THE EPISTLE
OF
PAUL THE APOSTLE
TO THE
ROMANS

Romans 7

1No law having power over a person longer than he liveth, 4we therefore, being become dead to the law by the body of Christ, are left free to place ourselves under a happier dispensation. 5For the law through the prevalency of corrupt passions could only serve as an instrument of sin unto death; although it be in itself holy, and just, and good; 14as is manifest by our reason approving the precepts of it, whilst our depraved nature is unable to put them in practice. 24The wretchedness of man in such a situation, and God's mercy in his deliverance from it through Christ.


1KNOW ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know 1the law,) how that the law 2hath dominion over a man 3as long as he liveth?

1 Namely, given by Moses; which not only the Jews but also Christians are bound to understand.

2 That is, obliges a man to obey it.

3 Namely, to whom the law is given; for, the law properly commands not the dead but the living.

2Fora the woman 4which hath an husband 5is boundb by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is 6loosed 7from the law of her husband.

a 1 Cor. 7:39.

4 Namely, by the bond of marriage.

5 Namely, to be faithful and obedient to him as long as he lives. For, though the husband was permitted in the Old Testament to give the wife a bill of divorce, yet notwithstanding such forsaking was never approved by God. See Mat. 19:8.

b 1 Cor. 7:2, 10.

6 Gr. made empty; that is, made loose and free.

7 That is, from the obligation, whereby the law binds her to the husband.

3Soc then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to 8another man, she shall be 9called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

c Mat. 5:32.

8 That is, marries to another man, and becomes his wife, as also in the end of this same verse.

9 That is, be indeed, and rightly be called, as this Greek word chrematizein is also taken, Acts 11:26.

4Wherefore, my brethren, 10yed also are become dead to the law 11by the body of Christ; that ye should be married 12to another, even to him 13who is raised from the dead, that we should 14bring forth fruit unto God.

10 The opposition seemed to require that the apostle would say: the law is put to death, or is dead to you, seeing the reigning power of sin by the law, or the law itself is here put as the husband, which bears sway over us by its threats against sin, and provocations to sin by reason of the perverseness of our flesh, as he will declare hereafter in verse 8, but the apostle rather inverted the same, because it would have seemed strange if he had said that the law was made dead by Christ, whereas he means that the domineering power of the law was only made dead; which, by this manner of speaking, we are made dead to the law, that is, the law has no more this threatening and provocative power over us since we are dead to it, may also be suitably understood.

d Gal. 2:19; 1 Peter 4:1.

11 That is, by the sacrifice of the body of Christ accomplished on the cross, whereby He did away the curse of the law and the power of sin under the law, and delivered us from it; as in the previous chapter is more largely declared. See also 1 Cor. 15:56, 57.

12 Or, for another, namely, Christ Jesus.

13 Namely, not only to live Himself, but to cause us also to live with Him, and to unite us unto Him.

14 Namely, the fruits of this spiritual marriage with Christ, which are the fruits of holiness and righteousness, whereby God is honored and praised by us, John 15:8.

5For when we were 15in the flesh, the motionse of sins, 16which were by the law, 17did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

15 That is, in the corruption of our nature and under the dominion of the same. See afterwards Rom. 8:5, and the following verses.

e impulses.

16 That is, which are discovered and provoked by the law, as ill vapors are discovered and raised up by the sun, which are hidden in the earth. See verse 8.

17 That is, the corruption, which had its seat principally in the soul, spread itself abroad by its evil motions through all the members, and by the same brought forth those ill fruits, whereof the end is death. See Mat. 15:18, 19; James 1:14, 15.

6But now we are 18delivered from the law, 19that being dead 20wherein we were held; that we should 21serve 22inf newness of spirit, and not 23in the oldness of the letter.

18 See the previous annotation on verse 4.

19 That is, forasmuch as the reigning power of the law and of sin is abolished in us by the death and Spirit of Christ. Other, forasmuch as that is dead, namely, the law, in respect of its compelling, condemning and provocative power.

20 Gr. in which.

21 Namely, unto God.

22 That is, in true holiness, whereunto we are renewed by the Holy Ghost, through the preaching of the Gospel, which is called a ministry of righteousness and of the Spirit, 2 Cor. 3:8, 9.

f Rom. 2:29; 2 Cor. 3:6.

23 That is, in the old corruption, which by the external letter of the law is more and more stirred up to sin; seeing the law indeed condemns the sinner, but brings not with it the power to forsake sin; wherefore the law is called a killing letter, and a ministry of death, 2 Cor. 3:6, 7.

7What shall we say then? 24Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, 25Ig had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known 26lust, except the law had said, Thouh shalt not covet.

24 That is, cause of sin; which objection arises from hence, that the apostle had said before in verse 5, that sin was powerful in us by the law, therefore he declares in the seven following verses how this must be understood.

25 Namely, to the full and as I ought. For otherwise even nature itself teaches a difference of good and evil in many things, Rom. 2:5.

g Rom. 3:20; Heb. 7:18.

26 Here lust is taken for the basis of all evil desires, and for the first motions of the same. For, the lust to which we consent, the heathen also knew well that it was sin; but these first motions to evil they held to be no sin, as neither did the Pharisees amongst whom Paul had been. See Mat. 5:20, 22, 28, and 23:25, etc.

h Exod. 20:17; Deut. 5:21.

8Buti27sin, 28taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me 29all manner of concupiscence.j For 30without the law sin was 31dead.

i John 15:22; Rom. 4:15; 5:20; Gal. 3:19.

27 That is, the corruption that is in us.

28 Or, being made a going. For the law does not only discover and condemn sin, as is testified in the previous verse, but the corruption, which is in man, is by this knowledge stirred up and made a going against the commandment, when God’s Spirit does not hinder the same.

29 That is, all kinds of actual lust.

j strong desire or appetite, especially of a sexual nature.

30 That is, without the right knowledge of the law.

31 That is, does not show fairly well its power.

9For 32I was alive without the law 33once: but 34when the commandment came, sin 35revived, and I 36died.

32 Or, I lived such, that is, I thought that I was just, and thereupon was at rest. See the similar example in that young man Mat. 19:16, 17, 18, etc., and in the Pharisees in general, Mat. 23:28.

33 Namely, being yet a Pharisee.

34 Namely, to my right knowledge, and that I understood that even the inward desires against the law are sins.

35 That is, I felt the multitude of sins, which was awakened in me, to be alive.

36 That is, I was convinced in my mind that I lay in the midst of death, and lost the confidence of being able to be saved by the obedience of the law, Rom. 4:15; 2 Cor. 3:6, 7, 9.

10And the commandment, 37which was ordained to life, I found to be 38unto death.

37 Namely, for those who would perfectly keep the law, Rom. 10:5; Gal. 3:12, etc., which is impossible to man, Rom. 8:3.

38 Namely, through my corruption and transgression.

11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, 39deceived me, and by it slew me.

39 See the annotation at verse 8.

12Whereforek the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

k 1 Tim. 1:8.

13Was then that which is good made 40death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin 41by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

40 That is, a cause of death, as verse 7.

41 Namely, as is declared before on the 8th verse.

1442For we know that the law is 43spiritual: but 44I am carnal, 45soldl under sin.

42 Till now the apostle has spoken of the power of the law and of sin in the corrupt and unregenerate man, as he himself also had experienced in the past, when he was yet in such a state, verse 9; but now he comes and speaks of himself, as he was previously, and declares what power the remainders of sinful flesh had still in him, after he was now delivered from the dominion of sin, as all his reasons, which follow, speak of the present time, and not of the time past.

43 That is, which requires not only an outward but also an inward obedience of the heart, and prescribes the perfect rule of a spiritual and holy life, as Christ expounds the sum thereof, Mat. 22:37.

44 Namely, still in part, in respect of the remainders of the flesh which are still in me, as he declares in verses 18 and 23. For, it appears that even the regenerate, in respect of some defects which are still in them, may be called carnal, 1 Cor. 3:1.

45 Namely, not as a willing slave, who would in all things follow the desire of sin, as is said of Ahab, 1 Kings 21:20, but (as one) who, against his desire and will, is still subject to the lusts and assaults of sin, without being yet able to free himself from it at one time, although he earnestly resists it, and for the most part by the Spirit of God, Which is in him, overcomes it. See the like Gal. 5:17, 18.

l Isa. 52:3.

15For that which I 46do I 47allowm not: forn48what I would, that 49do I not; but 50what I hate, that do I.

46 Gr. work, or, fulfill. The apostle here takes the word do, as also in what follows, not always of the outward act; for the regenerate walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit, Rom. 8:1, though they have their failings which they bewail with sorrow, Job 9:2, 3; Psalm 130:3; but he speaks here principally of the inward motions of sin which he hates, and which the corrupt nature causes often times to arise in him against his will, as he also speaks of the lust of the flesh, Gal. 5:17, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would; whereas notwithstanding he had said before in the 16th verse, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

47 Namely, for good, that is, I do not consent to that, as he afterwards expounds it. See Psalm 1:6; Mat. 7:23.

m approve of*

n Gal. 5:17.

48 That is, the good which I will, as verse 19.

49 Namely, in such perfection as I gladly would, as verse 18.

50 That is, the evil, to which I have an aversion, and that I do not want, as verse 19.

16If then I do that which I would not, I 51consent unto the law that it is good.

51 Namely, seeing I do not want, nor approve concupiscence (lust), which it forbids.

17Now then it is no more 52I that do it, but 53sin that dwelleth in me.

52 Namely, according to the inward man, as he expounds in verse 22.

53 That is, the remainders of its corruption which are still in me, as he declares, verses 18 and 19.

18Foro I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will 54is present with me; but how to perform that which is 55good I find not.

o Gen. 6:5; 8:21.

54 Gr. lieth by me. Namely, by the grace of God which works the same in me, Philip. 2:13.

55 Namely, in its perfection. See Philip. 3:12, 13, 14.

19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

21 I 56find then a 57law, that, when I would do good, evil is 58present with me.

56 That is, have experience of.

57 The apostle calls here, as also in verse 23, by a similitude, the remaining corruption in believers, because, as a law by its commands and prohibitions admonishes and obliges a man to the obedience thereof, so also indwelling sin instigates then thereunto by its lusts and provocations. See verse 23.

58 Or, adjoins on me, that is, adheres or hangs on me; namely, by the remainders of the corrupt nature.

22Forp I delight in the law of God 59after the inward man:

p Eph. 3:16.

59 Hereby is not understood man’s natural reason, which sometimes also strives indeed for civil virtue; for the Scripture testifies throughout that the reason of the natural man is blind and perverse in spiritual things, (and) accounts them foolishness, 1 Cor. 2:14, is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither can be, Rom. 8:7, but is to be understood of a man as much as he is inwardly enlightened and regenerated by the Spirit of God, Rom. 2:29; 2 Cor. 4:16; Eph. 3:16, which inward man has his delight in the law of God, Psalm 1:2; Rom. 8:5, which is spiritual, verse 14.

23Butq I see another law 60in my members, warring against 61the law of my mind, and bringing me 62into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

q Gal. 5:17.

60 That is, in my flesh, verses 5 and 18.

61 Or, the law of my understanding, that is, against the prescript and motions of the inward and new man; as is declared heretofore.

62 That is, still adheres to me against my will, verse 14.

24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me 63from the body of this death?

63 Or, out of this body of death; which may either be understood of the remainders of sin and the old man, which are called the body of sin, Rom. 6:6, or, of man’s body which is mortal here, and by reason of sin, subject to death, Rom. 8:10. For we shall not be fully delivered from those remainders of sin, and from this captivity, before we shall have put off this mortal body.

2564I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 65So then with 66the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

64 Namely, that He has already so far delivered me through Christ from the dominion of sin, that now howsoever sin still cleaves to me, yet nevertheless I am no more a willing slave of the same, but strive against it; and by the Spirit of Christ can overcome it; as the conclusion that follows, and the beginning of the following chapter implies, see 1 Cor. 15:55, 56, 57.

65 This is the conclusion of this whole conflict.

66 That is, after the inward man, verse 22, which the apostle now acknowledges to be himself or to be his own, whereas the flesh after regeneration is but a strange attachment, which little by little must wear out and must be cast away.