Romans 7:7-25

Paul continues trying to help us understand the nature of the Law and how we are to relate to it.

Remember: God wrote the Law, so it is good. But its purpose is not its goodness but to show us our need for Christ.

The Verses

7. Once again Paul tells us that the Law reveals sin.

8. Without the law, there would be no way to recognize sin and therefore sin would, for all practical purposes, not exist.

9. With the revelation of the Law came the revelation of sin and the realization of the promise of death to Adam.

10. With the giving of the Law, God revealed to all mankind that his destiny is death by the Law.

11. Sin is deceitful, and makes us think we are having “fun,” but really only condemns me to death.

12. The Law is holy, having been written by God, Himself.

13. Paul asks another rhetorical question: If the Law is good, and its revelation brings death, is it the Law itself that kills me? NO! Through the Law sin can be recognized for how serious it is: utterly sinful, that is, it condemns us to eternal death.

14. Here Paul uses himself as an illustration. The Law reveals the absolute holiness of God, our inability to live up to it and how filled we are with sin.

15. Isn’t it true of all of us? What we know we should do we don’t do and what we know we should not do, we do.

16. Paul sets up a logical thought pattern: if I do the things I don’t want to do, I must confess that I am unable to keep the Law and am therefore in need of God’s salvation.

17. What causes us to do the things we do that we do not want to do? SIN.

18. Paul reiterates: nothing good lives in me. (Romans 3:10) I want to do what is righteous, but I cannot.

19. Paul admits to repeatedly doing what he does not want to do, no matter how hard he tries.

20. Sin tries at every moment to get its grasp on us, no matter how hard we try.

21. Paul is teaching us that even when we “do our best,” SIN is right there with us.

22. We may recognize the beauty and holiness of God’s Law, but the other law, the law of sin and death, wages war with us constantly. (Remember to whom Paul is writing: Christians in Rome, not pagans.)

23. Even though the Christian’s inner being knows Christ, there is always that struggle to keep our focus on Him. SIN tries to pull us away.

24. Here is Paul’s admission to TOTAL DEPRAVITY. He calls himself “wretched.” That is the Greek word: talaiporus and it means evil, bad, wicked and beyond hope. Without some outside help, he sees himself as beyond hope and asks, “Who will rescue me from this body of DEATH?”

25. Here comes the solution! Jesus Christ our Lord! Now we can change our slavehood from that of being a slave to sin to being a slave to the righteousness of Christ. In our minds (intellect) we can recognize our standing in Christ.

THERE’S A GREAT “THEREFORE” COMING UP AND THE FIRST 17 VERSES OF CHAPTER 8 WILL DEPEND ON THE FIRST 7 CHAPTERS OF ROMANS FOR UNDERSTANDING.