Overview of Romans 7
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday August 12, 2008
Romans: Overview of Romans Chapter Seven
Lesson # 207
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 3:19.
This evening we come to chapter seven, which deals with the Christian’s relationship to the Mosaic Law.
If you recall, in Romans chapter six, Paul teaches the Roman Christians that they have died to the sin nature and are no longer under its dominion and authority.
Now, in chapter seven, he instructs them that they are equally not under the dominion and authority of the Mosaic Law.
In Romans 7:1-6, the apostle Paul uses the analogy of marriage and argues that a person’s bondage to the Law must be severed in order that he or she might be place into union with Christ.
From this point, he addresses the origin and nature of the Mosaic Law, which he answers in verses 7-25.
He teaches in these verses that the Mosaic Law originates from God but was designed to demonstrate to men that they are sinners by nature and that God is holy and that an infinite gulf exists between the two as a result.
In Romans chapter seven, Paul presents an extensive treatment and explanation of the negative effects of the Mosaic Law, which he mentioned briefly throughout the first six chapters of the book of Romans.
In this chapter, he teaches that the Law was not designed to deliver them from the power of the sin nature, which only Christ could do.
Paul has taught us that no one will ever be justified by obedience to the Law because of the presence of the sin nature but rather the Law actually serves to condemn the human race (3:19) and makes the sinner aware of sin in his life (3:20).
Romans 3:19-20, “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
The apostle Paul teaches in Romans 4:15 that the purpose of the Law was to bring about wrath but where there is no law, there is no violation.
Romans 4:15, “for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”
In Romans 5:20, Paul teaches that the introduction of the Law increased the transgression of Adam in the sense that the Law exposed man’s sinful nature to disobey the revealed will of God and in fact stimulated man’s sinful nature to disobey the revealed will of God.
Romans 5:20, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
In Romans 6:14, Paul taught that the sin nature, will, as a certainty, never again, have dominion over the believer.
Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
If this is the case, then he is equally not under the dominion of the Law since it was an addendum to the sin nature in the sense that it made the sinner aware that he was a sinner by nature and that God was holy.
The Law served to condemn the sinner before a holy God, thus demonstrating his need of a Savior.
There can be no freedom from the power of the sin nature without a corresponding deliverance from the power and authority of the Law.
So if a person is under the dominion or authority of the Law, then he is not under the authority or dominion of grace and vice versa.
Paul presents the contrast again between Law and grace since he also has his Jewish contemporaries in mind who erroneously taught that the Law justifies the sinner.
He uses the contrast between Law and grace since he wants to make clear that obedience to the Law as a way of justification is in total opposition to God’s grace policy towards sinners.
Therefore, if the sinner justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is no longer under the dominion of the sin nature, then likewise, he is no longer under the authority or dominion of the Law and is no longer condemned by it since the Law was an addendum to the sin nature so as to point out the sinner’s need for a Savior.
Romans chapter seven teaches that the Christian is not only dead to the indwelling old Adamic sin nature but also to the Mosaic Law, which served only to condemn him prior to being declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.
In Romans 7, the apostle Paul addresses the legalistic Jewish Christians who might insist that the Law is necessary to restrain sin.
Chapter six deals with one extreme that the sin nature can head in, namely, “license” (we are free to do as we please) and chapter seven deals with the other extreme, namely, “legalism” (we are to live under the Law if we are to please God).
The “Judaizers” taught that one must live under the Law in order to please God.
They originated with the Pharisees and were composed of both believing and unbelieving Jews who taught strict adherence to the 613 mandates found in the Mosaic Law as well as the oral traditions of the Rabbis, which are now, documented in the Mishna and the Talmud.
The Judaizers derived their name from the fact that they believed and taught that in order to be saved one must become a Jew through circumcision and strict adherence to the Mosaic Law and the oral traditions of the Rabbis.
Many of the Judaizers were believers since Acts 6:7, 15:5 and 21:20 state that many of the priests and Pharisees who were teachers of the Mosaic Law believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation but after salvation they still adhered to the Mosaic Law rather than the mystery doctrine for the church age that Paul was teaching.
The Judaizers taught that one had to observe and practice the Mosaic Law in order to get saved whereas Paul taught that salvation by grace through faith in Christ and not through the works of the Mosaic Law (Eph. 2:8-9; Gal. 2:16).
The Judaizers were very religious and legalistic people in that they taught strict adherence to the letter of the Law, especially to the letter rather than the spirit of the Law (Mk. 2-3)!
The legalism of the Pharisees from whom the Judaizers originated is illustrated by their critical attitude of our Lord Jesus when he healed on the Sabbath.
So in Romans 7:1-13, the apostle Paul informs his readers that they are dead to the Law as a result of their faith in Christ.
In Romans 7:1-6, he teaches that the believer is no longer under the authority of the Law because he died to the Law and is now under the authority of Christ.
Therefore, we are under no obligation to keep the Law because of our union with Christ.
Romans 7:1, “Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?”
Romans 7:2, “For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.”
Romans 7:3, “So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.”
Romans 7:4, “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”
Romans 7:5, “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.”
Romans 7:6, “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”
In Romans 7:7-13, he teaches the Roman Christians regarding the ministry of the Law or its purpose in relation to sinners.
In this passage, Paul teaches that the Law reveals sin (verse 7), it kills (verses 10-11) and it shows the sinfulness of sin.
Paul’s argument in these verses is that the Law is not sinful but holy, righteous and good.
However, it reveals to men that they are sinners by nature and that God is holy.
It also stimulates the sin nature and then uses the sin nature to kill us.
Thus, Paul teaches how terrible sin is in that something good like God’s Law can serve to condemn us.
The problem is not with the Law but with the sinful nature.
Romans 7:7, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COVET.’”
Romans 7:8, “But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.”
Romans 7:9, “I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died.”
Romans 7:10, “and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me.”
Romans 7:11, “for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”
Romans 7:12, “So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
Romans 7:13, “Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.”
Then, in Romans 7:14-25, Paul relates to the Roman Christians of the inability of the Law in that the Law cannot resolve the problem with the sin nature (verse 14), it cannot enable to you to do God’s will (verse 15-21), and cannot set us free but only our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can (verses 21-25).
Romans 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”
Romans 7:15, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”
Romans 7:16, “But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.”
Romans 7:17, “So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”
Romans 7:18, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.”
Romans 7:19, “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.”
Romans 7:20, “But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”
Romans 7:21, “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.”
Romans 7:22, “For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man.”
Romans 7:23, “but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.”
Romans 7:24, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”
Romans 7:25, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
It is interesting that chapter six and seven resemble each other in many ways.
For example, in Romans 6:2, the believer is said to be dead to the sin nature whereas Romans 7:4, says he is dead to the Law.
Romans 6:7 and 18 taught that the believer is freed from the tyranny of the sin nature whereas Romans 7:3 and 6 taught that he is free from the Law.
Then, in Romans 6:4, Paul taught that the Christian can now walk in newness of life whereas Romans 7:6 teaches that he can serve now in newness of Spirit.