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Romans 7:7-14
We have entered a part of Pauls letter to the Roman assemblies that pertains specifically to the Jewish
believers. This section comes right in the midst of his discussion on sanctification; how all believers are to
live the righteousness that Christ has imputed to them, through their faith.
In his initial discussion to all believers, Paul had shown that they must count on the fact that they are truly
dead to the Sin, but alive to God, in Christ Jesus, their Lord. They are no longer part of the creation in
Adam, where they were in bondage to the Sin. The believer has been raised in newness of life; a glorified
son of God. As such, they have been completely freed from sin; they are now free to live their
righteousness.
All believers in Adam were in bondage to the Sin; but the Jew was in additional bondage; he was under the
dominion of the Law the Law of Moses. So as we began chapter 7, we saw that Paul showed the Jewish
believers that they had been freed, not just from the Sin, but also from the Law. And that freedom, from
the Law, came in the same way that freedom from the Sin had come through the same work the work of
Christ on the cross.
When the Jewish believer united himself to Christ by faith, Christ took him into death with Him, freeing
him from that old creation in Adam, where he had been a Jew, under the Law of Moses. In Christ, the
Jewish believer has been raised out of death, a new creation in Christ Jesus where there is neither Jew nor
Gentile only glorified sons of God. And as such, the Jewish believer has been forever freed from the Law
of Moses delivered from the Law, through death.
Paul used an example from the Law to illustrate this to the Jewish believers the husband-wife
relationship. Death frees the woman from her union with her husband so that she may marry another. Paul
used this illustration because he knew that it would call to the minds of his Jewish listeners the relationship
between Israel and Jehovah.
Pauls point was greater than just that the Jewish brethren were free from the Law; very delicately, Paul was
also showing them that when they united themselves to Christ by faith, they died out of the nations old
and unfulfilled covenant relationship with Jehovah, having entered into the new covenant for Life
everlasting through the blood of Christ.
They were now married to another, the risen Christ having become members of His Body. The Jewish
brethren were now part of a new collective, which has a consummated relationship with God a fruitful
union, producing many sons of God. Paul will discuss the nation further in chapters 9-11.
Paul ended this section of his letter with a brief explanation of the inability of the unregenerate Jew to live
righteously, and his new-found ability in Christ to serve God in righteousness. Lets reread this
explanation, in verses 5 and 6 of chapter 7.
[Romans 7:5-6] When the Jewish brethren were still in the flesh, as unregenerate men, they were under the
Law of Moses; and under the Law, they did not live righteously; instead, they sinned all the more,
deepening their condemnation before a holy God.
But now, the Jewish brethren have been delivered from the Law through their faith in Christ. The
righteousness of Christ has been imputed to them. Now, they can draw on that righteousness, and live it;
not by trying to do the Law, as before, but through submitting to the Holy Spirit, within them.

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Now, Jews would not be readily convinced of this. All of their lives, they had been trying to live by doing
the deeds of the Law. They were born under the Law. They learned the Law, from their youth; they
memorized its words; and their rabbis taught them how to perform it so they thought. The Jews believed
the Law is what kept them, what worked righteousness into them, and what would lead them to Life
everlasting in the kingdom of God. Jews would need to be further convinced of Pauls simple statement,
here.
So what we find Paul doing in the next section of his letter is expanding on his statement, here in verses 56. Paul will use himself as an example; first, to represent the experience of all Jews, under the Law, as
unregenerate men; then to represent the initial experience of all believers regenerate men, both Jews and
Gentiles.
Through Pauls example, he will first show how the Law arouses sin in the Jew, bearing fruit to death.
Then Paul will reveal that deliverance of the believer the Gentile from sin, the Jew, additionally, from the
Law that deliverance does not mean he is incapable of sin; in fact, sin can continue to master him and
Paul will show why.
This will lead into Pauls discussion in chapter 8 concerning the believer no longer being mastered by sin
through living by the Spirit in newness of the Spirit, of life in Christ Jesus.
Were going to read through the end of chapter 7, through verse 25, but we will only be looking into the
section on the Jews and the Law today, found in verses 7-14.
[Read Romans 7:7-25]
Now, as we read through this part of Pauls letter, what pronoun do you see predominating? The first
person singular, right? I, me, myself. In fact, Paul uses it 47 times! So who is this section of Pauls letter
about? Paul. And as we read through the passage, we can surmise that Paul is sharing his own personal
experience with the believers in Rome, as a testimony to the truth of what he had just said, in verses 5-6.
But the testimony that Paul records is not one seamless experience in his life. In fact, it is two different
experiences. Paul distinguishes these two different experiences through the language he uses in the
passage, and as we examine that, we will see the division between them.
When Paul began singling out the Jewish believers in the assemblies in Rome, at the beginning of chapter
7, he called them brethren the brethren who know Law former Jews. When Paul gets to the end of
verse 4, and through verse 6, he begins to include himself with these Jewish believers we because
Paul was, of course, also formerly a Jew.
But then, Paul asks a question on behalf of the collective we the Jews in verse 7 Is the Law sin?
As a means of explaining that the Law is not sin, Paul then uses his own personal testimony, through verse
13.
Now, in this answer, notice the verb tense that predominates the actual testimony, throughout verses 7-13.
Would you say it is past, present, or future? The past tense dominates.
This is Pauls experience from his past status, in Adam, as an unregenerate man; as a Jew, under the Law.
Paul is telling what his own experience was, under the Law; and he does so, because all Jews have had the
same experience. Pauls testimony, then, is typical of every unbelieving Jew, trying to live by the works of
the Law.

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In the beginning of verse 14, Paul returns to the collective we. This is the concluding answer to the
question of the Jews, back in verse 7 is the Law sin? No we know that the Law is spiritual.
But mid-verse, Paul returns to the first person singular I and he continues with it through the end of
the chapter. He is once again giving his testimony.
But Paul distinguishes this testimony from the previous one with a change of the tense of the verbs. Now
what tense do we find predominating in this testimony past, present, or future? Present.
This is a testimony that comes from Pauls present status, as a Christ One; a believer. But let me emphasize
that this is clearly not Pauls current experience for Paul has learned to live by the power of the Spirit, of
which he speaks with such understanding, in chapter 8.
But Paul records what was, initially, his own experience as a believer, having been freed from sin, yet still
being overpowered by it until he learned to live by the Spirit.
Why would Paul record this? Because it is what all believers experience, when at first they put their faith
in Jesus. So this testimony of Paul is typical of the struggle that every believer has with sin, whether Jew
or Gentile. Pauls intention is to show believers how to break free from that struggle, to the life lived by the
power of the Holy Spirit to living their righteousness, in sanctification.
But we will look at that portion of Pauls testimony next week; meanwhile, lets return to verse 7 and
consider Pauls testimony as an unregenerate Jew, under the Law.
v. 7a Paul raises this question in order to refute the idea. He wants to make it absolutely clear that he does
not believe the Law of Moses is sin.
Why would anyone think Paul believes that? Because Paul has indicated that believers are under grace
now (Rm 6:14); and that Jewish believers have been delivered from the Law (Rm 7:6); and most
specifically, that the Law actually arouses sin; it makes sin abound (Rm 7:5).
So Pauls adversaries, the unbelieving Jews, might well insinuate that Paul is saying the Law is responsible
for causing men to sin; that the Law is at fault, and therefore, faulty; that in exciting unrighteousness in
men, the Law, is unjust and evil. After all, didnt Paul say the Jewish believers were free from the Sin, and
free from the Law? Doesnt that make the Sin and the Law equivalent?
You can see how Pauls words and thoughts could be twisted. Paul wants to be sure that the Jewish
believers in Rome do not leap to this erroneous conclusion that the Law is sin.
So after quickly answering his own question with an emphatic NOOO!!, Paul goes on to explain that the
Law is not in any way sin; the Law is holy. And through his own personal testimony, Paul shows the
actual role that the Law of Moses plays in the life of the unbelieving Jew.
Paul quickly establishes that the Law is not sin; on the contrary, the Law is good, because it was how Paul
came to know Sin. Now, Paul does not mean that he would not have been a sinner, if it werent for the Law.
All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Rm 3:23). Sin still exists apart from the Law.
And Paul also does not mean that he would have had no sense of right and wrong, apart from the Law. All
men have that written in their hearts, and their conscience bears witness to it (Rm 2:14-15).

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When Paul says that he would not have known Sin, except through the Law, he chose the Greek word for
known that in this context would reflect getting acquainted with like a person.
Paul became acquainted with the Sin through the Law. Once again, Paul is personifying Sin here as a
powerful master. Paul really got to know this powerful master through the Law; he came to know it as the
dominating influence that it is. Paul next uses an example to show how he came to know the Sin, through
the Law.
v. 7b-8a So Paul uses as an example the sin of covetousness, indicating that he would not have known it,
apart from the commandment that says, You shall not covet. Paul chooses a different word for known
here, meaning a full knowledge, and the form of the verb indicates continuous action. Paul came to know
covetousness, completely and repeatedly, because of the commandment that said not to do it.
Now, we know that Paul was formerly a Pharisee. The word Pharisee means separated one. The
Pharisees considered themselves completely separated unto God from all that was unclean from all they
viewed as sinful. In actual practice, this meant that they kept themselves ceremonially purified, and
followed the external form of the Law observing the Sabbath and the Feasts, and tithing, for example.
Paul described his perception of himself at the time as, concerning the righteousness which is in the Law
blameless (Phil 3:6). In terms of keeping the external precepts of the Law, Paul was saying, he toed the
line.
But that was before Paul became acquainted with the Sin, through the Law. His example of the
commandment against coveting is very telling. Lets go back to Exodus, where the Ten Commandments
were given. Turn to Exodus chapter 20.
[Exodus 20:1-17]
Now, I just want to look over the commandments, with you. Where do you find the commandment against
coveting? At the very end.
What exactly is coveting? It means a strong desire; really wanting something. Do you do that with your
hands? No. With your feet? No. With your mouth your words? No. You covet with your heart. You
have a desire, for something, for yourself; so using another word, we can say coveting is a form of selfwill; a lust, in the inner man.
Now, as you scan back over the other nine commandments here, are there any others that are strictly
commandments against what is in the heart? No; they can be obeyed through actions of the body.
Dont carve an image; dont use Gods name in vain; dont work on the Sabbath; obey your parents; dont
murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness. All can be accomplished through doing, or not doing;
through actions of the body. But not coveting. That is purely a matter of the heart.
In his zeal, Paul could make his body conform to the eternal standard of the Law at least, in his own
religious eyes. But what about this coveting?
Well, Paul would have initially viewed the commandment in its strictest sense. Perhaps he actually thought
of next-door neighbors, and their physical possessions he must not desire those things. That might not
have been too hard.

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But the more he came to understand what Gods intention was, with that commandment, the more its
meaning would have expanded for him. It wouldnt be his next-door neighbor only but all neighbors; in
fact, his whole city. But really, wasnt every member of the nation of Israel his neighbor? In a sense,
werent all men?
And it wasnt just physical objects. It was ANYTHING that belonged to his neighbor that is, his fellow
man. Did Paul ever have a stray thought about the wealth, of another man; of another mans power; of his
learning; of his religious stature?
Paul surely did; and he did so repeatedly. So as Paul really came to understand the fullness of what it
meant not to covet, Paul recognized that he coveted, and coveted, and coveted. He had strong desires for
himself, for what others had.
And what would the religious Paul do about that? He would try to stamp out those fiery desires for self.
But could he? No; he had no power to put out the fire; in fact, his efforts would have had the opposite
effect.
How so? By keeping his mind on what it was he was not to do: he was not to covet. That simply caused
the self-will in Paul to rise up even higher, against the restriction; he desired all the more intensely; he even
discovered new desires. The flames kept spreading.
[Return to Romans 7]
Paul illustrates how sin works through the Law in verse 8, once again personifying Sin. The Sin took
opportunity by the commandment You shall not covet. The Sin used the commandment like its base of
operations, to launch its evil work in Pauls heart, where it exploded into all kinds of coveting.
Pauls sinful passions were in this way aroused by the Law (Rm 7:5), because it brought out the lawlessness
in his heart; his will for self.
After Paul became acquainted with the Sin in this way, he saw himself differently. He wrote to Timothy,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief (1 Tim 1:15b). Paul recognized
himself as the foremost of sinners that had been saved by the Lord.
Now Paul expresses his experience with the Law using a somewhat different illustration.
v. 8b-11 Paul introduces this new idea with the word for, to show he is giving additional explanation of
his point. This is a further illustration of Paul knowing the Sin through the Law.
Now, we must be careful of how Paul is intending the ideas of life and death, here. He is not speaking
literally; remember, this is an illustration. He is not speaking literally of everlasting Life and bodily death
(with one exception, in verse 10).
We can know this, because he speaks of personified Sin as coming alive, and slaying Paul. Is the Sin
actually alive? No. Is Paul actually dead? No. So clearly, what Paul is doing is using some colorful
imagery to paint a picture for his listeners of how it is that the Law brings forth sin, leading to
condemnation.
Paul begins by saying, apart from the Law, the Sin was dead. Again, Paul is not saying sin does not exist
apart from the Law. He is speaking specifically of his own experience as a Jew, under the Law.

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Remember that this is the Master, Sin, like a person. Apart from the Law, it was as if that person did not
exist, for Paul. Sin was simply lying dormant, in his heart.
And Paul was alive once, without the Law. Before Paul knew what the Law really meant, he simply lived
as a religious Pharisee, in his own supposed righteousness.
But when the commandment came when the Laws righteous demands came to be understood by Paul
for example, what it really meant to not covet then the Sin came alive in Paul; manifesting itself in Pauls
heart through his self-will, in rebellion against the will of God.
And Paul recognized that made him a transgressor of the Law of Moses the Law that God had given to
the Jews and what is the penalty for breaking the Law? Death. Paul simply states it, the Sin came alive,
and I died.
Paul recognized that he was a sinner, under the condemnation of a holy God. Paul then says that the
commandment which was to life, he found to death; instead of being the way to life, it turned out to be the
way to death, for Paul.
Now, what does Paul mean? By this point, Paul has moved from the single commandment he cited earlier,
You shall not covet, to using the term commandment more generally to represent the Law of Moses.
In using the term commandment, the emphasis is on the demands of the Law; its commandments, statutes
and judgments; the requirements of God, to be obeyed. But this would still include the ceremonial Law,
which was also part of the Law of Moses, given by God to Israel to keep.
Now just last week, we discussed how the LORD God had given Israel His Law, yet they broke the
commandments almost immediately, and incurred the LORDs wrath and judgment; the rebels were put to
death. So how can Paul say here that the commandment was the way to life?
Perhaps Pauls best illustration of this is found in his letter to the Galatian assemblies. Turn to Galatians
chapter 3.
Paul had been writing to the Galatians as to the true purpose of the Law of Moses. First Paul indicated that
the Law was given to the Jews because of transgressions (Gal 3:19) or, as Paul wrote to the Romans, by
the Law is the knowledge of the Sin (Rom 3:20). The Law was intended so that the Jews would see
themselves in right light, as the transgressors that they were. Paul then showed two other purposes for the
Law.
[Galatians 3:23-25]
v. 23 The we here is the Jews, Paul including himself with them. Before the faith came means before
Christ came. Before that time, the nation of Israel was kept under guard by the Law. The Law kept Israel
separate; it preserved Israel as a nation, until Christ came, in fulfillment of the Law. That was an additional
purpose of the Law.
v. 24-25 This is a third purpose of the Law. The Law was Israels tutor, to Christ. The word for tutor
here in the Greek is paidagogos, transliterated as pedagogue into the English.
In the Greek, the word literally means child leader, and originally, it did not mean a tutor or teacher, but
referred to a particular slave that was appointed as guardian to the young children in a Roman household.

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This guardian would take the little ones by the hand and lead them to school, where he would turn them
over to the schoolmaster, who would then teach them.
Paul uses this as a picture of how the Law was intended to take Israel to her Messiah. How did the Law do
that? The righteous requirements of the Law revealed to the Jews that they were sinners lawbreakers.
Then the ceremonial Law pictured to the Jews the One who would deliver them from their sin their
Savior.
In this way, the Law led the Jews by the hand, so to speak, taking them right to Christ. Of course, it is
through faith that they must then let go of the hand of their guardian, the Law, and cling to their new
Master, Christ.
So it was in this way that the Law was to lead the Jew to Life Life everlasting, through faith in Christ.
[Return to Romans 7]
So the commandment was to lead to Life; but what did Paul find? It led to death, instead.
How could that be? Because as a religious Jew, Paul had been trying to do the works of the Law, as a
means of being justified by God. But can any man be justified that way? No because no man can keep
the Law. The Law the very thing that God designed to lead the Jew to Life everlasting by leading him
to Christ the Jew followed as a means of becoming justified which led him instead to sin, and death.
But the Sin went further than just causing Paul to die; it actively slew him (verse 11). How? Through the
commandment the Law.
Like a seductress, the Sin in Paul beguiled him into believing that he could actually perform all the works
of the Law; that he could meet its demands; that he could do it. Thats what all religious Jews believed, and
that, in doing it, they would receive Life everlasting.
But that was a deception, because neither Paul nor any other Jew could perform all the works of the Law.
The Law doesnt just demand that a man conform on the outside; as the commandment on coveting shows,
the Law also reaches inwardly, to the heart; to the motive for doing things, to the impulse behind the action.
And the impulse behind the actions of an unregenerate man is always for self.
Self-will is rebellion against the will of God; a will for self shows that there is lawlessness in the man; in
his heart. Paul conceives of the commandment here almost like a sword, which the Sin takes and plunges
into the heart of Paul. Here is the sword of Gods justice, striking home at the source of Pauls sin.
Paul now reaches a conclusion about the Law.
v. 12 Pauls conclusion at this point is that the Law is not sin; it is not evil. Its exactly the opposite. The
Law is a revelation of the will of God; each of its requirements are His requirements, reflecting His
glorious attributes: His holiness, His righteousness, His justice, His goodness.
The Law must be holy, and just, and good, because of its origin. This is the divine standard. And the fact
that the Law judges sin in men with death simply demonstrates the truth of this.
v. 13 The question which Paul poses here might be rephrased in this manner. OK, youve proven that the
Law is good; that it does what it was meant to do. But because we Jews have been given the Law, were
judged by it, resulting in our condemnation. So is the Law death to me?

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Paul gives another emphatic NOOO!! to that. It is not the Law that produces death; its the Sin. The
Law is used by the Sin, like a tool, to produce death. And God intended the Law to be a tool to lead to
everlasting Life, for the Jew!
Notice what Paul is saying here. The Sin, that it might appear sin, produced death in Paul through the Law.
The first word sin has the definite article; the second does not.
What does Paul mean? The Master Sin is being shown for what he really is Pauls sin, in his heart. Its as
if the Sin has dropped his mask; and behind it is Pauls own lawlessness.
And the Law is what causes that revelation. The Law brings out the self-will in the heart, so that the
lawlessness is expressed. In this way, the Sin showed itself to be Pauls sin and produced death in him
condemnation. And that was the experience of every Jew, under the Law; it just exacerbated their sin, as
they rebelled against the restrictions imposed by the Law. It led Paul and his fellow Jews deeper into
condemnation.
Paul then comes to his final conclusion.
v. 14 In the beginning of this verse, Paul returns to the collective we. Here is Pauls conclusion to his
questions about the Law; it is not sin; it is not death; the Law is spiritual; it is of the Spirit, a tool that God
uses to convict the heart of its lawlessness, so that a man will recognize that he needs to be delivered from
it, and that he cannot deliver himself. The Law will bring the Jew to Christ; if hes willing to be led, as
Paul was.
But what about that second half of the verse? But I am carnal, sold under sin. We might be tempted to
think that Paul is continuing to relate his prior experience, as an unregenerate man; but notice that Paul has
now switched to the present tense; and that tense will predominate throughout the rest of the chapter.
As mentioned earlier, the remainder of the chapter relates Pauls testimony as a believer. Is Paul saying
then that, as a believer, he is carnal, sold under sin? Yes he is; so we need to understand what he means,
because this has everything to do with the experience he proceeds to relate.
The term carnal has been variously defined, and can be quite misleading. Going back to the Greek, the
word simply means of flesh. Paul is saying of his present state that he is of flesh not in the flesh, for
Paul uses that to mean one who is still in Adam. But Paul is of flesh, by which he is referring to the
present, temporal reality he still has a flesh body.
And that flesh body was sold under sin the Sin, personified. The verb form for sold reflects the state
brought about by the finished results of the action. Pauls body had been sold under the Sin when he came
into the world; when he was born. Every mans body was.
The body is a servant; its members were designed to serve. The flesh is weak (Rm 6:19). The flesh has no
will of its own; it does not determine its own course, but is always dominated by one influence or another.
The flesh must be empowered.
As an unregenerate man, Pauls body always served the Sin which served Paul himself; his purposes; his
own self-will, executed through his body. His members were instruments of unrighteousness; they carried
out the unrighteous motives, that were in Pauls heart.

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But hasnt Paul said that through our union with Christ, we have been freed from the Sin? That we have
become slaves of righteousness? Slaves of God? So isnt Paul free? Yes. Paul is free; Paul the man has
been redeemed; but his body, which was sold under sin, has not yet been redeemed. Thats the temporal
reality.
The redemption of the body will be its glorification. But meanwhile, Paul is still living in a body of sin and
death. The Sin is still present in that body, exerting its strong influence. So how will Paul be able to serve
God, with that body? To live his righteousness? That is what Paul will share next, as he reveals the
believers struggle with the Sin, and how to have the victory over it.
Next week: Romans 7. Read Romans 8 as well. Gal 5:16-25.