Romans 7.14-The Law Is Spiritual But Paul Still Possesses A Sin Nature
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday September 16, 2008
Romans: Romans 7:14-The Law Is Spiritual But Paul Still Possesses A Sin Nature
Lesson # 226
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 7:14.
Beginning in Romans 7:14 and all the way to the end of the chapter, the apostle Paul relates his conflict as a Christian with his indwelling Adamic sin nature.
This evening we will note Romans 7:14 and in this passage, the apostle acknowledges that the Law is spiritual, yet he still possesses a sin nature.
Romans 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”
“For” is the “explanatory” use of the post-positive conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces a statement that “explains” Paul’s previous statement in verse 13.
In Romans 7:13a, Paul poses a rhetorical question that anticipates an erroneous conclusion that could be inferred from his teaching in verses 7-12 that the commandment caused him to lose fellowship with God.
This false assertion, he emphatically refutes and declares that it was the sin nature, which caused him to lose fellowship with God.
Then in Romans 7:13b, he teaches that the Mosaic Law was given to expose man’s sinful nature and the sin nature’s extraordinarily sinful character.
Now, in Romans 7:14, Paul picks up the thought in Romans 7:13a by employing the “explanatory” use of the conjunction gar in order to introduce a statement that “explains why” the sin nature through the tenth commandment was able to effect his loss of fellowship with God.
Romans 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”
“We know” is the verb oida (oi‚da) which means, “to acknowledge this fact” since in context Paul is conveying an idea that he and his readers would admit to be real or true, would recognize the existence, truth or fact of, namely that the Law is spiritual or would confess or express recognition of this fact.
The verb denotes that Paul and his fellow Christian readers in Rome would “admit,” “concede” or “recognize” the spiritual principle that the Mosaic Law is spiritual in nature.
It indicates that they would all agree that the Law is spiritual.
The verb denotes that his statement to follow regarding the Law in verse 14 cannot be denied by himself and his readers and is self-evident.
Romans 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”
“Spiritual” is the adjective pneumatikos (pneumatikov$) (pnyoo-mat-ik-os), which describes the Law as being spiritual in nature and character in the sense that it originates from God meaning that like all Scripture, it was inspired by God.
The doctrine of inspiration contends that, God the Holy Spirit so supernaturally directed the human authors of Scripture that without destroying their individuality, their literary style, their personal interests, or their vocabulary, God’s complete and connected thought towards man was recorded with perfect accuracy in the original languages of Scripture.
Therefore, the Bible in its original languages is the exact record, the mind and will of God and contains the very words of God, and therefore, bears the “authority” of divine authorship.
2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed (theopneustos) and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
2 Peter 1:20-21, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made an act of human will, but men moved (phero) by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
In Romans 7:14, the adjective pneumatikos is making the assertion that the Mosaic Law is spiritual in the sense that it was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, because of its divine origin, the Law perfectly reflects not only the will of God for men but also God’s holiness, i.e. His perfect character and nature.
Romans 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”
“I am of flesh” denotes that Paul as a Christian exists in the state of being of the flesh meaning that he is unspiritual because he possesses a sin nature even though he has been declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ as his Savior.
“Of flesh” is the adjective sarkinos (savrkino$) (sar-kee-nos), which means, “unspiritual” since it is used in contrast with the adjective pneumatikos, “spiritual,” which is used by Paul to describe the Law.
Therefore, in Romans 7:14, the adjective sarkinos emphasizes that Paul is describing himself as being “unspiritual” because he still possesses a sin nature that is located in his physical body in contrast with the spiritual character and nature and divine origin of the Law.
The word emphasizes that Paul is still greatly influenced by a nature that is totally and completely antithetical to that of the Law, which is spiritual in nature.
The adjective characterizes Paul as being limited by a human body that is corrupted by the indwelling sin nature whose desires wage war against his soul (1 Peter 2:11).
Romans 7:22-23, “For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 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 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”
“Sold” is the verb piprasko (pipravskw) (pip-ras-ko), which means, “to be sold as a slave” under the authority of the sin nature.
In what sense is Paul as a Christian “sold as a slave to the sin nature”? since he taught the following in Romans 6:14:
Romans 6:14, “For the sin nature, will, as a certainty, never again, have dominion over all of you for all of you, as an eternal spiritual truth, are by no means under the authority and dominion of the Law but rather under the authority and dominion of grace.”
In this passage, Paul is speaking of that which is true of the believer in a “positional” sense and not in an experiential sense.
Now, in Romans 7:14, this expression pepramenos hupo ten hamartian, “to be sold as a slave under the authority of the sin nature” refers to the fact that Paul recognizes that as a Christian he still possesses a sin nature since it resides in the genetic structure of his physical body.
When Paul uses this expression, he is saying that he is still in bondage in an experiential sense to his sin nature because it resides in his physical body.
Even though the Christian’s soul has been redeemed, his body has yet to be redeemed but will be redeemed at the resurrection of the church and until then, Paul groaned, which is why he speaks of looking forward to the redemption of the body in Romans 8:23.
Romans 8:23, “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”
Paul and all Christians with the exception of those who have died and went home to be with the Lord, are sold into bondage to the sin nature since the sin nature resides in their mortal bodies.
Therefore, he is sold to the sin nature in the sense that he recognized that in his physical body he possessed a sin nature, which would not be permanently eradicated from his life until the redemption of his body at the resurrection of the church (Romans 8:23).
However, in the meantime, he reveals in Romans chapter six that his fellow Christians can experience victory over the sin nature by appropriating by faith his teaching that they have been crucified and died with Christ through the baptism of the Spirit and raised with Christ as well.
Romans 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”
“Into bondage to sin” is composed of the preposition hupo (u(pov) (hoop-o), “into bondage” and the noun hamartia (a(martiva) (ham-ar-tee-ah), “to sin.”
The noun hamartia refers once again to the old Adamic sin nature as indicated by its articular construction, which is “anaphoric” meaning that the word was used in Romans 7:13 and that its meaning in verse 13 is being used again here in verse 14.
It functions as the object of the preposition hupo, which functions as a marker of a controlling power indicating that the sin nature controls Paul.
So Paul is saying in Romans 7:14 that even though he has been justified through faith alone in Christ alone, he is sold as a slave to the sin nature because it still resides in his physical body where it wages war against his soul.
Even though in a positional sense, through his identification with Christ in His physical death and resurrection, he has been freed and delivered from the authority and dominion of the sin nature, he is relating that he is not experiencing this freedom and deliverance from the sin nature.
It can only be experienced by the enabling power of the Spirit, which he mentions in Romans chapter eight.