로마서 Chapter 7

Translation: ESV

1

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?

Key Message

The law's jurisdiction is valid only while one is alive, and death releases a person from all legal obligations.

▸An explanation of 6:14's declaration that we are 'not under the law' begins.

An explanation of 6:14's declaration that we are 'not under the law' begins. The principle that the law's jurisdiction is valid only while one is alive is presented. This is a principle recognized in Roman law as well — death terminates all legal obligations.

Related Verses

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
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.

Key Message

Christians have died to the law through Christ, and now, united with the risen Christ, bear fruit for God.

▸This is the application of the marriage analogy.

7

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'

Key Message

The law is not sin but a mirror that exposes sin; through the law we come to know the reality of sin.

▸Is the law sin? Absolutely not.

12

So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Key Message

The law itself is holy, righteous, and good; the problem lies in the power of sin that misuses the law.

▸This is Paul's conclusion about the nature of the law.

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.

Key Message

A person under the law experiences an inner division — wanting what is good but doing what is evil.

▸The fundamental inner conflict of humanity is described.

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.

Key Message

Human natural capacity (the flesh) cannot accomplish good — this is why external help — the Spirit — is needed.

▸Verse 15's experience is stated more specifically.

24

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Key Message

The lament of a person under the law struggling with sin is a desperate cry acknowledging that a savior must come from outside.

▸This is the climax and zenith of chapter 7.

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.

Key Message

Jesus Christ is the deliverer from sin and death, and only in him is the conflict of chapter 7 resolved.

▸The answer to the cry of verse 24 arrives: Jesus Christ! He is the savior.