Romans 7- Died to the Law
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ROMANS SEVEN
(Romans 7: 1-6) Dead to the Law by Identification and union with Christ in His
Death.
first three verses use the lawful union of marriage as an example of those under law and verse four
announces the glorious fact of believer’s being made dead to the law; therefore freeing them to be
joined (united) to another [Christ]. Chapter seven opens with the explanation of how the law has
dominion over a man as long as he lives, so if we died to the law by being crucified with Christ (Ro
6:6) we are freed to be united to Christ risen. Just as atonement and justification are through the
blood of Christ the believer’s identification is by the body of Christ. The end of verse four reveals a
startling statement, that in order to bear fruit the believer must become dead to the Law. The task
of bearing fruit while burdened with a yolk of slavery unto the law and legalism yields little results. As
believer’s we have been delivered from the law, a glorious deliverance indeed, to serve in newness of
spirit (v 6). Coming into understanding of the believer’s position of being made dead to the law frees
the believer into a true spiritual form of service void of legalism and tradition.
We must take careful note that in these verses the Law does not die but we are made dead to the
law. In the example of the wife and husband the law does not die, it is the husband that dies. Who
then, is the husband? It is our old man, our place in Adam which is crucified with Christ.
(Romans 7:7-13) The Question is- Deliverance from the Bondage of the Power
of Indwelling Sin.
In verses 7-25 Paul is not concerned with forgiveness of sin, but deliverance from indwelling sin as a
dominating power. Until chapter eight it is Paul against the flesh without knowledge of the sole power
of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is Paul along with the law and the law having no power to deliver. The
Christian reader should read Romans seven as a warning not to be brought under law, but that we
are under grace. Deliverance of the power of indwelling sin is only found through faith in Jesus
Christ and the believers identification in Christ through union in His death, with Christ; reckoning
ourselves dead to sin but alive unto God. To enter into a state of deliverance a believer must
know they died and are IN Christ risen, therefore becoming dead to the law.
Paul asking in verse seven, “is the law sin”, is asked to confirm the purpose of the law to expose
sin for what it is. The law makes this known as well as our helplessness to overcome the bondage of
sin and its power on our own accord. In verse nine, alive apart from the law, does not refer to a
time Paul did not know the law or before Paul knew of the law. This was a time when Paul realized he
was not under law but under grace. Paul first preached the gospel boldly before he went to Arabia.
And it was there that Paul came into knowledge of indwelling sin and the struggle of the believer’s
two natures by revelation of the Holy Spirit. For I was alive without the law once: but when the
commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to
life, I found to be unto death (Romans 7:9,10). At this point Paul now understands the power of
sin and the sin nature in every human. The law and a true understanding of Gods demand of
perfection (because as a just God He can accept no less) and true holiness in spirit not in the letter,
is quickened to Pauls soul. Remember, Paul thought he was blameless as a Pharisee. Paul being
convicted of a call into a holy life finds no victory in his own efforts. God allowed Paul to go through
this experience in order to reveal the “self” to Paul and his helpless inability to deliver himself. It must
be noted that it was not God that deceived Paul, it was sin, and Paul sinking to a state of utter
helplessness calls for deliverance. In verse thirteen Paul makes clear it was not the law that brought
death but sin. By the law sin appears as sin, making sin exceedingly sinful.
(Romans 7:14-25) The conflict between the two natures of the old self, Adamic
life, sin nature and the “new life” in Christ – the believers’ new nature. (The flesh
& the spirit)
Speaking on Romans 7:14-25 C.I. Scofield said,
Harry Ironside speaking of his salvation experience at the age of fourteen said
“in fact, in my new-found joy I had no conception that I still carried about with me a nature as sinful
and vile as existed in the breast of the greatest evildoer in the world. I knew something of Christ and
His love; I knew little or nothing of myself and the deceitfulness of my own heart”.
Verse fourteen begins by Paul saying “The Law is spiritual, but I am carnal”. In my judgment the
Law is referred to as holy because it was given by a holy God whose judgments are righteous and
just. And the believer growing in spiritual maturity will begin to see the Law as spiritual and holy, as
opposed to just written commands, exposing sin as exceedingly sinful. Paul uses the word carnal
because the Greek imperative sarkinos refers to the flesh. This is referring to the old Adam nature
that is in strife and conflict with the Spirit and the new divine nature received at spiritual birth. The
word natural is used when referring to the unsaved, unregenerate or unrenewd man. (1 Co 2:14)
Verses 14-17 comment on the inability to overcome evil in the flesh and verses 18-21 refers to the
failure to do the desired good. Good intentions and the desire to perform good are there but relying
on self effort results in failure. So now we are faced with the double failure of the Christian to
overcome (stop sinning and doing evil) or to even do the desired good. So help must come, actually
deliverance, from an outside source beyond oneself.
The experience Paul speaks of is an experience of a delivered person referring to his undelivered
stage. Through this phase Paul encounters the first step of deliverance; discovery of oneself. Paul
found, to his shock and dismay, his repulsive state by nature; his natural condition. To his surprise
Paul finds an evil nature residing within, of which he was never aware of; the law of indwelling sin in
his members.
The fact that we are “sold under sin”, is a state in which the new convert is not initially aware of, as
mentioned earlier. However, these struggles serve to open the spiritual eyes toward self discovery of
the believers’ carnal state of sinfulness and complete dependency on God. For we can not proclaim
our independence, but rather our complete dependency on Him, and this discovery of indwelling sin,
self and even dependency leads to the understanding that the believer has died to sin and to the law
which empowers sin. God allowed Paul, and I believe all Christians, to have this experience of
Romans seven to lead him to the revelation of not only indwelling sin and our carnal nature, but the
indwelling Holy Spirit in the new nature as a presence and power against sin. So now Paul writes as
to the forgiveness of sins through the blood, the substitution work of the cross (justification), the
revealing of our repulsive old self, and the inability of self deliverance of the ruling power of sins
dominion all leading to the believers identity in Christ. Who delivers from this “body of death”? The
Lord Jesus Christ.
There are three lessons to be learned in these passages. 1) There is nothing good in of ourselves,
2) we are powerless to overcome on our own strength 3) whom is our deliverer and source of
strength?
Take note that in the previous chapter Paul had already explained the hopeless human state of being
lost and guilty beyond recovery before God. Paul goes on to explain that upon receiving salvation
the believer is associated or linked to Adam and indentified IN Christ in his death and resurrection.
Then chapter seven goes on to deal with the struggle, the battle, between the two natures. All of
this is given before a call of complete surrender and service because self revelation precedes divine
revelation.
In verses 22-25 we can see the progressive stages of the believers walk.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
(Romans 7:22-25 KJV)
And the progressive stages are as follows - 1st “delight”, 2nd struggle and failure, 3rd
enlightenment of self discovery, 4th complete defeat, 5th discernment, understanding and
appropriation, 6th deliverance through Jesus Christ work on the cross and the power of the holy
Spirit.
Paul’s exclaiming, “O wretched man that I am”, is not a cry for deliverance of sins guilt, but from sins
enslaving power and dominion. Paul cries to be freed from this torment of bondage. “No one but a
quickened soul ever knows about a ‘body of death”. William R Newell
Our defeat brings us into the understanding that we have no power in ourselves against the “law of
sin which is in our members” v 23. Not on our own strength, not of our own accord, but relying
on a complete dependence on Christ’s work on the cross and appropriating the truth of our
positional identity of being crucified with Christ; we died with Christ on the cross. And that is the
answer to Paul’s agonizing question; it is “through Jesus Christ our Lord”, the believers awakening
of his identification with Christ in His death, not by any self effort. Victory lies within this truth. This
revelation brings to light that the carnal Christian struggling in sin is forgiven by what Christ did
(completed past work) at the cross, not for what Christ does now. And the believer is delivered from
the power of sin in the same way; for what Christ did, “it is finished”.
Paul’s struggle is not the normal Christian walk. As Christians we do not “live in sin” nor do we
continue in sin or our struggles. We are called to overcome. Paul’s struggle was a stage in his walk
God allowed him to endure leading him into victory of “walking in the Spirit”; from struggling - to
awareness - to discernment - to appropriation (Ro 7) to victory (Ro 8).
(Romans 7: 1-6) Dead to the Law by Identification and union with Christ in His
Death.
first three verses use the lawful union of marriage as an example of those under law and verse four
announces the glorious fact of believer’s being made dead to the law; therefore freeing them to be
joined (united) to another [Christ]. Chapter seven opens with the explanation of how the law has
dominion over a man as long as he lives, so if we died to the law by being crucified with Christ (Ro
6:6) we are freed to be united to Christ risen. Just as atonement and justification are through the
blood of Christ the believer’s identification is by the body of Christ. The end of verse four reveals a
startling statement, that in order to bear fruit the believer must become dead to the Law. The task
of bearing fruit while burdened with a yolk of slavery unto the law and legalism yields little results. As
believer’s we have been delivered from the law, a glorious deliverance indeed, to serve in newness of
spirit (v 6). Coming into understanding of the believer’s position of being made dead to the law frees
the believer into a true spiritual form of service void of legalism and tradition.
We must take careful note that in these verses the Law does not die but we are made dead to the
law. In the example of the wife and husband the law does not die, it is the husband that dies. Who
then, is the husband? It is our old man, our place in Adam which is crucified with Christ.
(Romans 7:7-13) The Question is- Deliverance from the Bondage of the Power
of Indwelling Sin.
In verses 7-25 Paul is not concerned with forgiveness of sin, but deliverance from indwelling sin as a
dominating power. Until chapter eight it is Paul against the flesh without knowledge of the sole power
of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is Paul along with the law and the law having no power to deliver. The
Christian reader should read Romans seven as a warning not to be brought under law, but that we
are under grace. Deliverance of the power of indwelling sin is only found through faith in Jesus
Christ and the believers identification in Christ through union in His death, with Christ; reckoning
ourselves dead to sin but alive unto God. To enter into a state of deliverance a believer must
know they died and are IN Christ risen, therefore becoming dead to the law.
Paul asking in verse seven, “is the law sin”, is asked to confirm the purpose of the law to expose
sin for what it is. The law makes this known as well as our helplessness to overcome the bondage of
sin and its power on our own accord. In verse nine, alive apart from the law, does not refer to a
time Paul did not know the law or before Paul knew of the law. This was a time when Paul realized he
was not under law but under grace. Paul first preached the gospel boldly before he went to Arabia.
And it was there that Paul came into knowledge of indwelling sin and the struggle of the believer’s
two natures by revelation of the Holy Spirit. For I was alive without the law once: but when the
commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to
life, I found to be unto death (Romans 7:9,10). At this point Paul now understands the power of
sin and the sin nature in every human. The law and a true understanding of Gods demand of
perfection (because as a just God He can accept no less) and true holiness in spirit not in the letter,
is quickened to Pauls soul. Remember, Paul thought he was blameless as a Pharisee. Paul being
convicted of a call into a holy life finds no victory in his own efforts. God allowed Paul to go through
this experience in order to reveal the “self” to Paul and his helpless inability to deliver himself. It must
be noted that it was not God that deceived Paul, it was sin, and Paul sinking to a state of utter
helplessness calls for deliverance. In verse thirteen Paul makes clear it was not the law that brought
death but sin. By the law sin appears as sin, making sin exceedingly sinful.
(Romans 7:14-25) The conflict between the two natures of the old self, Adamic
life, sin nature and the “new life” in Christ – the believers’ new nature. (The flesh
& the spirit)
Speaking on Romans 7:14-25 C.I. Scofield said,
Harry Ironside speaking of his salvation experience at the age of fourteen said
“in fact, in my new-found joy I had no conception that I still carried about with me a nature as sinful
and vile as existed in the breast of the greatest evildoer in the world. I knew something of Christ and
His love; I knew little or nothing of myself and the deceitfulness of my own heart”.
Verse fourteen begins by Paul saying “The Law is spiritual, but I am carnal”. In my judgment the
Law is referred to as holy because it was given by a holy God whose judgments are righteous and
just. And the believer growing in spiritual maturity will begin to see the Law as spiritual and holy, as
opposed to just written commands, exposing sin as exceedingly sinful. Paul uses the word carnal
because the Greek imperative sarkinos refers to the flesh. This is referring to the old Adam nature
that is in strife and conflict with the Spirit and the new divine nature received at spiritual birth. The
word natural is used when referring to the unsaved, unregenerate or unrenewd man. (1 Co 2:14)
Verses 14-17 comment on the inability to overcome evil in the flesh and verses 18-21 refers to the
failure to do the desired good. Good intentions and the desire to perform good are there but relying
on self effort results in failure. So now we are faced with the double failure of the Christian to
overcome (stop sinning and doing evil) or to even do the desired good. So help must come, actually
deliverance, from an outside source beyond oneself.
The experience Paul speaks of is an experience of a delivered person referring to his undelivered
stage. Through this phase Paul encounters the first step of deliverance; discovery of oneself. Paul
found, to his shock and dismay, his repulsive state by nature; his natural condition. To his surprise
Paul finds an evil nature residing within, of which he was never aware of; the law of indwelling sin in
his members.
The fact that we are “sold under sin”, is a state in which the new convert is not initially aware of, as
mentioned earlier. However, these struggles serve to open the spiritual eyes toward self discovery of
the believers’ carnal state of sinfulness and complete dependency on God. For we can not proclaim
our independence, but rather our complete dependency on Him, and this discovery of indwelling sin,
self and even dependency leads to the understanding that the believer has died to sin and to the law
which empowers sin. God allowed Paul, and I believe all Christians, to have this experience of
Romans seven to lead him to the revelation of not only indwelling sin and our carnal nature, but the
indwelling Holy Spirit in the new nature as a presence and power against sin. So now Paul writes as
to the forgiveness of sins through the blood, the substitution work of the cross (justification), the
revealing of our repulsive old self, and the inability of self deliverance of the ruling power of sins
dominion all leading to the believers identity in Christ. Who delivers from this “body of death”? The
Lord Jesus Christ.
There are three lessons to be learned in these passages. 1) There is nothing good in of ourselves,
2) we are powerless to overcome on our own strength 3) whom is our deliverer and source of
strength?
Take note that in the previous chapter Paul had already explained the hopeless human state of being
lost and guilty beyond recovery before God. Paul goes on to explain that upon receiving salvation
the believer is associated or linked to Adam and indentified IN Christ in his death and resurrection.
Then chapter seven goes on to deal with the struggle, the battle, between the two natures. All of
this is given before a call of complete surrender and service because self revelation precedes divine
revelation.
In verses 22-25 we can see the progressive stages of the believers walk.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
(Romans 7:22-25 KJV)
And the progressive stages are as follows - 1st “delight”, 2nd struggle and failure, 3rd
enlightenment of self discovery, 4th complete defeat, 5th discernment, understanding and
appropriation, 6th deliverance through Jesus Christ work on the cross and the power of the holy
Spirit.
Paul’s exclaiming, “O wretched man that I am”, is not a cry for deliverance of sins guilt, but from sins
enslaving power and dominion. Paul cries to be freed from this torment of bondage. “No one but a
quickened soul ever knows about a ‘body of death”. William R Newell
Our defeat brings us into the understanding that we have no power in ourselves against the “law of
sin which is in our members” v 23. Not on our own strength, not of our own accord, but relying
on a complete dependence on Christ’s work on the cross and appropriating the truth of our
positional identity of being crucified with Christ; we died with Christ on the cross. And that is the
answer to Paul’s agonizing question; it is “through Jesus Christ our Lord”, the believers awakening
of his identification with Christ in His death, not by any self effort. Victory lies within this truth. This
revelation brings to light that the carnal Christian struggling in sin is forgiven by what Christ did
(completed past work) at the cross, not for what Christ does now. And the believer is delivered from
the power of sin in the same way; for what Christ did, “it is finished”.
Paul’s struggle is not the normal Christian walk. As Christians we do not “live in sin” nor do we
continue in sin or our struggles. We are called to overcome. Paul’s struggle was a stage in his walk
God allowed him to endure leading him into victory of “walking in the Spirit”; from struggling - to
awareness - to discernment - to appropriation (Ro 7) to victory (Ro 8).
“It is an experience like this which so discourages and perplexes young converts. The
first joy of conversion has subsided, his glowing expectations become chilled and the
before his conversion and he is led to doubt his acceptance with God. This is a time of
discouragement and danger. Paul in this crisis cries out for deliverance calling his old
nature a ‘body of death.’ The law only intensifies his agony (though a converted man),
and he finds deliverance from ‘the flesh,’ not through effort, nor striving to keep the
law, but through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24,25)
first joy of conversion has subsided, his glowing expectations become chilled and the
before his conversion and he is led to doubt his acceptance with God. This is a time of
discouragement and danger. Paul in this crisis cries out for deliverance calling his old
nature a ‘body of death.’ The law only intensifies his agony (though a converted man),
and he finds deliverance from ‘the flesh,’ not through effort, nor striving to keep the
law, but through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24,25)