Doomed to Fail: No Ability to DO What is Good
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Kids: “I didn’t mean to.” Will never hold up in a court of law. Neither will good intentions hold up in God’s court room proceedings.
13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
Those who have good intentions only of doing the law will not be declared righteous. If you attempt to stand before God on the basis of your own righteousness, then you must perfectly do what the law says. This is an impossible task however!
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Why is being declared righteous by God for our own ability to keep the law an impossibility? Because of sin!
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.
That does not mean that the law is sin! The law serves an important function. It reveals the righteous requirement of God. It defines sin, it unmasks sin for what it really is, and it reveals the total depravity of our sinful natures.
That does not mean that the law, which is good, brings death. The problem is not the law, the problem is sin. The is the problem Paul brings light to in Romans 7:14-25.
Paul wanted the Roman Christians to understand that the law of God has no ability to rescue sinful people from spiritual bondage.
We must have no confidence in the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage.
Why must we have no confidence in the ability of the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage?
Paul gives three reasons in our text.
I. Because of our slave relationship to sin (v. 14-15)
I. Because of our slave relationship to sin (v. 14-15)
Before we can examine the argument of the apostle in the remainder of chapter seven, we must address an difficult interpretive issue.
Identification of the ego
Identification of the ego
Romans 7:14 (ESV)
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
Is the experience depicted in vv. 14-25 speaking from the perspective of an unregenerate or regenerate person?
NICNT: Epistle to the Romans by Douglas Moo (pp. 441-451)
Arguments for an unregenerate perspective:
Arguments for an unregenerate perspective:
1. The strong connection of ego with “the flesh” in (vv. 14, 18, & 25) suggests that Paul is elaborating on the unregenerate condition mentioned in 7:5.
1. The strong connection of ego with “the flesh” in (vv. 14, 18, & 25) suggests that Paul is elaborating on the unregenerate condition mentioned in 7:5.
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.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
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.
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.
2. Ego throughout the passage struggles “on his/her own” (cf. “I myself” in v. 25) without the aid of the Holy Spirit
2. Ego throughout the passage struggles “on his/her own” (cf. “I myself” in v. 25) without the aid of the Holy Spirit
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.
3. Ego is “under the power of sin” (v. 14b), a state from which every believer is released (6:2, 6, 11, 18-22)
3. Ego is “under the power of sin” (v. 14b), a state from which every believer is released (6:2, 6, 11, 18-22)
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
4. As the unsuccessful struggle of vv. 15-20 shows, ego is a “prisoner of the law of sin” (v. 23). Yet Romans 8:2 proclaims that believers have been set free from this same “law of sin (and death).”
4. As the unsuccessful struggle of vv. 15-20 shows, ego is a “prisoner of the law of sin” (v. 23). Yet Romans 8:2 proclaims that believers have been set free from this same “law of sin (and death).”
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.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
5. While Paul makes clear that believers will continue to struggle with sin (e.g. Rom. 6:12-13), what is depicted in 7:14-24 is not just a struggle with sin but a defeat by sin. This is a more negative view of the Christian life than can be accommodated within Paul’s theology.
5. While Paul makes clear that believers will continue to struggle with sin (e.g. Rom. 6:12-13), what is depicted in 7:14-24 is not just a struggle with sin but a defeat by sin. This is a more negative view of the Christian life than can be accommodated within Paul’s theology.
6. The ego in these verses struggles with the need to obey the Mosaic law; yet Paul has already proclaimed the release of the believer from the dictates of the law (6:14; 7:4-6)
6. The ego in these verses struggles with the need to obey the Mosaic law; yet Paul has already proclaimed the release of the believer from the dictates of the law (6:14; 7:4-6)
4 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.
If you find these arguments to be convincing and that Paul is speaking from the position of an unbeliever in 7:14-25 the text describes the struggle of the person outside of Christ attempting to do what is good. This tasks is doomed to failure because any attempt to perfectly keep the law so as to break the power of sin is impossible. The only deliverance from this helpless situation is the regenerating work of Christ to set us free from the law of sin and death.
Arguments for an regenerate perspective:
Arguments for an regenerate perspective:
1. Ego must refer to Paul himself, the shift from the past tenses of vv. 7-13 to the present tenses of vv. 14-25 can be explained only if Paul is describing in these latter verses his present experience as a Christian.
1. Ego must refer to Paul himself, the shift from the past tenses of vv. 7-13 to the present tenses of vv. 14-25 can be explained only if Paul is describing in these latter verses his present experience as a Christian.
2. Only the regenerate truly “delight in God’s law” (v. 22), seek to obey it (vv. 15-20), and “serve” it (v. 25); the unregenerate do not “seek after God” (3:11) and cannot “submit to the law of God” (8:7).
2. Only the regenerate truly “delight in God’s law” (v. 22), seek to obey it (vv. 15-20), and “serve” it (v. 25); the unregenerate do not “seek after God” (3:11) and cannot “submit to the law of God” (8:7).
3. Whereas the “mind” of people outside of Christ is universally presented by Paul as opposed to God and his will (cf. Rom. 1:28), the “mind” of ego in this text is a positive medium, by which ego “serves the law of God” (vv. 22, 25)
3. Whereas the “mind” of people outside of Christ is universally presented by Paul as opposed to God and his will (cf. Rom. 1:28), the “mind” of ego in this text is a positive medium, by which ego “serves the law of God” (vv. 22, 25)
4. Ego must be a Christian because only a Christian possesses the “inner person”; c.f. Paul’s only other two uses of the phrase in 2 Cor. 4:16; Eph 3:16.
4. Ego must be a Christian because only a Christian possesses the “inner person”; c.f. Paul’s only other two uses of the phrase in 2 Cor. 4:16; Eph 3:16.
5. The passage concludes, after Paul’s mention of the deliverance wrought by God in Christ, with a reiteration of the divided state of the ego (vv. 24-25). This shows that the division and struggle of the ego that Paul depicts in these verses is that of the person already saved by God in Christ.
5. The passage concludes, after Paul’s mention of the deliverance wrought by God in Christ, with a reiteration of the divided state of the ego (vv. 24-25). This shows that the division and struggle of the ego that Paul depicts in these verses is that of the person already saved by God in Christ.
If you find these arguments most persuasive then the text speaks to the “normal” Christian experience, that of the continuing battle with sin that will never be won as long as the believer is in this life. Deliverance comes when Christ transforms this “lowly body” into one like unto His “glorious body.”
It is true that Christians struggle with sin their whole lives. There are parts of this text that I read and go, “that’s me!” I can identify with Paul here. The reality is that Christians still struggle with sin. I am not in the least denying that. However, I don’t think that Paul is teaching this truth here in Rom. 7:14-25.
I lean more towards Paul describing the situation of an unregenerate person in these verses for two main reasons.
Ego is “under the power of sin” (v. 14b), a state from which every believer is released (6:2, 6, 11, 18-22)
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
This is an objective status that cannot be true of the believer. The believer is objectively removed from the position of being a slave to sin. The moment one believes and is united to Christ that person is no longer in any sense a slave of sin, nor can they ever become again a slave to sin. They are now a salve of righteousness, a slave of God. They have a new master. Their old master no longer has any power over them.
As the unsuccessful struggle of vv. 15-20 shows, ego is a “prisoner of the law of sin” (v. 23). Yet Romans 8:2 proclaims that believers have been set free from this same “law of sin (and death).”
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.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
In similar fashion this is an objective reality for every believer. Every believer has been set free from the law of sin and death. Christians, mature or immature alike, are no longer held in captivity to the law of sin.
So it seems most probable that Paul is speaking of himself by recalling what it was like for him as a Jew under the law before his deliverance in Christ.
So, why must we have no confidence in the ability of the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage?
Romans 7:14 (ESV)
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
Because the situation for every person outside of Christ is that of slavery to sin. Unbelievers are slaves to sin.
Paul claims that it is because of his slavery to sin, that he is underneath the power of sin, that the law can become to him an instrument of death. He just said as much in v. 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.
How is it Paul, that sin was able to produce death in me through the law? How is it that an unsaved person is only capable of producing fruit unto death?
Well, Paul says, I’ll tell you why all of that is true!
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
While the law of God is spiritual, that is it has a divine origin, it is from God Himself and it is holy and good—it is equally true that I (in my unregenerate state) am not spiritual but “fleshly.”
An alien and negative force has infected by entire being. I am corrupted with a sinful nature and one of the consequences of that fact is that I am sin’s slave. Unbelieving people are under the power of sin, they are sold under sin, they are slaves to the power of sin.
This is not the case for the believer!
2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Why do Christians still sin then Pastor?
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
It is objectively true for believes that the power of sin is broken in their lives. They are no longer slaves of sin. But that knowledge must be understood, believed and reckoned to them personally, and put into practice. At times Christians can still willingly put themselves back underneath the servitude of their old masters. But, they are never again underneath sin’s full power.
That is not what Paul says about the “I” in v. 14.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
The “I” in this verse is of the flesh, and is sold under sin. This is why the law is only death to the unbeliever. Because, they are slaves to the power of sin, and their master will not allow anything less.
How do we know that this slave relationship exists?
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.
Here Paul begins to explain what it looks like to be “fleshly” and “sold under sin” as an unbeliever.
Paul states, “I do not understand my own action.” Or we could translate this “I do not approve of my own actions.”
Paul describes an important conflict. There was, as an unbeliever, a conflict between “willing” and “doing.”
“I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” My will is to do good, to keep the law, to measure up to God’s righteous standard. Here Paul is relating his experience as a devout Jew. As a Jew he had a “zeal” to keep God’s law. But no matter how intense his zeal was, no matter how much he willed or desired to measure up to God’s standard of righteousness, inevitably he ended up doing the very opposite. His actions were not the good of God’s law, but the very thing that he hated.
How could this be? How could Paul will so very zealously desire to do God’s law, but fail so miserably by doing evil instead? Because Paul, as an unbeliever, was “sold under sin.” He was a slave to sin. So, he inevitably ended up doing the will, not of God, but of his slave master, sin.
Illustration: Like joining the army: you are now in a new position where you have to obey the commands or the will of the commanders in the army. Just try telling your drill sergeant in basic training that you don’t really want to get up at 5 am for some PT and see if that flies. For at least the next four years you are at the whim of the dictates and desires of the US military.
Refutation: As a Christian, I still fell like this. I do not approve of my own actions, I do not do what I want, but what I hate. This seems to be a description of my life. It is true that Christians still struggle with sin. There is no denying that. You will never be sinless, but over time as your mature in your relationship with Christ, you will sin less. The difference is profound however, between the position of a believer and an unbeliever. What Paul is describing here in vv. 14-15 is a situation where one is a slave to the power of sin as a way of life. That situation is not typical, nor even possible, for the Christian.
Army example: One person who is still a recruit in the army vs. another person who just finished their four year contract. Both may still jump when a officer barks a command, but what is the difference? One person who is still bound by their position as a recruit has no choice but to obey, while the one who has terminated his contract with the army now has the choice not to.
Application: This why we must have no confidence in the ability of the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage. The only way the law can save a person is if they keep it perfectly. But, because every unsaved person is a slave to sin and has no choice but to follow the commands of their master the law has no power to save. The law can only tell you what God’s righteous requirements are, but it has no power to give you the ability to measure up.
So- I encourage anyone here this morning who thinks that they can save themselves by doing good to repent of that thinking. Realize the helpless position you are in, realize your complete inability to perfectly do the good of the law. Get to the point where you place no confidence in your own ability. The truth is our relationship to sin, the fact that outside of Christ, we are sold under sin, that we are slaves to sin, demands that we change our thinking.
Why must we have no confidence in the ability of the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage?
Because of our slave relationship to sin
II. Because we are completely indwelt by sin (16-20)
II. Because we are completely indwelt by sin (16-20)
Romans 7:16–17 (ESV)
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.
The problem of sin is complicated further here when Paul teaches that everyone is totally indwelt by sin. Sin dwells within us, we are totally permeated by it. Its corruption of our whole person is complete.
Does Paul teach in v.17 that we are not responsible for our own actions? Why or why not?
If we are not careful we can come away from this passage with an inaccurate and even dangerous teaching. “It is no long I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” Paul is NOT teaching here that we are not responsible for our own actions! This is not what Paul means. We all are responsible for our own actions, and God will judge us accordingly.
What Paul is saying is that his failure to do the good he has a genuine desire to do reveals something about his nature. If the situation only depended upon his desire to do the right thing then his actions of doing the opposite would not make any sense. So, Paul is arguing that there is another piece to the puzzle. There is other piece, this other factor is what we call our indwelling sinful nature.
He is quick to show that sin is not a power or force that operates outside of the person, making him do his bidding. Sin is something that dwells within. Sin resides in our very being, dwelling within our person, ruling over us like a master over a slave.
This indwelling nature of sin is the reason that Paul on the one had desires the good, but on the other hand does the bad. Paul does not transfer the blame of his failures to an outside influence. He instead fixes the responsibility for failure on the power of sin WITHIN each one of us.
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Paul is speaking of the corrupted sin nature. Sin entered the world through the disobedience of one man, Adam. And God cursed Adam. And that curse has SPREAD to all men and women and children. And this sin is not an external force, but an internal one. Sin dwells within each one of us and it has infected the whole of our being. Every part of us is corrupted by sin.
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.
In v. 17 Paul stated that sin dwells in us. Here he says the negative of the same truth- NO GOOD dwells in me.
Flesh is most likely a reference to the material part of a person. Paul is not teaching dualism here. He is not saying the the immaterial is essentially good, while the material is essentially bad. He is merely highlighting that the material part of our bodies are particularly susceptible to sin.
Although, people even unsaved people may have the desire to who is right, because sin dwells in them, because NO GOOD dwells in them (all of them), they do not have the ability to carry out what is good. Think about that! Unbelievers have no ability whatsoever to carry out what is right. Why? Because of the indwelling sinful nature that has corrupted every part of their person.
Desire to do right is not enough. Good intentions are not good enough. You must carry out those good intentions and actually do right. The problem is you are indwelt by sin, no good dwells within you, and you have no ability at all to do what you desire. This is the problem of the sin nature.
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.
Illustration:
- Wife opening the pickle jar- desire but not the ability.
- Older generation using a smart phone- desire but not the ability.
This is the unbeliever- they may have the desire to do what is good, but because they are indwelt by sin, they have no ability to do what is right.
Refutation: It seems like some unbelievers do good things.
Isaiah 64:6 (ESV)
6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Application: Change your thinking. Most people would say of themselves, “I’m basically good.” God says there is no one good, no not one! Here Paul tells us why- because we are completely indwelt by sin. We might have the desire to do good, but in and of ourselves, we have NO ABILITY to do what is right. Not we have a little bit of ability, or we can develop the ability in time. We have no ability now, and no hope of polishing ourselves off in the future. We are corrupted to the core by the indwelling sinful nature. We have no hope and we should have no confidence our own ability to keep the law to rescue us from spiritual bondage.
Why must we have no confidence in the ability of the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage?
Because of our slave relationship to sin
2. Because we are completely indwelt by sin
III. Because we are held captive to the law of sin (21-25)
III. Because we are held captive to the law of sin (21-25)
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
What law is Paul referring to here in v. 21?
Is is the Mosaic Law? I find, with respect to the Mosaic law, that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
Probably best to give “law” the well established meaning of “principle.”
Paul is saying that there is a universal, objective, truth or principle that is effect in the world.
What is this principle? When I (as a person outside of Christ) 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.
Paul here is stating in objective terms the subjective experience he had as an unbelieving Jew under the law.
What is this objective truth? What is this law that operates in the world?
1st: As an unregenerate Jew under the Law of Moses there was a genuine delight in God’s law.
Argument against: Only regenerate people can delight in the law of God.
Romans 10:2 (ESV)
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
Argument against: Paul only uses the term “inner being” for believers.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Clearly, these two passages speak of believers. But, I do not think this is enough evidence to make “inner man” into a technical term for believers.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
“inner being” is part of the anthropological language of Paul in this passage. He is referring to the inner part of him as an unbeliever that has a desire to do right.
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.
Here Paul is putting the arguments of this section together into a condemning reality for all people outside of Christ.
Since it is true that the unbeliever is a slave of sin, and since it is true that the unbeliever is completely indwelt by sin, then these truths form an unbreakable principle or reality of life.
While I, in my inner being, delight in and accept the authority of the Mosaic law, there is another competing authority operating in my members.
This “other law” wages war against the law of my mind, against God’s law that I agree with and desire to do. But this “other law” wages war and makes me into a captive. No matter how hard I try, there is an unbreakable law, the law of sin that indwells me, that causes me to fail.
This is the objective principle- because I am a slave of sin and sin indwells all of me I will always loose the war against sin. Sin will always take me captive. Sin has an unbreakable power over me. At least unbreakable by my own ability and power. An unsaved person is held captive to this law. This is why the law cannot save. Unsaved people are held captive by an unbreakable law- that even though they delight in God’s law, because they are sinners they are taken captive by the power of sin and they end up doing the thing they hate. They are completely captive to the power of sin. This is the law of sin- its power is absolute in the life of an unsaved person. It is binding and inescapable through our own ability or power. Is there any hope then?
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Is there any hope? For the person outside of Christ they truly are wretched. This is the purpose of the law! This what we must allow the law to accomplish!
My friend have you ever said this about yourself?
Are you a good person? What do most people say? I am basically good.
What does the person who has honestly evaluated themselves next to God’s standard of righteousness say? Wretched man that I am!
Notice how acknowledging this truth shapes Paul’s next question!
He does not say, “How can I deliver me from this body of death?” Why not?
Because, based on a proper understanding of God’s Word, he sees himself, his position outside of Christ, for what it truly is- WRETCHED! So his question is drastically different!
WHO will deliver me from this body of death? WHO else, other than me, will deliver me? I have no hope of delivering myself. I need someone outside of myself to deliver me! I have no confidence in my own ability by doing good to deliver me. I am a salve of sin, indwelt by sin, and captive to the law of sin. WHO is there that can deliver me, wretched man that I am?
Romans 7:25 (ESV)
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Friends, the only person able to deliver you from your situation of death, is Jesus Christ the Lord!
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Our deliverance, our redemption, our justification is all a gracious gift of God through Jesus Christ.
Have you come to the end of yourself? Have you cried out “Wretched man that I am?” Have you called upon the name of Jesus Christ to deliver you? Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ ALONE to save you from your sin? Jesus Christ is your only hope of salvation.
Jesus alone can set you free from the slavery of sin. He alone can solve the problem of indwelling sin. He alone can release you from the power of the law of sin.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Have you been set free from the hopeless state of your sin?
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.
Paul then concludes this section with a summary of his whole argument. I serve the law of God with my mind- I have a desire to do what is right. But, with my flesh I server the law of sin- I have no ability do the good at all.
Why must we have no confidence in the ability of the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage?
Because of our slave relationship to sin
2. Because we are completely indwelt by sin
3. Because we are held captive to the law of sin
My unsaved friends-
Repent of your thinking-
Place no confidence in your flesh-
See yourself, outside of Christ, as wretched-
Call out to Jesus to deliver you from your body of death-
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!
Christians-
Let this passage remind you of your past- unable to do God’s will, frustrated at your failures. Praise God for his deliverance! Cry out to God in thanksgiving with a greater understanding of your salvation and greater joy at all that Jesus has accomplished for you.
Secondly, be reminded that any attempt at law keeping is unable to deliver people from sin. There sometimes is a tenancy in Christian circles to multiply and create “rules” and “commands” in order to bring about further deliverance of sin in terms of our progressive sanctification. Be reminded that these kinds of attempts will more than likely drive us deeper into frustration than ever before.
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.
This new way of the Spirit is what Paul will go on to address in chapter 8. Friends, we place no confidence in our flesh, in our ability to keep the law, any law. Instead our confidence is in Christ. In our union with Christ. And all the wonders such a union provides.