Transcript

As believers, we face strong foes that would bring us spiritual defeat. Our greatest enemy, however, lurks within. In Victor Hugo’s story, “Ninety-Three” a ship is caught in a storm. The frightened crew hears a terrible crashing sound below.

Immediately, the men know what it is: a cannon has broken loose and is crashing into the ship’s side with every smashing blow of the sea!

Two men, at the risk of their lives, manage to fasten it down again, for they know that the unfastened cannon is more dangerous than the raging storm.

“Many people are like that ship: their greatest danger lies within their own lives.”

Paul teaches us about the law and sin in Romans 7. He demonstrates the danger of our enemy of sin, and “the sin that dwelleth” in us, and the spiritual defeat it can bring to our Christian lives.

Romans 7:7-13:

“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

“For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

“Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.”

Here in Romans, Paul has taught and shown that the works of the law do not have any part in our justification. And in this immediate context, he associated the law with awakening sinful motions and passions, and he showed the blessing of being “dead to the law” and delivered from it.

It might seem, after all this, that Paul was creating the impression that the law of God was actually sinful or evil.

So Paul asked, “Is the law sin?” And in no uncertain terms, he firmly denied this, stating, “God forbid.” The law itself is not sinful, but it does reveal sin in mankind. It reveals sin and convicts one of the depravity of their heart and life.

Paul said that he “had not known sin, but by the law.” The law has the important function of giving knowledge of sin and revealing its nature. It shines the light on sin so that we cannot claim ignorance.

The law reveals God’s standard, and as believers compare themselves and their actions against that standard, they can accurately identify sin. And sin is to miss the mark of God’s standard.

And as Paul said in his own life, “for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Paul began to be very personal with this verse. He used “I,” “me,” and “my” many times in this section of Romans, using and recounting his own personal experience and testimony as a believer as an illustration.

Paul referred to the last of the ten commandments, “Thou shalt not covet.” Paul said “I had not known lust, except the law had said, “Thou shalt not covet.” To lust after something is to covet it. Lust refers here to all covetous desires; to all wishes for what is forbidden or what does not belong to us. To lust and covet mean the same thing here.

This command not to covet had to do with the inward person and one’s thought life. Coveting takes place in one’s mind and heart.

Paul is saying that he would not have known that the inner desires of covetousness in his thoughts were sinful, except by the law. And the law made Paul aware that his thoughts, motives, and the desires of his heart were sinful as well as his deeds.

The law’s prohibition is not to covet. And in response to that commandment, Paul said, “But sin,” meaning indwelling sin, the sin capacity in each person stemming from man’s corrupt, old, sinful nature. Sin launched an assault in Paul and “wrought in me all manner of concupiscence” or evil desire, he said.

In response to the command not to covet, sin, or the sin nature in Paul, made him want to covet all the more.

Sin is the problem, however, not the law. Freedom’s enemy is sin, the old sin nature. The law is not the cause of the act of sin; the sinful, rebellious, fallen nature within an individual is. The law’s revealing and forbidding of sin awaken “the motions of sins,” but it does not give the power to overcome them.

Paul stated, “For without the law sin was dead.” The term “dead,” here means dormant or inactive. We see that in verse 9 by how sin that was dead revives and springs to life.

This sin of covetousness was dead, or dormant and less active, in Paul’s life without a challenge to its authority. But with the knowledge of the law, it awakened the motions of sins, and all kinds of evil desires assaulted and overtook Paul.

What Paul is showing here is that the law is not to be a means of living a set-apart life to God under grace. Paul shows that the law does not break the power of indwelling sin, but rather the sin nature responds to it with rebellion, and it awakens to do what it forbids.

Believers who try to live by rules and regulations discover that their legalistic system only results in more sin and more problems. Legalism does not make one more spiritual; it makes one more sinful, because law awakens sin in our nature.

In Paul’s past, he stated that “I was alive without the law once.” Before being convicted by the law, Paul had lived unaware of the law’s true demands, living a self-righteous life as a Pharisee. In that time, he deemed himself secure and righteous. As Paul wrote of his past in Philippians 3:6: “touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”

During this time of Paul’s life, he aimed at external conformity to the law, and he had not come to grips with the force of the law. He was free from the convictions of conscience, and the law’s claims on the heart were unfelt by Paul.

But then Paul said that there came a point in his life, “when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”

When the crushing significance of the commandment not to covet hit Paul’s mind and heart, the result was that this sin within made its presence and power known, and it “revived” and sprang to life in him. It revived like a seed that had been placed in the ground, lying dormant until the situation came to bring life to it.

And the time came for Paul when sin revived and inflamed that sin and all manner of evil desires in him. And Paul said he “died,” meaning he was aware of his guilt.

As soon as he realized the significance of that commandment in his own life, his sinful nature awoke and rebelled against it, and he died and knew the law condemned him.

And Paul also died to his unaware, uninformed, external conformity in being “alive without the law once.” The law had convicted him and made him very aware of that sin of covetousness in his life and its consequences.

And Paul said, “And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.”

Ideally, the law was designed to give life to those who kept it. The original intent of the law was to bring blessings and life as it was obeyed.

As the Lord told Israel, “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall LIVE in them: I am the LORD” (Lev. 18:5)

But because Paul broke it and did not obey it, he found that it condemned him. He found the law not to be life, but “death.” And all who try to live by it will find the same thing.

The ministry of the law is that of condemnation and death. As 2 Corinthians 3 states, “the letter killeth,” and the law is the “ministration of death, written and engraven in stones.”

And Paul said that sin, “taking occasion by the commandment,” or being incited in response to the law to do what it prohibited, sin deceived and tricked him.

The spiritual consequences of sin’s deceitfulness in Paul’s life were that “it slew me,” he said. The consequences were devastating for Paul.

He found that the law condemned him. It was death unto him and had a deadening effect on his life. He found only misery in both body and mind under the influence, power, and effects of his sin due to his old nature’s strong response to the law and rebellion against it.

Sin attacked Paul and deceived, overtook, and defeated him. The law did not result in a righteous life for Paul, but instead a sin-filled, beaten-down, and vanquished one. And it slew any thoughts and beliefs he might have had of ever realizing a godly, holy life by it.

Paul had asked in verse 7, “Is the law sin?” And in verse 12, he states, “Wherefore,” Paul wrote, instead of the law being sin, “the law [as a whole] is holy, and the commandment [not to covet] holy, and just, and good.”

The problem is in us, not in the law. Far from being sinful, the law is “holy, just, and good” reflecting the character of the God Who gave it. The law is holy, just, and good, but it cannot make us holy, just, and good. But Christ and the grace of God can do that.

The law is for the purpose of the knowledge of sin and revealing it. And because we all have broken it and are under its curse and condemnation, the law demonstrates our desperate need for a Savior.

Paul asked in verse 13, “Was then that which is good [or the law] made death unto me? God forbid.” In other words, “Is the law the culprit? Does it doom us to death?”

The answer by Paul is strong and clear: “God forbid,” is again Paul’s emphatic denial. The problem is not the law; the problem is sin. Sin is the culprit. Sin is the enemy. The responsibility for death belongs to sin not the law.

Sin is what results in death, whether it is physical death, spiritual death, eternal death, or even a deadened walk by the believer, which Paul refers to in Romans.

The law has the purpose, as Paul put it, “But sin, that it might appear sin.” The law makes sin apparent; it unmasks sin for what it truly is.

And it is “sin” that worked death in Paul, and it worked death in him “by that which is good,” or the law. Because again, the law inflames the old nature, and it desires to rebel against what the law requires, which results in sin and death.

This correlation between sin and the law, Paul wrote, is “that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” The law didn’t originate sin, but it showed sin in all its exceeding sinfulness. And sin’s deadly character is exposed and uncovered by God’s law.

Sin becomes exceedingly sinful in the pure light of the righteous standard of the law. And sin becomes exceedingly sinful because the law awakens and provokes the sin nature in us.

But this can be used for good because the law shows how sinful we are and reveals our need. We need sin to appear sin, because mankind typically tries to hide and excuse their sin, and conceal its reality, true depths, and strength. But through the law, sin is shown for what it is, and its tragic consequences are revealed.

And again, the point of all this is to show that the believer under grace, being delivered from the law, should not attempt to live by the law and put ourselves under its legalism, which serves to reveal our sinfulness, inflames the old nature, and works death in us.

The main argument of Paul in Romans 7 is the inability of the law to bring about a holy and righteous life. And as it’s been said, “[The law] can reveal sin, just as a thermometer reveals the temperature. But it cannot control sin like a thermostat controls the temperature.”

Because of all this, it shows that we need to live by grace, in the power of the Spirit, in light of our identification with Christ and the crushing defeat of the old nature at the Cross, and then walk in newness of life.

Romans 7:14-18:

“For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”

A man called a bicycle factory and asked to speak to whoever was in charge of wheels. The person who answered said that they weren’t available, so he asked, “Okay, who are you?” She responded, “I’m his spokes person.”

In this section, Paul made himself a spokesperson for the believer under grace and what we experience in the struggle between our two natures.

This passage of Scripture is intensely personal in character. The personal pronoun, “I,” throughout this section, refers plainly and obviously to the Apostle Paul.

Up to this point, in verses 7-13, Paul had been describing a past time in his life when he experienced a deep conviction of sin through the law’s ministry.

But now he switches to the present tense to describe his experience since he was saved, and the impossibility of finding deliverance from the power of sin in his own strength.

Beginning with verse 14 through the end of the chapter, Paul made the transition from the role of the law to the struggle of personal sanctification. And like Paul, all believers face this ongoing conflict within.

Paul stated in verse 14, “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” Paul reaffirms that the law is not the problem, because it is spiritual. The law is holy, just, and good. The law is spiritual because it comes from God, and it is for man’s spiritual benefit.

So if the law is holy and good, why can’t it bring holiness and goodness to a person’s life? The reason why is the second half of verse 14: “for I am carnal, sold under sin.”

In contrast to the law, which is spiritual, Paul said his problem, and the problem of all believers, is that he was carnal, or fleshly. We are earthbound and mortal, made of flesh. Paul did not say he was still “in the flesh” but that he was still of it.

The term “carnal” is not used to describe an unsaved person in Scripture, but a believer who is of the flesh, one who can and does yield to the flesh. But it further describes a state out of which there is deliverance and victory for the believer.

In addition, Paul stated that he was “sold under sin.” Being of the flesh, Paul felt as if he was sold as a slave, with sin as his master. The influence of the flesh and sin was still in effect in Paul’s life as a believer. He was not completely free of sin in his daily life by becoming a believer.

The law is sinless, but we have a sin nature. The power of that nature has been broken by the Cross, and we have a new nature too, but each believer retains this old nature after salvation. And after we are saved, sin still attempts to control our daily life.

And the law still inflames that old nature after we are saved. The law does not transform the old nature; it can only reveal how sinful that old nature is.

And the believer who tries to live by the law will only activate their sin nature, and they will not overcome it and find a righteous life.

Demonstrating that he was “carnal, sold under sin,” Paul said, “For that which I do I allow [or understand] not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”

Being a slave and under the authority of another is not to do what one wants to do and be made to do what they do not want to do, even what they hate.

It’s like the Israelites in their slavery in Egypt. They were forced to make bricks. They did not want to do that, and they hated it, but they did it. They wanted to do other things, but they could not do what they wanted.

That’s what it is like to be “sold under sin.” The sin nature is an authority in us that can control our lives and cause us to do what we don’t want to do, even what we hate.

The Amplified Bible describes verse 15 like this, “For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled and bewildered by them]. I do not practice what I want to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”

The New King James Version puts this verse, “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”

This is very relatable. Paul did not fully comprehend his own actions and why he continued to act and do as he did as a believer. And it baffled and bothered him. Paul found himself not doing what he wanted to do and doing what he hated instead.

There was a difference between Paul’s will and what he practiced. Even though he knew what was right, he did not always do what was right. He desired to do good, and he hated sin. But he found himself doing things he did not approve of and the things he despised.

Paul received a new nature when he was saved, but being “sold under sin,” his flesh, or sin nature, continued to exercise its influence and authority over him. And we see that by Paul not doing what he wanted to do, and doing what he hated.

In verse 16, Paul wrote, “If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.” Paul did not want to do the things he was doing, and the law did not want Paul to do the things he was doing. Paul did not approve of the things he was doing, and the law did not approve of the things he was doing.

Thus, Paul and the law were on the same page, and he was in agreement with the law, and as a result, he said, “the law is good” and right.

In doing things he did not want to do that were against his better judgment, he took sides with the law against himself and agreed with it, because the law was against those things too. Paul’s conscience concurred with the standards of the law completely and approved that the law was good in making it clear that what he did was sin and wrong.

And he also agreed it was not the law’s fault that he did it, because the law is good.

Rather, as verse 17 says, “Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” The sinful, corrupt nature that dwells in him was the culprit for him not doing what he wanted to do and doing what he hated instead. That was the source of his sin.

The “I” in “it is no more I that do it” describes the new “I”, the new creation Paul had become when he believed. That was his true self now.

There had been a radical change in Paul’s life, as there has been in every believer. We have a new, permanent identity in Christ. As Galatians 2:20 tells us, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…”

Paul recognized that when he sinned, he acted against his nature as a new creation in Christ. Paul said it is “NO MORE I that do it.” The “no more” is a negative adverb of time that signifies a complete and permanent change. Paul was a new man in Christ. And “no more” would sin stem from himself, who was now and forever a new man in Christ.

In saying “it is no more I that do it,” Paul knew and was explaining that his sin did not originate from the new nature and who he is in Christ.

Rather, Paul understood that his problem was traceable to the deeply lodged, deep-seated sin that dwelt within him, meaning his sin nature. The enemy is on the inside. And that sin nature is still active in each believer.

And as Paul said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.”

The flesh here refers to the sin nature, which is inherited from Adam. It is the source of every sinful deed that a believer does. There is nothing good in it. It is rotten to the core.

Paul had to qualify his statement about no good thing dwelling in him, by adding, “(that is, in my flesh)” because there is something good that dwells in each believer: the Holy Spirit and our new nature.

Paul had said that the law is good, but in the flesh, Paul said, “dwelleth no good thing.”

When we were saved, there was no improvement, no reformation of the old nature. We received a new nature at salvation, but that old nature remains. And in that nature, there dwells no good thing. It is totally corrupt.

Paul said, “For to will is present with me,” meaning the willingness and desire to do good was present with Paul, “but how to perform that which is good I find not.”

To confirm the hopelessness and weakness of the flesh, the apostle laments that although he had the desire to do what is right, he didn’t have the resources in his flesh to translate that desire into action.

Within himself, apart from the Holy Spirit, Paul was unable to put his good desires into practice. In his flesh, Paul did not find the power, and he found strong, constant obstacles that kept him from performing that which is good.

But as Paul goes on to show here in Romans, the strong influence and hindrance of the sin nature require the believer to depend on another power for living the Christian life under grace and to do what is good and right. And it’s not the law, it’s the Holy Spirit.