Romans 7- Sin is lawlessness-1John 3:4. For a season, Paul “lived happily in the ignorance both of the demands of the Law and the sin within the heart… But when he became a responsible member of the Jewish society and an earnest seeker after righteousness by the Law, he found that the Law, instead of leading him to life as promised, was taking him deeper into death.”(The Commentator's Commentary)
Romans 7:1-3 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.
Or do you not know... “Putting it into the positive, it is, 'Are you so ignorant?' When Paul says, 'Know ye not,' you may be sure that the brethren did not know.” (J Vernon McGee) They did not know that Torah only has dominion over them as long as they live. But when Paul came to know Christ, he died with Him in baptism.
Thus Paul “begins in Romans 7:1-3 with a detailed comparison between the function of the law for a married couple and the function of the law for the Christian. The gist of it is that when a death happens in a marriage, the law that makes marriage to another person wrong is not binding anymore. So he argues that, similarly, when the Christian dies with Christ, the law is not binding on the Christian anymore the way it was. That's why we are not ‘under law.’… But now the question is: OK, how does that help? Justified people have died with Christ through faith and this death is a death to the law, so that it is not binding anymore. Why does that not produce lawless, unloving people?” (John Piper) The answer is supplied..
Romans 7:4-6 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
Paul’s “answer is that when you died to the law you were joined to Christ. You weren't freed from the law just to float around in no relationship at all. You were freed from the law and united to Christ. Christ is your new ‘husband.’ And notice what it says about this Christ – ‘who was raised from the dead.’ This person we are joined to is alive. This is no list of commandments. This is no external slate of duties. This is a spiritual union with an all-glorious, all-providing, all-satisfying, ever-living Person. More real than the person sitting next to you.
And the aim of this joining (this ‘marriage’), he says, is that you ‘bear fruit for God.’ There it is. You don't go on sinning. If you are in Christ, justified, and married to your Savior, Jesus, you bear fruit for God. That means that new desires and attitudes and choices and actions grow like fruit from this all-satisfying relationship between you and your living ‘husband,’ Jesus Christ.
So being set free from the law does not mean freedom from love and justice; it means freedom to marry the one who is love – the one who produces love in us from the inside out – like fruit on a vine, not tinsel on a tree.
From the inside out by the Spirit, not from the outside in by the law – that's the point of verse 6: ‘But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.’ Why did we die to the law? Why are we released from the law? Why are we not under the law? So that we may sin all the more? No! So that we may ‘serve’ – death to the law makes servants, not sinners.
... But notice how. What kind of service does freedom from the law produce? Legalistic service? No. Verse 6 says it produces service ‘in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.’…” (John Piper)
http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/dead-to-the-law-serving-in-the-spirit-part-1
Sin is indeed lawlessness... but “our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Cor 3:5-6)
Rom 7:7-12 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” [Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21] But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the Law, but when the Commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the Commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the Commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the Law is holy and the Commandment holy and just and good.
“Paul so closely relates the law and sin that he asks the rhetorical question, ‘Is the law sin?’ The answer, of course, is that it's not; on the contrary, at the end of the section he says, ‘Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good’ (NKJV). The ‘therefore’ shows the conclusion of his argument: that, far from being sin, the law is indeed holy and good.
What Paul says here is analogous to the relationship between criminal law and crime. Something is criminal only if a law depicts it as such. You might go to jail in one country for doing something that in another country is legal. The reason: one country has a law forbidding that action, the other doesn't. It is the same action but with two different consequences. What makes the difference- The law.
A crucial point to remember, too, is that just because something is a law doesn't make it good. In early America, a law required people to return escaped slaves to their masters. It was the law; yet, it was hardly a just one. In the case of God's law, however, we know that it reflects His loving character. Thus Paul's words that the law is holy and good; what else could it be, considering who created it?
What significance is there in the commandment that Paul uses in Romans 7:7 to prove his point about the law? Why does he use that one instead of another, such as “Thou shalt not steal”?
Perhaps Paul uses that specific commandment instead of some of the others because it's not so obvious that it's wrong. Many people, in and of themselves, might not believe that coveting is wrong. Murder, stealing, yes; one generally doesn't even need the Ten Commandments to know that. But coveting? So, it is a perfect example to make his point that it's the law that shows us what sin is. Otherwise, he might not have known that coveting was wrong.”
http://middletownnysdachurch.blogspot.com/2014/05/lesson-9-christ-law-and-gospel-may-24-30.html
What we are speaking of here is not moral relativism but rather the teachings of Yahweh’s government , the throne upon which Jesus shall rule. Jesus quotes more than the Ten Commandments in Matthew 5. All the precepts of the story of the fall and redemption of Yahweh go into convicting the sinner. “The torah of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” (Ps 19:7-9) But concerning the moral code of Yahweh's government, “Read the Ten Commandments, pause at each one, and confess that you have broken it in either thought or word or deed. Remember that by a glance, we may commit adultery; by a thought, we may be guilty of murder; by a desire, we may steal. Sin is any want of conformity to perfect holiness, and that want of conformity is justly chargeable upon every one of us.” (Spurgeon)
Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,' [ Exod 20:13; Deut 5:17] and 'whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ (added by teachers) But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.” (Matthew 5:21-26)
Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’[Exod 20:14; Deut 5:18] But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ [Deut 24:1] But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.” (Matthew 5:27-32)
Jesus said, “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ [Lev 19:12) But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:33-37)
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’[Exod 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21] But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” (Matthew 5:38-42)
Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor [cf. Lev 19:18] and 'hate your enemy'.(added by teachers) But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:42-48)
“Like the young man who, with open face, told the Lord that he had kept the Commandments from his youth, Paul had lived a life of careful adherence to the Law with such success that he could tell the Philippians that, ‘touching the Law,’ he was ‘blameless.’ He had refused to steal, to commit adultery, to lie… he honored the Sabbath… He was a perfect example of a fine young man. But there was one major skeleton in his closet. He was covetous or lustful, but no one would have ever guessed it by external appearance.” [Commentator's Commentary] We should be bearing fruit for the Kingdom, but instead we spend our days seeking mammon, even that which belongs to our neighbor.
Rom 7:13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
The injury done to Paul by Torah, even the the moral code of the Commandment, was not unto damnation. It condemned him for the purpose of making his sin exceedingly sinful to him. “To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17) For example, Josiah—King of Israel— did what was right in the sight of the LORD. He walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. (II Ki 22:1-2) But Mitzvah came and he died. King Josiah found a copy of Torah and read it. It deeply convicted him of his own sin, as well as the sins of the people. He directed his priest: “Go, inquire of the LORD for me, for the people… for great is the wrath of the LORD that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the Words of this Book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” (II Ki 22:10-13)
Romans 7:14-15 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
“The seventh chapter of Romans was not written to relate Paul’s inward struggle with sin. The chapter is famous for this passage but often the overall point of the teaching is missed. Romans 7 is written to show that the right and true as it is, the Law cannot possibly be a means of either salvation, or sanctification.
The inadequacy of that use of the Law is exposed in the opening verse of this passage, ‘We know that the Law is Spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.’ When did Saul, the proud Pharisee come to this shattering conclusion?
Only after the deeper revelation of the Law came to him, taking him from a shallow and smug satisfaction that as a Pharisee, according to the letter he was blameless, even better than other Pharisees, unto a shattered, deep sinner, realizing the spirituality of the law, under conviction.
It was the meditation upon the Tenth Commandment that did it, coveting is a spiritual conviction, all inward, not an action but a state of the heart. The Law is Spiritual. Jesus taught this in the Sermon on the Mount, that it isn’t enough to not commit adultery, the indulgence of lust is adultery according to the Law of God! He taught the spirituality of the Law.
When the Law is revealed to us this way, by the Holy Ghost, we have to then come to the other conclusion, that ‘I am Carnal, sold under sin.’ Carnal, means ‘in Adam’, unregenerate, in the flesh, not the spirit. The Law of God, rightly seen, exposes our original sin in a powerful way.
The Law reveals how deeply sinful we are, it changes our minds about ourselves. I didn’t know how sinful, and flesh ruled I was until the Law of God came to me this way. I see by the deeper revelation of the Law, that it is true and that I should live by that law, and that it is just and true. But seeing it doesn’t empower one ‘carnal and sold under sin’ to be able to keep it. Under the law and in Adam, I know what I should do but do otherwise, and I know what I shouldn’t do but I do the same.
This is the truest use of the Law, a revelation of the state of our hearts. It is painful insight into ourselves. The rest of this chapter is a look at the way such a man, Carnal,(unregenerate) and sold under sin, yet conscious of the demands of the Law and trying to keep it, lives in conflict with himself.” http://billrandles.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/the-law-is-spiritual-i-am-carnal-romans-7/
Romans 7:16-20 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
“This person is obviously under the influence of the Spirit, because he no longer hates the law, as unregenerate people do, but he now hates sin. Those who fear not God, have no idea of this kind of frustration and struggle, the law is doing its work, ‘Converting the Soul’. (Psalm 19).
Who is this man? Is he Born Again? Or is he unregenerate? Does this describe the struggles of a man in sin, or of the Christian? I believe that this is a description of one under conviction of the Spirit, who has been awakened by the Law of God, to the true nature of his own sinfulness, and as a response seeks to subject himself to the law of God. He wants to obey it, but finds that he simply can’t. As Martyn Lloyd Jones said ‘The law can’t help you keep the Law’”
http://billrandles.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/the-law-is-spiritual-i-am-carnal-romans-7/
Romans 7:21-25 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
“The picture of the battle of the soul is clearly sketched by Paul as he carefully chooses words with military connotations. He describes sin as ‘warring’ against the law of his mind with the result that he is brought into ‘captivity.’ It is fitting that he continues the theme by using the expression commonly employed by soldiers wounded in battle and in need of help when he writes, ‘Who will deliver me?’ No doubt he feels that he has been badly wounded in this struggle against sin and desperately needs help.” [The Commentator’s Commentary] “I thank God - That is, I thank God for effecting a deliverance to which I am myself incompetent. There is a way of rescue, and I trace it altogether to his mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. What conscience could not do, what the Law could not do, what unaided human strength could not do, has been accomplished by the plan of the gospel; and complete deliverance can be expected there, and there alone. This is the point to which all his reasoning had tended; and having thus shown that the Law was insufficient to effect this deliverance, he is now prepared to utter the language of Christian thankfulness that it can be effected by the gospel. The superiority of the gospel to the Law in overcoming all the evils under which man labors, is thus triumphantly established; compare 1 Corinthians 15:57.” (Barnes’ Notes)