The connoisseurs of the law

“Or is it unknown to you, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a man for as long as he lives? For the woman who is subject to a man is bound by law to the living man, but when the man dies, she is released from the law of the man. So then, as long as her husband is alive, she is called an adulteress if she becomes the property of another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law [of marriage]; she is not an adulteress if she becomes another man’s wife.”
Romans 7:1-3

Seamlessly, Paul’s speech transitions into chapter 7. He says: “Or is it unknown to you, brothers?”. He draws on what he just mentioned earlier, namely that we are “not under law but under grace” (Rom 6:14). Paul wrote extensively about this. He always mentions this area of tension, because there is a concrete conflict here. So strong was his awareness of the law that he now writes: “For I speak to those who know the law”.

Paul himself was a learned man who writes of his past: “In the righteousness required by the law, I was like one who becomes blameless. But what was once gain to me I have considered forfeited for the sake of Christ” (Phil 3:6-7). He was a Pharisee, a scribe, so he knew the law intimately. However, the encounter with Christ and called by God’s grace has changed his perspective. What once seemed gain to him, he has considered forfeited for the sake of Christ. This repentance did not come through the righteousness that the law demands, but through the righteousness of God that was given.

So Paul knows both sides. He can understand what seemed valuable to the Jewish community members. Paul knew the requirements of the law and lived by them himself. But he has come to know the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Now he also clearly sees the differences. Here he tries to convey to the congregation the conflict he feels between the value of the law and the radical change of perspective brought about by the gospel. He does this with an example from the law about the law.

The law of marriage

Let us first note that this is not a teaching passage on marriage. The theme is freedom. Paul’s sole purpose is to clarify that the church members are now “free from the law.” That is the purpose of these verses. He wants to make the church free through the righteousness of God brought about by Christ Jesus. Now, so that he can bring this home to the “law-abiding” in the congregation, he shows how the law is limited:

“The law is lord over man for as long as he lives.”
Rom 7:1

This general statement will now be explained with an example:

“For the woman who is subject to a man is bound by law to the living man, but when the man dies, she is released from the man’s law. Therefore, as long as the husband is alive, she is called an adulteress if she becomes the property of another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law [of marriage]; she is not an adulteress if she becomes another man’s wife.”
Rom 7:2-3

The example shows the following: Laws can be legally repealed. In the example of marriage, this is the case, for example, when one of the partners dies. When the husband dies, the woman is “released from the law of the husband”, she is “free from the law”. Accordingly, she is now not an adulteress if she becomes the property of another man. This demonstrates two things: The law is not endlessly valid, but has a context, and if the law [of marriage, for example] is terminated, another situation can be validly entered into.

“Therefore, my brethren, you also were put to death through the body of the Christ, in order that you might become the property of another, the one raised from the dead.”
Rom 7:4

So the law was completed for the believers by the fact that Christ died. Just as the wife became free for a new marriage through the death of her husband, we died to the law so that we might become the property of another, namely Christ, the Risen One.

Bring fruit

Now Paul speaks again of the purpose of this change, as he did in chapter 6:

“That we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin aroused by the law worked in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now that we have died, we are freed from the law (in which we were held), so that we are slaves to the ‘newness’ of the Spirit and not to the ‘oldness’ of the letter.”
Rom 7:4-6

It is the departure from works of law. Does this now mean that the law was a mistake? One could easily get this idea. Therefore, Paul immediately refers to such an inference.

Sin and the Law

“What are we going to argue? That the law is sin? May this not be inferred!”
Rom 7:7

Is the law missing the mark because it is being repealed? No. In the following passage (Rom 7:7-12), Paul describes once again how the law is good, but only points out sin and does not free us from it.

“The commandment that was given me to live was found to lead to death. For sin, being enticed by the commandment, deceived me completely and killed me through it.”
Rom 7:10-11

The law is good, but doesn’t really help. Worse yet – it exposed and even encouraged sin and thus “caused,” Paul said, “death to me.”

“Did the good now become death to me? May this not be concluded! But in order that sin may be made manifest as sin, it causes death to me through the good, so that through the commandment the extraordinary sinfulness of sin may be made manifest.”
Rom 7:13

The law has a function, namely to be a guide (gr. paidagogos) towards Christ (Gal 3:24).

“For we know that the law is spiritual.”
Rom 7:14

The inner conflict of my reality

The moment Paul declares that the law is spiritual, he removes it from legalistic thinking and anchors it in our everyday life and experience. It points to the inner conflict that we carry within us and which the law has emphasized. Spirit and flesh are opposed to each other here:

“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, bargained under sin; for what I do I know not. For that which I will, I do not put into practice; but that which I hate, I do. But if I do what I do not want, I affirm that the law is good. But now it is no longer I who bring it about, but the sin that is inherent in me.”
Rom 7:14-17

Here comes the difference: with the mind I recognize the good things, but I often do not accomplish them. The very things I don’t want, the things I hate, I do. But this is not my spirit (which wants to do good), but my indwelling sin (which is in my flesh).

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing; for the willing is beside me, but the doing of the excellent I do not succeed. For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil that I do not want, this I put into practice. But when I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who bring about the same thing, but the sin inherent in me.”
Rom 7:18-20

Paul separates spirit and flesh and describes how we are at the mercy of this inner conflict as if powerless.

“In my desire to do what is excellent, I therefore find a law, namely that the evil lies beside me. For according to the inner man, the law of God is a pleasure to me. But in my members I observe another law, which is at war with the law of my mind, and leads me captive through the law of sin which is in my members.”
Rom 7:22-23

Sin leads to captivity. What the apostle describes is not a sideshow in our lives, but the fundamental inability to defend ourselves with only the law to help us. That’s just not enough. This only leads further into the misery. That is why his statement:

“I wretched man! What will recover me from the body of this death?”
Rom 7:24

Grace is the answer

When Paul writes “I wretched man,” it is not as strong as in the Greek. There it literally says “Wretched me man”. The emphasis in Greek is on the first word in the sentence. The situation is really miserable! Hence the question: What will rescue me from the body of this death?

This section reads somewhat incomprehensibly in many translations.

“I wretched man! Who will save me from this body of death? – I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Rom 7:25 Rev Elbf.

The question “who” is answered linguistically not quite understandable with “I thank through”. That doesn’t quite fit. While the thought and reference to Jesus Christ our Lord is conclusive, the sentence does not run. If it says “who”, you simply expect a name and not an acknowledgement “via”. It’s like something is missing here. It should be noted that the word for “who” (Greek tis) can also mean “what”. So the reference does not have to be a person.

In the Concordant New Testament, the verse is translated as follows:

“I wretched human being! What will save me from the body of this death?Mercy! I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Rom 7:24-25 CNT

The word grace does not appear in most translations, but is present in one important source. The Codex Sinaiticus was corrected during checking and transcription (S2). Here, between the columns of the original codex, the word “grace” appears as if it was added due to older manuscripts and as if it was forgotten by the scribe (see the illustration in the Concordant New Testament on page 342/343).

Now the text reads conclusively:

“What will rescue me from the body of this death? Mercy!”

This also makes it clear that God is thanked through Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace is the answer with which we can exist in everyday life. We cannot avoid this inner struggle, but by grace we can persevere in it, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ.

This is the real climax of the chapter, the confidence from the Gospel and the promise by God’s grace. For, “being inwardly minded, I am therefore a slave to the law of God, but in the flesh to the law of sin” (Romans 7:25).

We saw that the law is limited, and we ourselves are also limited. But God, in His grace, sets us free to live our lives with Christ. The strength does not have to be in us, cannot be in us, but is found entirely in Him. The answer is God’s grace, because He is for us.

This is the subject of the next chapter.