Romans Chapter 7.

Romans Chapter Seven.

The strength of sin is the law.  (1.Cor.15:56).    The topic of this chapter is the law.  The central core of the law was the two tables of stone given to Moses.  This was the basis of the old covenant, but there gathered around this a considerable larger body of legislation to be found in the Pentateuch.  This was known as the written law.  There arose also a body of oral laws which were held to be also as old as Moses.  About 200 A.D. the oral law was given a written form, known today as the Mishnah.  Other parts of the Talmud contain material from the oral law.  However, of this great body of legislative matter, the central nucleus always remained the 10 commandments given on the tables of stone to Moses.  The Jewish religion was essentially a religion of law.  In this it has certain uniqueness and the law may well mean the Jewish religion, or "old religion."  It is possible this meaning is reflected in some instances in this epistle.

           

The Hebrew “Torah” meant primarily, “instruction” and secondarily, “law.”  The Greek 'nomos' meant “principle” as well as “law.”  The fact that Torah and nomos only in part had the common meaning of law, but that each had also a wider and distinctive meaning, may have helped to broaden the idea of law.  In some instances in this epistle, the meaning 'principle' may be present.  There arose a literary use of the word law.  It became the name of the Pentateuch which contained the law.  Sometimes the name law is given to the whole of the Old Testament revelation, since all of the Old Testament revelation was Torah (instruction), and was an exposition of the law.  To be free from the thraldom of sin, we must be free from the bondage of law.  The grace that justifies becomes the energizing and guiding principle of the new life.  There is no freedom from sin under the law.

           

Chapters 6 and 7 go together.   Chapter 7 proves that to be under the law, is to be in bondage to sin.  Chapter 7 tells of the Christian liberation from the law, and works out fully the wretchedness and bondage to sin that a man experiences under law.  Our freedom from sin is based on the fact that we are not under law but under grace.  It is clear that to be liberated from sin we must also be liberated from law.  Behind chapter 6 stands the Jewish objection that the reign of grace will foster sin.  The Jew held that the law must have a central place.  His religion was so much a religion of law that he could not conceive anything else.  But in chapter 7, Paul demonstrates that it is the law that fosters sin.  The law could not deliver from sin, but was an obstacle to freedom.  Chapter 7 is essential to deal with the problem raised in chapter 6.

           

The End of Law.                                                            7:1-6.

The authority of the law is terminated at death.    7:1-3.

The Christian has died to the law.                                   7:4-6.

7:1-6.    The first six verses are linked with chapter 6.  They deal with the matter mentioned in 6:14.  These six verses continue the topic of chapter 6.   Paul has used an illustration from slavery and now he uses marriage as an illustration.  He writes to men who have knowledge of the law, and will see the point he makes.  Illustrations must always be drawn from things the hearers know something about.  Paul writes to men well acquainted with legal affairs, especially the law of Moses.  The point that Paul makes is that the law is binding upon a person only during his life.  Death makes to cease man's obligation to law.  There is no more striking illustration of this fact, than marriage.

           

7:1-3.    This illustration concerning the wife was definitely true of the Jewish wife, but not of the Roman wife.  The 'law concerning her husband' R.S.V., is that concerning her husband's rights, and which gives him authority over her.  It is the marriage-law.  A woman is bound by the law concerning her husband, as long as he is alive.  If during his lifetime she marries another she falls under a most scandalous reproach, and becomes guilty of a grave offence.  But if the husband dies, she becomes completely free from the law of marriage and it is perfectly right for her to marry another without reproach.  Death then cancels all obligations to law.

           

The illustration is imperfect for the woman is not freed from all law, but only the law concerning her husband.  Again, in the illustration, the husband dies, but an exact analogy would demand the death of the wife.  The point that Paul would make emphatic, is that death liberates from law.  Griffith-Thomas, like Olshausen, would find an exact counterpart to the illustration.  This is unnecessary and the point that Paul insists on is that death dissolves all obligation to law.  He could have made this point by stating that the wife died, but as he wishes to extend the illustration by her remarriage, he states that the husband died.

           

7:4-6.    The application of this principle to the Christian.    "You have died to the law."  This is a most emphatic way of declaring our freedom from law.   "Through the body of Christ."  Is this the Church, or is it the crucified body of the Lord?   Paul may mean that it is by being incorporated into Christ and made members of His body that we are free from law.  But it is more probable that he means the human body of Jesus in which he suffered for us.  The Christian has died to law, and so is freed from law.  This is not to be restricted to the ceremonial law.  For Paul the law is a unity and has no such divisions as that of ceremonial and moral law.  The law is the legal form of religion and its legal approach to the worship and service of God.  And since religion and ethics are bound up together in Jewish thinking, the law embraces both.  We are freed from law that we might belong to Christ, for Christ is the end of law.  We now belong and are united to Christ, raised from the dead.

           

Legalism in religion has been superseded by a personal relationship.  Truth is no longer conceived as abstract principles, but a person.  Jesus said, "I am the truth." (Jn.14:6).  If this is so, then, to know the truth, consists in right relationship to Christ.  Truth is right relationships rather than legal principles.  We have all witnessed the transforming power of a new and personal relationship.  Marriage is often an illustration of such a transforming relationship.  Instead the principle of legalism is substituted for that union with Christ - a living relationship with Christ who has been raised from the dead.    The relationship to law was unfruitful, but union with the Risen Christ bears fruit for God.  The metaphor of marriage seems continued, though Dy., denies it.  Christianity works through the transforming power of a new relationship, but what makes this relationship fruitful is that it is in union with Christ.  No one can know Jesus Christ and ever be the same again.  Our lives are largely moulded by the relationships we form, but no human relationship can influence our lives as can this life-transforming relationship to Christ. 

           

7:5.       The Past.  The words, 'in the flesh' in this verse mean, 'in our unregenerate state.'  This is a special Pauline use. (See 8:8-9).  Those under law are still 'in the flesh'.  Their past state as living under law was one completely dominated by the flesh ('sarx').  It was a carnal state (7:14).  Many Jews believed that the study of the law (torah) would curb the 'yetzer hara', or evil desire.  The law failed to do this, but rather provoked the 'yetzer hara'.  Therefore, Paul writes that "our sinful passions" were aroused by the law, which was at work in our members.  The law failed to curb these evil passions and rather provoked them.   The law could not produce fruit for God, but its demands aroused the passions that it was intended to curb.  The fruit it bore was for death.

           

7:6.       The Discharge.   The Christian has been released from the law.  The form of this release or discharge is that of death to that which held us captive.  The law enabled sin to increase its hold upon us, but by our participation in Christ's death we are now liberated.   The principle of legalism is clearly contrasted to that of life in the Spirit.  The principle and power of a new life, has displaced a written code. 

The words, "newness of Spirit," are an advance on 6:4, "newness of life."  The R.S.V. has "in the new life of the Spirit."  The new life is energized by the Spirit of God.  This anticipates chapter 8.  However, see the N.E.B.  The word "Spirit” suggests power, freedom and reality.  The 'slave service' of the Christian is performed in an altogether new spirit, for it is not the service of a slave but of  one who experiences the freedom and power of the Spirit.  The description of the Christian life as slave-service shows God requires complete obedience. That it is life in the Spirit shows that it is no legal obedience.  The new obedience does not consist in keeping an ancient and antiquated written code.  Christ has freed us from the old legal religion.

           

7:7-25.     Paul's apology in defence of the law.  

Paul has made it clear that the Christian is not under law.  He now attempts to clarify the relationship of sin and the law.  Paul has concluded his discussion concerning the Christian's liberation from law, but the following verses do illustrate more clearly that under law there is no freedom from sin.  These verses appear to be a piece of Pauline autobiography.  He writes in terms of personal experience.  However he may regard his own experience as parabolic of men's wretchedness under sin and law.  This is suggested by the allusion to the fall in these verses.  In his account of his experience, Paul combines the story of the Fall (Gen.3) and that of the giving of the Law.  These two events are theological events and are brought together and  worked out in his own experience. They illustrate that the law, far from delivering the sinner, made his case the more wretched.  This allusion to the Fall and to the giving of the Law strongly suggests that the important thing about Paul's self analysis is that it is the case of every man.  Leehardt may be correct in pursuing this to the conclusion that Paul was using a common literary method of ancient times to illustrate a position.

           

7:7-12.  Sin used the Law to make the plight of the sinner more wretched.

           

7:7.       The Problem.   The language of 7:5 suggests that the law actually produces sin.  Someone may argue that the law then is sinful.  Are sin and law identical?  Paul denies this.  The law is not sin.  The very fact that law exposes sin was because it prohibited sin.  The law which reproves and exposes sin is itself holy.  It is the commands of the law prohibiting sin that makes known the presence of sin.  The law is well designed for the detection and exposing of sin.  In spite of its brevity, none can escape it.  Paul writes that had it not been for the command forbidding covetousness, he could not have known the sinfulness of his heart.  His outward life appeared right in his own eyes, but the command turned the spotlight upon his covetousness and flashed home to him the forbidden thing, a secret lust of his heart.  The law that could so expose his sin was capable of doing so, because it was opposed to sin.  The law was the revelation of God's will and its precepts provided a standard of ethical knowledge by which a man is able to discern the sinfulness of his own conduct.  That Paul could write that he had not known sin or what it was to commit sin except for the law, proves that the intention of the law was to curb sin, that law is opposed to sin.  The quoting of the tenth commandment (Ex.20:17) indicates clearly what Paul means when he speaks of law.

           

7:8.       Sin's Opportunity.   Paul carefully defends the excellence of the law itself.  Some things that he has said may seem to identify the law with sin.  It is the law that arouses the sinful passions and it is clear that, to be free from law and that to die to sin, is also to die to law.  Therefore, Paul finds it necessary to illustrate the relationship of law and sin and to indicate how it came to pass that the holy law, which was given to curb sin, became the ally of sin.  The law itself is not sinful.  It is not to be identified as sin.  The fact that it detects and exposes sin is proof of this, for it exposes sin through the precepts forbidding sin.  The law is the clean background that shows up the uncleanness of sin.  The law then, is not sin and altogether differs from sin.  But how then, is it that the passions of sin operate through the law to bring fruit to death?  Sin used the commandment as a base for operations.  Sin manifests its power in the form of death, slaying its victim.  It was because of the essential nature of law, that sin found in the law a means of enforcing its power.

           

The word, "occasion,"  'aphorme', is literally, "the starting point or base of operations for an expedition."    Baucer translates 'occasion', as "pretext, opportunity."  Sin grasped its opportunity, making the commandment a starting point to extend its power and to make its rule more effectively felt.  It was not that the law was really the ally of sin, for it exposes and forbids sin.  But the law was unable to help a man in his weakness, for its exposure of sin made the man in greater measure aware of his sinfulness.  So the law became the means by which sin increased its hold.  Apart from the law, sin is dead, but the law imputes sin.  In this way the law reveals the character and power of sin.  The strength of sin is the law.

           

7:9.       The Commandment's Advent.   Sin has its death and resurrection.  Verse 9 provides proof of the statement that "apart from the law sin is dead."  Paul takes us back to his childhood days.  When as yet he had not developed the capacity to make moral distinctions he was not aware of evil desire or sin.  In early childhood days, he lived his life without knowledge of the power of sin.  Then the time arrived when the commandment came to bring to his child-like mind the standard by which right is distinguished from wrong and the knowledge of what God demands.  Sin then came alive and he died.  Sin sprang into life.  Paul becomes aware of its power.  He describes his wretched experience in the words, "I died."  Sin wields the power of death, and sin took the law into its service, that it might effectively wield the power of death.  The precept made Paul aware that he was a man under the sentence of death, without hope - a doomed man.  'Anazao', means "come to life again."  But here Bauer suggests, "spring into life," with loss of force of (again).  If this verse describes Paul's own personal experience, then it certainly refers to a time in his life before his conversion.   Yet this experience is not something quite different from the experience described in 7:14-25.

           

7:10.     The Paradox.   The intention of the commandments was to promote life but Paul found that, in his case (and his case was typical of every man) that the commandment produced death.  See Paul's words in Gal.3:21.

           

7:11.     This verse explains why the law failed to give life, but instead brought death.  Sin finding occasion (opportunity, starting point, impulse) through the commandment beguiled (seduced, deceived) me.  Paul seems to refer to Gen.3:13 (2.Cor.11:3), where the same Greek word is used.  Sin, like the serpent, misuses God's specific command.  The end is death.  The innocent is deceived.  Paul sets up the story of the Fall in miniature in his own experience.  But while it is likely that Paul is telling his own experience he also thinks of that experience as typical.  He does not write exclusively about himself.

           

7:12.     The Command.   Paul defends the excellence of the law in itself.  Rabbis have charged Paul as having a mistaken view of law.  They point to the kindly laws of the Old Testament.  The law was righteous and good, and contained many wise provisions.  Moreover, the Hebrew word, 'Torah', meant primarily instruction, and then secondarily, law.  But the law was not only a means by which the people could be wisely governed, but it had become the fundamental concept in Israel's religion.

           

When law is taken up into religion, it gives religion a specific character.  The law was the Jewish religion and it had become the expression of a certain type of religious experience of religious worship.  It stood for human merit and the vain attempt of men to achieve their own standing before God.  On the one hand it bred human pride and boasting; but on the other hand it reduced more serious minds to feelings of guilt and wretchedness.  This latter was the case when conscience felt the impact of the law.  But in this Paul vindicates the law.  It was because of the presence of sin the law made such an impact upon the conscience of men.  The law itself is holy.

           

The apostle cannot be charged with a poor view of the Law.  The intention of this passage is to explain the relation of the law to sin; to vindicate the law; to prove that the law is not sinful, but holy.  Further, to illustrate sin’s use of  the law to establish its mastery over a man and in doing so sin reveals its true character and thus law fulfils its function of bringing the knowledge of sin.  But the law could not have fulfilled this function of making sin known if, in itself, it was not opposed to sin and, by its precepts, forbade sin.  When Paul illustrates how sin used (misused, abused) law, he puts law and sin in greatest contrast.

           

7:13.     Soteriological Impotency.   The law had no power to deliver men from sin.  In itself the law was excellent, but sin in its subtlety made use of the law to more completely establish its rule.  For the law had no power to deal with sin but its holiness as the expression of God's will made it the more fitting instrument for sin by which to wield the power of  death.  Sin made use of the law to reveal its character and to extend its power.  The law became an instrument in the hands of sin, that sin more fully secure its power over men.  Sin extended its power in two ways:-

*   The command gave man impulse to sin.  The repressive nature of its prohibitions excited sin.    Over-governed people tend to become law-breakers.

*   Sin extended its power over men by making them feel in their own conscience, the reality of its power, and so taking away from them all hope of life.

The very excellence of the law provided sin the opportunity to make its power really known in our experience and to become aware of our bondage to it.   In this verse then, Paul elaborates the idea that by the law, is the knowledge of sin, and that through the law is discovered the exceeding sinfulness of sin.  Paul makes this point by insisting that sin effects its complete conquest of a man by means of the law.  The man without the law may be a bad man, but he has never felt the power and wretchedness of sin - as has a man who knows the excellence of the law, but discovers its inability to help him.  The man under law strives to keep the law, but through his failure comes to experience the power of sin, reducing him to a state of wretchedness.  The fault is not in the law, but in the man, and it is the man's wretchedness that gives sin the opportunity to use the law to oppress him.  Sin, then, makes use of the law to make its tyranny more oppressive in the experience of the sinner.  In this way, the man discovers the power and mastery that sin has over him.

           

The chief point is that the law is excellent, but has no power to rescues the sinner, for it can in no way, relieve or remove his sinfulness, but rather, reveals to the sinner his sinfulness.  It therefore, makes his state worse.  The law could not give righteousness nor life, but through the misuse that sin makes of it has become the strength of sin.  Paul argues that apart from the law he would not have known sin, its wretchedness and its doom.  It was the moral excellence of the law that made it possible for sin to show its character, fuel and power - and to enslave the conscience of those under it.  The sinner discovers the moral incompatibility between the law that is spiritual and that of himself, made of flesh.  He finds himself completely under the mastery of sin.  There seems to be no difference between this experience and that described in the following verses.

           

7:14-25.     The law is weak because of the frailty of the flesh.   Much discussion has gathered around these verses.   The main issue has been are they the experience of Paul before his conversion, or do they refer to Paul's experience as a Christian.  He made use of this passage in his controversy with Pelagius the Briton, who thought that "what you ought you can."  Augustine was followed by Luther and by Calvin, the Reformers.  Such excellent commentators as Hodge and Moule (in the Cambridge Bible) have supported it.  Recently, Nygren has vigorously argued for this interpretation.  Barrett appears to follow Nygren, and Knox accepts it.  Origen and the Greek Fathers, generally applied it to Paul's experience before conversion.  Probably, most of the important commentators have followed this view.  So do H.A.W.Meyer, Godet, Beet, Gifford, Sanday and Headlam, Denny, Garvey, Dodd and Bylan.  In his later book,  Moule modified his view.  It is Paul's experience when he acts out of character as a regenerate man.  

           

Moule notes the absence of any reference to the Holy Spirit and the contrast between this passage and that of chapter 8.  It seems impossible to confine, as K.Kelly does, this experience to Paul's three days at Damascus.  It does not read like a three day experience.  An important lead is “Do the verses continue the topic of the law?  Is it the experience of a man under law?”  It seems certain that the whole chapter, not only the first 13 verses, but the final 12 verses, are occupied with law.  Even these expositors who think it is Paul's experience as a Christian are willing to admit these verses refer to the law.  So do also Hodge, Moule, Vine and Calvin, if I read him correctly.  That the context is the law is accepted by Knox, Barrett and Nygren.  No one is more emphatic than Nygren, that the whole chapter is concerned with law. He heads the chapter, "Free from Law."

7:1-6.    Dead to the Law through Christ.  

7:7-13.  The Power of the Law to Provoke and Increase  Sin.

7:14-25.   The Impotence of the Law to Call Forth Good.  (Nygren's Outline).

No commentator has stressed more than Nygren that the chapter is occupied with the law.  He argues that 7:14-25, firstly applies to the Christian life.  Secondly, it speaks of the position of the law in the Christian life, that it is seen to be essentially negative.  Thirdly, the reason for the impotence of the law is the fact that the Christian, even though through Christ he belongs to the new 'aeon', still lives in the old 'aeon', "in the flesh."  Nygren holds that the passage fills the important function of showing that the law can never, under any circumstances, be a way of salvation, not even for the Christian.  He writes, "Only when we realize this, do we see in what basic sense the Christian is free from the law."  There is something impressive in this approach, and Nygren is to be commended for his attempt to solve the problem of this chapter.  His work is an outstanding contribution to the interpretation of these verses.            The law is the topic of chapter 7, and it is not concluded until the opening verses of chapter 8.  The whole chapter concerns the status and function of the law.  In these closing verses, Paul, speaking in an autobiographical manner, dramatically clinches the topic or argument of the whole chapter, that the law is excellent and is not to be blamed for the fact that, under its sway, complete bondage to sin is experienced.  Nygren argues that the whole chapter concerns the Christian's freedom from law.  But this is not clear.  The first six verses settle this matter, for they declare that we are dead to law.  The remainder of the chapter, sets forth the excellence of the law, in spite of the peculiar use sin has made of it.  The function of the law is to forbid, expose and condemn.  The final verses continue to show the excellence of that which his mind approves, but which he cannot perform, because of the weakness of the flesh, which is under the rule of sin.  The most enslaved man with his mind ('nous') must recognize and approve of the excellence of the law.  But another law dominates his members, and wars with the law his mind approves and because he is so much flesh, brings him into captivity.

           

The declaration of our freedom from law belongs to the first six verses and Nygren is hardly correct as to the heading he gives to the chapter.  At least, it is not a true description of the contents of the whole chapter, though it does indicate the general effect of the chapter, that to be free from sin, we must be free from law.  Nygren is a gate-crashing thinker, and attempts to show that these verses describe a real aspect of the Christian life as living in the old 'aeon', and in doing this, shows the true freedom of the Christian from the law, as living in the new 'aeon' (age).  This concept of the two ages or 'aeons' dominate Nygren's theology.  There is important truth in all this, for the Christian does live in the overlap of the ages and the Christian life has a certain paradox.  However, Nygren's interpretation here presents a paradox, so drastic, that it is difficult to see how the human personality and character can be involved in such a paradox.

           

If the legal aspect is still the constant Christian experience, how can the other be true or worth much?  Does the Christian live in the bondage and defeat of law and at the same time experience the constant victory and liberation of the Spirit?  Surely, one excludes the other.  If this passage describes the experience of a man living under law, then it must describe that from which the Christian is delivered.  The Christian who does not accept that by faith he is delivered may fall into this experience, but it cannot be true Christian experience that is proper to the Christian life.  That this is so, is the teaching of this section of the epistle:-

           

*   Chapter 6 maintains the Christian freedom from sin, and exhorts the Christian to walk in newness of life.  The apostle repudiates the suggestion that the Christian should continue in sin.  We must not let sin reign in our mortal bodies.  In chapter 6:15, Paul repeats the central idea of chapter 6, "What then?  Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace?  God forbid."  The whole argument of the chapter, is that Christians are delivered from the dominion of sin, that they are to yield their members as instruments of righteousness unto holiness.  Their members are no longer under the law of sin, but liberated to be yielded to God in true service of righteousness.   In 6:22 Paul brings out the triumphant "now" of deliverance.  Note how the R.V. (in 6:21), emphasizes the fruitlessness of their past experience.  Then in 6:22 their present freedom.  As the servants of God, they have their fruit unto righteousness and holiness.  The Christian is not the slave of sin, but is a slave of righteousness.  This must imply obligation and capacity to practice righteousness.  The contrast with the final verses of chapter 7 is too drastic for both to be equally true of the Christian.

           

*   Chapter 7 clearly defines the Christian's relation to the law, as dead to the law.  It could not be possible to describe more clearly the Christian's freedom from the law.  The Christian is dead to the law that he might belong to another, that is, to Christ who was raised from the dead.  A new relationship to Christ has been constituted, so that we share in the life-giving union with Christ in His resurrection.  In this new relationship, fruit to God becomes a possibility and reality.  In 7:5, Paul tells us that, in our unregenerate state, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.  This state of things is now no longer true, but was true under law.  But now discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code, but in new life of the Spirit. R.S.V.  No longer held captive, we serve God on a new level.

           

The first six verses of chapter 7 give a very different account of things to that found at the end of the chapter.  It is difficult to reconcile the freedom and fruitfulness ascribed to the believer in these verses with the bondage and wretchedness described in the final verses of the chapter.  Legalism is not proper to the Christian.

           

* Chapter 8 forms a striking contrast to chapter 7.  Griffith-Thomas points out that in chapter 8 there are at least 20 references to the Holy Spirit, while in chapter 7 the law is mentioned 20 times.  For a different view, see Keven, "The Saving Work of the Holy Spirit."  Chapter 7 is the chapter of living under the law.  Chapter 8 is the chapter of life in the Spirit.  Chapter 7 (especially the final verses), is marked by the frequent use of the pronoun "I", "me", "my", and there is nothing about our position in Christ.

           

Chapter 8 is occupied with our place in Christ and his life-giving Spirit indwelling all Christians.  In chapter 7, it is "Sin that dwelleth in me."  In chapter 8 we note the victorious "now" of the first verse.  Bt. may be correct in linking the "now" of chapter 8 with the "now" of 7:6.  There is "now" no condemnation for them which are in Christ Jesus, for they are now discharged from the law.  However, the contrast to 7:7-25 remains, for there we see the function of the law, exposing and revealing the power of sin.  "No condemnation" makes a striking contrast to chapter 7.  Then in chapter 8:2, we have the reason why there is now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus.  Verse 2, confirms and explains verse 1, in asserting that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has delivered from the law of sin and death.  This verse provides a suitable title to these two chapters:-

The law of sin and death.                                   Chapter 7.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.         Chapter 8.

           

Chapter 8 is a full-scale exposition of the deliverance effected by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.  In these opening verses, Paul appears to epitomize what he has said in chapter 7, and what he is about to say in chapter 8.  He concludes the topic of the previous chapter and opens the door to the new and different theme of chapter 8.  This is certainly true of verses 3-4.  Note how 8:3 reads, "for this liberation, which the law could never effect because it was weak through the flesh." (Bt.).  Is this a true epitome of chapter 7?  The law was itself excellent, but was weak through the flesh.  It had no power to give life, rather, it is because of the strength of sin.

           

Chapter 8 is the chapter of life and power.  It is the Spirit that gives life.  Chapter 7 holds disappointment, despair and defeat.  The man is left utterly wretched, held in captivity.  There is no life, power, peace or joy.  In chapter 8 we leave the gloomy vale of legalism, and we are brought onto elevated ground - not narrow summit - but a broad extensive table-land - a land of plentiful springs, and fruitful fields of pasture.  Here we scan the fertile plains of the Christian life.  A land to be possessed by overcomers and blessed with power, peace and gladness.  There is no refrain of defeat in chapter 8.  They who walk in the Spirit fulfil the demand of the law.

           

In chapter 8:5-9, Paul enlarges upon the enmity of the mind of the flesh and the mind of the Spirit.  This point is made that we learn the need of walking on a new level, not on the level of the flesh, but on the level of the Spirit.  The teaching that is emphasized is that if we walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfil the desires of the flesh.  We conclude that chapter 7 precedes chapter 8, so as to intentionally form a contrast to chapter 8.  So living under law, is seen in contrast to living in the Spirit.  We conclude then:-

*   That chapter 7:14-25 concerns living under law.

*   The Christian is not under law.

Therefore, chapter 7:14-25 does not give us the necessary and abiding experience of the Christian.    The problem remains, is this Paul's experience before conversion?  Is it really Paul's personal experience?  Is there some other solution to the problem.  Nygren presents a number of general considerations for thinking it as Paul's experience as a Christian and that these verses give a necessary aspect of the Christian life.  Mitton has satisfactorily replied to these arguments, but Mitton agrees that the use of the present tense is a real difficulty, and he also finds the opening declaration of chapter 7:25 a real problem.  Nygren makes a strong point of the fact that the past tense used in the earlier verses, changes now to the present tense.  More than one suggestion has been proposed, and we note some of them:-

           

*   The Historic Present.   Beet notes that one has only to attempt to use the past tense here to find why Paul used the present tense.  It is possible that the present tense in these verses is the Historic Present.  Mitton points out that the present tense can sometimes be used in a "historic sense", especially when some narrative of the past is being told vividly and realistically, as though the past events with which it deals, are being relived before the narrator's inward eye.  A.T.Robertson (Grammar, p.866), informs us that the Historical Present is frequent in Greek, in the Classical writers.  It occurs over 300 times in the LXX.   It is common in the papyri and is preserved in modern Greek.  In the New Testament it is common in Mark, John and Matthew.  It is not used by Paul unless Rom.7:14-25 provide instances.

           

*   Typical.   Leehardt, who has written one of the best commentaries on Romans, denies that Paul is speaking of his own personal experience, either before or after conversion.  However, he insists that only a Christian could write in this way concerning the law.  In other words, we have here an account of the situation of men under law, but from the standpoint of one who is not a victim of the illusory satisfaction which the law gives to the Jew who trusts in it blindly.  What the Jew did not understand about his situation, the Christian has learnt in the light of the Gospel. What is true of the Jew in particular is true of any man face to face with any law, i.e. any man entangled in the situation of the legalist and claiming to obtain through good works the favour of God.  In this sense, the situation of the Jew under the law is typical and its bearing goes far beyond the special framework of Judaic legalism.

           

See Dibelius, who writes, "Paul can even put before his eyes the picture of the man tormented by sin; it is so close to him, that in doing so, he can use the word, "I" although as a Christian, he has already been lifted above this despair, and as a Jew, he had not fallen into it, because he did not then think so pessimistically."  Leenhardt thinks that Paul is speaking with a certain universality from verse 7 to the end of the chapter, and that to speak in an autobiographical manner, to make concrete an experience that was general and common, was a familiar proceeding to Paul and his contemporaries.  There is much to be said for Leenhardt's interpretation.  The language is strongly autobiographical, but Paul may well have in mind, not himself alone, but the experience of every man who strives to keep the law.  He must have drawn on experience, not only that before his conversion, but also afterwards.  He may not have drawn upon his own experience alone, but also that, which he has seen in others.  Then from this material, he constructs the picture of a man, the typical man, under law.  He writes in the first person, which gives it a certain intensity, but he is not writing personally, but representatively.

           

*   Bultmann.   Holds that chapter 7:14-25 describe the man, the Jew under law, without Christ, but the man and his struggle, is seen from the standpoint of faith.  It may be understood to describe Paul's struggle before his conversion, but the experience is not described as he saw it then, but as he now sees it, as a man in Christ.  It is from his present experience of victory through Christ, that he knows as he could not have known before, the wretchedness of that past experience.

           

*   Mitten finds verse 25 a problem.  The first sentence of this verse gives the only distinctly Christian note in the passage and it has a note of triumphant thanksgiving.  Then in the following sentence, there is a disappointing anticlimax, a sort of resignation to the experience of the previous verses.  To re-arrange the verse, as some do, is precarious.  Faced with the construction of this verse and the use of the present tense in the passage, Mitton suggests another interpretation.  He takes special note of the Phrase, "I myself", for the Greek is very emphatic.  So Mitton suggests "entirely on my own" or "left to myself" (Moffatt).  See N.E.B.m. and Meyer who paraphrases it, "I for my own person, without the higher saving intervention, which I owe to Christ."  Mitton constructs the verse in this manner.  The first sentence ends chapter 7 and prepares the way for chapter 8, but before passing on to chapter 8, Paul pauses to summarize what he has said in chapter 7:14-24.  The passage not only describes Paul's past experience, but one which is potentially ever present.  It is the experience of a man who leaving God's resources in Christ, finds himself on his own, and relying on his own resources.

           

It is especially applicable to a man under law.  A.M. Hunter somewhat, follows Mitton.  Hunter writes; "verses 14-25, therefore, depicts not only the man under law, but the Christian who slips into a legalistic attitued to God."  Vincent Taylor in some measure also follows Mitton.  "This was Paul's experience in the past and it is that of any man who attempts to do the same thing."   Mitton's explanation can be compared with Moule's view in his exposition in the Expositor's Bible.  Mitton does not seem to do full justice to the legal character of the passage.

           

That it is a man under law must be accepted.  Paul's experience has a representative character, and describes the experience of every man who attempts obedience on the level of legalism.  Chapter 7 illustrates the inability of a man under law.  The last word has not yet been said on Romans 7 and disagreement is to be expected.  However, we must insist that it is the case or situation of a man under law.  It is impossible to think that the defeat and bondage of chapter 7 is proper to the Christian and that it is to be accepted as a necessary part of the Christian life.  That Paul knew disappointment and tension and that he was conscious of not yet having attained full maturity, is not disputed.  But it is not to be allowed that the defeat and captivity of this chapter is a necessary aspect of the Christian life.  To walk in the Spirit is to be free from the bondage of sin and if we are led by the Spirit we are not under law. (Gal.5:18). 

           

Paul illustrates from his own experience the excellence of the law and the utter inability of the flesh to perform its requirements.  Thus he further illustrates the relationship of sin and the law and how it came about that sin through the law makes a man aware of his bondage to sin.  The strength of sin is the law.  Chapter 7 stands in contrast to living in the Spirit as taught in chapter 8.  The Christian has been freed from the law, and the Christian life does not consist in keeping a code of rules.  Every form of legalism stands in contrast to the Spirit-led life.  It is argued that Christians must keep the law and seek God's help to do so.  We must not steal, kill or commit adultery.  Would we not have a guilty conscience if we did these things?  We indeed would, but the point is why?  Because we broke the law, or because we sin against Christ?  The Christian refuses to steal for he is actuated by a new way of living - by love, serve one another.  This is living on a new level.  The law is fulfilled, but on a new level altogether.  The leading of the Spirit is inward and life-giving.  The Spirit provides guidance, inspiration and strength.  There is room for continuous growth and development.  There can be no limit to new possibilities of decision and action in the ethical, social and spiritual sphere.

           

The Jew found that the law did not prescribe for every situation, so it became necessary to add to the law.  There was developed a system of rules and regulations.  This burden increased in the course of time.  It had the seeming advantage that a man had a rule to guide him in every situation.  But over-governed people are provoked to break the law.  They come to look upon the law as a thing one should cheat.  Christianity offers men a new way of living, in which there are new possibilities of advance, spiritually, socially and ethically.

           

In New Testament times the Christian conscience tolerated slavery, but today we would feel strongly adverse to slavery.  This is proper, for in the new life of the Spirit there is progress and growth in moral discernment.  The Christian may appear to be at a certain disadvantage .  It is not always easy to determine the right decision to make in every situation.  The fact that we have not a complete code of rules to guide us involves us in a difficulty.  It is not always easy to determine one's course of action, however, to return to a code of rules is to abandon the moral exercise that develops maturity.  Not every Christian will make the same decision in a given situation.  One Christian may feel justified to do a duty as a soldier, but another feels he must refuse such duty.  It is not always easy to know what one must do.  There is some measure of variety and freedom.  That I feel a certain course is right, does not give me a warrant to say that my brother, who feels differently, is wrong, or that he is not walking in the will of God.        In giving us freedom and power to make moral decisions, the Spirit does not give us the right to leave ethical principles, but liberty for progress is safeguarded, for it does not make void the law, but is the fulfilment of the law.  The Christian does not think of the law as a set of rules he must obey, but he thinks of the law as fulfilled in Christ.  He has become to us the new law.  We live in Him and He lives in us.  Christ is our Lord and law.  When the Christian learns that Christ is the fulfilment of the law, that he is not only the giver of the law, but that he is, himself, the new law, then he learns that it is Christ who speaks in all the Scriptures.  He speaks in both the old and new Testaments.  In the scriptures we discover that Christ is the Word, who by His Spirit, lives, speaks and works in the Church.  The Spirit leads through the Word of God and applies the Word in its manifold applications in the many situations of life.  The leadership of the Spirit is effected through the Word, revealing Christ in living power to our hearts.  This calls for consecration on our part, and constant dependence upon God.  Legalism is a wrong approach to the Word of God.

           

It is possible to make the text of the New Testament a basis for legal religion, but legalism is transcended when Christ is made known to us, speaking by His Spirit in all Scriptures.  Galatians chapter 5 should be closely studied for it expounds the principle of life in the Spirit as a power displacing legalism.  Paul achieves the same thing in Romans by placing chapter 7 and chapter 8 alongside each other.  We must remember that, while the Christian is not under law, the New Testament is rich in ethical teaching.  One the outstanding features of  New Testament Christianity is its wealth and fullness of ethical counsel, especially social ethics, all of which are comprised under Christian love - and in this is the fulfilment of the law.