October 2018: TRANSCRIPT

Romans Class SRL, Medellin

Prepared by: Walter Eriksen
LESSON 18 Romans 7:1-25
Believers Dead to the Law’s Condemnation
Problem of Indwelling Sin

1) ON VERSES 1-3: Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the
law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband
while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be
called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is
free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
a) Moo, D. J: (vs.1) This principle is similar to a maxim of the rabbis: “if a person is dead, he is free from
the Torah and the fulfilling of the commandments.1
i) Morris, Leon: (vs2) “A married woman is bound by law to her living husband. But if her husband
dies, the situation is radically altered.
ii) This is perhaps the only example in the New Testament of a situation in which death frees some living
person who is then able to enter new relationships.
iii) (vs 3) Paul’s point is that death, the death of either partner, dissolves the marriage.
iv) Being free from the law that bound her to the husband, she is no adulteress13 even though she marries
once more.
2) ON VERSES 4-6: Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that
you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for
God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our
members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us
captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
a) Calvin, John: The question is not here how we are to regulate our life, but how we are to be saved: and
he argues from what is contrary,—that God confers not righteousness on us because it is due, but bestows
it as a gift.
b) Morris, Leon: (5) Paul looks back to the past and brings out a contrast with the new life.
i) Were living in the flesh “Flesh” is a Pauline word (it occurs 91 times in Paul out of 147 New Testament;
ii) When “we were in the flesh” means when “we were characterized by fleshly desires and outlook”,
iii) All that sin issues in makes for death Commented [W1]:
iv) ON “FLESH: May refer to the soft constituent of the human body (1 Cor. 15:50), and a human being
(1 Cor. 1:29).
v) It may mean human nature (Rom. 9:5), or this earthly life (Phil. 1:24), or human attainment (Phil. 3:3).
c) Sproul, R.C.: Whenever we talk about law, we make a distinction between the letter of the law (the
precise written requirement.) and the spirit of the law. The spirit of the law has to do with the deeper
intent, or motive, behind the law.
i) We serve in the new way of the Spirit: The new Spirit of which he is speaking is the Holy Spirit.
ii) Our whole response to the law, attitude to law is of those empowered from within by the Holy Spirit.
iii) The Christian, with the indwelling Holy Spirit, is called to keep the letter law and the spirit of the law.
iv) Problem was, we could not bring forth the intended fruit of righteousness, spelled out in the law 2

1 Moo, D. J. (1996). The Epistle to the Romans (p. 412). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
2Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (pp. 120–121). Great Britain: Christian
Focus Publications.
3) ON VERSES 7-12: What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means; μὴ γένοιτο! Yet if it had not
been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had
not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me
all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but
when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved
to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it
killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
a) Calvin, John: (vs7) By no means; μὴ γένοιτο! without the law we are either too dull to discern our
depravity, or that we are made wholly insensible through self-flattery
i) On Verse 9: But when the commandment came, &c., he sets forth the law as coming when it began to
be really understood. It then raised sin as it were from the dead; for it discovered to Paul how great
depravity abounded in the recesses of his heart, and at the same time it slew him. 3
b) Sproul, R.C. (7) Sin by definition depends on some kind of standard by which performance and behaviour
is measured. So, it is through the law that sin is made known.
i) It is not that there would have been nothing evil without a law, but we would never have known what
sin was.
ii) (Verse 9: Paul is speaking in terms of his own personal history. as a child was he was born without
original a period in his life, was sinless? No.
(1) The time—from birth until a cognizant, knowledgeable creature—when he did not know actual
sin, before the age of accountability.
(2) When child has lack of understanding of what is commanded and what is prohibited.
(3) In the Jewish culture by the ceremony of Bar Mitzvah. It is a rite of passage. Bar Mitzvah means
‘son of commandment’, one who could be instructed in the law and expected to serve and obey
the law.
(4) Paul is recalling that the more he learned about the law as a young man, the more sin was stirred
up within him and revived:
iii) (Verse 10) The fault is not in the law, nor in the commandment. God’s commandments are a guide to
life, and the child of Judaism learned, memorized and studied the meaning of the law, not so that he
would be enticed to sin and embrace death, but so that he would understand how to live.4
iv) (Verse 11) But Paul’s personal testimony is, for sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the
commandment, deceived me—My own sinful disposition took the law of God and instead of using
it as an instrument for life and righteousness, I distorted it. My sin deceived me and through the
commandment put me to death
v) (Verse 12) It is not that grace is good and law is bad. It is that law is good and sin is bad. The law is
holy; the commandment is holy, just and good. Doing these things may bring death and destruction.
The apostle is talking about killing, namely, spiritually killing.5
4) ON VERSE 13-20: 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no
longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my
flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I

3Calvin, J., & Owen, J. (2010). Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans (pp. 255–256).
Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
4Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (pp. 122–123). Great Britain: Christian
Focus Publications.
5Sproul, R. C. (1994). The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p. 123). Great Britain: Christian Focus
Publications.
 want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who
do it, but sin that dwells within me.
5) On Verse 13: 13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death
in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might
become sinful beyond measure.
a) Calvin, John: (13) Sin, when it is by the law made known, then it really obtains its own name of sin; and
hence it appears the more wicked, and, so to speak, the more sinful, because it turns the goodness of the
law, by perverting it, to our destruction;
b) Sproul R.C.: When the apostle speaks autobiographically in Romans 7 of the struggle that continues
between the flesh and the spirit, he is talking about the struggle that characterizes every Christian’s life.
i) This dashes to the dust all false doctrines of sanctification that promise perfection this side of heaven.
It debunks the idea of some kind of higher Christian life that only an elite group can experience.
6) ON VERSE 14: For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
i) Paul cannot get loose from the idea of the weight of our sin, yet we just do not feel it.6
b) Sproul, R.C.: (14) There is a distinction, common throughout evangelical Christianity, that there are two
kinds of Christians—spiritual Christians and carnal Christians.
i) The apostle is writing after his conversion and yet he is using the present tense. but I am of the flesh,
ii) So, if someone were a carnal Christian it would have to be the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit he says he is (in the present tense) carnal.
iii) Paul is saying that in his present redeemed state he is still a creature of the flesh to some degree. He
elaborates upon this and here’s the part that seems to be so confusing:
7) ON VERSE 15: 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very
thing I hate.
a) Sproul, RC.: Paul expresses some confusion. He is perplexed but not by some abstract theological
mystery. He is perplexed by his own behavior. I don’t understand myself. I just don’t know why I do the
things that I do.
i) He goes on to describe a conflict that is rooted in the will.
ii) Paul is not engaging in a philosophical discussion of how the will functions; he is speaking in concrete
language that we can all relate to.
8) ON VERSE 16-17: 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no
longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
a) Verse 16: CALVIN, JOHN: The godly man consents to the law with the real and most cheerful desire of
his heart; for he wishes nothing more than to mount up to heaven,
b) Verse 17: Morris, Leon:) This sin that lives in him, though it is not the real Paul, is what produces the
acts which the real Paul hates so much. Sin is out of character for the believer, even though it is so difficult
to be rid of it entirely.
9) Verses 18-20: 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do
what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is
what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within
me.
a) Paul has the desire to good, to do what is right and things he knows he should not do, he does. He
understands he still is in Adam and the propensity to actually sin dwells in him
Verses 21-25: 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the
law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind
and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver

6 Sproul, R. C. (2009). Romans (p. 220). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law
of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
a) Calvin, John: He closes his argument with a vehement exclamation, by which he teaches us;
i) We struggle with our flesh, with continual groaning bewail within ourselves and before God our
unhappy condition. evil lies close at hand
ii) The voice of one panting and almost fainting, because he does not find immediate help.
iii) And he mentions the word rescue, in order that he might show, that for his liberation no ordinary
exercise of divine power was necessary.
iv) By the body of death, he means the whole mass of sin, or those ingredients of which the whole man is
composed; except that in him there remained only relics, by the captive bonds of which he was held.
v) The pronoun τούτου, this (referring to body), Paul meant to teach us, that the eyes of God’s children
are opened, so that through the law of God they wisely discern the corruption of their nature and the
death which from it proceeds.
vi) the body, the external man and members; the origin of evil, that man has departed from the law of his
creation, and thus carnal and earthly.
vii) What remains in him is full of numberless corruptions, so that his soul, being degenerated, may be
justly said to have passed into a body.
(1) This passage is indeed remarkably fitted for the purpose of beating down all the glory of the flesh;
for Paul teaches us, that the most perfect, as long as they dwell in the flesh, are exposed to misery
b) ON VERSE 25: I thank God, &c. Though Paul then bewailed his lot, and sighed for his departure, he yet
confesses that he acquiesced (accepted) in the good pleasure of God; for it does not become the saints,
while examining their own defects, to forget what they have already received from God.
(1) But what is sufficient to impatience, to cherish resignation, is the thought, they have been received
under the protection of God:
(a) That they will never perish,
(b) That they have already been favoured with the first-fruits of the Spirit.
(c) Certain in their hope of the eternal inheritance.
(d) Though they have yet to enjoy the promised glory of heaven, at the same time, are content with
what they have obtained, and never without reasons for joy.
(2) So, I myself, &c. The faithful never reach the goal of righteousness as long as they dwell in the
flesh, but that they are running their course, until they put off the body.
(3) He again gives the name of mind, not to the rational part of the soul, but what is illuminated by the
Spirit of God
(4) He confesses, that he was devoted to God in such a manner, that while creeping on the earth he
was defiled with many corruptions.
c) If time share experience when God would not let me go.