Romans chapter seven has been the subject of much discourse, and there is a divide of opinions regarding whether the apostle has reference to his own experience before he became a Christian; or to the conflicts in the mind of a man who is saved.
In earlier chapters, Paul had shown how the observance of the law was insufficient to justify the doer (Romans 3:9), positing that only by grace are we justified, and that by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are delivered from slavery to sin, not by the keeping of the law.
Continuing his argument in chapter seven, the apostle Paul observed that we have been delivered from the law. What he strove to point out in this chapter is that each time the law is resorted to as a means of dealing with sin, either in the life of a person who is not saved or in the life of a saved man, the result is always the same: failure. Failure to justify the sinner, and failure to sanctify the saint. Following what the law prescribes as a means for salvation or sanctification exasperates. The recurring failure of the law to calm the anguish in the soul, wherever it is administered, whether in the sinner or saved, is the subject of the apostle in this chapter.
The law, instead of producing peace to the soul, actually stirs up its distress. However, this distress that comes from the application of the law should not be mistaken to imply that the law is to blame, because the law is good, pure, and holy. It is that sin, being evil, uses what is good and holy, to bring about in us every distress we experience when we attempt to use the keeping of the law for righteousness or sanctification.
Wherever, and whenever the law is relied upon for justification and sanctification, the result is always the same: failure. In verse 24, Paul gives vent to his frustration, saying, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" But thankfully, he finds the solution in the next verse. "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
In earlier chapters, Paul had shown how the observance of the law was insufficient to justify the doer (Romans 3:9), positing that only by grace are we justified, and that by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are delivered from slavery to sin, not by the keeping of the law.
Continuing his argument in chapter seven, the apostle Paul observed that we have been delivered from the law. What he strove to point out in this chapter is that each time the law is resorted to as a means of dealing with sin, either in the life of a person who is not saved or in the life of a saved man, the result is always the same: failure. Failure to justify the sinner, and failure to sanctify the saint. Following what the law prescribes as a means for salvation or sanctification exasperates. The recurring failure of the law to calm the anguish in the soul, wherever it is administered, whether in the sinner or saved, is the subject of the apostle in this chapter.
The law, instead of producing peace to the soul, actually stirs up its distress. However, this distress that comes from the application of the law should not be mistaken to imply that the law is to blame, because the law is good, pure, and holy. It is that sin, being evil, uses what is good and holy, to bring about in us every distress we experience when we attempt to use the keeping of the law for righteousness or sanctification.
Wherever, and whenever the law is relied upon for justification and sanctification, the result is always the same: failure. In verse 24, Paul gives vent to his frustration, saying, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" But thankfully, he finds the solution in the next verse. "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
Toni
