The Epistle to the Romans
Lesson 13
Special English Version

God’s Method for Victorious Living

Reading Assignment: Romans 7

Introduction
In this lesson, we are going to focus on Romans 7. Remember the KEY word in Romans is RIGHTEOUSNESS. The overall theme of Romans 5:12-8:17 is Righteousness Imparted for Sanctification. We noted that the SOURCE of our sanctification is Christ, our new Federal Head (Romans 5:12-21). We then looked at the BASIS of our sanctification, which is our total union with Christ (Romans 6:1-10). We do this by a two-fold reckoning (Romans 6:11-13). We must change masters (Romans 6:14-23).

Another illustration of our oneness with Christ is found in Romans 7:1-6. Then in Romans 7:7-25 we read about Hindrances to Sanctification

Importance of this Lesson

• Christians must always remember that we are the BODY of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-32). We are also called the BRIDE of Christ. We are so much united to Him that it is like we are married to Him (Romans 7:4). We are dead to every other thing that makes demands of us.
• It is very important that we understand this and practice it by faith.
• It is also important to understand that our position is in Christ. We are dead to our old life of sin, but our old nature is still active and it wants to get control of our lives again. You must learn to consider it as dead and you must walk in the Spirit.

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The Lesson

I. OUR TOTAL IDENTIFICATION WITH CHRIST

1. In Romans 7:1-6, Paul continued to present the BASIS of our sanctification, which is our total oneness with Christ. Paul used three illustrations to show this:
   1. The Holy Spirit baptized us into Christ (Romans 6:1-13).
   2. We became servants of Christ (Romans 6:14-23).
   3. We were married to Christ (Romans 7:1-6).
2. In all three illustrations, DEATH made us free.
   1. In our baptism we …were baptized into his death (Romans 6:3), and in Christ’s death our old nature was crucified …that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin… (Romans 6:6-7).
   2. Christ’s death killed our old masters (the LAW and SIN). Christ’s death made us FREE to become the servants of righteousness (Romans 6:14-18, 7:4).
   3. Now (Romans 7:1-6), just as a woman is free from her husband’s authority when he dies, …ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another… (Romans 7:4).

II. COMMENTARY ON ROMANS 7:1-6

1. Verse 1 – shows that Paul wrote this to people who knew about the law …for I speak to them that know the law….
2. Verse 2 – Just as every man under the law was under its authority until he died (verse 1), so a wife was under the authority of her husband until he died (verse 2). God means for marriage to be permanent (Matthew 19:3-9; 1 Corinthians 7:10-15).
3. Verse 3 – Upon her husband’s death, a woman was free to marry again. When such a woman married again she did not commit adultery.
4. Verse 4 – Here is the truth Paul teaches. He used marriage, death and remarriage as an example. It shows that we were married to the LAW and SIN at one time. These things are now dead to us. The death of Christ killed these things. We are now free from these things. We are “married to another,” who is Christ. The reason for this is to “…bring forth fruit unto God.” (Note John 15:16.)
5. Verse 5 – The flesh is man’s old, sinful nature. It rebelled against the law. It refused to obey the law. For this reason sin worked in us (in every part of our bodies) and produced “…fruit unto death.” The law stated “…the soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).
6. Verse 6 – Here is one of the great “BUT NOW’s” of Scripture.

• Romans 3:21; Ephesians 2:13, 5:8; Colossians 3:8; 1 Corinthians 15:20. NOW God delivered us, He set free, from that which held us as slaves and condemned us to death. In Christ we died to the LAW in order that we should serve the Lord in “…newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”
• We find two words here that Paul used often. They are called “Paulinisms.” He uses the word “spirit” to refer to the new life we have in Christ and the word “letter” to refer to the LAW
  (2 Corinthians 3:6).

  (Know the significance of the words.)

III. Romans 7:7-25 -- HINDRANCES TO SANCTIFICATION
These verses can be divided into two sections: (Be able to name these two sections for your exam.)

1. Romans 7:7-14 – The MINISTRY OF THE LAW REGARDING SIN
2. Romans 7:15-25 – The HELPLESSNESS OF THE LAW
1. THE MINISTRY OF THE LAW – Romans 7:7-14 – REGARDING SIN
   1. Verses 7-8
      1. …Is the LAW sin?… Since the death of Christ killed both sin and the law, is the law considered as bad as SIN? GOD FORBID – Perish the thought!
      2. …I had not known…. Paul here changes from “us” to “I,” “Me,” “Myself.” He uses these words 47 times! The word “I” is used 28 times. This was Paul’s personal problem. HE discovered that even with his new nature he did not have the power in himself to keep the law.
      3. …I had not known… The LAW tears away the false face. The law is God’s mirror. Without the law we cannot see ourselves as we are. We cannot see sin as it is.
      4. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me…. The law stirred up the evil desires of Paul’s sin nature. Human nature rebels when God says, “thou shalt not.” Without the law, sin is inactive. We could not know what it is.
   2. Verse 9
      1. For I was alive without the law once…. Here is a reference to Paul’s early Christian life. Born again and knowing that …Christ is the end of the law for righteousness…
         (Romans 10:4), Paul did not yet fully know about the complete inability of “self” to keep the law.
      2. For I was alive… At one time Paul thought that the LAW was able to give eternal life. But when he saw himself in the light of the law, he said …sin revived and I died. The law showed him how “dead in sin” he really was. The law destroyed all hope in him. In 2 Corinthians 3:7-9 Paul talked about the law as a MINISTER of death and condemnation.
   3. Verses 10-11
      1. …ordained to life…. Luke 10:28 says “…This DO, and thou shalt live.” (Note also Leviticus 18:5.) If it were possible for man to actually “keep the whole law,” he would obey it. Only Christ kept the law perfectly on our behalf (Matthew 5:17).
      2. Paul discovered in his desire to keep the law, that it actually killed him spiritually. Sin (his sin-nature) deceived him. It caused him to depend on himself – and it killed him! The law caused him to know how dead to God and dead in sin he really was.
      3. It is foolish for people to try to live the Christian life under law. It is foolish for people to say, “If I do the best I can I think I will be saved.” It is foolish to say, “If I do this or that, I think I will get into heaven.”
   4. Verse 12 – …the law is holy… There is nothing wrong with the law. It is holy. It is right and good. The problem is with us.
   5. Verse 13
      1. Was then that which is good made death unto me?…
      2. NO! God forbid. Perish the thought! The law was good. It was sin that produced death. The commandment made sin “exceedingly sinful!” Here we see the MINISTRY (work) of the law. The law revealed sin and showed what sin really was. Also, note Romans 3:19.
   6. Verse 14
      1. For WE know… – Here is general agreement!
      2. …I am carnal… – In 1 Corinthians 2:14-3:1 Paul arranged all mankind in three groups “natural,” “carnal,” or “spiritual.”
      3. Possibly Paul here described himself as a Christian who tried to obey the law but discovered that he was “sold” – controlled by sin. Paul recognized that the old sinful nature still lived in him. Often we do not realize that our sinful nature is still in us until we are truly born again! When we realize this, the battle really begins.
2. THE HELPLESSNESS OF THE LAW – Romans 7:15-25
   1. Some teachers believe that Romans 7 is not the experience of Paul as a believer. They teach that here Paul describes his past before Christ delivered him from the power of sin. I hold to an entirely different view. Paul does not write about the past here. He does not say “I did” but “I do.” He did not say, “sin that dwelled in me” but “sin that dwells in me.” He did not say “evil was present with me” but evil is present with me.”
   2. Romans 7:7-25 does not describe an experience that is impossible for a believer after the Holy Spirit fills him. It describes the war between the flesh and the Holy Spirit that is present in every believer at all times (Romans 7:23; Galatians 5:16-17).
   3. We will see in our next lesson that victory through Christ is available to everyone by “walking in the Spirit.” However, Paul never suggested that anyone ever loses his old nature or that the conflict between our old and new nature ever stops. I believe Romans 7:15-24 vividly describes the on-going experience of the average Christian.
      1. Verses 15-17 – …for what I would (what I want to do and know I should do) that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. Every Christian has at times done things, said things or acted in a manner he hated and he hated himself for acting that way. The old, sinful nature showed itself in anger, jealousy, pride, impatience, etc. A true Christian will recognize such sins and will immediately confess it (1 John 1:9).
      2. Verse 16 – …I consent unto the law that it is good. Here Paul says that the sin of his old nature did not mean that the law was bad. Just the opposite, the rebellious acts of his sinful nature proved that the law (which exposed his sin) was good and holy. He knew the law was right!
      3. Verse 17
         1. …it is no more I that do it…. Throughout this whole passage Paul clearly shows the difference between the new Paul and the old Paul. The new Paul who loves righteousness and hates sin and the old Paul (whose name was Saul of Tarsus). He shows us that his sin nature is still active and powerful.
         2. The important truth that all new believers must understand is that while the work of the Holy Spirit gives a person the new birth and eternal life (John 3:3-5;1 John 5:12), the old, sinful nature which he inherited from Adam is not destroyed.
            Read Galatians 5:16-17.
         3. In Romans 8 we shall see the power God gives us to enable us to live victoriously.
      4. Verse 18-25 – The continuing conflict of our two natures.
         1. Verse 18
            1. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing…. Notice how carefully Paul distinguished between “in me” and “in my flesh.” There is nothing good about our old sin nature. Yet, Paul had Christ within (Galatians 2:20). Christ is great and holy.
            2. …I find not. Paul confessed that his old sin nature kept him from doing what he should do. The old sin nature kept him from being the person God wanted him to be.
         2. Verse 19 – Almost identical to verse 15. The same problem.
         3. Verse 20 – A repeat of his statement in verse 17.
         4. Verse 21
            1. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. Here Paul gave a summary of verses 15-20. Every person, who reads this lesson, knows this is true. This is why I cannot accept the teaching that Romans 7 is only something that was true before Paul became a believer. This happens many times in the normal Christian life.
            2. The human heart is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). We will stay that way until the resurrection when we awake in Christ’s likeness (1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 John 3:2; Philippians 3:21; Psalm 17:15). The battle between the flesh and the Spirit continues all the time in the Christian life. Your old sinful nature will quickly show itself and take control of your life as soon as you, for just a few days, no longer “reckon yourself dead,” or “walk in the Spirit,” or forget prayer or neglect the reading of the WORD.
         5. Verse 22 –For I delight…. This is proof that Paul experienced spiritual struggles, but within him he had a nature that loved the truth and happily obeyed the will of God. This is true of every born-again believer.
         6. Verse 23
            1. Here Paul described a real war that went on within him between …the law of my mind…and…the law of sin, which is in my members. Paul was not writing about the Law of Moses but of the LAW as a power that controls a person. It was the struggle of sin and righteousness. It was the old fighting against the new nature. It was the flesh fighting against the Spirit.
            2. Paul felt that the law of sin in the parts of his body truly held him like a slave. The law of sin stopped him from doing that which is good (verse 18).
            3. It might be useful to stop here and mention some of the ways Paul used the word LAW. (Know how Paul used the word “Law” for your exam.)
               1. As the Ten Commandments or laws of Moses – Romans 3:19.
               2. The law of works and the law of faith – Romans 3:27.
               3. The law of sin as a power that controls our body – our sinful natures– Romans 7:21,25.
               4. The law of the mind – Romans 7:23,25. As the power that controls our new nature in Christ.
               5. The Law of the Spirit – Romans 8:2,4. The power of the Holy Spirit as He controls the believer.
         7. Verse 24 – This verse should properly read “…who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” This has been the cry of the hearts of millions of believers who experienced these struggles in the past in their lives. Even today some believers experience these struggles described by Paul.
         8. Verse 25
            1. Praise God! The power of Christ will completely deliver us some day from the sinfulness and weakness of our physical bodies. Read 1 Corinthians 15:51-57.
            2. “So then….” If I obey the law of my mind, my new nature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), I will serve the law of God. If I obey the flesh, I will serve “the law of sin."

Examination

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