ROMANS CHAPTER 7
Introduction
"Paul has drawn a hard line of division between the Gospel and the Law. The saving revelation of the righteousness of God is a revelation "apart from law" (3:21); a man is justified by the faith which the Gospel creates in him "apart from works of law" (3:28; cf. 3:20). The Law is not, as Paul's Jewish contemporaries believed and asserted, a power for salvation; its working and effect is negative and destructive, the very opposite of the working of the Gospel. The Law, far from saving the Jew, indicts him; it stops all mouths and makes all men accountable to God (3:19). Through the Law, sin becomes an experienced, full reality in the life of man (3:20). The Law, therefore, "brings wrath" (4:15). The Law cannot stop the trespass of Adam, which flood-like sweeps all acres of mankind; rather, the Law only increases the trespass (5:20). Every statement Paul makes concerning the actual working of the Law, its effect on the life and fate of man, is a negative one.
This no to the Law comes to a climax in Chapter 6: "Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law..." (6:14). Here liberation from sin and liberation from Law are put into the closest possible relationship; the one is not possible without the other. Now, the statement that a life lived to God in full and unbroken devotion is possible only if the dominion of sin over man be overcome is clear and understandable; there is an evident religious logic in it. But liberation from the Law seems to be quite another matter. Why must a man be liberated from the Law in order to become a new creature who does the will of God? For the Law has, for Paul, too, a high a positive content and a profound significance. Paul was not being ironic when he said that the Jew had in the Law "the embodiment of knowledge and truth" (2:20). According to Paul, the Jew is doomed because he has sinned "under the law" (2:12), and the Gentile is accountable before God because God has inscribed upon his heart "what the law requires" (2:15) "Doers of the law" will be justified on that day when God judges the secrets of men (2:13,16). The Law is a word of the living God, the revelation of His will. It therefore bears witness in its own way to the righteousness of God now manifested in Christ (3:21); and the proclaimers of the Gospel can say, "We uphold the Law" (3:31). To the original question, "Why must man be liberated from the Law?" - there is added the second question - "How can man be liberated from the Law, the express and uttered will of God? Who dares to set the Law aside?" Paul deals with these two questions in chapter 7." (Franzmann, pp. 119-121)
Verses 1-3
Do you not know, brothers - for I am speaking to men who know the law - that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies,, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
Do you not know, brothers... - The apostle appeals to truth that is self-evident and familiar to his readers. The members of the congregation at Rome are here described for only the second time in the epistle (cf. 1:13) as brothers (Greek - adelphoi) to emphasize his fraternal affection for them and his close relationship with them. Lenski notes: "With "brethren," and then "my brethren" Paul puts his arm around the Roman Christians in order to draw as near to them as possible with the great assurance that the justified are indeed delivered from the law." (Lenski, p.443) The reference is not specifically to Jewish Christians, but to all of the members of the Roman congregation.
For I am speaking to men who know the law. - The noun law (nomos) in the Greek does not include a definite article. Thus the reference is not specifically to the Mosaic Law but to law in general, to whatever is of the nature of law. The principle which is enunciated here applies in every legal system, not merely among the Jews. The NIV's translation is somewhat misleading. We might paraphrase the apostle's words: I am addressing people who understand law and how a legal system operates.
That the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives. - The rabbinic maxim, which Paul may have had specifically in mind in this verse, was "That the law rules over a person only so long as he or she lives." This principle, however, was clearly not unique to Judaism. "Paul intends to use an ordinary example taken from the general field of law, and the point of this example is one that everyone who knows anything at all about law understands, namely, that all law and every law relinquishes its control at the time of death. (Lenski, p.442) It is also significant to note that the verb used in this phrase has authority (Greek - kyrieuein - to be the lord of or to rule over) is the same word that was used in reference to the rule of sin (6:9) and the rule of death (6:14). Thus the law is associated with these other two dark lords and their baneful influence of fallen mankind and becomes a part of the threesome that tyrannizes human existence apart from Christ.
For example, by law a married woman... - Paul illustrates the general principle with a specific example from the law of Moses. Lenski notes the appropriateness of the chosen example:
"And from the countless examples that offer themselves Paul selects one that serves his purpose best, for it is itself so clear and matches so well the spiritual reality which he wants to put into the right light. Additional examples might also have been cited; one is, of course, enough. The only point to be noted is that the application which Paul wants to make requires an example in which the pertinent law concerns two closely connected persons, not merely one person; upon the death of one of these two persons who are bound together by law the control of that law automatically ends." (Lenski, p. 443)
The Hebrew law of marriage does indeed provide an effective illustration of the point. The example of the married woman is used because the wife's situation illustrates the point more clearly. In Jewish society the rules of marriage strongly favored the husband. The wife was, in fact, more bound to her husband than he was bound to her. It was possible for the husband to end the marriage by simply handing his wife a bill of divorcement. That alternative was not open to the woman. She was bound to her husband as long as he is alive. However, the death of the husband terminates that obligation. The Greek text literally says - she is separated from the law relating to her husband. Lenski suggests the helpful translation - she stands discharged from the law regarding the husband. His death sets her free from the legal obligation which applied as long as he remained alive. She is no longer bound by that law. As the result of death the wife is placed in an entirely new status in regard to the law. That is precisely the apostle's point; death terminates the obligation and force of law.
So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive... - Verse 3 restates and sharpens the point. From the perspective of Hebrew law a wife belonged to her husband; she was his property. The NIV's translation, if she marries another man, is correct although the Greek literally says if she becomes another man's (ginomai andri). This is typical Old Testament language and reflect's a property perspective on marriage. A woman who entered into a second bigamous marriage while her marriage to her first husband remained in effect would certainly be labeled an adulteress. As long as her husband remained alive she was subject to the law which bound her to him.
These verses are sometimes used to prove that remarriage after divorce is improper as long as the original spouse remains alive. That issue will have to be decided on the basis of other passages. This text does not refer to divorce in any way and thus does not address the question of remarriage after divorce.
But if her husband dies, she is released from that law... - All this is ended the moment the husband dies. The obligation of the law is annulled and she is free to marry again without stigma or criticism. Death terminates the obligation and the force of the law. The law has not been changed; it simply no longer applies to her.
Verse 4
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
So, my brothers, you also died... - The transition to the application of Paul's illustration is signaled by the conjunction So (Greek - hoste - literal - and so). The repetition of the fraternal my brothers serves to make the point more personal and powerful. In 6:14 Paul had asserted: You are not under law but under grace. God's people in Christ are no longer subject to the demands of the law and its threat of damnation. The necessity for us to attempt to earn our own salvation has been eliminated. Jesus satisfied the law's demands in our place. The apostle now returns to that central point through the use of his illustration. The death of the woman's husband freed her from the obligation of the law so that she could marry another. In the same way, we too have been set free by a death, namely the death of Christ on the cross, so that we might also belong to another, namely to him who was raised from the dead. John MacArthur summarizes:
Salvation brings a complete change in spiritual relationship, just as remarriage after the death of a spouse brings a complete change in marital relationship. Believers are no longer married to the law, but are now married to Jesus Christ, the divine bridegroom of his church. (MacArthur, p.361)
The verb you also died is aorist passive in the Greek. The aorist tense indicates the completion of the action in the past. The passive voice emphasizes that this is God's action on our behalf. It is not something the believer does for himself. We might translate the word you were made to die. Through our participation in the death of Christ (cf. 6:3-8) we were set free from the curse and damning power of the law. Although it is by His death that Christ sets us free, yet the Christ to whom we may now belong is not dead but alive. This is absolutely essential if we are to truly belong to Him. Thus the apostle's reference here to the resurrection - to him who was raised from the dead. The resurrection demonstrates the sufficiency of His redemptive death for the sins of the world. Lenski aptly notes:
To a Christ who died and remained dead one could belong only ideally in memory, not actually and really; such a belonging would be like the widow's memory of her dead husband. But Christ was raise up and dies no more (vs.10) and to Him we belong in fullest actuality. (Lenski, p.449)
In order that we might bear fruit to God. - There is divine purpose involved in all of this. We have been liberated from the law and live under grace so that we might now live no longer for ourselves but for Him who died and rose for us. "No such life is possible under the law, for the law cannot transform our flesh. The Law cannot make sons of God out of sons of Adam." (Franzmann, p.123) This transformed life is always productive. It never fails to bear fruit to God. Paul's imagery shifts from marriage to agriculture. Douglas Moo notes: "Our new relationship with Christ enables us - and requires us - to produce those character traits, thoughts, and actions that will be for God's glory." (Moo, p.418) That which was co-erced and compelled under the harsh dominion of law is now rendered freely and joyfully as the natural, inevitable result of what we have become in Christ.
Verses 5-6
For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
For when we were controlled by the sinful nature... - The contrast between what we once were apart from Christ and what we have now become by faith in Him serves to indicate the significance of having been set free from the Law. Paul characterizes the pre-Christian condition as being controlled by the sinful nature. The NIV offers a paraphrase at this point which, while basically accurate, goes somewhat beyond the original text. The Greek merely says when we were in the flesh (hote gar hemen en te sarki). Paul uses the term flesh (sarx) in a variety of ways. It can refer simply to that which is physical (2 Corinthians 4:11; Galatians 4:14; Colossians 2:1) and it sometimes carries the connotation of human weakness (Romans 7:18; 8:3). It is also used in a strongly negative way to describe the natural condition of sinful human beings in hostility and opposition to God (Romans 8:8,9; Philemon 16). James Dunn summarizes the usage of the term in this way:
"The precise weighting of the physical and moral meaning of the term "flesh" is dependent on the context. It always carries some negative overtone - sometimes stronger, sometimes less strong, flesh almost always denoting the weakness and corruptibility of the creature which distances him from the Creator." (Dunn, p. 363)
Apart from Christ, the human being is dominated by the sinful passions aroused by the law that were at work in our bodies. The use of the noun passions (Greek - pathemata) is instructive. Most often the term refers to suffering or misfortune however it may also used in the sense of emotion, feeling, or affection. The addition of the adjective sinful provides the negative connotation and emotion becomes passion (cf.Galatians 5:24). The unreliability and volatility of human emotion makes them susceptible to manipulation and temptation. "A life ruled by or lived chiefly on the level of the emotions is almost certain to be a tool manipulated by sin." (Dunn, p. 364) The power of our emotions to move and motivate, sweeping aside all reason and restraint, will often necessarily lead to sin. These sinful passions are at work in our bodies. Fitzmyer explains the reference as "the propensity to sin following upon strong sensory impressions." (Fitzmyer, p. 459)
The law also plays a critical role here as it serves to arouse these sinful passions. Paul had earlier affirmed the close connection between sin and the law. The law reveals sin (Romans 3:20) and intensifies sin by turning it into transgression (Romans 5:20). But now the apostle goes even further as he indicates that the law actually produces sin itself. "The law, in setting forth God's standard, arouses sins by stimulating human beings' innate rebelliousness against God." (Moo, p. 420) Lenski concurs: "Set up the law over unregenerate men, and not only their lusts but also their passions, as it irritated thereby, become the more active. The law seems to stir the fire so as to make the flames flare up in the fagots." (Lenski, p.453)
So that we bore fruit for death. - In Verse 4 we were told that we have died to the law in order that we might bear fruit to God. Those who remain under the law's dominion also bear fruit for their master, death. The noun death appears in the Greek text with the definite article (to thanato - literally the death) to present death as a personification, a power ruling over man in this era. This grim figure stands parallel to and as the opposite of God. Lenski explains the stark contrast in this way: "To bear fruit for God is to lay good works at His feet for His glory and His honor; to bear fruit for "the death," e.g. for the power of eternal death, is to make this death our god in subservience to bring sins and crimes as offerings to him, to glorify this monster." (Lenski, p. 453)
But now, by dying to what once bound us... - The theme of liberation from the coercive power of the law now comes to the fore once again. Paul reiterates his argument from the opening verses of the chapter: by participating in the death of Christ we have been released from the law which once bound us, since the obligation of law is terminated by death. The language in this phrase closely follows the original statement of the position. The Greek text literally reads: "But now we have been discharged from the law in having died to that in which we were being held fast." The tremendous change that occurs in the life of one who has come to faith in Jesus Christ is indicated with the two little words But now (Greek - nuni de). Leaving behind the kingdom of law and death we proceed on into the realm of grace and life. We have been set free for service - so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit. This recalls the preceding chapter's insight that no human being is a free agent either we serve God in Christ or we serve sin, death, and the law. The language of the text is emphatic. The Greek verb douleuo does not describe the voluntary service of a hired worker who is able to refuse and order and look for another employer if he so desires. It refers exclusively to the service of a slave, whose sole purpose for existence is to obey the will of his master. This service is not optional. It is the necessary and inescapable result of faith in Christ. The contrast here is between serving in the new way of the Spirit and serving in the old way of the written code. This is the second time in the Epistle that Paul has contrasted between the Spirit and the letter of the law (cf. 2:27-29). The coerced minimum compliance of the old way of the written code is the exact opposite of the new way of the Spirit in which the believer, empowered by the Holy Spirit, joyfully and eagerly responds to the undeserved love of God in Christ. The Christian serves God and obeys His will not out of fear but out of love - not because he has to in order to avoid damnation, but because he wants to in grateful response to the salvation that God has given him as a free gift in Jesus Christ. The law which had been only a slavish master threatening death and hell now becomes the helpful guide which shows us the way our loving heavenly Father would have us live. The end result of this transformation is not lawlessness and chaos but willing obedience that goes far beyond legalistic minimum compliance. As the prophet Jeremiah had promised centuries earlier:
"The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it in their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, because they will all know me from the least to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
Verses 7-8
What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what it was to covet if the law had not said, "Do not covet." But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? - In the preceding verses Paul has drawn a close parallel between sin and the law. We died to sin, and we died to the law (6:2;7:4); we died to sin to enable us to walk in newness of life, and we died to the law so that we might serve in the new life of the Spirit (6:4;7:6); death has set us free both from the claim of sin and the claim of the law (6:7;7:6). Sin and the law appear to be so closely interrelated that one might wonder whether they are in fact identical. Is the law, in itself, sinful and evil? Paul is well aware that this is exactly what his enemies have charged.
"Should Paul hold such a view, he would effectively destroy any continuity between the law and his gospel, between the OT and the NT, between Moses and Christ. Indeed, many Jews and Jewish Christians accused Paul of holding just such an opinion. Paul is undoubtedly aware that such charges against him have reached the ears of the Roman Christians; so, to prepare the way for his visit and the enlistment of the Romans in his missionary efforts, he seeks here to dispel any such apprehensions." (Moo, p. 432)
That concern is now addressed as Paul presents Scripture's clearest elaboration of the manner in which the law works. His immediate response to the question Is the law sin? is a most emphatic Certainly not! But a simple denial is not sufficient at this point; further explanation is needed.
Indeed, I would not have known what sin was except through the law. - Sin and the law are not identical, the law is a power absolutely opposed to sin. But the law is intimately related to sin and may, in fact, be the catalyst that brings sin about. While sin and the law are in opposition to one another, sin would not be what it is if the law did not exist. In 3:20 Paul had asserted: Through the law we become conscious of sin. (cf. also 4:15; 5:13) That assertion is now repeated and defined. The sentence begins with the Greek conjunction alla which the NIV translates as Indeed. The term is usually adversative and may be translated as but or on the contrary. In this instance, however, it is restrictive, and might be translated although it is true that. While Paul denies that sin and the law are the same thing, he is acknowledging that there is a close relationship between them. The apostle makes his point through the use of an illustration from his own personal experience. I would not have known... Paul's words become a form of personal confession and yet they are much more that for the apostle's experience is in no way unique. They are, as the great Lutheran theologian Heinrich Bornkamm notes "a confession in which the history of man and my way into lostness and death are portrayed." The law brings about knowledge of sin. It defines, identifies, and unmasks sin as it reveals the righteous standards of the holy God. Of course, every human being has the natural law written in his hear and hears the witness of conscience (2:15). But the law reveals the full power and depravity of sin, and in the face of that revelation sin escalates into transgression which carries the added connotation of deliberate disobedience and rebellion (cf. 4:15).
"Paul does not mean that it is only through the law that a human being comes to know right and wrong; it is, rather, that the law brings it about that sin is unmasked as a transgression of the will of God. Sin would not have become the power that it is in human life, if it were not for the law and the knowledge of sin that it brought into being." (Fitzmyer, p.466)
For I would not have known what it was to covet... - Paul uses the climax of the Ten Commandments and it prohibition of coveting as his specific example (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21). Coveting, the sinful desire of the heart, is an apt example of the apostle's point. Every sinful action begins with sinful desire (cf. Matthew 15:18-20). Martin Franzmann summarizes the thought very nicely.
"It was the law with its "You shall not covet." that was the occasion of his coveting. The prohibition set the object of his coveting sharp and clear and bright before the window of his soul. He then looked full upon forbidden fruit and saw that it was good; then he was led to the pit of the contorted self-seeking of his desire against the will of God." (Franzmann, p. 125)
But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment... - The law itself is not sin but the law provides the occasion for sin. The word opportunity (Greek - aphormen) is used in a military context to describe a bridgehead or a base of operations from which the army may then proceed to operate. This may be a helpful way to understand the term in this context of our battle with sin. Sin seizes the opportunity afforded by the commandment, it uses the law as its own henchman to achieve its own purpose.
Sinful man's inherent inclination to rebellion and defiance are enlisted as powerful motivations. "The law is the footstep of God upon the grass that rouses the serpent sleeping there to life." (Franzmann, p. 125) Apart from the law, sin is dead, that is to say, the power of sin is relatively dormant and inactive until it is stirred to its full fury by the commands and prohibitions of the law. John Bunyan illustrates the point effectively in his classic allegory Pilgrim's Progress. He presents the human heart as a large, empty, dust-covered room. Christian enters the room and has no problem staying there until another man comes in with a broom, representing the law of God, and begins to sweep. The dust swirls up and fills the room making it impossible for Christian to breathe. That's just the way law works. It agitates and stirs up sin, but it cannot remove that sin. That can be accomplished by the Gospel alone.
Verses 9-11
Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life, actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.
Once I was alive apart from the law... - The apostle now presents his own personal spiritual odyssey to illustrate his point about the role of the law. At the beginning, he says, I was alive apart from the law. The commentators argue endlessly as to what specific time in his life Paul has in mind in this phrase. Those who seek to identify a particular chronological sequence within Paul's biography have missed the point of the passage. In classic Lutheran theology, our dogmaticians distinguish between three different categories of personal response to the law, the state of security (status securitas), the state of being under the law (status sub lege), and the state of regeneration (status regenerationis). This is exactly the kind of distinction that Paul is making in this verse. Like most people, Paul began in the status securitas, comfortable and at ease with no awareness of his own sin and sinfulness. This false sense of security is often the result of ignorance of the law and its demands, or an acquiescence to worldly ideas of morality which hush the conscience. However, just as often, and this may well have been the case for Paul, this false sense of security is the result of hypocritical self-righteousness which finds its reassurance in the judgmental condemnation of the sins of others. At some undefined moment in Paul's life this false sense of security came crashing down beneath the thunder of the law. The text simply says the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died. His security, his confidence, his peace of mind were destroyed - he was in fatal bondage to death. The verb tenses are aorist indicating action fully completed in the past. Now the demands of the law relentlessly burdened Paul's conscience. Now he lived within the realm of death. He struggled to earn God's favor without success. He battled against temptation, and the harder he tried the more painfully aware of his own failure he became. As a devout adherent of Judaism, the irony of the situation was not lost to him. The very law which the rabbis exalted as Israel's greatest treasure had become a curse and a burden for him. Instead of the promise of life, it brought only despair and death - I found that the very commandment which was intended to bring life actually brought death. Paul's response to his predicament was like that of some many other conscientious legalists both before and after him. He tried harder and harder. His efforts to obey and earn God's favor became frantic and desperate. But try as he might, he could not escape from the realm of death. The fanatic dedication which he displayed in burning fervor to stamp out and destroy the new Christian religion are evidence of his plight (cf. Acts 7:58; 8:1,3; 9:1-2). Sin is the servant of Satan, the Father of the Lie. It always uses deception and falsehood to achieve its ends. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. The fruit becomes more attractive because it is forbidden. Sin's consequences are denied and concealed and only the allure of the forbidden fruit remains. "You shall not die. Your eyes will be opened. You will be like God." the serpent hissed. It is a deception as old as Eden when the devil used God's command to separate mankind from God:
"The sin power still uses the commandment to deceive and to slay us when it stirs up lust, desire, and all manner of sin in us and destroys our false security...The commandment is lyingly made to appear as a disagreeable obstacle to the gratification of our desires, to our free self-expression, to living our own lives. Forbidden fruits are sweet, and the commandment which forbids them is thus used as an impetus by the sin power to make us reach out for these fruits just because they are forbidden. Hid from us by the lying deception are the consequences, that once tasted, these fruits turn to ashes in our mouth, or that we can escape the bitter results as little as all the millions that have tried it, or that we can atone for our passions by doing some good." (Lenski, p. 468)
Paul's status sub lege came to an abrupt end on the Damascus when Christ personally called him to be an apostle. The crushing burden of the law was lifted from his shoulders and he became the great apostle of grace. He had finally come to the status regenerationis, the state of regeneration. Robert Murray McCheyne, a 19th century English Christian who came to Christ late in life wrote an eloquent poem which described his own spiritual odyssey through these three states. He named the poem "Jehovah Tsidkenu," a Hebrew title for God which means "the Lord our Righteousness."
"I once was a stranger to grace and to God, I knew not my danger and felt not my load;
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree, Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me.
I oft read with pleasure, to soothe or engage, Isaiah's wild measure and John's simple page;
But e'en when they pictured the blood-sprinkled tree, Jehovah Tsidkenu seemed nothing to me.
Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll, I wept when the waters went over His soul,
Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree, Jehovah Tsidkenu - twas nothing to me.
When free grace awoke me with light from on high, Then legal fears hook me, I trembled to die;
No refuge, no safety in self could I see - Jehovah Tsidkenu, my Savior must be.
My terrors all vanished before the sweet name; My guilty fear banished, with boldness I came
To drink at the fountain, life-giving and free - Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me.
Jehovah Tsidkenu! My Treasure and Boast, Jehovah Tsidkenu, I ne'er can be lost;
In Thee shall I conquer by flood and by field - My Cable, my Anchor, my Breastplate, my Shield!
Even treading the valley, the shadow of death, This watchword shall rally my faltering breath;
For while from life's fever my God sets me free, Jehovah Tsidkenu my death song shall be."
Verses 12-13
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
So then, the law is holy... - The Law of God remains holy, righteous, and good whatever unholy uses sin may put it to. The apostle now returns to his original question, Is the law sin? (vs.7). The answer is still an emphatic "No!" The law is the divine revelation of God's holy will. As God is holy, so also His law must be holy. The law bears the imprint of its author. In and of itself the law is good. It has been perverted to serve as "the innocent cat's paw of sin" (Moo, p. 440) In his classic commentary on Romans D. Martin Lloyd-Jones lists nine ways that sin seeks to deceive us and distort the purpose of the law:
"1. Sin gets us to misuse the law, convincing us that as long as we have not sinned outwardly and visibly, we are all right, forgetting that with God the thoughts and intentions of the heart are all important.
2. Sometimes sin changes its tactics and tells us that everything is hopeless and we might as well keep on sinning.
3. Sin tells us that it does not matter whether or not we are holy. It says, Why don't you keep on sinning so that grace may abound?
4. Sin deceives us by making us angry at the law, feeling that God is against us if he prohibits anything. If he were for us, we think, he would let us do what we want to do and be happy.
5. Sin gets us to believe that the law is unreasonable, impossible, and unjust.
6. Sin makes us think very highly of ourselves. It makes us ask why we should be bound to any law at all.
7. Sin tells us that the law is oppressive, keeping us from developing the wonderful gifts and talents we have within us, all of which would emerge if only we were not being held back by God's commandments.
8. Sin makes righteousness look drab and unattractive.
9. Sin causes us to discount the consequences of willful disobedience...It says that the most preposterous idea in the whole world is hell, forgetting that the Lord Jesus spoke of hell more than anyone else in the Bible." (Boice, p. 745)
The list of potential abuses is certainly not exhaustive. But no matter how numerous the abuses may be the fact remains that the law of God is in itself holy, righteous, and good. John Murray offers the following careful definition of the meaning of each of these three important adjectives:
"As "holy" the commandment reflects the transcendence and purity of God and demands of us the correspondent consecration and purity; as "righteous" it reflects the equity of God and exacts of us in its demand and sanction nothing but that which is equitable; as "good" it promotes man's highest well-being and thus expresses the goodness of God." (Murray, p. 253)
Did that which is good, then, become death for me? - The good law and the deadly power of sin seemed to coincide in the life of St. Paul. Was it, then, God's law that became the death-bringer? The denial of this blasphemous possibility is again most emphatic - By no means! Even as sins uses the law, the ultimate purpose of God is still being carried out. Although manipulated by sin, the law has not been removed from the power or purpose of God. But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment, sin might become utterly sinful. The law cannot save but it can uncover the grim reality of sin. "When sin uses this good to work death in man, sin is unmasked as what sin really is, as total opposition to the goodness of God, as utter negation of all that is divine, as the Satanically monstrous will that wills to ruin the creation of God..." (Franzmann, p. 127) The real culprit in the human predicament is not law but sin. The demands of the law force sin to show its real colors. The phrase utterly sinful (Greek - kath' huperbolen) is a familiar idiom used to express excess or extraordinary quality, to carry a concept to its absolute extreme. Our English word hyperbole which refers to extreme exaggeration comes from the same Greek word. Sin is to be revealed in all of its deadly ugliness, with every bit of its malignant destructiveness. The Devil is the great Deceiver, the lie, his stock in trade (cf. John 8:42-45; 2 Corinthians 11:14). It carefully conceals the reality of sin and its consequences beneath endless layers of deception and falsehood. The law strips away this meticulously constructed facade to uncover the festering monster as it truly is. In the Lutheran Confessions, Martin Luther sums up the proper use of the law and the most common abuses of the law in this way:
"Here we hold that the law was given by God, first, to restrain sin by threats and the dread of punishment, and by the promise and offer of grace and benefit. But all this miscarried on account of the wickedness which sin has wrought in man. For thereby a part were rendered worse, those, namely, who are hostile to the law, because it forbids what they like to do and enjoins what they do not like to do. Therefore, wherever they can escape punishment, they do more against the law than before. These, then, are the rude and wicked men who do evil wherever they have the opportunity. The rest become blind and arrogant, and conceive the opinion that they observe and can observe the law by their own powers, as has been said above concerning the scholastic theologians; thence come the hypocrites and false saints. But the chief office or force of the law is that it reveal original sin with all its fruits and show man how very low his nature has fallen and has become utterly corrupted; as the law must tell man that he has no God nor regards God, and worships other gods, a matter which before and without the law he would not have believed. In this way he become terrified, is humbled, desponds, despairs, and anxiously desires aid, but sees no escape; he begins to be an enemy of God and to murmur. This is what Paul says, Romans 4,15; "The law worketh wrath." And Romans 5,20; "Sin is increased by the law." (SA, III,II)
The law cannot save, but a plays a crucial role in salvation nonetheless. It makes man aware of his desperate need for a Savior and his absolute dependence upon the undeserved love of God. Charles Hodge correctly notes: Conviction of sin, that is, an adequate knowledge of its nature, and a sense of its power over us, is an indispensable part of evangelical religion. Before the Gospel can be embraced as a means of deliverance from sin, we must feel that we are involved in corruption and misery." (Hodge, p. 226) Thus the law and the gospel are designed by God to work together and the proper distinction between them must be carefully maintained.
"Yet God sends his holy, righteous, and good law and reveals the sin power for what it is for an ultimate purpose of his own, the one connected with his gospel. He never sends the law alone but always in addition to the gospel in order that contrition may be wrought and with it faith and thereby the sinner be saved." (Lenski, p.472)
Verses 14-20
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is,it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil that I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
We know that the law is spiritual... - Paul now probes the matter more deeply. The problem is not with the law, but with human beings themselves. The problem lies within the very makeup of what we have become as sinful men. Again, the apostle personalizes the argument by using his own personal experience as the example. This is an awkward text both for those who would minimize sin's corruption (Pelegians and Semi-pelegians) and for those who elevate sanctification over justification and hold out the possibility of moral perfection (Pietists). This passage is cited by Luther as the classic expression of the fact that every believer is a saint and a sinner at the same time (simul justus et peccator). It is quoted repeatedly in the Lutheran Confessions.
"And in Christians this repentance continues until death, because, through the entire life it contends with the sin remaining in the flesh, as Paul (Romans 7:14-25) testifies that he wars with the law in his members, etc.; and that, not by his own powers, but by the gift of the Holy Ghost that follows the remission of sins." (SA,III,III,p.489)
"However, believers are not renewed in this life perfectly or completely; for although their sin is covered by the perfect obedience of Christ, so that it is not imputed to believers for condemnation, and also the mortification of the old Adam and the renewal in the spirit of their mind is begun through the Holy Ghost,, nevertheless, the old Adam clings to them still in their nature and all its internal and external powers. Of this the apostle has written Romans 7:18 ff." (FCSD,V, p.965)
"God's Word testifies that the intellect, heart, and will of the natural, unregenerate man in divine things are not only turned entirely away from God, but also turned and perverted against God to every evil; also that he is not only weak, incapable, unfit, and dead to good, but also is so lamentably perverted, infected, and corrupted by original sin, that he is entirely evil, perverse, and hostile to God by his disposition and nature, and that he is exceedingly strong, alive, and active with respect to everything that is displeasing to God. (Genesis 8:28; Jeremiah 17:9; and Galatians 5:17 are cited along with Romans 7:14,18,23) Now if in St. Paul and in other regenerate men, the natural or carnal free will even after regeneration strives against God's Law,it will be much more obstinate and hostile to God's Law and will before regeneration." (FCSD, II, p. 887)
The struggle which Paul describes in these verses is the sum and substance of the Christian life, a daily process of contrition, repentance, and forgiveness, as our sinful nature strives against our new man. Should that struggle cease this side of heaven we may safely assume that it is not the old Adam which has surrendered and been destroyed. Dr. Herman Preus offers this insightful analysis of the crucial role of the simul justus et peccator concept in the theology of Martin Luther:
"Righteous, justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, I am still a sinner. But I am a forgiven sinner, a sinner clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Simul justus et peccator (at the same time righteous and a sinner) did not originate with Luther, but it has become one of the hallmarks of his pauline theology of the cross. Forgiveness is central here, as it is in the entire doctrine of justification. I am not righteous before God because I have attained to a sufficiently high moral standard of life, but because he has forgiven my sin and declared me righteous through faith in Christ which is also his gift...Simul justus et peccator is as basic to Luther's theology as the doctrine of justification itself. The Christian is righteous, clothed with the righteousness of Christ, whose righteousness, or perfect obedience is imputed to him (Romans 4:24). But he remains a sinner still, though his sin is covered through forgiveness in Christ. Original sin was not done away with in baptism. Its guilt was forgiven...This marks the struggle between the old man and the new man, the flesh and the spirit, which make up the whole man (totus homo). Parallel with man's justification, and simultaneous with it, is his regeneration. He is born again, born into the kingdom of God; he is a new man, and the Holy Spirit dwells in him. By adoption he is made a son of God. But here again, in this whole man the old nature persists, the old Adam, the flesh...This inner struggle of flesh and spirit is a paradox and a mystery. St. Paul says, "For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Romans 7:15 RSV) "For one and the same person is spirit and flesh; thus what the flesh does the whole man is said to do. And yet what resists is not the whole man but is rightly called a part of him. Both then are true; it is he that acts and yet it is not he." It is the mystery that "our life is a life in the midst of death."...Luther's whole interpretation of Romans 7 thus moves in the frame of this concept of man as simul justus et peccator. It is not the old man who is sinner and the new man who is righteous. But the whole man is a sinner, yet he is wholly covered by the righteousness of Christ...Out of the whole argument emerges Luther's unique doctrine of simul justus et peccator, and here we encounter one of his best statements of the case. "The saints in being righteous are at the same time sinners; they are righteous because they believe in Christ whose righteousness covers them and is imputed to them, but they are sinners because they do not fulfill the law and are not without sinful desires. They are like sick people in the care of a physician; they are really sick, but healthy only in hope and insofar as they begin to be better, healed, i.e., they will become healthy. Nothing can harm them as much as the presumption that they are in fact healthy, for it will cause a bad relapse."...The idea of imputation appears as central in the doctrine of simul justus et peccator, as it is central in the whole doctrine of justification. The Christian is a sinner, but the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him and thus covers his sin. So he is a sinner indeed, but a forgiven sinner, hence righteous by imputation. "For inasmuch as the saints are always aware of their sin and implore God for the merciful gift of his righteousness, they are for this very reason always reckoned righteous by God. Therefore, they are before themselves and in truth unrighteous, but before God they are righteous because he reckons them so on account of this confession of their sin. By virtue of the reckoning of a merciful God they are righteous; they are knowingly righteous and knowingly unrighteous, sinners in fact but righteous in hope...Simul justus et peccator, the fact that a Christian is at the same time both sinner and righteous, is undoubtedly one of the brightest spots in Luther's theology. When a Christian really gets hold of this fact, he will find himself in possession of a theology on which and by which he can live day by day in what the psalmist calls "the joy of thy salvation." But there may be a need for a caveat at this point. Simul justus et peccator - this is no static doctrine. I find rest and comfort in it, but I do not go to sleep on it. God still calls me to Christian living, to the fruits of faith, to the works of love. The Spirit's work of sanctification must go on. Just because my good works do not merit the pleasure of God, this is no excuse for not doing them." (Preus, 108-116 passim)
The assertion that the law is spiritual is a reference to its divine origin and character. The Spirit in question is, of course, the Holy Spirit. This is consistent in Pauline usage. In 1 Corinthians 2:13 spiritual words are words taught by the Holy Spirit and in Verse 15 the spiritual man is a man in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. Spiritual songs in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians are melodies composed by the Holy Spirit and in Colossians 1:9 spiritual understanding is an insight provided by God's Spirit Himself. (cf. also Romans 1:11; 1 Corinthians 3:1; 10:3,4; 12:1; 15:44,46; 1 Peter 2:5). This assertion is relevant in this context because of the contrast between the nature of the spiritual law and the unspiritual (Greek - sarkinos - literally of the flesh) man to whom that law is addressed. Lenski defines sakinos in this way:
"It is the old man, the old nature, that is still in us after our conversion. As a Christian, Paul is not wholly rid of his flesh, and that is what causes this entire conflict with the spiritual law of God, which he would obey in all things, but finds himself hampered in obeying by the presence of his flesh. This is the daily experience of all of us." (Lenski, p.477)
Paul graphically describes his own natural condition as one sold as a slave to sin. The image here recalls 6:16-23, although it should be noted that in this instance Paul does not call himself a slave to sin. In ancient times, consignment to slavery was most often the result of military conquest. The defeated soldiers and citizens of the vanquished nation were captured and sold as slaves. The image here is powerfully appropriate. By nature, we too were defeated and taken captive by the victorious power of sin. By nature, we have been helplessly sold as slaves to a power beyond our own strength to resist.
I do not understand what I do. - To be sold as a slave does not imply abject unquestioning servitude, as the following verses clearly indicate. It is instead a form of slavery under protest, the frustrated impotence of one who has to live "in newness of spirit," while still "in the flesh." (Dunn, p. 389) As a new man in Christ, he desires to serve the Lord Jesus, but another power lays claim to him and unnaturally divides his loyalty. The NIV's translation of the verb understand (Greek - ginosko) lacks the focus of the original text. The word means to acknowledge or to recognize as my own. Jesus uses the same term in Matthew 7:23, Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you! Away from Me you evildoers!" and in John 10:14,15 - I know My sheep and My sheep know me - just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. The implication here is that Paul the Christian disowns his own sinful actions, even as he admits knowledge of them and responsibility for them. This is not an attempt to evade guilt but to describe the battle of wills that is raging within him. In the unregenerate man there is not struggle, no such duality. He may regret the painful consequences of sin, or may squirm before the accusations of his conscience, but his evil deeds are truly his own, an accurate expression of what he truly is. Thus the lament of the classical Roman poet Ovid, "I perceive what is better and approve of it, but I pursue what is worse," although superficially similar to Paul's language, expresses an entirely different reality. Lenski defines the difference in this way:
"Sin and flesh are not found only in the physical body. In the unregenerate they are in the will and fill and dominate this completely. In the regenerate, the spirit and not the flesh dominates the will, but not perfectly, not wholly. It is the spirit that wills the good and that hates any sin. But the remnant of the old flesh that is still present ever and again interferes with the will, and it is this that makes the Christian sin in one way and another to his own grief and dismay." (Lenski, p. 478)
The classic Lutheran chorale "Rise My Soul to Watch and Pray" (TLH #446) by Johann Freistein expresses the tension well in its admonition:
"Watch against thyself, my soul,
Lest with grace thou trifle;
Let not self thy thoughts control
Nor God's mercy stifle,
Pride and sin lurk within
All thy hopes to scatter
Heed not when they flatter."
The language grows more intense in the phrase which follows. Not only does he disown these sinful actions he hates, abhors, and detests what he is doing. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. To use the language of modern psychology, Paul's lament is that his moral aspiration and actual performance are not coordinated or integrated. In the case of the Christian, however, the bitter regret is all the more profound because these evil actions are a contradiction of what we have become by grace through faith in Christ. A Christian cannot be indifferent to sin, his own, or his neighbor's. The Puritan writer Thomas Watson has correctly observed: "One of the certain signs of sanctification is an antipathy against sin... A hypocrite may leave sin, yet love it; as a serpent casts its coat but keeps its sting; but a sanctified person can say that he not only leaves sin, but loathes it." (MacArthur, p. 380)
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. - Paul clearly acknowledges the just demands of God's law. The problem is not the law; the problem is Paul's own sinful nature - it is sin living in me. The law is good (Greek - kalos), that is, morally and spiritually excellent. This is a repetition of Paul's affirmation of the law in vss. 12 and 14a. Unbelievers often seek to excuse this sinfulness by attacking and rejecting the law and its moral authority. This should never be the case with the believer. John MacArthur correctly presents the spiritual dynamic at work here:
"Every true Christian has in his heart a sense of the moral excellence of God's Law. And the more mature he becomes in Christ, the more fully he perceives and lauds the law's goodness, holiness, and glory. The more profoundly he is committed to the direction of the Holy Spirit in his life, the deeper his love for the Lord Jesus becomes, the deeper his sense of God's holiness and majesty becomes, and the greater will be his longing to fulfill God's law." (MacArthur, p. 385)
As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. - The source of the dissonance is that sin is living in me. The is the sinful nature, the old Adam which remains even after its guilt has been cleansed in the washing of Baptism. Once this sinful nature ruled without rival but now he has been cast down from his throne. "Driven out of the capital, this usurper maintains himself in the outlying territory and does his damage. He would like to become complete master again and exercise unrestricted tyranny but cannot as long as a man is controlled by the Spirit." (Lenski, p.481)
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature... - Paul clearly recognizes the strange dualism that characterizes his personality. He is no longer deceived by the pretense and the falsehood of the enemy. He is fully and painfully aware of his inability to bring about a righteousness of his own. He is unable to perfectly fulfill the demands of the law, and therefore he continues to stand condemned before the law. There is no righteousness inherent in him; that which is good is totally lacking in his sinful nature. This is clearly evidenced by his inability to implement his desire for good - For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. The verb in this phrase, I cannot carry it out (Greek - katergazesthai) literally means to bring something to completed action.
For what I do is not the good I want to do... - This verse is basically a repetition of Paul's earlier statement in Verse 15 - For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. The repetition serves to highlight the ongoing contradiction between the regenerate will and the sinful nature.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it... - This is further restatement for emphasis as in Verse 17 the apostle has already asserted: As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. As Martin Franzmann notes: There is an apparently hopeless cleavage or contradiction between his essential "I" and "indwelling sin." (Franzmann, p. 130)
Verses 21-25
So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself, in my mind, am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
So I find this law at work:... - Paul now summarizes and reiterates the entire dilemma once more. The Greek text of Verse 21 is somewhat awkward, almost as though the language becomes choppy and abrupt in a dramatic expression of the apostle's frustration. The result has been a variety of translations. The text literally says: So then I find the law: when I desire to do what is good, what is evil lies ready at my hand. Martin Franzmann's excellent paraphrase clarifies the thought: "This is what my experience with the law comes to; when I desire to do the good which it enjoins, the evil which the law forbids lies always ready to my hand." (Franzmann, p. 131)
For in my inner being I delight in God's law... - Paul, like every believer, is a new man in Christ. Now, within his inner being, that is within the deepest recesses of his redeemed person, he loves and affirms the law of God. The language is similar to 2 Corinthians 4: 16 - (Therefore we do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.) and Ephesians 3:16 - (I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in you inner being.) Thus the inner being is the new creature, the man who is already tasting the powers of the world to come. Within the core of who he truly is, Paul, the believer, no longer stands on the side of sin. He now delight's in God's law. The phrase recalls Psalm 119, the Bible's longest chapter, an extended song of praise and thanksgiving to God for His law. I shall delight in Thy commandments which I love. (Verse 47); Thy law is my delight. (Verse 77); and Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Verse 105), and Thy Word is very pure, therefore Thy servant loves it. (Verse 140).
But I see another law at work in the members of my body... - In this striking Verse Paul speaks from the perspective of a spectator overlooking a battlefield. There is another law to contend with a law that is at work within the members of my body. These two opposite forces are locked in conflict with one another, the law at work in the members of my body, and the law of my mind. The law at work in the members of my body is another law (Greek - heteron nomon). This law is both the opposite of and in opposition to the will of God. It is further defined later in this verse as the law of sin at work within my members. This is original sin, man's sinful nature, the inherent propensity of every natural born descendant of Adam to sin. The other law, the law of sin is described as being at work in the members of my body. The contrast here is not between the physical and the spiritual but between the Old Adam and the new man. The sinful nature once held undisputed sway, but no longer. Now God's Law is the law of my mind. The mind (Greek - nous) is the sense of power to think and to apprehend moral and spiritual things. This corresponds to the inner being of Verse 22. The inevitable result of these two opposite principles at work within me is war. The law at work in the members of my body is waging war against the law of my mind. The Greek verb in this phrase (antistrateuomenon) is a technical military term which does not appear anywhere else in the New Testament. All too often, the result of the warfare is a decisive victory for the sinful nature which is making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. The military metaphor continues was Paul literally describes himself as a prisoner of war, a captive taken in battle.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? - Having confessed the depth of his depravity and sin, the apostle now cries out for deliverance. No human being who recognizes the enormity of his sin could ever maintain the illusion of possible self-deliverance. Paul cries out for a deliverer because he is painfully aware that he cannot deliver himself. These words are a desperate cry to God for help. The exclamation uses one of the strongest negative adjectives possible. The term (Greek - talaiporos) means miserable, distressed; it is an expression of extreme anguish or despair. Caught between life and death, the apostle cries out in an agony of frustration and anguish. The rescue for which he pleads is deliverance from the ongoing conflict and tension of this ongoing contradiction. The Greek word rhuomai carries the basic connotation of rescuing from danger and was used of a soldier going to a wounded comrade on a battlefield and carrying him to safety. The application here is evident, in the midst of the battle, Paul cries out for someone to carry him away from the field of conflict to a place of peace and safety. John MacArthur reports a particularly gruesome practice which may have conditioned Paul's language in this instance:
"It is reported that near Tarsus, where Paul was born (Acts 22:3), a certain ancient tribe sentenced convicted murderers to an especially gruesome execution. The corpse of the slain person was lashed tightly to the body of the murderer and remained there until the murderer himself died. In a few days, which doubtless seemed an eternity to the convicted man, the decay of the person he had slain infected and killed him. Perhaps Paul had such a torture in mind when he expressed his yearning to be freed from the body of this death." (MacArthur, p. 392)
The emphasis is eschatological, that is, it points toward the end of time, as Paul longs for the triumphant return of the Lord which will abolish the reign of sin and death forever. As the classic hymn affirms:
"And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again and hearts are strong.
Alleluia! Alleluia!"
"For All the Saints Who From Their Labors Rest"
TLH # 463
The deliverance in question is from this body of death. The language parallels the earlier body of sin (6:6) and this mortal body (6:12). Paul is not longing to be free of his physical body. The deliverance for which he prays is deliverance from the bondage of sin.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! - Paul's response to his own cry of distress is immediate and decisive. Now there is struggle, frustration, and defeat, but the victory has already been won for us in Christ. Locked in deadly combat with the old Adam, the new man eagerly anticipates the day of final deliverance and rejoices that God loves him and hears his prayer.
"The man sold under sin, the desperate and wretched man, even he, does not cry out in vain. Paul's prayer, he knows is heard; and he gives thanks to God "through Jesus Christ our Lord." Through Him we have peace with God and have access to the grace in which we stand (5:1-2). Through Him we have received reconciliation and shall be saved through Him from the wrath to come (5:9,11). Through Him we shall reign in life, for through His righteous deed and His obedience we shall be justified (5:17-19). Through His body we have died to the law (7:4). In the midst of our struggles and failures He remains our Lord; through Him we desperate and embattled men can give thanks to God. The lowering sky above our battlefield has suddenly grown bright." (Franzmann, p. 133)
The full formal designation of Jesus as Mediator and Savior is used to emphasize the identity of the deliverer. He is Jesus (His person); Christ (His office); our Lord (His relationship to Christians). (cf. also 1:4 and 5:1) James Montgomery Boice tells the moving story of an event in the life of Russian Czar Nicholas I to illustrate the wonder of what God in Christ has done for us.
"A young man who was the son of a friend of Czar Nicholas I of Russia had been given the job of treasurer of a border fortress of the Russian army, a responsible position in which he was to manage the czar's money and dispense wages to the troops. But the young man fell into gambling and began to cover his losses by borrowing little by little from the army treasury. One day he received notice that a government auditor was arriving to examine the books, so he sat down and added up what he had taken. It was a huge amount. He emptied out his own meager resources, subtracted that from what should have been in the government account and noted the great discrepancy. He then wrote in the ledger book under the amount due "A great debt! Who could pay it?" The young man knew it was impossible for him to make up the amount and he did not know anyone who could be counted on to help him. So, rather than await arrest, trial, and disgrace, he drew his revolver and determined that he would kill himself at the stroke of midnight. As he waited for the clock to strike, reflecting on how he had wasted his great opportunity, he became drowsy and drifted off to sleep. It so happened that the Czar himself made a secret inspection of the fortress that very night. According to the regulations, every light on the battlements should have been out. But when he passed the office of the treasurer, where the son of his friend was dozing, he noticed that the light was on and went in. There were the sleeping young man, the revolver, the open books, the total that was missing, and the despairing note. It was all quite clear, the young officer had betrayed his trust. He had been stealing systematically for months. At first, the Czar thought to awaken him and place him under arrest. But then he felt sorry for the young man, and he remembered his father, his dear friend, and how broken hearted he would be if his son were to be arrested. And so, instead of proceeding harshly, he silently stooped over and wrote something beneath the young man's pathetic question and left. The soldier slept for hours when suddenly, awakened by some noise he sprang to his feet. It was long past midnight. He grabbed the revolver, pointed it to his head, and was about to pull the trigger when his eyes glanced down at the papers before him and he saw what had been written. Beneath his question "A great debt! Who could pay it?" there was a single word, "Nicholas." Could it be? Had the Czar been present. He sprang to some files where there were documents containing the Czar's signature and made a comparison. The signature was authentic. "The Czar has been here," he said to himself. "He has seen the papers; he knows what I have done; he knows my guilt, but he has undertaken to pay the debt himself." So instead of taking his life the young solider waited for morning when, as he anticipated, a sack of gold coins arrived from Nicholas. The young man placed it in the safe, and when the inspector arrived for the audit the sack was found to contain exactly the amount needed." (Boice, p.773,774)
That is what Jesus has done for us. He has made the payment that none of us could ever have paid. He made that payment in His own precious blood shed in our place on the cross, so that we too might sing, Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law.... - The essential argument is restated once more at the conclusion of the chapter. For the seventh and eighth times in this segment Paul uses the first person personal pronoun. The dichotomy is between the mind which serves God's law and the sinful nature which is a slave to the law of sin. This conflict with sin must be the source of profound torment for every sincere child of God. In fact, this struggle intensifies and grows more painful as the Christian becomes more mature in the faith and grows closer to Christ.