Romans chapter 7

by Keith Simons. Free online Bible course and commentary from the Useful Bible Study Centre.

Who, or what, has authority over your life?

(Romans 7:1)

Paul is teaching Christians that they should allow God to direct their lives by his Holy Spirit (8:2-11). Most Christians are more aware of the feelings of their own bodies than what God is doing in their spirits. To them, it seems an uncomfortable idea to depend on God. It is so easy for us to forget that, in fact, the whole world depends completely upon him (Acts 17:24-25; Colossians 1:15-17).

When people will not allow God to rule their lives, they give authority over their lives to something else. When Christians do not trust God, they allow their own feelings, desires and opinions to direct their lives. Often, they start to live in a similar manner to people who do not have a real relationship with God. That is because they are simply following the natural reactions of their bodies in each situation. They are not allowing God to guide them.

Some people choose to do whatever pleases them. For that reason, they may even do things that they know to be wrong or evil. The effect is to give sin (their own wrong and evil behaviour and attitudes) control over their life. Paul has warned about this in chapter 6.

Other people try to control their own behaviour by strict rules. They hope that, by that means, they can avoid wrong and evil behaviour. Paul will show in chapter 7 why this method cannot succeed. Really, these people are giving control over their lives to their rules, instead of to God. When they cannot follow those rules, they too become aware of the power of sin in their lives.

Our rules may be good - but only God’s Holy Spirit can free us from the power of sin (8:2).

Christians are the bride of Christ

(Romans 7:2-4)

Paul uses this description of Christians as the bride of Christ in several places. In Ephesians 5:23-30, he emphasises Christ’s love for his people. In 2 Corinthians 11:2, as here, Paul’s subject is the love that Christians should show to Christ. They should love him so much that they will not allow anything to spoil their love for him. Christ should receive the first and most important place in their lives (Mark 12:30).

Before they were Christians, they probably had a different attitude. They loved other things much more than they loved Christ. The worst people love their sins (their evil thoughts, plans and actions). Other people may love their customs, habits and traditions, or even the rules of their religion. Those things may not be evil; some people love the laws that are in the Bible. Those laws are good and holy (7:12). However, it is possible to study those laws and never to understand their real purpose (2 Corinthians 3:14-16). The purpose of God’s law is to bring us to a right relationship with God (Galatians 3:23-24).

When we become Christians, the death of Christ has an extraordinary effect on our lives. It is as if we died with Christ (6:3-4). Before, we may have loved other things more than we loved Christ. Perhaps those things were good and proper; but it was wrong that we loved them more than Christ. Now, we have begun new lives, with a right relationship with Christ. If formerly wrong things controlled our lives, Christ frees us from those things. If formerly we loved good things, we now understand those things in a new way.

So, now God’s law is in our hearts (Hebrews 8:10); we do not still try to follow its rules while we neglect our relationship with God. Instead, now God’s law helps us to love God more. The result is that now our lives can truly please God. We can achieve the good things that God wants us to achieve in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23).

Our wrong desires

(Romans 7:5)

When God placed Adam and Eve in Eden, he permitted them to eat fruit from any of the trees, except one (Genesis 2:15-17). There was only that one tree from which he commanded them not to eat. That tree was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Although God had given them only that one law, they chose not to obey it (Genesis 3:1-7). They made that decision because of their wrong desires. The fruit was good to eat so their bodies desired it. The fruit looked beautiful to their eyes, so it tempted them. They allowed themselves to become proud: that fruit belonged to God, but they wanted to be like God (Genesis 3:5-6).

These same kinds of wrong desires have affected all people since then (1 John 2:16). God did not give us those kinds of desire; however they have become part of our human nature. The result for us, as for the first people, is that we must die (Genesis 3:19; Romans 6:23).

Our wrong feelings cause us to do all kind of wrong things (Galatians 5:19-21). Our wrong ambitions cause us to desire things that God has not given to us. Our wrong pride is the reason why we refuse to be humble in front of God (Micah 6:8).

Even our reaction to God’s holy law is very strange. God’s law shows us how much we need God to save (rescue) us from our sin (evil deeds). However, our reaction to it is often not to be humble, but to be proud. We read its rules; we imagine ourselves able to prove to God that we really are good people. If we do that, we are behaving like Adam and Eve. We too are acting proudly; we too are depending on ourselves and not on God. Instead, we should come to God humbly, and with faith (active belief and trust in him) - Romans 4:1-3.

Who guides your life: God's Spirit or your natural thoughts?

(Romans 7:6)

There are two ways by which we can understand God’s law. Here, as in 2 Corinthians 3:6-8, Paul calls these two ways the ‘spirit’ and the ‘letter’. One of these ways is right, and the other is wrong. One gives us a right relationship with God, the other cannot do that.

The natural way to read God’s law is to read the letters and words on the page. We see there a series of rules and commands that tell us how to live. However, without the work of God’s Spirit in our lives, we are too weak to follow these laws completely. So, these laws bring God’s judgement against us (see James 2:10-11). Even if we seem to succeed, we then become proud of ourselves. God cannot approve of our proud attitudes (Proverbs 16:5); we are taking for ourselves the honour that is due to God alone. We think that we are strong; but we have only proved our weakness.

We may ask, therefore, how we can ever please God. The answer is that we must come to God, not in our own strength, but by the death of Christ (Romans 5:6-10; Hebrews 10:19-22). That is the new law of God’s Spirit. Christ frees us from the old law that brings us the judgement of death for our evil deeds (6:23; 8:2).

God wants us to allow his Holy Spirit to guide our lives (Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16). Paul contrasts that with the natural way that our human bodies behave (7:14). It is natural to allow our feelings, desires and fears to guide our lives. It is natural not to trust God, especially in difficult circumstances (contrast Romans 4:19-22). So, our natural way to read God’s law is not right, either. Instead, we must let God’s Holy Spirit show us how we can truly please God. When we do that, our actions will not offend against any of God’s laws (Galatians 5:22-23).

God's law declares the truth about our sin

(Romans 7:7-8)

It is only by God’s law that we can truly know our sin. Our sin means the wrong and evil things in our lives that offend God. Our conscience, or moral judgement, might warn us when we are doing something wrong. However, our conscience is not accurate enough. Only God’s law can accurately show us our sin.

For example, the last of the 10 commands in Exodus 20:1-17 is against jealous thoughts. It seems hard for us to believe that a mere thought can offend God. Without such a clear command, even Paul might not have known that these jealous and selfish thoughts are wrong.

However, our wrong desires cause very great troubles in the world (1 Timothy 6:10). James 1:14-15 shows how our wrong desires cause our evil acts. To be jealous, is to desire something that God has not given to us. We can see how so many of the sins in Exodus 20:1-17 are the direct result of this wrong attitude. For example, we steal when we are jealous of someone else’s possessions.

We know that God’s law is not the cause of our wrong attitudes and actions. However, when we are living as God’s enemies (see Romans 5:10), of course we oppose his authority over our lives. If at that time we know God’s law, our wrong actions are more serious because of that knowledge (2:17-24).

If God had made no rule for our lives, we could not of course offend against it. If God had not made us aware of his greatness and power, we could not know him (1:20). However, God has done these things; therefore, we have no proper excuse for our wrong and selfish behaviour. So, we should confess our evil deeds to him and we should invite him into our lives. We, who were God’s enemies, can become his friends, because of the death of Christ (5:6-11).

Choose life, not death

(Romans 7:9-11)

The main difficulty in this passage is what Paul means by life and death here. Clearly, he does not mean the life and death of the body. However, he also does not mean the life and death of the spirit in the way that Christians usually describe these things. They mean whether the person is truly one of God’s people. That is because they are thinking mainly about the future state of that person, in heaven or hell.

In Deuteronomy 30:19-20, Moses urged Israel’s people to ‘choose life’. He was not referring mainly to the life of their bodies or to the future life of their spirits. Rather, he was urging them to live for God in the land that God had promised to them. In their daily decisions, they would either allow God to direct their lives, or they would selfishly live for their own benefit. If we allow God’s Spirit to guide us, that is called life (see John 7:37-39; Galatians 5:16). However, if we live for our own pleasure, desires and feelings, that is like death (1 Timothy 5:6).

People have a natural desire to live for their own benefit. They want to be in control of their own lives. People even try to use God’s law for their own benefit. They try to obey God’s law in order to satisfy him, when they do not really love him (see Mark 12:30-31).

Paul could see that people with such attitudes were not really in control of their own lives. They were not allowing God’s Spirit to direct their lives. Therefore, they were allowing sin (their own wrong attitudes and behaviour) to direct their lives. That is not the kind of life that God wants people to have (John 10:10). In fact, Paul did not even want to describe it as ‘life’ - so he chose the opposite word, ‘death’ to describe it.

God's perfect law

(Romans 7:12)

In Romans chapter 7, Paul is not warning his readers against God’s holy law. Rather, he warns them against certain wrong attitudes towards God’s law.

Christians often find it hard to trust in God in every circumstance (compare Romans 4:19-21). It seems easier for them to accept even a difficult set of rules for their lives. Then they depend on their own efforts, and they do not desire the Holy Spirit to guide them. So Paul must show why this idea is wrong. Then, in chapter 8, he can teach how Christians should live.

Many people have wrong attitudes towards God’s law. However, God’s law is not wrong. Paul emphasises this fact very strongly. God’s law is holy; its commands are holy, right and good.

God’s law is not like the laws that rulers and governments on earth make. Sometimes their laws are good, and sometimes bad. Often, they make laws simply to please those people whose support they need. Sometimes they try to make a good law, but that law fails to achieve its purpose.

God’s law is perfect (Psalm 19:7), because it expresses God’s perfect character (Exodus 34:6-7). It does not change (Matthew 5:18) because God does not change (James 1:17). God does not need the support of any person; his law deals with all people in the manner that is right and proper (2:11). Like all God’s words, his law will achieve its purpose (Isaiah 55:11).

It is very foolish if we try to argue against God (Psalm 2:1-6). We should come to him humbly, and ask him to forgive us our evil deeds (Isaiah 55:6-7). He desires to forgive us; Christ died to suffer the punishment for our evil deeds (5:8). However, if we will not allow him to forgive us, the judgement of his law will be against us (2:6-10).

The wise and foolish ways to live

(Romans 7:13)

Bible teachers have different opinions about the meaning of Romans chapter 7. One of the problems is what Paul means by ‘death’ in verses 9-13.

In addition to the death of the body, the Bible speaks about the death of the spirit (Colossians 2:13). That is the true state of a person who, although alive, does not have a real relationship with God. On the other hand, God’s people have life in their spirits that continues even after the death of their bodies (John 6:53-54; John 11:25-26).

So, there are two ways to live: a wise way, and a foolish way (Psalm 1; Proverbs chapter 9; Matthew 7:24-27). The wise way is to trust in Christ, and to allow his Holy Spirit to guide us. Then we will receive, from the Holy Spirit, God’s gift of life that never ends (6:23; 8:11).

The foolish way to live, is to live for our own desires, pleasures and feelings (1 Timothy 5:6). We care about the desires of our own bodies; but we refuse the life that comes from the Holy Spirit. So, in God’s opinion, our spirits are dead even while we are still alive. That kind of death is simply the natural result of how we are living (6:23). God’s law is good (7:12), but its judgement is against us. We cannot blame God’s law for that. Instead, we ourselves are responsible because of our own wrong, evil and selfish attitudes and actions.

Of course Christians should not live in that foolish manner. However, sometimes we give too much attention to the feelings and desires that come from our bodies. The result is that we do wrong things (James 1:15). God has given life to our spirits; but we act like someone whose spirit is dying. We must stop our wrong behaviour and confess our evil deeds to God (1 John 1:9). He very much wants to forgive us. Christians should always desire to live in the way that pleases God.

God wants to free us from the power of sin

(Romans 7:14)

Here, Paul contrasts the life of our bodies with the life of our spirits. He complains that we care too much about the lives of these weak bodies: our desires, emotions, fears and ambitions. Because of that, we allow sin (our own wrong and evil attitudes and actions) to rule our lives. It is as if we have sold ourselves as slaves. We lose even the freedom to do what we know to be right and good.

Perhaps we expect God’s law to help us in this situation. When we are trying to do good things, we do not expect its judgement to be against us. However, while our attention remains on the life of our bodies, its judgement must be against our evil deeds.

That is because God’s law is not just for our bodies, but also for our spirits. That statement may surprise us. Our rulers make laws to tell us what we may, or may not do with our bodies. However, we use God’s law wrongly when we are only trying to control the actions of our bodies (Colossians 2:20-23). God does not just want to change our lives here on earth. God wants to change our lives for all time, and in the future world too (8:14-21).

That is why God wants to free us completely from the power of sin. That is why we must not live merely for the benefit of our bodies, but for our spirits (8:12-13). We cannot free ourselves from the power of sin by mere human efforts to follow rules and commands. We need God’s Holy Spirit to work in our lives (8:9-11). God did not give his law in order to control us by its rules. God gave it so that it could lead us into a right relationship with himself (Galatians 3:21-24).

A person who wants to obey God's law, but cannot do that

(Romans 7:15-16)

Paul has just told us what kind of person he is describing here (verse 14). This person cares too much about the desires and emotions of his body. Therefore, he is not allowing the Holy Spirit to direct his life (Galatians 5:16). Instead, this person’s natural emotions and desires are causing him to do wrong and evil things that are against God’s law. We call those wrong things ‘sin’.

In fact, this person is now under the control of his own wrong attitudes and behaviour. He is not free to do the things that he should do. He cannot obey God’s law properly, although he wants to do it. This person has become like a slave to his own sin.

Paul does not say clearly whether or not this person is a Christian. Christ has freed Christians from the control of sin (6:20-22). So, a Christian cannot really be a slave of sin. However, Christians can choose to behave as if they are the slaves of sin (Galatians 5:1). In other words, they can behave as if Christ had not freed them from the power of sin. Then their experience of sin will be very much like someone whom Christ has never freed.

This person in Paul’s description is trying hard to behave in the right way. However, he is thinking about God’s law in a very natural, human way. He thinks that by his efforts he can somehow satisfy God’s demands on his life. He wants God to be pleased with him. However, he is not yet ready to allow God to rule his life. This person wants to be in control of his own life; he does not want the Holy Spirit to guide his life.

The weakness of Paul's efforts to obey God's law

(Romans 7:17)

It may seem as if Paul is trying to blame something else for his own evil acts. Of course he is not really doing that. He has taught very clearly that each person has full responsibility for his own behaviour (2:1-11).

Paul describes himself as a person who was trying unsuccessfully to obey God’s law. That is, he was managing to obey many of its commands. However, God’s law is perfect (Psalm 19:7); and he was not perfect (see James 2:10). So, his efforts to obey God’s law were not earning for him a right relationship with God (3:28).

We ask what was wrong with those efforts. Paul’s answer is that he was not allowing the Holy Spirit to direct his life (compare Galatians 5:16-17 with Romans 7:14-18). So, without the work of the Holy Spirit in his life, Paul was unable to achieve the good things that he wanted. He was trying to please God, but he was not really pleasing God.

Paul did not want to do anything wrong. However, in reality he was doing wrong things. So, two opposite desires were operating at the same time in his mind (compare James 1:5-8). There was the belief that God’s law is good (7:16). Then, there was the natural human desire to act for his (Paul’s) own benefit. Paul thought that he could satisfy both of these desires: if he could obey the law, he would benefit from it. He did not yet see that his desire to benefit himself was selfish and wrong. That desire was itself against God’s law (Mark 12:28-34).

Paul had never wanted to be selfish, but a selfish desire had taken control of his life (7:22-23). Only the freedom that comes from the Holy Spirit could free Paul from that wrong desire (8:9-11).

'Nothing good lives in me'

(Romans 7:18)

It is interesting to compare Paul’s words here with what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:16. There, he urged Corinth’s Christians to remember that God’s Spirit was living in them. Here, in Romans 7:18, he says that nothing good is living in him. In fact, in the previous verse, he said that sin (evil attitudes and behaviour) was living in him.

The two passages may seem to be opposites; however, Paul has not changed his mind. He explains his meaning here clearly: it is in his ‘flesh’ that nothing good is living.

In the Greek language, the word for ‘flesh’ is SARX. The word really means the soft parts of the human body. However, the first Christians often used it as a word-picture. By ‘flesh’, they meant the natural desires that people have for their own benefit (Galatians 5:16-17). These desires bring about all kinds of selfish and wrong behaviour (Galatians 5:19-21). We may consider this to be simply normal human behaviour. However, it is not how God wants people to live. People should live to please God, and not to please themselves.

Paul does not teach that the human body is evil. In 1 Corinthians 6:19, he describes the bodies of God’s people as a holy place where God’s Spirit is. In Romans 8:9, he repeats his statement that God’s Spirit lives in his people. Therefore, they must not allow the wrong desires of the ‘flesh’ to direct their lives.

When people care too much about their desires in this world, they cannot really please God. They might want to do good things, but their desires for themselves make them too weak to do that. That is why people need God’s Holy Spirit to guide and to direct their lives.

What causes someone to do wrong things that they do not want to do?

(Romans 7:19)

Many Christians use Paul’s words in verse 19 to describe their own experience. They too feel unable to do many of the good things that they would wish to do. They too carry out certain wrong acts that they would never wish to do. Clearly, Paul is describing a common problem here.

These matters are especially serious because of the relationship that Christians have with God. Christ died so that God could forgive their evil deeds (5:8). Previously, their own evil attitudes and behaviour controlled their lives - but now they should be free from those things (6:22). Of course God will still forgive them when they confess their wrong deeds to him (1 John 1:9). However, it would be much better if they never did these wrong things (1 John 2:1).

We ask what could cause a Christian to do wrong things. God is living, by his Spirit, in that person’s life (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:19). God does nothing evil - clearly, he does not cause anyone to do something wrong (James 1:13). Therefore, our wrong acts are the result of our own wrong desires (James 1:14; Mark 7:20-23). That is, the desires that we have to benefit ourselves. Those may seem very natural desires, but they are not from God. Instead, we should desire first to love God, and then to love other people (Mark 12:29-31). We must trust God to provide what we ourselves may need (Matthew 6:25-33).

When we have those correct attitudes, we are allowing God to guide our lives by his Spirit (Galatians 5:16). The Holy Spirit gives us the freedom to live our lives in the way that pleases God (8:13).

The power and weakness of our desires

(Romans 7:20-21)

By nature, our desires operate in a strange and frightening manner. We know that our desires are powerful. However, we still cannot achieve whatever we want. So, our desires can spoil our relationship with God; but, without God’s help, our desires cannot mend that relationship. Our desires can easily bring about evil things. However, without God’s help, our desires cannot bring about good things (Psalm 127:1). Nothing truly good happens in the world unless God does it (James 1:17). The whole world depends entirely upon God’s work (Colossians 1:16-17).

God did not intend that people’s desires should operate in this wrong manner (5:12). However, God never intended people to form their desires separately from him. He created people to have a relationship with him. Then, they could do his work in this world (Genesis 1:28).

Sin (wrong and evil thoughts, words and actions) is the result of people’s desire to live separately from God. The things that they desire separately from God, are the result of sin. That is why people’s own efforts, without God, cannot achieve anything truly good. People might please themselves by those efforts. They may even become very great in this world. However, they lack the most important thing: a real relationship with God (Matthew 16:26).

God’s Spirit lives in his people (8:9). Therefore, the desires of God's people should achieve what God wants. In the present age, this does not always happen. God's people do not always permit God’s Holy Spirit to direct their lives (Galatians 3:1-4). Instead, they often allow their own weak human desires to direct their lives, and the result is sin. However, God is working in the lives of his people (Philippians 1:6). In Romans 8:29, Paul shows God’s plan for them in the future age.

The law of God and the law of sin

(Romans 7:22-23)

Paul is discussing two different laws, or principles, that have power over his life. These two laws are opposites; they oppose each other. We need to understand what these laws are. Then we should be able to see how they affect our lives.

So, let us see how Paul describes these laws. He has several different names for each one. In verse 22, he calls the first law: ‘the law of God’. In the next verse, he calls the same law: ‘the law of my mind’. We can see from verse 25 that these are the same thing. By ‘mind’, Paul means his intelligent thought. In Paul’s spirit, he truly loves this law. In Romans 8:2, he will call it: ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’. By the power of the Holy Spirit, this law brings life to Paul’s own spirit.

In verse 23, Paul calls the second law ‘another law’. It is ‘the law of sin’. In Romans 8:2, Paul gives its full name: ‘the law of sin and death’. That reminds us of the principle in Romans 6:23. Sin means our wrong attitudes and actions. The Holy Spirit gives freedom and life (8:2); sin controls us like prisoners and it causes death. That is, until Christ frees us, to live in the power of the Holy Spirit (7:24-25; 8:1-4).

The reality is that God’s people are free from ‘the law of sin’. They love God’s law in their hearts, and their minds approve of it. However, the physical parts of their bodies often seem much weaker. That is, they become too aware of the things that their physical bodies need or desire. So, they become too weak to trust God in each situation (Matthew 6:25-33). They are only trying to look after themselves - but in reality, they have allowed sin to have power in their lives.

A wretched life – but God gives life to dying people

(Romans 7:24)

Paul has described himself as a man in a desperate state. Clearly, his description came from his own experience. Paul very much wanted his life to please God, but Paul’s own efforts were too weak to do that. Paul desired only to do good things, but he could not stop his own wrong thoughts and behaviour. He realised that the result of our evil deeds is death (6:23). So, he very much needed God’s help.

Paul describes his state as wretched, or miserable. Previously, he used a similar word to describe the miserable results of people’s lives when they fight against God (3:16). Paul has just described his experience as a war that was happening inside him (7:23). With his mind, he approved of God’s law - but his own body seemed to fight against it. In other words, his own desires were so often for himself, and not for God. It is natural for the human body to behave in this way - but the natural end of the human body is death. So, Paul was a dying man.

However, Paul has already told us that God gives life to dying people. God does that when people act in faith. In other words, when they believe him. That is what happened in the life of Abraham (4:17-19). That is what God wants to do in our lives, too (4:23-25). Because of the death of Christ, his Holy Spirit can live in us (8:9). Even as the Holy Spirit caused Christ to become alive again, so he can give life to our dying bodies (8:11). That is not the natural, human kind of life that will soon end (John 11:25-26). God gives his people the kind of life that never ends (John 4:13-14; Romans 8:16-18). Their spirits will never die; but even their bodies will receive the new kind of life that comes from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:42-49).

God can rescue us from our wrong attitudes and behaviour

(Romans 7:25)

Paul has just told us about a difficult experience. He desperately wanted to free himself from the wrong attitudes and behaviour that seemed so powerful in his life. However, even with his best efforts, he was much too weak to succeed.

Now, at last, Paul expresses his joy and thanks to God. God does those things that we consider impossible (Luke 1:37; Romans 4:17). Death is the result of our evil deeds; but life is the result of Christ’s death for us (6:23). We cannot save (rescue) ourselves, but God has the power to save us, because of Christ (1:16).

Then, Paul finishes chapter 7 with an explanation of the experience that he has just described. People do wrong and evil things because they care too much about their lives in this world. Their natural desires, feelings, ambitions and fears control their behaviour. That is a weak way to behave, so Paul calls it the ‘flesh’ (the soft parts of the human body). As the body with its flesh is certain to die, so death is the result of our evil deeds (6:23).

When we think intelligently about these things, we can see a better way to live. It would be much better for us to obey God’s law. However, we are not obeying God’s law when our natural desires, the desires of the ‘flesh’, rule our lives.

God can rescue us from this problem because of Christ’s death (8:3-4). He places his Holy Spirit in the lives of his people (8:2; 8:9), and the Holy Spirit guides us how to live (John 16:13; Galatians 5:16).

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