Jesus was and is the answer

JESUS WAS AND IS THE ANSWER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Romans 7:25 25Thanksbe to God, who delivers me
through Jesus Christour LORD! So then, I myself in
my mind am a slaveto God's law, but in my sinful
nature a slaveto the law of sin.
New Living Translation
Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christour Lord.
So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey
God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a
slaveto sin.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
A Cry And Its Answer
Romans 7:24, 25
S.R. Aldridge

Strange language to issue from the lips of the greatapostle of the Gentiles!
from a chosenvesselunto honour, a man in labours abundant and most
blessed, with joy often rising to transport. Norwas it forced from him by some
momentary excitement or the pressure of some temporary trouble. Nor is
there any reference to outward afflictions and persecutions. Had he cried out
when under the agonizing scourge orin the dismal dungeon, we had not been
so surprised. But it is while he is enforcing truth drawn from his own inward
experience he so realizes the bitterness of the spiritual conflict, that his
language cannotbe restrained within the limits of calm reasoning, and he
bursts forth with the exclamation, "O wretched man," etc.!Some have been
so shockedas to callthis a miserable chapter, and have shifted the difficulty
by passing it on one side. Others have adopted the notion that he is here
describing, not his actual state, but the condition of an unregenerate man such
as he was once. Yet the expressionof the preceding verse, "I delight in the
Law of God," and the change of tense from the past to the present after the
thirteenth verse, indicate that we have here a vivid description of the struggle
that continues, though with better success, evenin the Christian who is
justified, but not wholly sanctified, whilst he is imprisoned in this "body of
death."
I. INQUIRE MORE CLOSELY INTO THE GROUND OF THIS
EXCLAMATION. What is it of which such grievous complaint is made? He
appeals for aid againsta strong foe whose graspis on his throat. The eyes of
the warriorgrow dim, his heart is faint, and, fearful of utter defeat, he cries,
"Who will deliver me?" We may explain "the body of this death" as meaning
this mortal body, the coffin of the soul, the seatand instrument of sin. But the
apostle includes still more in the phrase. It denotes sin itself, this carnalmass,
all the imperfections, the corrupt and evil passions ofthe soul. It is a body of
death, because it tends to death; it infects us, and brings us down to death.
The old man tries to strangle the new man, and, unlike the infant Hercules,
the Christian is in danger of being overcome by the snakes thatattack his
feebleness. How afflicting to one who loves God and desires to do his will, to
find himself thwarted at every turn, and that to succeedmeans a desperate
conflict! Attainments in the Divine life are not reachedwithout a struggle, and
non-successis not simply imperfection; it is failure, defeat, sin gaining the

mastery. This evil is grievous because it is so near and so constant. The man is
chained to a dead body. Where we go our enemy accompaniesus, ever ready
to assaultus, especiallywhen we are at a disadvantage from fatigue or
delusive security. Distantevils might be borne with some measure of
equanimity; we might have a signalof their approach, and be prepared, and
hope that, niter a sharp bout, they would retire. But like a sick man tormented
with a diseasedframe, so the "law of sin in the members" manifests its force
and uniform hostility in every place.
II. DERIVE CONSOLATION FROM THE EXCLAMATION ITSELF - from
the factof its utterance, its vehemency, etc.
1. Such a cry indicates the stirrings of Divine life within the soul. The man
must be visited with God's grace who is thus conscious ofhis spiritual nature,
and of a longing to shake off his unworthy bondage to evil. It may be the
beginning of better things if the impression be yielded to. Do not quit the fight,
lest you become like men who have been temporarily arousedand warned,
and have made vows of reformation, and then returned to their old apathy
and sleepin sin. And this attitude of watchfulness should never be abandoned
during your whole career.
2. The intensity of the cry discovers a thorough hatred of sin and a thirst after
holiness. It is a passionate outburst revealing the centraldepths. Such a
disclosure is not fit for all scenes and times; the conflictof the soul is too
solemn to be profaned by casualspectators. Yetwhat a mark of a renewed
nature is here displayed! What loathing of Corruption, as offensive to the
spiritual sense!Sin may still clog the feet of the Christian and sometimes cause
him to stumble, but he is never satisfiedwith such a condition, and calls aloud
for aid. Would that this sense ofthe enormity of sin were more prevalent;
that, like a speck of dust in the eye, there could be no ease till it be removed!
Sin is a foreignbody, a disturbing element, an intruder.
3. There is comfort in the very convictionof helplessness. The apostle sums up
his experience as if to say, "My human purposes come to nought. Betweenmy
will and the performance there is a sadhiatus. I find no help in myself." A
lessonwhich has to be learnt ere we really cry for a Deliverer, and value the

Saviour's intervention. Peter, by his threefold denial, was taught his weakness,
and then came the command, "Feedmy lambs" We are not prepared for
service in the kingdom until we confess our dependence on superhuman
succour.
III. THE CRY ADMITS OF A SATISFACTORYANSWER. A Liberator has
been found, so that the apostle is not in despair; he adds, "I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord." Christ assumedour body of death, crucified
it, and glorified it. Thus he "Condemnedsin in the flesh." He bruised the
serpent's head. Since our Leader has conquered, we shall share his triumph.
He quickens and sustains his followers by his Spirit. Strongeris he who is for
us than all againstus. His grace is the antidote to moral evil; by its power we
may contend victoriously. The indwelling Christ is the prophecy of ultimate,
complete victory. Eventually we shall quit this tabernacle of clay, and leave
behind us all the avenues to temptation, and the stings and infirmities of
which the body is the synonym. Clothed with a house from heaven, there shall
be no obstacle to perfect obedience - a service without wearinessand without
interruption. - S.R.A.

Biblical Illustrator
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Romans 7:24, 25
Soul despotism
D. Thomas, D. D.
I. THE SOUL'S OPPRESSIVE DESPOT. "The body of this death." What is
meant by this? Corrupt animalism. What is elsewhere calledthe flesh with its
corruptions and lusts. The body, intended to be an instrument and servant of
the soul, has become its sovereign, and keeps allits powerof intellect and
consciencein subjection. Corrupt animalism is the moral monarch of the
world. It rules in literature, in politics, in science, and even in churches. This
despot is death to all true freedom, progress, happiness.
II. THE SOUL'S STRUGGLE TO BE FREE. This implies —
1. A quickenedconsciousnessofits condition. "O wretched man that I am!
"The vast majority of souls, alas I are utterly insensible to this; hence they
remain passive. Whatquickens the soul into this consciousness?"The law."
The light of God's moral law flashes on the conscienceand startles it.
2. An earnestdesire for help. It feels its utter inability to haul the despot
down; and it cries mightily, "Who shall deliver me?" Who? Legislatures,
moralists, poets, philosophers, priesthoods? No;they have tried for ages, and
have failed. Who? There is One and but One, and to Him Paul alludes in the
next verse and the following chapter. "Thanks be to God," etc.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
The cry of the Christian warrior
F. Bourdillon.
The cry not of "a chained captive" to be set free, but of a "soldierin conflict"
who looks round for succour. He is in the fight; he sees the enemy advancing

againsthim, with spearin hand, and chains ready to throw over him; the
soldier sees his danger, feels his weaknessand helplessness, yethas no thought
of yielding; he cries out, "Who shall deliver me?" But it is not the cry of a
vanquished but of a contending soldierof Jesus Christ.
(F. Bourdillon.)
Victory in the hidden warfare
Bp. S. Wilberforce.
To enter into the full meaning of these words, we must understand their place
in the argument. The greattheme is opened in Romans 1:16. To establish this,
Paul begins by proving in the first four chapters that both Jew and Gentile
are utterly lost. In the fifth he shows that through Christ peace with God may
be brought into the conscience ofthe sinner. In the sixth he proves that this
truth, instead of being any excuse for sin, was the strongestargument against
it, for it gave freedom from sin, which the law could never do. And then, in
this chapter, he inquires why the law could not bring this gift. Before the law
was given, man could not know what sin was, any more than the unevenness
of a crookedline can be known until it is placedbeside something that is
straight. But when the law raisedbefore his eyes a rule of holiness, then, for
the first time, his eyes were opened;he saw that he was full of sin; and
forthwith there sprang up a fearful struggle. Once he had been "alive without
the law";he had lived, that is, a life of unconscious, self-contentedimpurity;
but that life was gone from him, he could live it no longer. The law, because it
was just and good, wrought death in him; for it was a revelation of death
without remedy. "The law was spiritual," but he was corrupt, "sold under
sin." Even when his struggling will did desire in some measure a better
course, still he was beaten down againby evil. "How to perform that which
was goodhe found not." Yea, "whenhe would do good, evil was presentwith
him." In vain there lookedin upon his soul the blessedcountenance ofan
external holiness. Its angelgladness, ofwhich he could in no way be made
partaker, did but render darkerand more intolerable the loathsome dungeon
in which he was perpetually held. It was the fierce struggle of an enduring

death; and in its crushing agony, he cried aloud againstthe nature, which, in
its inmost currents, sin had turned into corruption and a curse. "O wretched
man that I am!" etc. And then forthwith upon this stream of misery there
comes forth a gleamof light from the heavenly presence;"I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord." Here is deliverance for me; I am a redeemed
man; holiness may be mine, and, with it, peace and joy. Here is the full
meaning of these glorious words.
I. THEY LIE AT THE ROOT OF SUCH EXERTIONS AS WE MAKE FOR
THOSE WHOM SIN HAS BROUGHT DOWN VERY LOW.
1. They contain the principle which should lead us most truly to sympathise
with them. This greattruth of the redemption Of our nature in Christ Jesus is
the only link of brotherhood betweenman and man. To deny our brotherhood
with any of the most miserable of those whom Christ has redeemed, is to deny
our own capacityfor perfect holiness, and so our true redemption through
Christ.
2. Here, too, is the only warrant for any reasonable efforts fortheir
restoration. Without this, every man, who knows anything of the depth of evil
with which he has to deal, would give up the attempt in despair. Every
reasonable effortto restore any sinner, is a declarationthat we believe that we
are in a kingdom of grace, ofredeemed humanity. Unbelieving men cannot
receive the truth that a soul can be thus restored. They believe that you may
make a man respectable;but not that you can heal the inner currents of his
spiritual life, and so they cannot labour in prayers and ministrations with the
spiritual leper, until his flesh, of God's grace, comesagainas the flesh of a
little child. To endure this labour, we must believe that in Christ, the true
Man, and through the gift of His Spirit, there is deliverance from the body of
this death.
II. IT IS AT THE ROOT ALSO OF ALL REAL EFFORTS FOR
OURSELVES.
1. Every earnestman must, if he sets himself to resistthe evil which is in
himself, know something of the struggle which the apostle here describes;and
if he would endure the extremity of that conflict, he must have a firm belief

that there is a deliverance for him. Without this, the knowledge ofGod's
holiness is nothing else than the burning fire of despair. And so many do
despair. They think they have made their choice, and that they must abide by
it; and so they shut their eyes to their sins, they excuse them, they try to forget
them, they do everything but overcome them, until they see that in Christ
Jesus there is for them, if they will claim it, a sure power over these sins. And,
therefore, as the first consequence, letus ever hold it fast, even as our life.
2. Noris it needful to lowerthe tone of promise in order to prevent its being
turned into an excuse for sin. Here, as elsewhere,the simple words of God
contain their own best safeguardagainstbeing abused; for what canbe so
loud a witness againstallowedsin in any Christian man as this truth is? If
there be in the true Christian life in union with Christ for every one of us this
poweragainstsin, sin cannot reign in any who are living in Him. To be in
Christ is to be made to conquer in the struggle. So that this is the most
quickening and sanctifying truth. It tears up by the roots a multitude of secret
excuses. It tells us that if we are alive in Christ Jesus, we must be new
creatures. And herein it destroys the commonestform of self-deception— the
allowing some sin in ourselves, becausein other things we deny ourselves,
because we pray, because we give alms, etc. And this self-deceptionis put
down only by bringing out this truth, that in Christ Jesus there is for us, in
our struggle with "the body of this death," an entire conquest, if we will but
honestly and earnestlyclaim it for ourselves;so that if we do not conquer sin,
it must be because we are not believing.
3. This will make us diligent in all parts of the Christian life, because allwill
become a reality. Prayer, the reading of God's Word, etc., will be precious
after a new sort, because through them is kept alive our union with Christ, in
whom alone is for us a conquestover the evil which is in us. So that, to sum up
all in one blesseddeclaration, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus will
make us free from the law of sin and death."
(Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
The body of death

James Kirkwood.
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE BODYOF DEATH OF WHICH THE
BELIEVER COMPLAINS.
1. Indwelling sin is calledthe body of this death, as it is the effectand remains
of that spiritual death to which all men are subject in unregeneracy.
2. The remains of sin in the believer is calledthe body of this death, on
accountof the deadness and dulness of spirit in the service of God, which it so
often produces.
3. Remaining depravity is calledthe body of death, because it tends to
death.(1) It tends to the death of the body. As it was sin that brought us under
the influence of the sentence ofdissolution; as it is sin that has introduced into
the material frame of man those principles of decaywhich will bring it to the
grave;as it is sin which is the parent of those evil passions which, as natural
causes, waragainstthe health and life of the body, so it is the inbred sins of
the believerthat require his flesh to see the dust.(2) But this is not all.
Remaining depravity tends to spiritual and eternaldeath, and on this account,
also, is justly calledthe body of this death.
II. THE GRIEF AND PAIN WHICH REMAINING DEPRAVITY
OCCASIONS TO THE BELIEVER.
1. Remaining depravity is thus painful and grievous to the Christian, from his
acquaintance with its evil and malignant nature.
2. Remaining sin is thus painful to the Christian, from the constantstruggle
which it maintains with grace within the heart. Even in eminent saints the
contestis often singularly obstinate and painful; for where there is strong
grace there are also, sometimes, strong corruptions. Besides, where there is
eminent spirituality of mind, there is an aspirationafter a freedom from
imperfections which scarcelybelongs to the presentstate.
III. THE EARNEST LONGINGS AND CONFIDENT AND JOYFUL
ASSURANCE OF DELIVERANCE FROM INDWELLING SIN WHICH
THE CHRISTIAN ENTERTAINS.

1. Mark his earnestlongings — "Who shall deliver me?" The language
implies how wellthe Christian knows he cannot deliver himself from the body
of sin. This is the habitual desire of his soul — the habitual object of his
pursuit. For this end he prays, he praises, he reads, he hears, he
communicates. So earnest, in short, is his desire of deliverance, that he
welcomes withthis view two things most unwelcome to the feelings of nature
affliction and death.
2. Mark his confident and joyful assurance ofdeliverance. Weak in himself,
the Christian is yet strong in the Lord. All the victories he has hitherto
achievedhave been through the faith and by the might of the Redeemer. All
the victories he shall yet acquire shall be obtained in the same way.
3. Mark the gratitude of the Christian for this anticipated and glorious
deliverance. Sin is the cause ofall the other evils in which he has been
involved, and when sin is destroyed within and put forever away, nothing can
be wanting to perfecthis blessedness. Wellthen does it become him to cherish
the feeling and utter the language ofthankfulness.
(James Kirkwood.)
The spectre of the old nature
H. Macmillan, LL. D.
1. Some years ago a number of peculiar photographs were circulated by
spiritualists. Two portraits appearedon the same card, one clearand the
other obscure. The fully developedportrait was the obvious likeness ofthe
living person; and the indistinct portrait was supposedto be the likeness of
some dead friend, produced by supernatural agency. The mystery, however,
was found to admit of an easyscientific explanation. It not unfrequently
happens that the portrait of a personis so deeply impressed on the glass ofthe
negative, that although the plate is thoroughly cleansedwith strong acid, the
picture cannotbe removed, although it is made invisible. When such a plate is
used over again, the original image faintly reappears along with the new
portrait. So is it in the experience of the Christian. He has been washedin the

blood of Christ; and beholding the glory of Christ as in a glass, he is changed
into the same image. And yet the ghostof his former sinfulness persists in
reappearing with the image of the new man. So deeply are the traces of the
former godless life impressed upon the soul, that even the sanctificationof the
Spirit, carried on through discipline, burning as corrosive acid, cannot
altogetherremove them.
2. The photographer also has a process by which the obliterated picture may
at any time be revived. And so it was with the apostle. The sin that so easily
besethim returned with fresh power in circumstances favourable to it.
I. THE "BODYOF DEATH" IS NOT SOMETHING THAT HAS COME TO
US FROM WITHOUT, an infected garment that may be thrown aside
wheneverwe please. It is our own corrupt self, not our individual sins or evil
habits. And this body of death disintegrates the purity and unity of the soul
and destroys the love of God and man which is its true life. It acts like an evil
leaven, corrupting and decomposing everygoodfeeling and heavenly
principle, and gradually assimilating our being to itself. There is a peculiar
disease whichoften destroys the silkwormbefore it has woven its cocoon. It is
causedby a species ofwhite mould which grows rapidly within the body of the
worm at the expense of its nutritive fluids; all the interior organs being
gradually converted into a mass of flocculent vegetable matter. Thus the
silkworm, instead of going on in the natural order of development to produce
the beautiful winged moth, higher in the scale ofexistence, retrogradesto the
lowercondition of the inert senselessvegetable. And like this is the effectof
the body of death in the soul of man. The heart cleaves to the dust of the earth,
and man, made in the image of God, insteadof developing a higher and purer
nature, is reduced to the low, mean condition of the slave of Satan.
II. NONE BUT THOSE WHO HAVE ATTAINED TO SOME MEASURE OF
THE EXPERIENCE OF ST. PAUL CAN KNOW THE FULL
WRETCHEDNESS CAUSED BYTHIS BODYOF DEATH. The careless
have no idea of the agony of a soul under a sense ofsin; of the tyranny which
it exercises andthe misery which it works. And even in the experience of
many Christians there is but little of this peculiar wretchedness.Convictionis
in too many instances superficial, and a mere impulse or emotion is regarded

as a sign of conversion;and hence many are deluded by a false hope, having
little knowledge ofthe law of God or sensibility to the depravity of their own
hearts. But such was not the experience of St. Paul. The body of corruption
that he bore about with him darkened and embittered all his Christian
experience. And so it is with every true Christian. It is not the spectre of the
future, or the dread of the punishment of sin, that he fears, for there is no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus;but the spectre of the sinful
past and the pressure of the present evil nature. The sin which he fancied was
so superficial that a few years' running in the Christian course would shake it
off, he finds is in reality deep rooted in his very nature, requiring a life long
battle. The fearful foes which he bears in his own bosom — sins of
unrestrained appetite, sins that spring from past habits, frequently triumph
over him; and all this fills him almost with despair — not of God, but of
himself — and extorts from him the groan, "O wretchedman that I am!" etc.
III. THE EVIL TO BE CURED IS BEYOND HUMAN REMEDY. The
various influences that act upon us from without — instruction, example,
education, the discipline of life — cannot deliver us from this body of death.
IV. THE WORK IS CHRIST'S AND NOT MAN'S. We are to fight the battle
in His name and strength, and to leave the issue in His hands. He will deliver
us in His own way and time. Conclusion:We can reverse the illustration with
which I began. If behind our renewedself is the spectralform of our old self,
let us remember that behind all is the image of Godin which we were created.
The soul, howeverlost, darkened, and defaced, still retains some lineaments of
the Divine impression with which it was once stamped. The image haunts us
always;it is the ideal from which we have fallen and towards which we are to
be conformed. To rescue that image of God, the Son of God assumedour
nature, lived our life, and died our death; and His Spirit becomes incarnate in
our heart and life, and prolongs the work of Christ in us in His own
sanctifying work. And as our nature becomes more and more like Christ's, so
by degrees the old nature photographed by sin upon the soul will ceaseto
haunt us, and the image of Christ will become more and more vivid. And at
length only one image will remain. We shall see Him as He is, and we shall
become like Him.

(H. Macmillan, LL. D.)
The body becoming a secondpersonality
D. Thomas, D. D.
The writer represents himself as having two personalities — the inner man,
and the outer man, i.e., the body. A word or two about the human body.
I. IT IS IN THE UNREGENERATE MAN A PERSONALITY. "I am
carnal," that is, I am become flesh. This is an abnormal, a guilty, and a
perilous fact. The right place of the body is that of the organ, which the mind
should use for its own high purpose. But this, through the pampering of its
own senses,and through the creationof new desires and appetites, becomes
such a powerover man that Paul represents it as a personality, the thing
becomes anego.
II. AS A PERSONALITYIT BECOMESA TYRANT. It is representedin this
chapter as a personality that enslaves, slays, destroys the soul, the inner man.
It is a "body of death." It drags the soul to death When man becomes
conscious ofthis tyranny, as he does when the "commandment" flashes upon
the conscience,the soul becomes intensely miserable, and a fierce battle sets in
betweenthe two personalities in man. The man cries out, "What shall I do to
be saved?" "Who shall deliver me?"
III. AS A TYRANT IT CAN ONLY BE CRUSHED BY CHRIST. In the fierce
battle Christ came to the rescue, and struck the tyrant down. In this Epistle
the writer shows that man struggled to deliver himself —
1. Under the teachings ofnature, but failed (see chap. Romans 1). He became
more enslavedin materialism.
2. Under the influence of Judaism, but failed. By the deeds of the law no man
was justified or made right. Under Judaism men filled up the measure of their
iniquities. Who, or what, then, could deliver? No philosophers, poets, or
teachers. Only one. "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ."

(D. Thomas, D. D.)
The body of death
R. H. Story, D. D.
1. St. Paul was not thinking with any fear of death. Indeed, toil worn and
heart weariedas he was, he often would have been glad, had it been the Lord's
will. There was something that to a mind like Paul's was worse than death. It
was the dominion of the carnalnature which strove to overrule the spiritual.
The body of sin was to him "the body of death." Who should deliver him from
it?
2. Now, is the feeling from which such a cry as Paul's proceeds a realand
noble feeling, or is it the mere outcry of ignorance and superstition? There are
not wanting those who would say the latter. "Why trouble ourselves," says
one of these apostles ofthe new religionof science,"aboutmatters of which,
howeverimportant they may be, we do know nothing, and can know nothing?
We live in a world full of misery and ignorance;and the plain duty of each
and all of us is to try and make the little corner he can influence somewhat
less miserable and ignorant. To do this effectually, it is necessaryto be
possessedof only two beliefs; that we can learn much of the order of nature;
and that our own will has a considerable influence on the course of events."
That is all that we need attend to. Any idea of God and a moral law belongs to
cloudland. But is there not an instinct within us which rebels againstthis cool
setting aside of everything that cannotbe seenor handled? And is that instinct
a low one? or is it the instinct of minds that come nearestto Divine?
3. Which is the higher type of man — which do you feel has gotthe firmer
grip of the realities of life — the man calmly bending over the facts of outward
nature, and striving to secure, as far as he can, conformity to them: or, the
man, like Paul, believing that there was a moral law of which he had fallen
short, a Divine order with which he was not in harmony — goodand evil, light
and darkness, Godand the devil, being to him tremendous realities — his soul
being the battlefield of a warbetweenthem, in the agonyand shock of which

conflict he is constrainedto cry out for a higher than human help? I should
say the man in the storm and stress of the spiritual battle; and I should say
that to deny the reality of the sense ofsuch a conflict was to deny facts which
are as obvious to the spiritual intelligence as the fact that two and two make
four is to the ordinary reason, and was to malign facts which are much higher
and nobler than any mere fact of science, as the life of man is higher and
nobler than the life of rocks orseas.
4. Minds wholly engrossedwith intellectual or selfish pursuits may be
unconscious ofthis conflict, and disbelieve its existence in other minds. So
may minds that have reachedthat stage which the apostle describes as "dead
in sin"; but to other minds, minds within which consciencestilllives, within
which exclusive devotion to one thought or interest has not obliterated every
other, this conflictis a stern reality. Who that has lived a life with any
spiritual element in it, and higher than the mere animal's or worldling's, has
not knownthat consciousness, andknown its terror and power of darkness
when it was roused into active life? it is of this consciousnessPaulspeaks.
Under the pressure of it he cries out, "Who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?"
5. And what answerdoes he find to that cry? Does the order of nature, or the
powers of his own will help him here? Does not the very sight of the unbroken
calm and steadfastregularity of the law and order of external nature add new
bitterness to the conviction that he has forgottena higher law and disturbed a
still more gracious order? Is not the very conviction of the weaknessofhis
own will one of the most terrible elements in his distress? Speak to a man
under this consciousnessofthe powerof sin about finding help to resist,
through studying the laws of that nature of which he is himself a part, and
through exercising that will, whose feeblenessappalls him, and you mock him,
as if you spoke to a man in a raging fever of the necessityof studying his own
temperament and constitution, and of the duty of keeping himself cool. What
is wanted in either case is help from some source ofenergy outside himself,
who should restore the wastedstrengthfrom his own fountains of life — who
should sayto the internal conflict, "Peace, be still." And that is what Paul
found in Christ. He found it nowhere else. It is not to be found in knowledge,
in science, in philosophy, in nature, in culture, in self.

6. Now, how did Paul find this in Christ? How may all find it? He was
speaking about something infinitely more terrible than the punishment of sin,
viz., the dominion of sin. What he wanted was an actualdeliverance from an
actualfoe — not a promise of exemption from some future evil. And it was
this that Paul realisedin Christ. To him to live was Christ. The presence and
the powerof Christ possessedhim. It was in this he found the strength which
gave him the victory over the body of death. He found that strength in the
consciousnessthathe was not a lonely soldier, fighting againstan
overpowering enemy, and in the dark, but that One was with him who had
come from heaven itself to reveal to him that God was on his side, that he was
fighting God's battle, that the struggle was neededfor his perfecting as the
child of God. It was in the strength of this that he was able to give thanks for
his deliverance from the "body of death."
7. The consciousnessofthis struggle, the engagementin it in the strength of
Christ, the victory of the higher over the lower, are in all the necessary
conditions of spiritual health and continued life. To deny the reality of that
conflict, and of the Divine life for which it prepares us, does not prove that
these are not real and true. I take a man who does not know the "Old
Hundredth" from "God Save the Queen," and play him a piece of the
sweetestmusic, and he says there is no harmony in it. I show a man who is
colourblind two beautifully contrastedtints, and he sees but one dull hue: but
still the music and the beauty of the colours exist, though not for him, not for
the incapable ear and the undiscerning eye. So with the spiritual life. It is for
the spiritual.
(R. H. Story, D. D.)
The body of death
E. Woods.
In Virgil there is an accountof an ancient king, who was so unnaturally cruel
in his punishments, that he used to chain a dead man to a living one. It was
impossible for the poor wretchto separate himself from his disgusting burden.

The carcasewas bound fast to his body, its hands to his hands, its face to his
face, its lips to his lips; it lay down and rose up whenever he did; it moved
about with him whithersoeverhe went, till the welcome moment when death
came to his relief. And many suppose that it was in reference to this that Paul
cried out: "O wretchedman that I am!" etc. Whether this be so or not, sin is a
body of death, which we all carry about with us. And while I do not wish to
shock your taste, yet I do wish to give you some impression of the unclean,
impure, offensive nature of sin. And think — if our souls are polluted with
such a stain — oh! think what we must be in the eyes of that God in whose
sight the very heavens are not clean, and who charges His angels with folly.
(E. Woods.)
The body of death
Doddridge thus paraphrases the latter half of this verse: "Who shall rescue
me, miserable captive as I am, from the body of this death, from this
continued burden which I carry about with me, and which is cumbersome and
odious as a dead carcasetiedto a living body, to be draggedalong with it
whereverit goes?"He adds in a note: "It is wellknown that some ancient
writers mention this as a cruelty practised by some tyrants upon miserable
captives who felt into their hands; and a more forcible and expressive image
of the sadcase representedcannotsurely enter into the mind of man." "Of
this atrocious practice one of the most remarkable instances is that mentioned
by Virgil when describing the tyrannous conduct of Mezentius: —
The living and the dead at his command
Were coupled, face to face, and hand to hand;
Till, chokedwith stench, in loathed embraces tied,
The lingering wretches pined awayand died. — (Dryden.)Doddridge is not by
any means singular in his opinion that the apostle derives an allusion from
this horrid punishment; although perhaps the text is sufficiently intelligible
without the illustration it thus receives. Philo, in an analogous passage, more

obviously alludes to it, describing the body as a burden to the soul, carried
about like a dead carcase, whichmay not till death be laid aside." (Kitto.)
During the reign of Richard I, the following curious law was enactedfor the
government of those going by sea to the Holy Land — "He who kills a man on
shipboard shall be bound to the dead body and thrown into the sea;if a man
be killed on shore the slayershall be bound to the dead body and buried with
it."
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ the Deliverer
H. Ward Beecher.
I. MAN'S NEED.
1. While man is, in specialorgans, inferior to one and anotherof the animals,
he is collectivelyby far the superior of everyone. And yet, large as he is, man
is not happy in any proportion to his nature, and to the hints and fore gleams
which that nature gives. He has, in being clothed with flesh, all the points of
contactwith the physical world that the ox or the falcon has. He is born; he
grows up with all the instincts and passions ofanimal life, and without them
he could not maintain his foothold upon the earth. But man is also a creature
of affections, which, in variety, compass and force, leave the lower creationin
a vivid contrast. He is endowed with reason, moralsentiment and spiritual
life; but he has learned but very imperfectly how to carry himself so that
every part of his nature shall have fair play. The animal propensities are
predominant. Here, then, begins the conflictbetweenman's physical life and
his moral life — the strife of gentleness,purity, joy, peace, and faith, against
selfishness, pride, and appetites of various kinds.
2. To all souls that have been raisedto their true life the struggle has been
always severe. To have the powerover our whole organisationwithout a
despotism of our animal and selfishnature is the problem of practicallife.
How can I maintain the fulness of every part, and yet have harmony and
relative subordination, so that the appetites shall serve the body, and the

affections not be draggeddown by the appetites;so that the moral sentiments
and the reasonshall shine clearand beautiful?
II. WHAT REMEDIESHAVE PROPOSED!
1. To give way to that which is strongest, has been one specialmethod of
settling the conflict. Kill the higher feelings and then let the lowerones romp
and riot like animals in a field — this gives a brilliant opening to life; but it
gives a dismal close to it. Forwhat is more hideous than a sullen old man
burnt out with evil? When I see men suppressing all qualms, and going into
the full enjoyment of sensuous life, I think of a party entering the Mammoth
Cave with candles enough to bring them back, but setting them all on fire at
once. The world is a cave. They that burn out all their powers and passions in
the beginning of life at last wander in greatdarkness, and lie down to mourn
and die.
2. Another remedy has been in superstition. Men have sought to coverthis
conflict, rather than to heal it.
3. Others have compromised by morality. But this, which is an average of
man's conduct with the customs and laws of the time in which he lives, comes
nowhere near touching that radical conflict which there is betweenthe flesh
and the spirit.
4. Then comes philosophy, and deals with it in two ways. It propounds to men
maxims and wise rules. It expounds the benefit of good, and the evils of bad
conduct. And then it proposes certainrules of doing what we cannothelp, and
of suffering what we cannot throw off. And it is all very well. So is rosewater
where a man is wounded unto death. It is not less fragrantbecause it is not
remedial; but if regardedas a remedy, how poor it is!
5. Then comes scientific empiricism, and prescribes the observance ofnatural
laws;but how many men in life know these laws? How many men are so
placed that if they did know them, they would be able to use them? You might
as well take a babe of days, and place a medicine chestbefore it, and say,
"Rise, and selectthe right medicine, and you shall live."

III. What, then, is the final remedy? WHAT DOES CHRISTIANITY OFFER
IN THIS CASE?
1. It undertakes to so bring God within the reachof every being in the world,
that He shall exert a controlling power on the spiritual realms of man's
nature, and, by giving powerto it, overbalance and overbearthe despotismof
the radicalpassions and appetites. There is a story of a missionary who was
sent out to preachthe gospelto the slaves;but he found that they went forth
so early, and came back so late, and were so spent, that they could not hear.
There was nobody to preach to them unless he should accompanythem in
their labour. So he went and sold himself to their master, who put him in the
gang with them. For the privilege of going out with these slaves, and making
them feel that he loved them, and would benefit them, he workedwith them,
and suffered with them; and while they worked, he taught; and as they came
back he taught; and he won their ear; and the grace of God sprang up in
many of these darkenedhearts. That is the story over againof God manifest
in the flesh.
2. Many things can be done under personalinfluence that you cannot in any
other way. My father said to me, when I was a little boy, "Henry, take these
letters to the post office." I was a brave boy; yet I had imagination. I saw
behind every thicket some shadowyform; and I heard trees say strange and
weird things; and in the dark concave above I could hear flitting spirits. As I
stepped out of the door, Charles Smith, a greatthick-lipped black man, who
was always doing kind things, said, "I will go with you." Oh! sweetermusic
never came out of any instrument than that. The heaven was just as full, and
the earth was just as full as before; but now I had somebody to go with me. It
was not that I thought he was going to fight for me. But I had somebodyto
succourme. Let anything be done by direction and how different it is from its
being done by personalinspiration. "Ah! are the Zebedees, then, so poor?
John, take a quarter of beef and carry it down, with my compliments. No,
stop; fill up that chest, put in those cordials, lay them on the cart, and bring it
round, and I will drive down myself." DownI go;and on entering the house I
hold out both hands, and say, "Why, my old friend, I am glad I found you out.
I understand the world has gone hard with you. I came down to saythat you
have one friend, at any rate. Now do not be discouraged;keepup a good

heart." And when I am gone, the man wipes his eyes, and says, "Godknows
that that man's shaking my hands gave me more joy than all that he brought.
It was himself that I wanted." The old prophet, when he went into the house
where the widow's son lay dead, put his hands on the child's hands, and
stretchedhimself across the child's body, and the spirit of life came back. Oh,
if, when men are in trouble, there were some man to measure his whole
stature againstthem, and give them the warmth of his sympathy, how many
would be saved!That is the philosophy of salvationthrough Christ — a great
soul come down to take care of little souls; a greatheart beating its warm
blood into our little pinched hearts, that do not know how to get blood enough
for themselves. It is this that gives my upper nature strength, and hope, and
elasticity, and victory.Conclusion:We learn —
1. What is a man's depravity. When you saythat an army is destroyed, you do
not mean that everybody is killed; but that, as an army, its complex
organisationis broken up. To spoil a watchyou do not need to grind it to
powder. Take outthe mainspring. "Well, the pointers are not useless."
Perhaps not for another watch. "There are a great many wheels inside that
are not injured." Yes, but what are wheels worth in a watchthat has no
mainspring? What spoils a compass? Anything which unfits it for doing what
it was intended to do. Now, here is this complex organisationofman. The
royalties of the soul are all mixed up. Where conscienceoughtto be is pride.
Where love ought to be is selfishness. Its sympathy and harmony are gone. It
is not necessarythat a man should be all bad to be ruined. Man has lostthat
harmony which belongs to a perfectorganisation. And so he lives to struggle.
And the struggle through which he is passing is the cause ofhuman woe.
2. Why it is that the divinity of Christ becomes so important in the
development of a truly Christian life. As a living man, having had the
experiences ofmy own soul, and having been conversantwith the experiences
of others, what I want is power. And that is what they lack who deny the
Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. God can cleanse the heart. Man cannot.
And that God whom we canunderstand is the God that walkedin Jerusalem,
that suffered upon Calvary, and that lives again, having lifted Himself up into
eternal spheres of power, that He might bring many sons and daughters home
to Zion.

(H. Ward Beecher.)
The believer's gratitude to God through Christ
J. Stafford.
I. SOULS GROANING UNDER THE BODY OF SIN AND DEATH CAN
FIND NO RELIEF BUT THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. None but an almighty
Saviour is suited to the case ofa poor sinner. This doctrine reproves the
Church of Rome, and others, for directing men, not to Christ, but to
themselves;to their vows, alms, penances, andpilgrimages; or, to their
greaterwatchfulness and strictness in life. But as Luther observes, "How
many have tried this way for many years, and yet could get no peace." Now,
what is there in Christ that can relieve a soul?
1. The blood of Christ, which was shedas an atoning sacrifice forsin.
2. A perfectand everlasting righteousness. This our apostle, doubtless, had in
view: for he immediately adds (Romans 8:1). "Christ is made unto us of God,
wisdom and righteousness."
3. The Spirit of Christ which is given to all true believers, as an abiding
principle, teaching them to fight and war with sin.
II. THAT SOULS THUS EXERCISED, FINDINGRELIEF ONLY IN
CHRIST, WILL ACTUALLY RECEIVE AND EMBRACE HIM. None will
receive Christ, but they only who are taught to see their need of Him.
III. THEY, WHO SEE THIS RELIEF IN CHRIST, WHO RECEIVE AND
EMBRACE IT, MUST AND WILL GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR IT. The
angels, those disinterestedspirits, bringing the joyful news to our apostate
world, sung, "Gloryto God in the highest, for peace on earth, and goodwill
towards men." And surely, if we who are redeemedto God by His blood,
should hold our peace on so joyful an occasion, "the stones would immediately
cry out."

IV. ALL THOSE WHO HAVE RECEIVED CHRIST, AND HAVE GIVEN
THANKS TO GOD FOR HIM, WILL LOOK UPON HIM AS THEIR LORD
AND THEIR GOD.
(J. Stafford.)
Nothing can equal the gospel
T. De Witt Talmage.
There is nothing proposed by men that can do anything like this gospel. The
religion of Ralph Waldo Emersonis the philosophy of icicles;the religion of
Theodore Parkerwas a sirocco ofthe desert covering up the soul with dry
sand; the religion of Renanis the romance of believing nothing; the religionof
Thomas Carlyle is only a condensedLondon fog;the religion of the Huxleys
and the Spencers is merely a pedestalon which human philosophy sits
shivering in the night of the soul, looking up to the stars, offering no help to
the nations that crouch and groanat the base. Tellme where there is one man
who has rejectedthat gospelfor another, who is thoroughly satisfied, and
helped, and contented in his scepticism, and I will take the ear tomorrow and
ride five hundred miles to see him.
(T. De Witt Talmage.)
Victory through Christ
T. Oliver., J. Lyth, D. D.
I can wellremember a portion of a sermon which I heard when I was only five
years of age. I recollectthe castof the preacher's features, the colourof his
hair, and the tone of his voice. He had been an officerin the army, and was in
attendance on the Duke of Wellington during the greatbattle of Waterloo.
That portion of the sermonwhich I canso well remember was a graphic
description of the conflictwhich some pious souls have experiencedwith the
powers of darkness before their final victory over the fear of death. He

illustrated it by drawing in simple words a vivid descriptionof the battle at
Waterloo. He told us of the cooland stern nature of the "Iron Duke," who
seldom manifested any emotion. But the moments came when the Duke was
lifted out of his stern rut. For a short time the English troops wavered, and
showedsigns of weakness, whenthe Duke anxiously exclaimed, "I would to
God that Blucher or the night had come!" After a while a column of the
French was driven before the English guards, and another column was routed
by a bayonet charge of an Englishbrigade. Wellington then calculatedhow
long it would take to complete the triumph. Taking from his pockethis gold
watch, he exclaimed, "Twentyminutes more, and then victory!" When the
twenty minutes had passedthe Frenchwere completely vanquished. Then the
Duke, againtaking out his watch, held it by the short chain, and swung it
around his head again and again. while he shouted, "Victory! Victory!" the
watchflew out of his hand, but he regarded gold as only dust comparedwith
the final triumph. This graphic description made a powerful impressionon
my childish mind. Young as I was, I at once saw the aptness of the illustration.
I often dreamt about it, and told other lads the story. When I was a weeping
penitent, praying for pardon, and struggling with unbelief, the scene of
Waterloo came before me; but the moment the light of the Saviour's smile fell
upon my heart, I instinctively sprang to my feet and shouted, "Victory!
Victory!" Many times, since I have been exclusivelyengagedin conducting
specialservices, my memory has brought before me the preacherand the part
of the sermon which I heard when I was only five years of age, and this has
had its influence on me in my addresses to both old and young.
(T. Oliver.)
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law
of sin. —
I. OF WHOM DOES THE APOSTLE SPEAK? Of those —
1. Who are enlightened.
2. But still under the law.
II. WHAT DOES HE AFFIRM RESPECTING THEM?

1. That they naturally approve the law.
2. Yet serve sire
III. WHAT IS THE NECESSARYCONCLUSION?
1. That there is no deliverance by the law, or by personaleffort.
2. But by Christ only.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
Believers serve the law of God
J. Stafford.
I. THE LIFE OF A BELIEVER IS CHIEFLY TAKEN UP IN SERVING
THE LAW OF GOD. For this end the law is written upon his heart, and,
therefore, he serves God with his spirit, or with his renewedmind. His whole
man, all that can be calledhimself, is employed in a life of evangelicaland
universal obedience.
II. THE BELIEVER MAY MEET WITH MANY INTERRUPTIONSWHILE
HE IS AIMING TO SERVE THE LAW OF GOD. "With my flesh the law of
sin."
1. Had our apostle contentedhimself with the former part of this declaration,
it would doubtless have been matter of greatdiscouragementto the children
of God. But when we find that the apostle himself confessethhis weakness and
imperfection, whose heart would not take courage, andgo forth more boldly
to the conflict than ever?
2. After all the encouragementaffordedto the mind of a believer, yet this is a
very humbling subject. We may learn hence, how deeply sin is inwrought in
our nature.
III. ALTHOUGH THE BELIEVER MEETS WITH MANY
INTERRUPTIONS,YET HE HOLDS ON SERVING THE LAW OF GOD,
EVEN WHEN HE IS DELIVERED FROM ALL CONDEMNATION.I

ground this observationon the close connectionin which these words stand
with the first verse of the next chapter. They are delivered from
condemnation, and yet they serve the law of God, because they are delivered.
(J. Stafford.).
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(25) It has been released. Itis Jesus ourLord to whom the thanks and praise
are due. Though without His intervention there can only be a divided service.
The mere human selfserves with the mind the law of God, with the flesh the
law of sin.
I myself.—Apart from and in oppositionto the help which I derive from
Christ.
The abrupt and pregnant style by which, instead of answering the question,
“Where is deliverance to come from?” the Apostle simply returns thanks for
the deliverance that has actually been vouchsafedto him, is thoroughly in
harmony with the impassionedpersonalcharacterof the whole passage. These
are not abstractquestions to be decided in abstractterms, but they are
matters of intimate personalexperience.
The deliverance wrought by Christ is apparently here that of sanctification
rather than of justification. It is from the domination of the body, from the
impulses of sense, that the Christian is freed, and that is done when he is
crucified to them with Christ.
BensonCommentary

Romans 7:25. I thank God, &c. — As if he had said, I bemoan myself as
above, when I think only of the Mosaic law, the discoveries it makes, the
motives it suggests, andthe circumstances in which it leaves the offender: but
in the midst of this gloomof distress and anguish, a sight of the gospelrevives
my heart, and I cry out, as in a kind of rapture, as soonas I turn my eyes, and
behold the display of mercy and grace made in it, I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord — The Clermont and some other copies, with the Vulgate,
read here, χαρις του θεου, the grace ofGod, namely, will deliver me. But the
common reading, being supported by almost all the ancient manuscripts, and
the Syriac version, is to be preferred; especiallyas it contains an ellipsis,
which, if supplied, according to the apostle’s manner, from the foregoing
sentence, willgive even a better sense than the Clermont reading, thus: Who
will deliver me? I thank God, who will deliver me, through Jesus Christ. See
on Romans 8:2. Thus the apostle beautifully interweaves his complaints with
thanksgiving; the hymn of praise answering to the voice of sorrow, Wretched
man that I am! So then — He here sums up the whole, and concludes whathe
had begun, Romans 7:7. I myself — Or rather, that I, (the man whom I am
personating,)serve the law of God — The moral law; with my mind — With
my reasonand conscience, whichdeclare for God; but with my flesh the law
of sin — But my corrupt passions and appetites still rebel, and, prevailing,
employ the outward man in gratifying them, in opposition to the
remonstrances ofmy higher powers.
On the whole of this passage we may observe, in the words of Mr. Fletcher,
“To take a scripture out of the context, is often like taking the stone which
binds an arch out of its place:you know not what to make of it. Nay, you may
put it to a use quite contrary to that for which it was intended. This those do
who so take Romans 7. out of its connectionwith Romans 6:8., as to make it
mean the very reverse of what the apostle designed. In Romans 5:6., and in
the beginning of the seventh chapter, he describes the glorious liberty of the
children of God under the Christian dispensation. And as a skilful painter
puts shades in his pictures, to heighten the effectof the lights; so the judicious
apostle introduces, in the latter part of chap. 7., a lively descriptionof the
domineering power of sin, and of the intolerable burden of guilt; a burden this

which he had so severelyfelt, when the convincing Spirit chargedsin home
upon his conscience,afterhe had broken his good resolutions;but especially
during the three days of his blindness and fasting at Damascus. Thenhe
groaned, O wretchedman that I am, &c., hanging night and day between
despair and hope, betweenunbelief and faith, betweenbondage and freedom,
till God brought him into Christian liberty by the ministry of Ananias; — of
this liberty the apostle gives us a further and fuller accountin chapter eight.
Therefore the description of the man who [unacquainted with the gospel]
groans under the galling yoke of sin, is brought in merely by contrast, to set
off the amazing difference there is betweenthe bondage of sin, and the liberty
of gospelholiness:just as the generals who enteredRome in triumph, used to
make a show of the prince whom they had conquered. On such occasions, the
conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot crownedwith laurel; while the captive
king followedhim on foot, loadedwith chains, and making, next to the
conqueror, the most striking part of the show. Now, if, in a Roman triumph,
some of the spectators hadtaken the chained king on foot, for the victorious
generalin the chariot, because the one immediately followedthe other, they
would have been guilty of a mistake not unlike that of those who take the
carnalJew, sold under sin, and groaning as he goes along, forthe Christian
believer, who walks in the Spirit, exults in the liberty of God’s children, and
always triumphs in Christ. See Fletcher’s Works, vol. 4., Amer. edit, pp. 336,
337.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
7:23-25 This passagedoes notrepresent the apostle as one that walkedafter
the flesh, but as one that had it greatlyat heart, not to walk so. And if there
are those who abuse this passage, as theyalso do the other Scriptures, to their
own destruction, yet serious Christians find cause to bless God for having thus
provided for their support and comfort. We are not, because ofthe abuse of
such as are blinded by their own lusts, to find fault with the scripture, or any
just and wellwarranted interpretation of it. And no man who is not engaged
in this conflict, can clearly understand the meaning of these words, or rightly
judge concerning this painful conflict, which led the apostle to bemoanhimself
as a wretched man, constrainedto what he abhorred. He could not deliver
himself; and this made him the more fervently thank God for the way of

salvationrevealedthrough Jesus Christ, which promised him, in the end,
deliverance from this enemy. So then, says he, I myself, with my mind, my
prevailing judgement, affections, and purposes, as a regenerate man, by
Divine grace, serve andobey the law of God; but with the flesh, the carnal
nature, the remains of depravity, I serve the law of sin, which wars againstthe
law of my mind. Not serving it so as to live in it, or to allow it, but as unable to
free himself from it, even in his very best state, and needing to look for help
and deliverance out of himself. It is evident that he thanks God for Christ, as
our deliverer, as our atonementand righteousness in himself, and not because
of any holiness wrought in us. He knew of no such salvation, and disowned
any such title to it. He was willing to actin all points agreeable to the law, in
his mind and conscience, but was hindered by indwelling sin, and never
attained the perfectionthe law requires. What can be deliverance for a man
always sinful, but the free grace ofGod, as offered in Christ Jesus? The power
of Divine grace, andof the Holy Spirit, could rootout sin from our hearts even
in this life, if Divine wisdom had not otherwise thought fit. But it is suffered,
that Christians might constantly feel, and understand thoroughly, the
wretchedstate from which Divine grace saves them; might be kept from
trusting in themselves;and might ever hold all their consolationand hope,
from the rich and free grace ofGod in Christ.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
I thank God - That is, I thank God for effecting a deliverance to which I am
myself incompetent. There is a way of rescue, and I trace it altogetherto his
mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. What consciencecouldnot do, what the Law
could not do, what unaided human strength could not do, has been
accomplishedby the plan of the gospel;and complete deliverance can be
expectedthere, and there alone. This is the point to which all his reasoning
had tended; and having thus shown that the Law was insufficient to effectthis
deliverance. he is now prepared to utter the language of Christian
thankfulness that it can be effectedby the gospel. The superiority of the gospel
to the Law in overcoming all the evils under which man labors, is thus
triumphantly established;compare 1 Corinthians 15:57.
So then - As the result of the whole inquiry we have come to this conclusion.

With the mind - With the understanding, the conscience,the purposes, or
intentions of the soul. This is a characteristic ofthe renewednature. Of no
impenitent sinner could it be ever affirmed that with his mind he servedthe
Law of God.
I myself - It is still the same person, though acting in this apparently
contradictory manner.
Serve the law of God - Do honor to it as a just and holy law Romans 7:12,
Romans 7:16, and am inclined to obey it, Romans 7:22, Romans 7:24.
But with the flesh - The corrupt propensities and lusts, Romans 7:18,
The law of sin - That is, in the members. The flesh throughout, in all its native
propensities and passions, leads to sin; it has no tendency to holiness; and its
corruptions can be overcome only by the grace of God. We have thus,
(1) A view of the sad and painful conflictbetweensin and God. They are
opposedin all things.
(2) we see the raging, withering effectof sin on the soul. In all circumstances it
tends to death and woe.
(3) we see the feebleness ofthe Law and of conscienceto overcome this. The
tendency of both is to produce conflict and woe. And,
(4) We see that the gospelonly can overcome sin. To us it should be a subject
of everincreasing thankfulness, that what could not be accomplishedby the
Law, canbe thus effectedby the gospel;and that God has devised a plan that
thus effects complete deliverance, and which gives to the captive in sin an
everlasting triumph.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
25. I thank God—the Source.
through Jesus Christ—the Channel of deliverance.
So then—to sum up the whole matter.
with the mind—the mind indeed.

I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin—"Suchthen is
the unchanging characterofthese two principles within me. God's holy law is
dear to my renewedmind, and has the willing service of my new man;
although that corrupt nature which still remains in me listens to the dictates
of sin."
Note, (1) This whole chapter was of essentialservice to the Reformers in their
contendings with the Church of Rome. When the divines of that corrupt
church, in a Pelagianspirit, denied that the sinful principle in our fallen
nature, which they called"Concupiscence," andwhich is commonly called
"OriginalSin," had the nature of sin at all, they were triumphantly answered
from this chapter, where—both in the first sectionof it, which speaks ofit in
the unregenerate, andin the second, which treats of its presence and actings in
believers—itis explicitly, emphatically, and repeatedly called"sin." As such,
they held it to be damnable. (See the Confessions bothof the Lutheran and
Reformed churches). In the following century, the orthodox in Holland had
the same controversyto wage with "the Remonstrants" (the followers of
Arminius), and they wagedit on the field of this chapter. (2) Here we see that
Inability is consistentwith Accountability. (See Ro 7:18; Ga 5:17). "As the
Scriptures constantlyrecognize the truth of these two things, so are they
constantly united in Christian experience. Everyone feels that he cannotdo
the things that he would, yet is sensible that he is guilty for not doing them.
Let any man test his power by the requisition to love God perfectly at all
times. Alas! how entire our inability! Yet how deep our self-loathing and self-
condemnation!" [Hodge]. (3) If the first sight of the Cross by the eye of faith
kindles feelings never to be forgotten, and in one sense never to be repeated—
like the first view of an enchanting landscape—the experimentaldiscovery, in
the latter stagesofthe Christian life, of its power to beat down and mortify
inveterate corruption, to cleanse and heal from long-continued backslidings
and frightful inconsistencies, andso to triumph over all that threatens to
destroy those for whom Christ died, as to bring them safe over the
tempestuous seas ofthis life into the haven of eternalrest—is attended with
yet more heart—affecting wonderdraws forth deeper thankfulness, and issues
in more exalted adoration of Him whose work Salvationis from first to last
(Ro 7:24, 25). (4) It is sad when such topics as these are handled as mere

questions of biblical interpretation or systematic theology. Our greatapostle
could not treat of them apart from personalexperience, ofwhich the facts of
his ownlife and the feelings of his own soul furnished him with illustrations as
lively as they were apposite. When one is unable to go far into the
investigationof indwelling sin, without breaking out into an, "O wretched
man that I am!" and cannotenter on the way of relief without exclaiming "I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord," he will find his meditations rich
in fruit to his own soul, and may expect, through Him who presides in all such
matters, to kindle in his readers or hearers the like blessedemotions (Ro 7:24,
25). So be it even now, O Lord!
Matthew Poole's Commentary
I thank God; who hath already delivered me from the slaveryand dominion
of sin; so that though it wars againstme, I still resistit, and, by the strength of
Christ, do frequently overcome it, 1 Corinthians 15:57.
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law
of sin: this is the conclusionthe apostle makethof this experimental discourse.
q.d. So far as I am renewed, I yield obedience to the law of God; and so far as
I am unregenerate, I obey the dictates and suggestions ofthe law of sin.
Objection. No man canserve two contrary masters.
Answer. The apostle did not serve these two in the same part, or the same
renewedfaculty; nor did he do it at the same time, ordinarily; and for the
most part he served the law of God, though sometimes, through the powerof
temptation and indwelling corruption, he was enforced, againsthis will, to
serve the law of sin.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord,.... There is a different reading of
this passage;some copies read, and so the Vulgate Latin version, thus, "the
grace ofGod, through Jesus Christ our Lord"; which may be consideredas
an answerto the apostle's earnestrequestfor deliverance, "who shall deliver
me?" the grace ofGod shall deliver me. The grace ofGod the Father, which is
communicated through Christ the Mediatorby the Spirit, the law of the Spirit
of life which is in Christ, the principle of grace formed in the soulby the Spirit
of God, which reigns in the believer as a governing principle, through
righteousness unto eternallife, will in the issue deliver from indwelling sin,
and all the effects ofit: but the more generalreading is, "thanks be to God",
or "I thank God";the objectof thanksgiving is God, as the Fatherof Christ,
and the God of all grace:the medium of it is Christ as Mediator, through
whom only we have access to God; without him we canneither pray to him,
nor praise him aright; our sacrifices ofpraise are only acceptable to God,
through Christ; and as all our mercies come to us through him, it is but right
and fitting that our thanksgivings should pass the same way: the thing for
which thanks is given is not expressed, but is implied, and is deliverance;
either past, as from the powerof Satan, the dominion of sin, the curse of the
law, the evil of the world, and from the hands of all spiritual enemies, so as to
endangereverlasting happiness; or rather, future deliverance, from the very
being of sin: which shows, that at present, and whilst in this life, saints are not
free from it; that it is God only that must, and will deliver from it; and that
through Christ his Son, through whom we have victory over every enemy, sin,
Satan, law, and death; and this shows the apostle's sure and certain faith and
hope of this matter, who concludes his discourse on this head thus:
so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law
of sin; observe, he says, "I myself", and not another; whence it is clear, he
does not representanother man in this discourse ofhis; for this is a phrase
used by him, when he cannot possibly be understood of any other but himself;
see Romans 9:3; he divides himself as it were into two parts, the mind, by
which he means his inward man, his renewedself; and "the flesh", by which
he designs his carnalI, that was soldunder sin: and hereby he accounts for his
serving, at different times, two different laws;"the law of God", written on
his mind, and in the service of which he delighted as a regenerate man; "and

the law of sin", to which he was sometimes carriedcaptive: and it should be
takennotice of, that he does not say "I have served", as referring to his past
state of unregeneracy, but "I serve", as respecting his present state as a
believer in Christ, made up of flesh and spirit; which as they are two different
principles, regard two different laws:add to all this, that this last accountthe
apostle gives of himself, and which agreeswith all he had saidbefore, and
confirms the whole, was delivered by him, after he had with so much faith and
fervency given thanks to God in a view of his future complete deliverance
from sin; which is a clinching argument and proof that he speaks ofhimself,
in this whole discourse concerning indwelling sin, as a regenerate person.
Geneva Study Bible
I {e} thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I {f}
myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
(e) He recovers himself, and shows us that he rests only in Christ.
(f) This is the true perfectionof those that are born again, to confess that they
are imperfect.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Romans 7:25. NotPaul himself for himself alone, but, as is shown by the
following ἄρα οὖν κ.τ.λ., the same collective “I” that the apostle has
personatedpreviously, speaks here also—expressing,afterthat anguish-cry of
longing, its feeling of deep thankfulness toward God that the longed-for
deliverance has actually come to it through Christ. There is not change of
person, but change of scene. Man, still unredeemed, has just been bewailing
his wretchednessout of Christ; now the same man is in Christ, and gives
thanks for the bliss that has come to him in the train of his cry for help.
εὐχαριστῶ τ. Θεῷ] Forwhat? is not expressed, quite after the manner of lively
emotion; but the question itself, Romans 7:24, and the διὰ Ἰ. Χ., prevent any
mistake regarding it.

διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ] αἰτίου ὄντος τῆς εὐχαριστίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ·αὐτὸς γὰρ,
φησὶ, κατώρθωσενἃ ὁ νόμος οὐκ ἠδυνήθη· αὐτός με ἐῤῥύσατο ἐκ τῆς
ἀσθενείας τοῦ σώματος, ἐνδυναμώσας αὐτὸ,ὥστε μηκέτι τυραννεῖσθαι ὑπὸ
τῆς ἁμαρτίας, Theophylact. Thus, to the apostle Christ is the mediator of his
thanks,—ofthe fact itself, however, that he gives thanks to God, not the
mediator through whom he brings his thanks to God (Hofmann). Comp. on
Romans 1:8; 1 Corinthians 15:57;Colossians 3:17;similar is ἐν ὀνόματι,
Ephesians 5:20.
ἄρα οὖν] infers a concluding summary of the chief contents of Romans 7:14-
24, from the immediately preceding εὐχαριστῶ.… ἡμῶν. Seeing, namely, that
there lies in the foregoing expressionofthanks the thought: “it is Jesus Christ,
through whom God has savedme from the body of this death,” it follows
thence, and that indeed on a retrospective glance atthe whole exposition,
Romans 7:14 ff., that the man himself, out of Christ—his own personality,
alone and confined to itself—achieves nothing further than that he serves,
indeed, with his νοῦς the law of God, but with his σάρξ is in the service of the
law of sin. It has often been assumedthat this recapitulationdoes not connect
itself with the previous thanksgiving, but that the latter is rather to be
regardedas a parentheticalinterruption (see especiallyRückertand
Fritzsche); indeed, it has even been conjecturedthat ἄρα οὖν.… ἁμαρτίας
originally stood immediately after Romans 7:23 (Venema, Wassenbergh, Keil,
Lachmann, Praef. p. X, and van Hengel). But the right sense of αὐτὸς ἐγώ is
thus misconceived. It has here no other meaning than I myself, in the sense,
namely, I for my own person, without that higher saving intervention, which I
owe to Christ. The contrastwith others, which ΑὐΤΌς with the personal
pronoun indicates (comp. Romans 9:3, Romans 15:14;Herm. ad Vig. p. 735;
Ast, Lex. Plat. I. p. 317), results always from the context, and is here evident
from the emphatic διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, and, indeed, so that the accentfalls on
ΑὐΤΌς. Overlooking this antithetic relation of the “I myself,” Pareus,
Homberg, Estius, and Wolf conceivedthat Paul wished to obviate the
misconceptionas if he were not speaking in the entire section, and from

Romans 7:14 onwards in particular, as a regenerate man; Köllner thinks that
his objectnow is to establishstill more strongly, by his own feeling, the truth
of what he has previously advancedin the name of humanity. Others explain:
“just I,” who have been previously the subject of discourse (Grotius, Reiche,
Tholuck, Krehl, Philippi, Maier, and van Hengel; comp. Fritzsche:“ipse ego,
qui meam vicem deploravi,” and Ewald); which is indeed linguistically
unobjectionable (Bernhardy, p. 290), but would furnish no adequate ground
for the specialemphasis which it would have. Others, again, taking αὐτός as
equivalent to ὁ αὐτός (see Schaefer, Melet. p. 65;Herm. ad Soph. Antig. 920,
Opusc. I. p. 332 f.; Dissenad Pind. p. 412):ego idem: “cui convenit sequens
distributio, qua videri possetunus homo in duos veluti secari,” Beza.So also
Erasmus, Castalio, andmany others;Klee and Rückert. But in this view also
the connectionof ἄρα οὖν κ.τ.λ. with the foregoing thanksgiving is arbitrarily
abandoned; and the above use of αὐτός, as synonymous with ὁ αὐτός, is
proper to Ionic poetry, and is not sanctionedby the N. T. OIshausen, indeed,
takes αὐτ. ἐγώ as I, the one and the same (have in me a twofold element), but
rejects the usual view, that ἄρα.… ἁμαρτίας is a recapitulationof Romans
7:14 ff., and makes the new sectionbegin with Romans 7:25; so that, after the
experience of redemption has been indicated by εὐχαριστῶ κ.τ.λ., the
completely alteredinner state of the man is now described; in which new state
the νοῦς appears as emancipatedand serving the law of God, and only the
lowersphere of the life as still remaining under the law of sin. But againstthis
view we may urge, firstly, that Paul would have expressedhimself
inaccuratelyin point of logic, since in that case he must have written: ἄρα οὖν
αὐτὸς ἐγὼ τῇ μὲν σαρκὶ δουλεύω νόμῷ ἁμαρτίας, τῷ δὲ νοῒ νόμῷ Θεοῦ;
secondly, that according to Romans 7:2-3; Romans 7:9 ff. the redeemed
person is entirely liberated from the law of sin; and lastly, that if the
redeemedperson remained subject to the law of sin with the σάρξ, Paul could
not have saidοὐδὲν κατάκριμακ.τ.λ. in Romans 7:1; for see Romans 7:7-9.
Umbreit takes it as: even I; a climactic sense, whichis neither suggestedby the
context, nor in keeping with the deep humility of the whole confession.
δουλεύω νόμῳ Θεοῦ] in so far as the desire and striving of my moral reason
(see on Romans 7:23) are directed solelyto the good, consequentlysubmitted

to the regulative standard of the divine law. At the same time, however, in
accordancewith the double character of my nature, I am subject with my
σάρξ (see on Romans 7:18) to the powerof sin, which preponderates (Romans
7:23), so that the direction of will in the νοῦς does not attain to the
κατεργάζεσθαι.
Remark 1. The mode in which we interpret Romans 7:14-25 is of decisive
importance for the relation betweenthe Church-doctrine of original sin, as
more exactly expressedin the Formula Concordiae, and the view of the
apostle;inasmuch as if in Romans 7:14 ff. it is the unredeemed man under the
law and its discipline, and not the regenerate manwho is under grace, that is
spokenof, then Paul affirms regarding the moral nature of the former and
concedes to it what the Church-doctrine decidedly denies to it—comparing it
(Form. Conc. p. 661 f.) with a stone, a block, a pillar of salt—in a way that
cannot be justified (in opposition to Frank, Theol. d. Concordienformel, I. p.
138 f.). Paul clearly ascribes to the higher powers of man (his reasonand
moral will) the assentto the law of God; while just as clearly, moreover, he
teaches the greatdisproportion in which these natural moral powers stand to
the predominance of the sinful power in the flesh, so that the liberum
arbitrium in spiritualibus is wanting to the natural man, and only emerges in
the case ofthe converted person(Romans 8:2). And this want of moral
freedom proceeds from the powerof sin, which is, according to Romans 7:8
ff., posited even with birth, and which asserts itselfin opposition to the divine
law.
Remark 2. How many a Jew in the presentday, earnestlyconcernedabout his
salvation, may, in relation to his law, feeland sigh just as Paul has here done;
only with this difference, that unlike Paul he cannot add the εὐχαριστῶ τῷ
Θεῷ κ.τ.λ.!
Expositor's Greek Testament

Romans 7:25. The exclamation of thanksgiving shows that the longed-for
deliverance has actually been achieved. The regenerate man’s ideal
contemplation of his pre-Christian state rises with sudden joy into a
declarationof his actualemancipation as a Christian. διὰ Ἰ. Χ. τοῦ Κυρίου
ἡμῶν Christ is regarded as the mediator through whom the thanksgiving
ascends to God, not as the author of the deliverance for which thanks are
given. With ἄρα οὖν αὐτὸς ἐγώ the Apostle introduces the conclusionof this
whole discussion. “So then I myself—that is, I, leaving Jesus Christ our Lord
out of the question—canget no further than this: with the mind, or in the
inner man, I serve a law of God (a Divine law), but with the flesh, or in my
actualoutward life, a law of sin.” We might say the law of God, or of sin; but
the absence ofthe definite article emphasises the characterof law. αὐτὸς ἐγὼ:
see 2 Corinthians 10:1; 2 Corinthians 12:13.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
25. I thank God] Here first light is let in; the light of hope. The “redemption of
the body” shall come. “He who raisedup Christ” shall make the “mortal
body” immortally sinless, and so complete the rescue and the bliss of the
whole man. See Romans 8:11.
through Jesus Christ our Lord] “In whom shall all be made alive” (1
Corinthians 15:22). He is the meritorious Cause, and the sacredPledge.
So then, &c.]The Gr. order is So then I myself with the mind indeed do
bondservice to the law of God, but with the flesh to the law of sin. On “the
mind” here, see note just above, last but one on Romans 7:23. On “the law of
sin” see secondnote ibidem.—“To do bondservice to the law of God,” and that
with “the mind,” can only describe the state of things when “the mind” is
“renewed” (Romans 12:2).—Whatis the reference of“I myself”? (for so we
must render, and not, as with some translators, “The same I”). In strict
grammar it belongs to both clauses;to the service with the mind and to that
with the flesh. But remembering how St. Paul has recently dwelt on the Ego as

“willing” to obey the will of God, it seems bestto throw the emphasis, (as we
certainly may do in practice,)on the first clause. Q. d., “In a certain sense, I
am in bondage both to God and to sin; but my true self, my now regenerate
‘mind,’ is God’s bondservant; it is my ‘old man,’ my flesh, that serves sin.”
The statementis thus nearly the same as that in Romans 7:17; Romans 7:20.
The Apostle thus sums up and closes this profound description of the state of
self, even when regenerate, in view of the full demand of the sacredLaw. He
speaks, letus note again, as one whose very light and progress in Divine life
has given him an intense perceptionof sin as sin, and who therefore sees in the
faintest deviation an extent of pain, failure, and bondage, which the soul
before grace could not see in sin at all. He looks (Romans 7:25, init.) for
complete future deliverance from this pain; but it is a real pain now. And he
has describedit mainly with the view of emphasizing both the holiness of the
Law, and the fact that its function is, not to subdue sin, but to detect and
condemn it. In the golden passagesnow to follow, he sooncomes to the Agency
which is to subdue it indeed. See further, Postscript, p. 268.
Bengel's Gnomen
Romans 7:25. Εὐχαριστῶ, Igive thanks) This is unexpectedly, though most
pleasantly, mentioned, and is now at length rightly acknowledged, as the one
and only refuge. The sentence is categorical:God will deliver me by Christ;
the thing is not in my own power: and that sentence indicates the whole
matter: but the moral made [modus moralis. end.] (of which, see on ch.
Romans 6:17), I give thanks, is added. (As in 1 Corinthians 15:57 : the
sentiment is: God giveth us the victory; but there is added the ηθος, or moral
mode, Thanks be to God.) And the phrase, I give thanks, as a joyful hymn,
stands in oppositionto the miserable complaint, which is found in the
preceding verse, wretchedthat I am.—οὖν, then) He concludes those topics,
on which he had entered at Romans 7:7.—αὐτὸς ἐγὼ)I myself.—νόμῳ Θεοῦ—
νόμῳ ἁμαρτίας,the law of God—the law of sin) νόμῳ is the Dative, not the
Ablative, Romans 7:23. Man [the man, whom Paul personifies]is now equally
balancedbetweenslavery and liberty, and yet at the same time, panting after

liberty, he acknowledges thatthe law is holy and free from all blame. The
balance is rarely even. Here the inclination to goodhas by this time attained
the greaterweightof the two.
PRECEPT AUSTIN RESOURCES
Romans 7:21-25 Commentary
Romans 7 Resources
Updated: Sun, 10/13/2019 - 15:34 By admin
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Modified from Irving L. Jensen's excellentwork "Jensen's Surveyof the NT"
Romans 7:21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who
wants to do good. (NASB: Lockman)
Greek:Heurisko (1SPAI) ara ton nomon to thelonti (PAPMSD)emoi poiein
(PAN) to kalonhoti emoi to kakonparakeitai;(3SPMI)
Amplified: So I find it to be a law (rule of actionof my being) that when I
want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am
subject to its insistent demands. (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
Berkley:Consequently, I discovera law hat when I want to do right, wrong
suggestionscrowdin
Moffatt: So this is my experience of the Law: I desire to do what is right but
wrong is all that I canmanage; I cordially agree with God's law, so far as my
inner self is concerned,
NLT: It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I
inevitably do what is wrong. (NLT - Tyndale House)
Wuest: I find therefore the law, that to me, always desirous of doing the good,
to me, the evil is always present.
Young's Literal: I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right,
with me the evil is present,
WHAT CONCLUSION DOES HE COME TO REGARDING HIS
CONFLICTING BEHAVIOR? WHAT IS THE PRINCIPLE HE
CONCLUDES?
I FIND THEN THE PRINCIPLE THAT EVIL IS PRESENT IN ME, THE
ONE WHO WANTS TO DO GOOD:Heurisko (1SPAI) ara ton nomon, to

thelonti (PAPMSD)emoi poiein (PAN) to kalon, hoti emoi to kakonparakeitai
(3SPMI):
Ro 7:23; 6:12,14;8:2; Ps 19:13; 119:133;Jn 8:34; Eph 6:11, 12, 13;2Pet2:19
2Chr 30:18,19;Ps 19:12; 40:12;65:3; 119:37;Isa 6:5, 6, 7; Zec 3:1, 2, 3, 4; Lk
4:1; Heb 2:17; 4:15
Romans 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
As you study these passagesrememberthe context. Beginning in Romans 7:14
Paul begins to discuss the conflict betweentwo natures. This sectionhas been
one of the most controversialin the New Testament. The majority of modern
commentators (men like John MacArthur, John Piper, William Newell,
Donald Barnhouse, etal) favor this sectionto be a description of a savedman
who is wrestling with the sinful propensities still present in the physical body
of every saved individual. Others feelPaul is discussing an unsaved man in
this section. Although I favor the former interpretation, the principles that
can be gleanedfrom Paul's teaching on this struggle are still applicable to all
men whatevertheir status regarding salvation. Click here for a summary of
the arguments that favor Romans 7:14-25 as a description of a believer over
an unbeliever (or vice versa), as there are legitimate points favoring both
interpretations.
The language clearlyindicates a purpose to summarize what has gone before.
Then (686)(ara) can be translated therefore, then, now, consequently and is
used to mark a transition to what naturally follows from the preceding
arguments.
I find - The Greek verb here is heurisko which gives us our English
"Eureka!" - I found it - This exclamationis attributed to Archimedes on
discovering a method for determining the purity of gold.
Find (2147)(heurisko)means to learn the locationof something, either by
intentional searching or by unexpected discoverylearn whereabouts of
something. It means to find, discover, come upon, happen to find, to learn
something previously not known, frequently involving an element of surprise.

Heurisko is the source of our English word eureka from an exclamation
attributed to Archimedes on discovering a method for determining the purity
of gold. The presenttense indicates continuous actions.
Leon Morris writes that "I find puts this as a discovery. It is not something
that Paul lays down as his presupposition, but a conclusionhe has reached
from a study of the facts. There is some emphasis on the factthat the self-
same “I” has both these opposite experiences. Paulinsists that he has the will
to do good. But the trouble is that evil is right there with me. He cannot escape
it. (Morris, L. The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids, Mich.; Leicester,
England: W. B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press)
Wayne Barberwrites that…
Paul says, I find, actually I have discovered(heurisko)a principle, a "law,"
that "the evil (kakos)" is present in me. It is inherent in my flesh. He is simply
restating what he saidin Romans 7:18. In his flesh is a law (prinicple); it is the
very presence ofevil within his flesh, his body of sin. But, he says, he is "the
one who wishes to do good." Again, the word there is thelo—he has
"determined in his will" to do good. It doesn’tmake a lot of sense to me that a
person who is in Adam, under the law, doomed to the unrighteous works of
the flesh, ungodly, devoted to sin, and an enemy to all that God represents,
would say "I’m the one who wishes to do good."
The principle that evil is present - In Romans 7:22-23 Paul describes an
opposing principle, the law of God.
Principle (3551)(nomos) is used in this context to stand for the regulative
principle which exercisesa control overone. Clearly in this contextnomos
does not refer to the Mosaic Law, but to an inviolable spiritual principle (see
similar use Romans 8:2 [note]). It could be considered analogous to the
phrase, the "law" of gravity (but see Wuest's note below). Nomos is used in
the sense ofa principle of operation, similar to Paul's use earlierin the letter,
where he speaks oflaw of faith (Ro 3:27-note) and as he does in Galatians,
where he speaks ofthe law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).
Newellwrites that Paul…

now states as a settled conclusion, whathe has experimentally discovered. And
we all need to consentto the fact-evenif we have found God's way of
deliverance, that evil is present. It is the denial of this fact that has wrecked
thousands of lives! For evil will be present until the Lord comes, bringing in
the redemption of our bodies.
Wuest explains that law (principle)…
… could refer to a law such as the constant rule of experience imposing itself
on the will such as a modern scientific law, or the Mosaic law, or to the law of
sin which Paul speaks ofas in his members (Vincent). The last interpretation
seems mostin keeping with the times in which Paul is writing, and with the
context. The law in his members warring againstthe law of his mind is, of
course, the evil nature. Paul finds a condition that when he desires to do good,
this evil nature always asserts itselfagainstthe doing of that good. He brings
out the same truth in Gal5:17 (note) where he says,
“The flesh (evil nature) has a passionate desire to suppress the Spirit, and the
Spirit has a passionate desire to suppress the flesh. And these are set in
opposition to eachother so that you may not do the things which you desire to
do.” (
Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament:Eerdmans
)
In this verse Paul says that evil is the constantrule of experience imposing
itself on the will. Paul found that evil is still present in an individual whenever
he wants to do good.
Barnes has a goodexplanation of the law writing that…
There is a law whose operationI experience wheneverI attempt to do good.
There have been various opinions about the meaning of the word law in this
place. It is evident that [it] is used here in a sense somewhatunusual. But it
retains the notion which commonly attaches to it of that which binds, or
controls. And though this to which he refers differs from a law, inasmuch as it
is not imposed by a superior, which is the usual idea of a law, yet it has so far

the sense oflaw that it binds, controls, influences, or is that to which he was
subject. There canbe no doubt that he refers here to his carnaland corrupt
nature; to the evil propensities and dispositions which were leading him
astray. His representing this as a law is in accordancewith all that he says of
it, that it is servitude, that he is in bondage to it, and that it impedes his efforts
to be holy and pure. The meaning is this: "I find a habit, a propensity, an
influence of corrupt passions and desires, which, when I would do right,
impedes my progress, andprevents my accomplishing what I would." Comp.
Gal 5:17-note. Every Christian is as much acquainted with this as was the
apostle Paul. (Albert Barnes. Barnes NT Commentary)
MacDonaldadds that Paul…
finds a principle or law at work in his life causing all his goodintentions to
end in failure. When he wants to do what is right, he ends up by sinning.
(MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
Lingering sin does battle with every good thing a believer desires to do. The
Sin Nature wants us to try to do goodapart from God. Even if basedupon the
Word of God but to take the truth, the Word and try to work it according to
the flesh.
The Lord warned Cain who was angry with Abel because his sacrifice was
accepted…
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do
well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must
master it. (Genesis 4:7)
Here in Romans 7:21 Paul is saying that this "principle" still applies and sin is
always in the shadows, ready to pounce and lead us into disobedience. We
must master it! I don't understand exactly how Cain was to accomplishthis
but Paul goes onin the next verses (and Romans 8) to explain how believers
can accomplishthis task.
Haldane makes an interesting observationnoting that…

The evil propensity of our nature the Apostle calls a law (principle), because
of its strength and permanence. It has the force of a law in corrupt nature.
This proves that it is of himself, as to his present state, that the Apostle speaks.
None but the regenerate man is properly sensible of this law.
It does not refer to conscience, whichin an unregenerate man will smite him
when he does that which he knows to be wrong. It refers to the evil principle
which counteracts him when he would do that which is right.
This law is the greatestgrievance to every Christian. It disturbs his happiness
and peace more than any other cause. It constantly besets him, and, from its
influence, his very prayers, instead of being in themselves worthy of God, need
forgiveness, andcan be acceptedonly through the mediation of Christ. It is
strange that any Christian should even hesitate as to the characterin which
the Apostle uses this language. It entirely suits the Christian, and not in one
solitary feature does it wearthe feeblestsemblance of any other character.
(Haldane, R. An Exposition of Romans)
S Lewis Johnson offers an interesting analysis of this last sectionwriting that
in…
In the final cycle of the apostle's reasoning he points out that the enemy within
is strongerthan his renewedself(Ed note: referring to the Christian). The
new life alone is not sufficient for overcoming in the struggle for victory. The
another law which always wins the battle againstthe law of his mind and
brings him into captivity is the "law" of indwelling sin (cf. Romans 7:21, 25).
The believer, thus, is always in a losing conflict. The presenttenses of verse
twenty-three vividly portray the habitual struggle that always ends, it seems,
in defeat. And, finally, there comes the agonizing cry of verse twenty-four,
"Oh, wretchedman that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?"
The body is the body lookedat as that in which the death of indwelling sin is
located. Paulis now at the end of self, the only time God cancome in and
deliver the believer. No longer is he looking within; it is "who shall deliver
me?" It was Alfred Lord Tennysonwho wrote,

Oh! that a man would arise in me
That the man I am may ceaseto be
That is the cry of the concernedChristian, cognizantof his weakness in
himself and longing for deliverance from the thralldom of indwelling sin. In
the final verse of the sectionthe apostle breaks forth with a cry of victory, "I
thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord." There IS such a man! Trust in
Him is the answerto the longing for deliverance. He says here what he will say
in an expanded way in the next chapter (cf. Romans 8:1-11). The victory is
found in the continuing ministry of the Holy Spirit and in His final
deliverance at the resurrection.
Present(3873)(parakeimaifrom pará = near, with + keímai= to lie) (only
other NT use Ro 7:18) means literally to lie near and so to be adjacentto or to
be within reach(present tense = continually). It is used with the metaphorical
meaning in this verse which conveys the idea of to be at hand or be present.
Barnes explains that the idea of parakeimaimeans…
Is near; is at hand. It starts up unbidden, and undesired. It is in the path, and
never leaves us, but is always ready to impede our going, and to turn us from
our gooddesigns. Compare Psalm65:3, "Iniquities prevail againstme."
(Spurgeon's comment) The sense is, that to do evil is agreeableto our strong
natural inclinations and passions. (Ibid)
Wants (2309)(thelo) describes that desire (present tense = continually) which
comes from one’s emotions. It is a predetermined and focusedwill that one
sets to do. It is an active decisionof the will, implying volition (will) and
purpose. It is a conscious willing that denotes a more active resolution urging
on to action.
To do (4160)(poieo)means to make or to do and expressesactioneither as
completed or continued (present tense = continually).
Good(2570)(kalos)refers to that which is inherently excellentor intrinsically
good.

Can not all believers identify with the way Hendriksen sums up Romans 7:22
noting that…
The inflexible “law” to which reference is here made, and which the author of
this epistle—as wellas every believer—is constantly discovering, is this:
“When I want to do good, evil lies close at hand.” In view of the fact that,
according to Ro 7:17, 20, sinful human nature has establishedits residence in
Paul’s own house (his soul), and has done this with a wickedpurpose, the
statement“evil lies close athand,” is indeed very logical. This “evil,” here
personified, may be lying down, but is certainly not sleeping. It is pictured as
if it were watching the apostle to see whetherhe is about to carry out a good
intention. Whenever such a noble thought or suggestionenters Paul’s heart,
evil immediately interrupts in order to turn the gooddeed into its opposite.
(Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. NT Commentary Set. BakerBook)
Guzik writes "Anyone who has tried to do goodis aware ofthis struggle. We
never know how hard it is to stop sinning until we try.“No man knows how
bad he is until he has tried to be good.” (C. S. Lewis)" (Romans 7
Commentary)
Romans 7:22 For I joyfully concur with the law of Godin the inner man,
(NASB: Lockman)
Greek:sunedomai(1SPMI) garto nomo tou theou kata ton eso anthropon,
Amplified: ForI endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self
[with my new nature]. (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
Moffatt: I cordially agree with God's law, so far as my inner self is concerned,
NLT: I love God's law with all my heart. (NLT - Tyndale House)
Wuest: ForI rejoice in the law of God according to the inward man. (
Young's Literal: For I joyfully concur with the law of Godin the inner man,
WHAT IS HIS ASSESSMENT OF THE LAW OF GOD?
FOR I JOYFULLY CONCUR WITH THE LAW OF GOD IN THE INNER
MAN: sunedomai (1SPMI)gar to nomo tou theou kata ton eso anthropon:

Ro 8:7; Job 23:12;Ps 1:2; 19:8, 9, 10;40:8; 119:16, 24, 35, 47, 48, 72, 92;Ps
119:97 104, 111, 113, Ps 119:127,167,174;Isa 51:7; Jn 4:34; Heb 8:10
Ro 2:29; 2Co 4:16; Eph 3:16; Col3:9; 1Pet3:4
Romans 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
For (gar) introduces the explanation of the conflict of goodand evil Paul had
just discussedin Romans 7:21.
I joyfully concur - This is a stronger expressionthan agree with the Law (Ro
7:16-note)
Joyfully concur (4913)(sunedomaifrom sún = with + hedomai = to be pleased
from hedos = delight, enjoyment) means to rejoice in with oneself, to feel
satisfactionconcerning, to joyfully agree (presenttense = continually). Others
attribute to it the meaning of inward satisfaction. Wouldan unsaved man
have this response?
Barnes has an interesting note on sunedomai writing that it…
occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It properly means, to rejoice with
any one; and expresses notonly approbation of the understanding, as the
expression, "I consentunto the law," in Romans 7:16 (note), but, more than
that, it denotes sensible pleasure in the heart. It indicates not only intellectual
assent, but emotion--an emotion of pleasure in the contemplation of the law.
And this shows that the apostle is not speaking ofan unrenewed man. Of such
a man it might be said that his conscienceapprovedthe law; that his
understanding was convincedthat the law was good;but never yet did it occur
that an impenitent sinner found emotions of pleasure in the contemplation of
the pure and spiritual law of God. If this expressioncanbe applied to an
unrenewed man, there is, perhaps, not a single mark of a pious mind which
may not with equal propriety be so applied. It is the natural, obvious, and
usual mode of denoting the feelings of piety, an assentto the Divine law
followedwith emotions of sensible delight in the contemplation. Comp. Ps
119:97, "O how love I thy law; it is my meditation all the day." Ps 1:2, "But

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