Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Romans 7

Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

her…her [See also Rom 7:3.]

the.

Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

are become dead

were made dead.

by

through.

married

joined. Eph 5:31, same Greek word. Bride (of Christ). 2Co 11:1-3. (Jhn 3:29; Rev 19:6-8).

Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

are delivered

have been discharged.

that being dead wherein

having died to that wherein.

newness of spirit…oldness of the letter

Cf. Rom 2:29; 2Co 3:6. "The letter" is a Paulinism for the law, as "spirit" in these passages is his word for the relationships and powers of new life in Christ Jesus. In 2Co 3 a series is presented of contrast of law with "spirit," of the old covenant and the new. The contrast is not between two methods of interpretation, literal and spiritual, but between two methods of divine dealing: one through the law, the other through the Holy Spirit.

Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

sin

Sin. Scofield Romans 3:23, note.

lust

coveting.

Thou shalt not covet

Exo 20:17.

Rom 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

sin [See also Rom 7:9, 11, 13-14, 17, 20, 23, 25.]

Sin. Scofield Romans 5:21, note.

Rom 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

when the commandment came

The passage (Rom 7:7-25) is autobiographical. Paul's religious experience was in three strongly marked phases:

1. He was a godly Jew under the law. That the passage does not refer to that period is clear from his own explicit statements elsewhere. At that time he held himself to be "blameless" as concerned the law (Phl 3:6). He had "lived in all good conscience" (Act 23:1).
2. With his conversion came new light upon the law itself. He now perceived it to be "spiritual" (Rom 7:14). He now saw that, so far from having kept it, he was condemned by it. He had supposed himself to be "alive," but now the commandment really "came" (Rom 7:9) and he "died." Just when the apostle passed through the experience of Rom 7:7-25 we are not told. Perhaps during the days of physical blindness at Damascus (Act 9:9); perhaps in Arabia (Gal 1:17). It is the experience of a renewed man, under the law, and still ignorant of the delivering power of the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 8:2).
3. With the great revelations afterward embodied in Galatians and Romans, the apostle's experience entered its third phase. He now knew himself to be "dead to the law by the body of Christ," and, in the power of the indwelling Spirit, "free from the law of sin and death" (Rom 8:2); while "the righteousness of the law" was wrought in him (not by him) while he walked after the Spirit (Rom 8:4). Romans 7 is the record of past conflicts and defeats experience as a renewed man under law.

Rom 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

holy

Sanctify, holy (things) (N.T.). Rom 16:16. (Mat 4:5; Rev 22:11.)

Rom 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

that it might appear sin, working death in me

that it might be shewn to be sin by working death, etc.

Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

carnal

i.e. fleshly.

Cf. 1Co 3:1, 4. "Carnal" = "fleshly" is Paul's word for the Adamic nature, and for the believer who "walks," i.e. lives, under the power of it. "Natural" is his characteristic word for the unrenewed man (1Co 2:14), as "spiritual" designates the renewed man who walks in the Spirit (1Co 3:1; Gal 6:1).

Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

I do I allow not

The apostle personifies the strife of the two natures in the believer, the old or Adamic nature, and the divine nature received through the new birth (1Pe 1:23; 2Pe 1:4; Gal 2:20; Col 1:27). The "I" which is Saul of Tarsus, and the "I" which is Paul the apostle are at strife, and "Paul" is in defeat. In Chapter 8 this strife is effectually taken up on the believer's behalf by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:2; Gal 5:16-17) and Paul is victorious. Contra, Eph 6:12, where the conflict is not fleshly, but spiritual.

Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

law

Six "laws" are to be distinguished in Romans:

• The law of Moses, which condemns (Rom 3:19);
• "law" as a principle (Rom 3:21);
• the law of faith, which excludes self-righteousness (Rom 3:27);
• the law of sin in the members, which is victorious over the law of the mind (Rom 7:21, 23, 25);
• the law of the mind, which consents to the law of Moses but cannot do it because of the law of sin in the members (Rom 7:16, 23); and
• the "law of the Spirit," having power to deliver the believer from the law of sin which is in his members, and his conscience from condemnation by the Mosaic law. Moreover the Spirit works in the yielded believer the very righteousness which Moses' law requires (Rom 8:2, 4).

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

from the body of this death

Or, out of this body of death. Rom 8:11; 1Co 15:51-52; 1Th 4:14-17.

Rom 7:25 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.

law

Law (of Moses). Rom 8:2-4, 7. (Exo 19:1; Gal 3:1-29).

flesh

Flesh. Rom 7:14, 18, 23, 25; 8:1, 3-11. (Jhn 1:13; Jde 1:23.)