ἁμαρτία verschieden, dass diese das gleichsam im Menschen ruhende sündliche Princip bezeichnet, ἐπιθυμία aber die im einzelnen Falle wirksame böse Lust, ganz eigentlich die Begierde, die dann zunächst zur Sünde in concreto fürht.” Such is plainly the meaning of the apostle. There is a principle of sin, a corruption of nature which lies back of all conscious voluntary exercises, to which they owe their origin. Ἐπιθυμία, feeling, the first form in which sin is revealed in the consciousness, springs from ἁμαρτία. This is a truth of great importance. According to the theology and religious conviction of the apostle, sin can be predicated not only of acts, but also of inward states.

Sin taking occasion, ἀφορμήν, opportunity or advantage, by the commandment, i.e., the command, “Thou shalt not covet.” A part is taken for the whole. This special precept (ἐντολή) stands, by way of illustration, for the whole law. The words διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς, by the commandment, may be taken with the preceding clause, ‘taking advantage of the commandment.’ In favor of this construction is the position of the words, and, as is supposed, the δι ̓ αὐτῆς in Romans 7:11, which, it is said, corresponds to these words in this verse. This is the construction which is adopted by our translators, and by many commentators. Others prefer connecting the words in question with what follows: — “by the commandment wrought in me.” In favor of this is the fact, that the main idea of the passage is thus brought out. The apostle designs to show how the law, although good in itself, produced evil: ‘Sin wrought by it.’ Besides, the phrase ἀφορμὴν λαμβάνειν ἐκ, or παρά, or ἀπό, is common, but with διά it never occurs: διά is not the appropriate preposition; whereas κατεργάζεσθαι διά is perfectly appropriate. Wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, πάσαν ἐπιθυμίαν, every (evil) desire.

For without the law sin (was) dead. This is designed as a confirmation of the preceding declaration. This confirmation is drawn either from a fact of Paul’s personal experience, or from an universally admitted truth. If the former, then we must supply was: ‘Sin is excited by the law, for without the law sin was dead;’ i.e., I was not aware of its existence. If the latter, then, is is to be supplied: ‘Without the law sin is dead.” This is an undisputed fact: ‘Where there is no law there is no sin; and where is no knowledge of law there is no knowledge of sin. The latter view best suits the context. To say that a thing is dead, is to say that it is inactive, unproductive, and unobserved. All this may be said of sin prior to the operation of the law. It is comparatively inoperative and unknown, until aroused and brought to light by the law. There are two effects of the law included in this declaration — the excitement of evil passions, and the discovery of them. Calvin makes the latter much the more prominent: “Ad cognitionem praecipue refero, acsi dictum foret: Detexit in me omnem concupiscentiam; quae dum lateret, quodammodo nulla esse videbatur.” But the context, and the analogous declarations in the succeeding verses, seem to require the former to be considered as the more important. The law then is not evil, but it produces the conviction of sin, by teaching us what sin is, Romans 7:7, and by making us conscious of the existence and power of this evil in our own hearts, Romans 7:8. “Ehe dem Menschen ein νόμος entweder von aussen gegeben wird, oder in ihm selbst sich entwickelt, so ist die Sündhaftigkeit zwar in ihm, als Anlage, aber sie ist todt, d. h. sie ist ihm noch nicht zum Bewusstseyn gekommen, weil noch kein Widerstreit zwischen seiner Sündhaftigkeit und einem Gebote in ihm entstehen konnte.” Usteri Lehrbegriff Pauli, p. 25. Such is certainly the experience of Christians. They live at ease. Conscience is at rest. They think themselves to be as good as can be reasonably required of them. They have no adequate conception of the power or heinousness of the evil within them. Sin lies, as it were, dead, as the torpid serpent, until the operation of the law rouses it from its slumbers, and reveals its character.

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