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Romans 7 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
What is the purpose of the law? In Romans 6 we saw the law cannot make us righteous. In Romans 7, we read that the main concern of God is if we are bearing fruit or not. As we read on in Romans 7, we find that the law cannot produce fruit. It cannot justify us before God, and it also cannot change us to produce a life pleasing to God. After hearing all this, some might think, what is the law good for? Paul was one step ahead of us…
Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, “Do not desire what belongs to someone else,” I would not have known such a desire.
Romans 7:7 GNB
It’s natural to ponder, is there something wrong with the law since it cannot produce any of these things? Paul says no, it’s quite the opposite. We would not know sin at all if it were not for the standard of the law. The law constantly works ahead of us because it shows us the impossible dilemma of achieving God’s standard.
Striving in our own strength to follow a standard that cannot be achieved produces all kinds of problems for us. It pains me that there are still many people who think that Christianity is a religious list of do’s and don’t. Satan has been successful in convincing people that Christianity is no different than any other works-based religious system. Paul writes of how creating such a list actually brings more temptation because we are enticed by the desire to do something that we are prohibited to do.
But by means of that commandment sin found its chance to stir up all kinds of selfish desires in me. Apart from law, sin is a dead thing.
Romans 7:8 GNB
Towards the end of this chapter, Paul takes all these thoughts and wraps them up in a big package to show us why the law fails to deliver us. It’s not that we lack the knowledge or will to defeat our sinful nature. We know the law, and we desire to follow it in our hearts and in our minds. However, we create a cycle of insanity when we continually try to harness sin because it always reveals our shortcomings.
What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God’s law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.
Romans 7:24-25 GNB
The power found in Jesus’ death and resurrection will produce victory. His strength allows us to actually fulfill the desires we have to serve God in our minds as well as resist our human nature to serve sin. The life of sin that previously gratified us becomes dead, and the life of obedience to God which seemed so elusive now becomes so near to our hearts. This does not mean we will always see drastic changes overnight, but that through the constant work of the Holy Spirit, we unravel our sinful nature as we tether our hearts to Jesus Christ.