Romans 7:21

“ I find then, this law, that, when I would do good, evil cleaves to me. ”

Always the same two characteristics of his moral state: will for good, but powerless; evil carrying him away in practice.

We have frequently seen the term νόμος, law, taking the general sense of a governing principle of life; any rule whatever imposing itself authoritatively on the will (νόμος πίστεως, the law of faith; νόμος ἔργων, the law of works, Romans 3:27; νόμος πνεύματος, τῆς ἁμαρτίας, the law of the spirit, of sin, Romans 8:2, etc.). Such, undoubtedly, is the meaning of the word here. Paul is summing up the mode of his existence since the time when the law came in to affect his inward life, and from which the law gives him no means of escape. This is what he calls τὸν νόμον, this law. This general and abstract meaning of the term law follows first from the expression: the law of God, Romans 7:22, where by this complement of God the law of which he speaks here is contrasted with the moral and Mosaic law; and next from Romans 7:23, where Paul again applies the general idea of law, speaking, in contrast to the law of God, of another law.

This mode of existence appears with two opposite characteristics; the will for good: to me who would do good, and the doing of evil: evil cleaves to me. The dative τῷ θέλοντι, to me who would, is the object of τὸν νόμον, the law; for this word has here a very active sense: “The law which imposes itself on me who would do”...We have taken the liberty of translating the words thus: with me, when I would do. The ὅτι, that, depends also on τὸν νόμον, the law: this law which I find in me consisting in the fact that...

The verb παράκεισθαι, to be present with, is taken here in the same sense as in Romans 7:18: to be within reach, to present itself at once: “As to me, when I wish to do good, evil is present first.”

The two ἐμοί, to me, serve to bring out strongly the unity of the subject who has the misfortune to wish one thing and to do its opposite.

The numerous critics who have begun with taking the term law in this verse in the sense of the Mosaic law, have thereby involved themselves in inextricable difficulties. Witness the following: 1. Knapp and Olshausen take τὸ καλόν, good, as in apposition to τὸν νόμον, the law; then ὅτι, that, as the object of I find: “As to me who would perform the law, that is, good, I find that evil is present with me.” But this apposition is very strange, and the participle τῷ θέλοντι would require to be placed before τὸν νόμον. 2. Chrysostom and the Peshitto take the words τῷ θέλοντι, to me wishing, as the dative of favor, and the conjunction ὅτι in the sense of because: “I find the law coming to my aid, to mine who would do good, and that because evil is present with me.” The law coming to Paul's help in the struggle against evil! The idea is the antipodes of what Paul teaches throughout this whole chapter. 3. Ewald obtains a directly opposite sense, by taking τὸ κακόν, evil, as the apposition to τὸν νόμον, the law: “I find the law, that is, evil, present with me when I would do good.”

Not only is this construction forced grammatically, but above all this identification of the law and of evil would be an evident exaggeration (comp. Romans 7:7). Only Marcion could have expressed himself thus. 4. Meyer gives as the object of the participle θέλοντι, wishing, the substantive law, and takes ποιεῖν, to do, as the infinitive of aim: “I find that with me when I wish the law with the view of doing good, evil is present.” But the object τὸν νόμον would require to be placed between τῷ and θέλοντι; and the term wishing the law is unsupported by example. Finally, it is far from natural to take the infinitive ποιεῖν, to do, as the infinitive of aim; it is evidently the object of θέλοντι, wishing. 5. The masterpiece of all these explanations is that of Hofmann; according to him the verb ποιεῖν, to do, has no object; it must be taken in the sense of acting; τὸ καλόν, good, is an attribute of τὸν νόμον, the law, and ὅτι signifies because: “I discover that the law is goodness for me when I would act, because evil is present with me;” meaning: that evil, by arresting me in my eagerness to act when good is before me, serves to prove to me by this resistance that it is really the law which I intend to realize. Is it possible to imagine a more tortuous thought and a more artificial construction? The active verb ποιεῖν, to do, without an object; the attribute separated from its substantive, etc.!

The true meaning of the word νόμος, law, which we have established, delivers this poor verse from all those tortures to which it has been subjected. Our meaning is found in a goodly number of commentators (Calvin, Tholuck, Philippi, etc.). If after that confirmation were needed, it would be found in the two following verses, the one of which demonstrates the: in me when I would do good (Romans 7:21 a), the other the: evil is present with me (Romans 7:21 b).