Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

7:7 The law defines sin and also provokes sin. Confronted by the law, sin takes on the character of rebellion, so that people enjoy transgressing commands in order to demonstrate their independence. This principle is illustrated from the tenth commandment, which prohibits coveting (Ex. 20:17).

7:8 The prohibition against coveting exacerbated the desire for what was forbidden. Sin lies dead means that sin was latent rather than nonexistent.

7:9 If the verse relates to Paul, he is speaking of his subjective experience. If it relates to Adam, it refers to his relationship with God before he sinned. The prohibition against coveting stimulated the desire to sin, and sin in turn led to death.

7:10-11 God's commands promise eternal life if one keeps them; and yet they lead to death, since everyone violates what God ordains. This happens when sin deceives a person and uses the law as its instrument.

7:12 In light of vv. 7-11, Paul affirms the holiness of the law and the goodness of God's commands.

7:13-25 If the law is not sin, is it the case that the good law is responsible for death? Paul argues that the fault lies with sin, not with the law. Through the law, sin is revealed in all its hideousness, and the law is vindicated as good. The section can be subdivided into vv. 14-17, 18-20, and 21-25. A long-standing debate centers on whether Paul is describing believers or unbelievers. Although good arguments are given by both sides, the most widely held view--beginning especially with Augustine and reaffirmed in the Reformation--is that Paul's primary reference is to believers. In support of this position: (1) the shift to the present tense; (2) unbelievers do not desire so intensely to keep God's law (v. 21); (3) the distinction between the "I" and the "flesh" (v. 18); (4) the delight in God's law (v. 22); (5) deliverance from the sinful body is future (v. 24; 8:10, 11, 23); (6) the tension between good and evil in the concluding statement in 7:25; and (7) the fact that Christians are already righteous in Christ but are not yet perfected until the day of redemption. A second position, not as widely held but supported by a number of evangelical scholars, is that Paul is referring to unbelievers. In support of this position: (1) the structure of the passage (vv. 7-25 matches the life of the unregenerate previewed in v. 5, whereas 8:1-17 fits with the life of believers identified in 7:6); (2) the Holy Spirit is not mentioned in vv. 13-25 but is referred to 19 times in ch. 8; (3) to say that Christians are "sold under sin" (7:14) and "captive to the law of sin" (v. 23) stands in tension with chs. 6 and 8, which trumpet the freedom of believers from slavery to sin; (4) the suggestion that the present tense does not denote present time but the spiritual state of Paul when unconverted; (5) the desire to keep God's law reflects the mind-set of the pious Jew who wanted to live a moral life (as the verses emphasize, such people do not and cannot keep the law); and (6) the section's opening verse (v. 13) explains how the law brought death to Paul as an unbeliever. Advocates of both positions agree that (1) Christians still struggle with sin through their whole lives (see Gal. 5:17; 1 John 1:8-9); and (2) Christians can and should grow in sanctification throughout their lives by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within them (Rom. 8:2, 4, 9, 13-14). Those who hold to the first position usually see this passage as describing both Paul's own experience and the experience of Christians generally. Although Christians are free from the condemnation of the law, sin nonetheless continues to dwell within, and all genuine Christians (along with Paul) should be profoundly aware of how far they fall short of God's absolute standard of righteousness. Thus Paul cries out, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (7:24). The answer follows immediately: the one who has delivered Christians once for all (see 4:2-25; 5:2, 9) and the one who will deliver them day by day is "Jesus Christ our Lord!" (7:25). As in many other places in Paul's letters, this reflects his emphasis on both the "already" aspect of salvation (that believers have been saved) and the "not yet" aspect (that believers will be saved ultimately and for all eternity at the return of Christ), and that they live in the tension between the already and the not yet. In the section that immediately follows (8:1-11), Paul shows that the means by which Christians are delivered daily from the indwelling power of sin is: (1) by walking "not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (8:4); (2) by not "set[ting] their minds on the things of the flesh, but . . . on the things of the Spirit" (8:5); and (3) by the indwelling presence of "the Spirit of God [who] dwells in you" (8:9, 11).

7:16 Paul's reference to the goodness of the law reflects the main point of these verses.

7:17 Paul is not absolving himself of personal responsibility but emphasizing the power of sin.

7:21-23 The meaning of the word "law" in these verses is the subject of debate. Some think that every use of the word refers to the Mosaic law, but most argue that in vv. 21 and 23 the term means "principle." All agree that the Mosaic law is in view in v. 22. The Greek word nomos can take either meaning.

7:24-25 Who will deliver me? The living presence of Jesus Christ is the answer to the problem of sin in one's life.