INTRODUCTION TO ROMANS 7 The Apostle, in this chapter, discourses concerning the freedom of justified and regenerated persons from the law, and concerning the nature, use, and excellency of it; in which he removes several objections to it, and gives an account from his own experience of the struggl... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOW YE NOT, BRETHREN,.... The apostle having asserted, Romans 6:14, that the believing Romans were "not under the law"; which he knew would be displeasing to many, and excepted to by them, especially the Jews that were among them, who though they believed in Christ, yet were zealous of the law, tak... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE WOMAN WHICH HATH AN HUSBAND,.... The former general rule is here illustrated by a particular instance and example in the law of marriage; a woman that is married to a man, IS BOUND BY THE LAW TO HER HUSBAND; to live with him, in subjection and obedience to him, SO LONG AS HE LIVETH; except... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THEN IF WHILE HER HUSBAND LIVETH,.... True indeed it is, that whilst her husband is alive, if SHE BE MARRIED TO ANOTHER MAN, SHE SHALL BE CALLED AN ADULTERESS; she will be noted and accounted of as such everybody, except in the above mentioned cases: BUT IF HER HUSBAND BE DEAD; then there can b... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE, MY BRETHREN, YE ALSO,.... Here the apostle accommodates the foregoing instance and example to the case in hand, showing, that the saints were not under the law, the power and dominion of it; since that, as when a man is dead, the woman is loosed from that law by which she was bound whilst... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHEN WE WERE IN THE FLESH,.... This respects not their being under the legal dispensation, the Mosaic economy; which lay greatly in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, such as regarded the flesh chiefly; so their meats and drinks concerned the body; their ablutions and... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOW WE ARE DELIVERED FROM THE LAW,.... From the ministration of it, by Moses; from it, as a covenant of works; from its rigorous exaction; from its curse and condemnation, all this by Christ; and from its being an irritating, provoking law to sin, through the corruption of nature, by the Spirit... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN? IS THE LAW SIN?.... The apostle having said, that "the motions of sins were by the law", Romans 7:5, meets with an objection, or rather an ill natured cavil, "is the law sin?" if the motions sins are by it, then it instigates and prompts men to sin; it cherishes it in them; i... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT SIN TAKING OCCASION BY THE COMMANDMENT,.... By "the commandment" is meant, either the whole moral law, or that particular commandment, "thou shalt not covet", Exodus 20:17, which, the Jews say, comprehends all; "God, (say they f,) caused them (the Israelites) to hear the ten words, which he con... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I WAS ALIVE WITHOUT THE LAW ONCE,.... The apostle says this, not in the person of Adam, as some have thought; who lived indeed, in a state of innocence, a perfectly holy and righteous life, but not without the law, which was the rule of his actions, and the measure of his obedience; he had the l... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE COMMANDMENT WHICH WAS ORDAINED TO LIFE,.... The law which promised a continuance of an immortal life to Adam, in case of perfect obedience to it; and which was appointed to the Israelites, that by the observation of it they might live in the land of Canaan, and in the quiet and full possessi... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR SIN TAKING OCCASION BY THE COMMANDMENT,.... As in Romans 7:8, DECEIVED ME; either by promising pleasure or impunity: the same effect is ascribed by the Jews to the evil imagination or corruption of nature, which they say is called an enticer, שמפתה אדם, "that deceives man" g: AND BY IT SLEW ME... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THE LAW IS HOLY,.... This is a conclusion or inference drawn from the preceding discourse, in commendation of the law; that standing clear of any charge or imputation of sin, as being the cause of it. This epithet the apostle gives to the law is what the Jews frequently give it; worthy are... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS THEN THAT WHICH IS GOOD, MADE DEATH UNTO ME?.... An objection is started upon the last epithet in commendation of the law; and it is as if the objector should say, if the law is good, as you say, how comes it to pass that it is made death, or is the cause of death to you? can that be good, which... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE KNOW THAT THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL,.... We who have a spiritual understanding of the law, who have been led into the true nature of it by the Spirit of God, know by experience that that itself is "spiritual"; and therefore can never be the cause of sin or death: the law may be said to be "spiritu... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THAT WHICH I DO, I ALLOW NOT,.... The apostle having cleared the law from the charge of being the cause either of sin or death, and taken the blame to himself, proceeds to give an account of the struggle and combat he found in himself between the flesh and spirit; "that which I do, I allow not".... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THEN I DO THAT WHICH I WOULD NOT,.... This is a corollary, or an inference from what he had related of his own experience; that since what he did, though it was contrary to the law of God, yet was what he did not will nor allow of, but hated, it must be a clear point, that he CONSENTED TO THE LA... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THEN, IT IS NO MORE I THAT DO IT,.... This is another inference, deduced from what is before said, that since he did not approve, but hated what he did, and willed the contrary, it was not he as spiritual, as born again, as a new man, a new creature, that did it; see 1 John 3:9. He says, BUT SI... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I KNOW THAT IN ME, THAT IS, IN MY FLESH,.... The apostle goes on to give some further account of himself, what he knew, and was fully assured of by long experience; as that DWELLETH NO GOOD THING in him, that is, in his flesh, or carnal self; for otherwise there were many good things dwelt in h... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE GOOD THAT I WOULD, I DO NOT,.... The apostle here repeats what he had delivered in Romans 7:15 to strengthen and confirm this part of his experience; that though he had a will to that which was good, yet he wanted power, and had none of himself to perform; and therefore often did what he wou... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW IF I DO THAT I WOULD NOT,.... The same conclusion is formed here, as in Romans 7:17, not with any view to excuse himself from blame in sinning, but to trace the lusts of his heart, and the sins of his life, to the source and fountain of them, the corruption of his nature; and to ascribe them to... [ Continue Reading ]
I FIND THEN A LAW,.... This is to be understood either of the corruption of nature, which he found by experience to be in him; and which, because of its force, power, and prevalence it sometimes had in him, he calls "a law"; it forcibly demanding compliance with its lusts; and is the same with what... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I DELIGHT IN THE LAW OF GOD,.... This an unregenerate man cannot do; he does not like its commands, they are disagreeable to his corrupt nature; and as it is a threatening, cursing, damning law, it can never be delighted in by him: the moralist, the Pharisee, who obeys it externally, do not love... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I SEE ANOTHER LAW IN MY MEMBERS,.... That is, he saw, he perceived it by experience; he felt the force and power of inbred corruption working in him, and as a law demanding obedience to it; and which he might well call "another law", it being not only distinct from, but opposite to the law of Go... [ Continue Reading ]
O WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM,.... Not as considered in Christ, for as such he was a most happy man, being blessed with all spiritual blessings, and secure from all condemnation and wrath; nor with respect to his inward man, which was renewing day by day, and in which he enjoyed true spiritual peace and... [ Continue Reading ]
I THANK GOD, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD,.... There is a different reading of this passage; some copies read, and so the Vulgate Latin version, thus, "the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord"; which may be considered as an answer to the apostle's earnest request for deliverance, "who shall... [ Continue Reading ]