A Layman"s Bible Commentary on Romans - Lesson IX
Romans 7:14-25.
The Struggle of Carnal and Spiritual.
Verse 14.
To describe the law as spiritual, goes beyond rites and ceremonies, and guidelines of morality to the inner part of man - the heart and soul.
It includes the thoughts, desires, and temptations and declares them as sin, contrary to God's eternal truth and nature.
It includes no hope of reprieve or pardon.
This provides the knowledge of man's sinful condition.
The Gospel provides the cure.
When he describes himself as carnal, sold under sin, he means his condition before his conversion.
This expression is the strongest one used in the Scriptures to describe the full extent of the depravity of fallen humanity.
It implies willing slavery without the power to disobey its rule.
In Roman times, slavery was a common practice.
Sin is described as a person having the mastery over his legal slave (bondage to sin).
Christ came to change this.
'Whom the Son maketh free, they are free indeed.
' (John 8:36.
) 'For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
' (Romans 8:2.
) For a slave to be released required redemption which he could not provide for himself.
Verse 15.
Paul describes the perpetual employment of a slave, at the same time recognizing that it is all at another's bidding.
It is not by his own choosing.
He does not choose.
The Jew, knowing the law, knows what is good and right but has no power or means to live by it.
There were also Gentiles that recognized the principles of a higher moral calling, that contrasted with their inability to act upon it.
They describe the same temptations and passions, and their inability to resist them.
Verse 16.
Paul admits doing what the law condemns, but he also shows that the law is good.
Verse 17.
The principle of sin is dominating over the part of man that has reason and conscience.
This is inbred and indwelling sin (seed of the serpent).
Verse 18.
By experience, the natural man has no ability to overcoming the sinful, self-centered fleshly appetites.
At the same time, even the most unconcerned about spiritual matters have some understanding, a sense of justice, reason, and will.
The will seems to be connected to conscience but is overpowered by our fallen nature.
Verse 19.
To put it more simply, the good that is recognized, the will cannot perform, but performs the evil.
Verse 20.
My will, my reason and conscience recognize the difference between right and wrong.
But the principle of sin, which controls worldly appetites and passions, still dominates.
Verse 21.
Paul now identifies this situation as a law of nature both observed, and personally experienced.
The will to do good and the opposing principle of sin.
Sin is the more powerful influence over man's thoughts and actions.
Verse 22.
Every Jew or Gentile that accepts the Scriptures of the Old Testament as God's revelation to man must acknowledge the righteous, pure character of its requirements.
This Paul describes as the inward man that recognizes 'God's Law' as good.
Verse 23.
In this verse, Paul describes the law of his mind.
The other law is of his members, the power of sinful passions, that given into repeatedly, become forceful habits.
The description of captivity describes a complete and final victory by sin.
Man's conscience and reason have been defeated, taken over, and are now enslaved.
This is the same terminology that Jesus used to describe the fate of the Jewish nation - that 'they shall be led away captives into all the nations.
' (Luke 21:24.
) Verse 24.
Now in the worst possible condition, a prisoner, and wounded.
All that is left is to die a bitter, painful, and miserable death.
The question is, who could could possibly deliver him from this? Verse 25.
The answer to this question of someone in complete despair: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the only way, the only remedy of any living soul, Jew or Gentile, the salvation offered in the Gospel of Christ.
Now, to the conclusion of this line of thinking - the extent of the power of sin in the carnal man, the complete inability of all human efforts or schemes or legal observances to pardon sin and get rid of the corruption of the heart.
This puts a person in the position of two opposing forces within - one agreeing and desiring to follow the law of God.
The other, desiring to follow his fleshly appetites.
The law of his members will fight against his mind to rule his life.
This will continue to keep him a captive of sin and death.
The only end to this conflict is the Gospel of Christ.
Next, in Chapter 8, Paul explains the new wonderful situation of the believer in Christ.
Romans 8:1-11.
In the previous verses - in chapter 7 - Paul described the plight of the penitent Jew, who looked for pardon and holiness from the law which he had no power to fulfill.
This led him to the edge of despair, giving up all hope.
But now, he thanks God for the greatest gift of salvation.
He must expound the greatness and manifold blessing it brings.
Verse 1.
He describes the joyful moving from darkness into the brightest and warmest, life giving light.
There is no more condemnation for those in Christ Jesus! The benefits of the Gospel include the goodness and indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
We have not only forgiveness and pardon, but through the Spirit the power to walk in newness of freedom from the former power of the flesh.
We now walk after the Spirit.
Verse 2.
The Gospel brings a law or rule of life and the energy that removes guilt from the conscience, breaks the hold of sin, and cleanses the heart from that evil influence.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus frees one from that law of sin and death.
The two conditions Paul describes cannot coexist in one person at the same time.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
Verse 3.
The Mosaic law could not pardon sin, nor empower anyone to fulfill it.
It is the rule of righteousness, and must at the same time, condemn any breaking of that law.
Because it did not provide a way of perfect obedience, the power of the flesh held sway.
What God then provided through sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh was to purchase pardon for sinners.
In Him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
He took upon Him a human body like all others, but without sin.
His sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh.
This was to execute and destroy its power and guilt within the soul of a believer.
Verse 4.
This gift to us enables us to walk in newness of life - now to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.
The law (its whole design and purpose) is fulfilled in each believer through the strength of the Spirit of Christ.
This is the opposite to the weakness of the law through the flesh.
Verse 5.
Those that aren't genuine Christians are under the power of the flesh and only desire the present worldly things.
They have no interest or understanding of spiritual and eternal things.
But those that have been born again of the Holy Spirit are redeemed from the power and influence of the carnal nature.
They are guided by the Spirit through this worldly life, reaching out and thinking of those things spiritual and eternal.
The outward measure of the real Christian is observed by the focus of their life.
If one lives for the values of this world, they are still under the influence of the flesh.
If one is living by the values of God's Spirit, they are under the influence of the Spirit, and the world to come.
Verse 6.
To put it in the simplest terms - the carnal mind is death, while the spiritual mind is life and peace unto eternity with God.
Verse 7.
The carnal mind is in rebellion against God, and opposes His pure and holy Law.
Verse 8.
Therefore, they have no desire but to please themselves.
Verse 9.
Now to the Christian.
You have turned from the flesh, you have believed in Christ Jesus, have been forgiven, and are now in the Spirit, that enables you to live in the new way unto God.
If one does not have the Spirit of Christ within, then he does not belong to the family of God.
Each believer has the mind of Christ, brought by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 10.
The Christian's body will suffer death because of sin.
Yet, because their souls have been quickened by the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ, have complete assurance that their body shall be raised again unto eternal life, even as Christ was raised.
Verse 11.
This verse confirms the meaning of the previous verse.
The one who receives by grace the Spirit of Christ, to live under its influence a life of obedience unto righteousness, will also experience the resurrection to life eternal.
Christ's resurrection is the pattern.
Next, Paul draws together his general conclusion, of both Jew and Gentile on this central point.
The Struggle of Carnal and Spiritual.
Verse 14.
To describe the law as spiritual, goes beyond rites and ceremonies, and guidelines of morality to the inner part of man - the heart and soul.
It includes the thoughts, desires, and temptations and declares them as sin, contrary to God's eternal truth and nature.
It includes no hope of reprieve or pardon.
This provides the knowledge of man's sinful condition.
The Gospel provides the cure.
When he describes himself as carnal, sold under sin, he means his condition before his conversion.
This expression is the strongest one used in the Scriptures to describe the full extent of the depravity of fallen humanity.
It implies willing slavery without the power to disobey its rule.
In Roman times, slavery was a common practice.
Sin is described as a person having the mastery over his legal slave (bondage to sin).
Christ came to change this.
'Whom the Son maketh free, they are free indeed.
' (John 8:36.
) 'For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
' (Romans 8:2.
) For a slave to be released required redemption which he could not provide for himself.
Verse 15.
Paul describes the perpetual employment of a slave, at the same time recognizing that it is all at another's bidding.
It is not by his own choosing.
He does not choose.
The Jew, knowing the law, knows what is good and right but has no power or means to live by it.
There were also Gentiles that recognized the principles of a higher moral calling, that contrasted with their inability to act upon it.
They describe the same temptations and passions, and their inability to resist them.
Verse 16.
Paul admits doing what the law condemns, but he also shows that the law is good.
Verse 17.
The principle of sin is dominating over the part of man that has reason and conscience.
This is inbred and indwelling sin (seed of the serpent).
Verse 18.
By experience, the natural man has no ability to overcoming the sinful, self-centered fleshly appetites.
At the same time, even the most unconcerned about spiritual matters have some understanding, a sense of justice, reason, and will.
The will seems to be connected to conscience but is overpowered by our fallen nature.
Verse 19.
To put it more simply, the good that is recognized, the will cannot perform, but performs the evil.
Verse 20.
My will, my reason and conscience recognize the difference between right and wrong.
But the principle of sin, which controls worldly appetites and passions, still dominates.
Verse 21.
Paul now identifies this situation as a law of nature both observed, and personally experienced.
The will to do good and the opposing principle of sin.
Sin is the more powerful influence over man's thoughts and actions.
Verse 22.
Every Jew or Gentile that accepts the Scriptures of the Old Testament as God's revelation to man must acknowledge the righteous, pure character of its requirements.
This Paul describes as the inward man that recognizes 'God's Law' as good.
Verse 23.
In this verse, Paul describes the law of his mind.
The other law is of his members, the power of sinful passions, that given into repeatedly, become forceful habits.
The description of captivity describes a complete and final victory by sin.
Man's conscience and reason have been defeated, taken over, and are now enslaved.
This is the same terminology that Jesus used to describe the fate of the Jewish nation - that 'they shall be led away captives into all the nations.
' (Luke 21:24.
) Verse 24.
Now in the worst possible condition, a prisoner, and wounded.
All that is left is to die a bitter, painful, and miserable death.
The question is, who could could possibly deliver him from this? Verse 25.
The answer to this question of someone in complete despair: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the only way, the only remedy of any living soul, Jew or Gentile, the salvation offered in the Gospel of Christ.
Now, to the conclusion of this line of thinking - the extent of the power of sin in the carnal man, the complete inability of all human efforts or schemes or legal observances to pardon sin and get rid of the corruption of the heart.
This puts a person in the position of two opposing forces within - one agreeing and desiring to follow the law of God.
The other, desiring to follow his fleshly appetites.
The law of his members will fight against his mind to rule his life.
This will continue to keep him a captive of sin and death.
The only end to this conflict is the Gospel of Christ.
Next, in Chapter 8, Paul explains the new wonderful situation of the believer in Christ.
Romans 8:1-11.
In the previous verses - in chapter 7 - Paul described the plight of the penitent Jew, who looked for pardon and holiness from the law which he had no power to fulfill.
This led him to the edge of despair, giving up all hope.
But now, he thanks God for the greatest gift of salvation.
He must expound the greatness and manifold blessing it brings.
Verse 1.
He describes the joyful moving from darkness into the brightest and warmest, life giving light.
There is no more condemnation for those in Christ Jesus! The benefits of the Gospel include the goodness and indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
We have not only forgiveness and pardon, but through the Spirit the power to walk in newness of freedom from the former power of the flesh.
We now walk after the Spirit.
Verse 2.
The Gospel brings a law or rule of life and the energy that removes guilt from the conscience, breaks the hold of sin, and cleanses the heart from that evil influence.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus frees one from that law of sin and death.
The two conditions Paul describes cannot coexist in one person at the same time.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
Verse 3.
The Mosaic law could not pardon sin, nor empower anyone to fulfill it.
It is the rule of righteousness, and must at the same time, condemn any breaking of that law.
Because it did not provide a way of perfect obedience, the power of the flesh held sway.
What God then provided through sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh was to purchase pardon for sinners.
In Him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
He took upon Him a human body like all others, but without sin.
His sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh.
This was to execute and destroy its power and guilt within the soul of a believer.
Verse 4.
This gift to us enables us to walk in newness of life - now to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.
The law (its whole design and purpose) is fulfilled in each believer through the strength of the Spirit of Christ.
This is the opposite to the weakness of the law through the flesh.
Verse 5.
Those that aren't genuine Christians are under the power of the flesh and only desire the present worldly things.
They have no interest or understanding of spiritual and eternal things.
But those that have been born again of the Holy Spirit are redeemed from the power and influence of the carnal nature.
They are guided by the Spirit through this worldly life, reaching out and thinking of those things spiritual and eternal.
The outward measure of the real Christian is observed by the focus of their life.
If one lives for the values of this world, they are still under the influence of the flesh.
If one is living by the values of God's Spirit, they are under the influence of the Spirit, and the world to come.
Verse 6.
To put it in the simplest terms - the carnal mind is death, while the spiritual mind is life and peace unto eternity with God.
Verse 7.
The carnal mind is in rebellion against God, and opposes His pure and holy Law.
Verse 8.
Therefore, they have no desire but to please themselves.
Verse 9.
Now to the Christian.
You have turned from the flesh, you have believed in Christ Jesus, have been forgiven, and are now in the Spirit, that enables you to live in the new way unto God.
If one does not have the Spirit of Christ within, then he does not belong to the family of God.
Each believer has the mind of Christ, brought by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 10.
The Christian's body will suffer death because of sin.
Yet, because their souls have been quickened by the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ, have complete assurance that their body shall be raised again unto eternal life, even as Christ was raised.
Verse 11.
This verse confirms the meaning of the previous verse.
The one who receives by grace the Spirit of Christ, to live under its influence a life of obedience unto righteousness, will also experience the resurrection to life eternal.
Christ's resurrection is the pattern.
Next, Paul draws together his general conclusion, of both Jew and Gentile on this central point.
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