Romans 7

Romans 7 opens with an analogy from marriage law. A woman is bound to her husband while he lives; if he dies, she is released. Paul applies this to the relationship between the believer and the law: through the body of Christ, the believer has died to the law and is now joined to the risen Christ, bearing fruit for God. Then the chapter turns to a careful argument about the law itself. The law is not sin; it is holy and righteous and good. But the commandment — specifically, the commandment against coveting — became the occasion for sin to produce every kind of desire in Paul. Without the commandment, sin lay dormant; the commandment gave sin its opportunity. The law was given for life; it produced death. Not because the law is bad, but because sin used the good law as a weapon.

From verse 14, the argument gives way to lament. The I of these verses has been the most debated single passage in Romans: who is speaking? Paul before his conversion? Paul as a believer? Paul as a representative of humanity or Israel under the law? The lament runs for twelve verses: I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate; I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. The sin that dwells in me does it, not I. Wretched man that I am — who will deliver me from this body of death? The cry is followed by thanks: thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The deliverance has been named. But the chapter ends holding both the moral self-division and the thanks in tension, and the full resolution waits for chapter 8.