Romans 7

Romans 7:1

[a] the law hath dominion over—] The construction and meaning of these words, ὁ νόμος κυριεύει ἀνθρώπον ἐφ’ ὅσον χρόνον [7], which are commonly rendered, the law hath power over a man as long as he liveth, is somewhat uncertain; and for the determining of it, the first thing to be considered is the design and matter of the discourse in this chapter, which is discernibly this: to vindicate his doctrine, (charged on him Acts xxi. 21, it is not certain whether then truly or no, but without doubt now professedly taught by him,) that the Judaical law was abolished by the death of Christ, Ephes. ii. 15, 16, Col. ii. 14, and so now was not obligatory to a Jew. This he now thinks fit to declare to the Jewish Christians at Rome, as in the former chapters he had vindicated the liberty of the gentiles from the obligation of it to them, and justified his preaching the gospel to them, both which together did, by way of interpretation, and necessary consequence, contain under them this of the obligingness of the law to a Jew. For the law of the Jews, commanding a strict separation from the gentiles, all that were not their proselytes, and circumcised, and Paul and other the apostles being Jews, their conversing with, and preaching to the gentiles, could not be allowed upon any score but that of the abrogation of the Jewish law, which accordingly was of necessity to be revealed to St. Peter in a vision, Acts x, (and so seems to have been to St. Paul, Ephes. iii. 3,) before he durst preach to Cornelius, who, though a proselyte of the Jews, yet was not a proselyte of their covenant, or righteousness, that is, was not circumcised. This abolition of the law to you, that is, to his

Romans 7:2

For it is known of any married woman, that by the conjugal law she is obliged to cleave to the husband as long as he lives; but upon the husband’s death the conjugal law, which is founded in his life, is dead also, and so the wife is absolutely free, the law of matrimony hath no force upon her: (see Gal. v. 4.)

Romans 7:3

And this is so far from being a nicety, that in-

Romans 7:4

And thus (my brethren, even those of the Jews that are believers in Christ) the law is through Christ dead to you also, (and not only to the Gentile believers, Acts xv,) and so ye also are freed from the obligation of the law, that is, as it were dead to it, that ye may now, according to the laws of marriage, be safely joined and espoused to another, viz. to that Christ whose resurrection from the dead shews him to be alive, that so ye may live in conjugal affection and obedience to him, and being made fruitful by his Spirit we may, as wives that live with their husbands, bring forth all holy Christian actions, to the honour and praise of God.

[b] dead to the law] That ἐθανατώθητε τῷ νόμῳ, you are dead to the law, signifies the law’s being dead to them, being abolished, having no power over them, hath been said (note [a].) and may further appear by ver. 6, where the ground of their freedom from the law is expressed by ἀποθανόντος ἐν ᾧ κατειχόμεθα, that being dead by which we were held; where the law being by an ordinary prosopopia (as when sin is said to reign, ch. vi. 12) used for a person, is said to be dead, (and to be nailed to Christ’s cross, Col. ii. 14,) and so, under the fiction of a person, is more fitly answerable to the husband, whose death frees the wife from all obligation to him, that she may lawfully marry and subject herself to any other; and so in like manner may Jews to Christ, upon the abolition of their law. As for the διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, by the body of Christ, by which the Judaical law is abolished, that sure notes the crucified body, the death of Christ, and is accordingly expressed in this very matter, Ephes. ii, both by ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ, by his flesh, ver. 15, and διὰ τοῦ σταυροῦ, by the cross, ver. 16, and so Col. ii. 14, by προσηλώσας τῷ σταυρῷ, nailing to the cross.

Romans 7:5

This, while we lived under the pedagogy of the law, was not done by us (which is one reason of abolishing it, Christ now giving precepts of inward purity instead of those external ordinances, and giving his Spirit to enable to perform them, over and above what was under the law): for when we were under those carnal ordinances, though all sinful practices were forbidden by that law, and so were rendered more criminous by being prohibited by a promulgate law, yet our sinful desires and affections that proposed those objects which were thus forbidden, that law had no power to mortify and subdue, and so, notwithstanding that law, those sinful affections were obeyed and yielded to in our members, and so brought forth that sad fruit, obligation to punishment eternal, and that was all the good we reaped by the law.

[c] were in the flesh] That ὅτε ἦμεν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ, when we were in the flesh, signifies the Judaical state under the law, appears by the whole discourse in this chapter, which is of the state of men considered under the law, (see note [d].) and particularly by the opposition here betwixt this and κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, we are freed from the law. For so it is manifest the opposition stands, For when we were in the flesh—But now we are freed from the law,—and it is thus styled in opposition to ἐν πνεύματι εἶναι, being in the spirit, used for them that have received the gospel, and are partakers of the grace which is afforded there, to which they that have not attained, but are only under the pedagogy of the law, they are only in the flesh, have no other but that weak and corrupt principle of their own nature (which is so prone to carnality) abiding in them. And thus it is used, ch. viii. 8, they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, that is, if, as ye are outwardly professors of the faith, baptized Christians, so ye are sincerely so, such as in whom the Holy Spirit of God may vouchsafe to inhabit, which will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in. And accordingly Christianity is called the law of the Spirit of life, ch. viii. 2; and here, ver. 6, the newness of the Spirit, in opposition to the oldness of the letter, the Mosaical law. And a peculiar propriety there is in this phrase for this matter in many respects; 1st, in respect of the nature of the Mosaical precepts, which were external, washings, circumcision, bodily rests, &c., (all which are seated in the flesh,) and so proportionably carnal promises and threats; whereas the precepts of Christ go deeper to the mind and spirit, require the purity of that, and accordingly are backed with spiritual promises and terrors: 2dly, in respect of the as-

Romans 7:6

But now we are freed from the law, as that (beside the moral precepts) contained also those carnal external performances, (see note [g] Matt. v,) that obligation being cancelled by which they were due, so that now instead of being outwardly circumcised, and in our lives impure, we must think ourselves most strictly obliged to set to the performing of that real substantial purity which was signified by the legal observances of cir-

Romans 7:7

But here again it is objected to us, that by thus arguing we lay charge and blame upon the law, that it is sin, or the cause of sin, contenting itself with that external performance of the ceremony, and not exacting the inward purity of us. To this I answer, by way of detestation of that calumny, of which our doctrine is perfectly guiltless, No sure, we lay no such thing to the charge of the law; we should be most unjust if we did; for the law hath done its part, given us knowledge that the very desires of the heart are sins, (and that distinctly in the tenth commandment,) which I had not known, had not the law distinctly told me that it was so, and set circumcision as an emblem of that duty of mortifying all carnal desires.

[d] I had not known] It is an ordinary figure to speak of other men in the first person, but most frequent in blaming or noting any fault in others; for then by the putting it in this disguise, fastening it on one’s own person, it is more likely to be well taken by them to whom it belongs. So saith St. Chrysostom of this apostle, ‘Αὐ τὰ φορτικὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ οἰκείου προσώπου γυμνάζει, “when he mentions things that are any way grievous or likely to be ill taken, he doth it in his own person.” And St. Hierome on Daniel, Peccata populi enumerat persona sua, quod et apostolum in Epistola ad Romanos facere legimus, “Confessing the sins of the people, he doth it in his own person, which we read practised by the apostle in the Epistle to the Romans,” that is, most probably in this place. Thus when, 1 Cor. iv. 4, St. Paul had spoken in his own person, I know nothing by myself, but hereby I am not justified, he tells them plainly, ver. 6, that he had in a figure transferred these things unto himself for their sakes, that they might not be puffed up, as counting such schemes and figures as these the most profitable and efficacious on the reader. Thus the same apostle, 1 Cor. vi. 12, All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient; that is, those things which are by you looked on as indifferent, if they be yielded to, may be very hurtful in you; and 1 Cor. xiii. 2, If I have all faith, and have not charity, that is, if ye want charity to your other gifts. So Gal. ii. 18, If what I have destroyed I build the same again, I

[e] lust] That by ἐπιθυμία, coveting, here is meant the sin forbidden in the tenth commandment of the Decalogue, appears by the end of the verse. But how the apostle can truly say that he had not known it had been a sin, if the law had not told him it was, will be all the difficulty. To which may be answered, 1st, that the apostle doth not speak particularly of himself, (see note [d]), but in the person of a Jew, or man in general; and then it is not only true of this, but of all other the commandments (of which this one may be set as the instance,) that the knowledge of sin is by the promulgation of the law that forbids it. But then there may from the Jewish doctrine appear some reason why the apostle should rather instance in this commandment than any other. For the Jews before and under Christ’s time, seeing that there was no punishment judicially appointed for thoughts or desires, whether unclean, or of getting any thing from their neighbours, had resolved this to be no sin, and consequently that the tenth commandment was but a moral proverbial essay or counsel, like that of Menander,

εὐδὲ βελόνης, Δαιμόνιε, ἐπιθύμησον ἱλλοτρίας ποτὲ,

“not to covet so much as a pin of another’s,” but not any precept of God or of nature, affirming that, unless it be in case of the worship of false gods, no sin is committed by the bare will, without some actual commission following it. Thus saith Aben-Ezra in the beginning of the Decalogue, Kimchi on Psalm lxvi. 18, and Josephus concerning Antiochus’s designed sacrilege, Τὸ γὰρ μηκίτι ποιῆσαι τὸ ἔργον βουλευσάμενον, οὐκ ἔστι τιμωρίας ἄξιον, “To have consulted only, and not acted, doth not deserve punishment.” According to which St. Paul might well say of any Jew brought up under such masters, that he had not believed coveting to be a sin, had not the more exact consideration of the direct words of the law assured him that it was.

Romans 7:8

But the law having indeed only given me the prohibition, and that ceremony to fence it, and no more, and in this particular of coveting not so much as denouncing any present legal infliction upon the commission of it, the customary sins of men, seeing there was no punishment assigned to this sin, (that is, being only forbid by the law without any annexation of punishment,) took an advantage by the law’s only prohibiting and not punishing this sin, and so persuading me that the external ceremony of circumcision (which was commanded under penalty of excision) would serve the turn without any more, invaded me, and wrought in me all inward impurity, which as it would not so probably have been able to do if the law that mentioned this prohibition had fortified it with denunciation of punishment, (as in other cases,) or if indeed the trusting on the external performance, the privilege of being circumcised, had not given men some security and confidence that nothing should be able to do them hurt, (deprive them of the favour of God that were thus circumcised,) so would it not have been near so criminous, if it had not been distinctly prohibited by the law. For it is a known truth, that

Romans 7:9

The people indeed of the Jews lived formerly without the law, (see note [d]), that is, before the promulgation of it; but as soon as the law was given the sin of disobeying a promulgate law became greater, and the disobedient Jew more punishable by reason of the law, and no way the better for it: as when a man is sick, and doth not know his condition and danger, the physician coming tells him of both, and prescribes him a strict diet for the future, if he will recover; but he observes not his prescriptions, continues intemperate, and so dies under the physician’s hand, and in spite of his care.

Romans 7:10

And the law, which was meant to keep them sinless, and so to bring them to life, being not obeyed, did in the issue of it bring only death on them.

Romans 7:11

For the law prescribing circumcision under penalty of excision, but not prescribing the inward purity under that threat, (nor denouncing any present judicial punishment upon the commission of the contrary sin,) but only prohibiting it, and no more, sin took advantage by this impunity of the law, and first seduced me to inward impurity, and then, by occasion of the commandment which forbad it, and so made it criminous, insnared and wounded me to death.

Romans 7:12

And so the objection, ver. 7, was a groundless objection, for though the Mosaical law were the occasion of sin, (or were made advantage of by sin,) yet it was not the cause, and so still that law is holy, (and the commandment against coveting, holy,) just, and good: first, holy, whether that signify piety toward God or purity from all allowance of impurity; and so, secondly, just, in allowing no manner of injustice; and thirdly, good, as requiring charity to others, and so no manner of colour or tincture of ill in it, (only it was not so highly perfect in any of these respects, it was not filled up to so high a pitch as is now by Christ required of us.)

Romans 7:13

Was therefore this good law guilty of death to me? was it the cause of bringing it on me? No, not so neither; but sin was that only cause, which is guilty of all. And so (see note [k] Matt. i.) this is a means

Romans 7:14

And the reason why the effect of the law is so contrary to what was intended by it is this, that the law is spiritual, and not performable by a carnal man, but the carnality of men, (sold under sin, that is, habitual slaves to sin, ready to do all that it bids them, though the law never so distinctly prohibit,) that is the cause of all.

[f] sold under sin] The phrase sold under sin signifies as it doth when it is said of Ahab that he was sold to work wickedness, or of the revolting Jews, 1 Mac. i. 15, as a slave or captive sold from one master, one sin, to another: and so here it is joined with σαρκικός, a carnal man, and is further expressed by the character of him following, that the evil that he would not, that he doth, and the good that he would, that he doth not; just like that which the poets say by way of aggravation of that wicked condition of Medea the witch,

Καὶ μανθάνω μὲν οἷα δρᾶν μέλλω κακὰ, Θυμὸς δὲ κρείσσων τῶν ἐμῶν βουλευμάτων. Eurip.

“I understand the evils that I am about to commit, but my passion overcomes my reason:” and of him in the tragedy,

Λέληθεν οὐδὲν τῶνδε μ’ ὧν σὺ νουθετεῖς, Γνώμην δ’ ἔχοντα μ’ ἡ φύσις βιάζεται. “I am ignorant of none of those things of which thou admonishest me,

Romans 7:15

For such men as I now speak of, carnal men, ver. 14, though they are taught their duty by the law, yet do they not by the dictate of their understanding or conscience that which they do; it is not that which in consent to the law they approve, but that which by their conscience, directed and instructed by the law, they hate and dislike, that they do.

Romans 7:16

And this very thing is an argument that the law is acknowledged to be good, that they dislike that which they do in disobedience to the law, they never commit any prohibited evil, but their conscience accuses and smites them for it.

Romans 7:17

And so it is not the whole they that commits sin, or they as they are led and instructed by the law, (and so the law still is vindicated from the charge, ver. 7,) but it is their carnality resisting the law, or sin having gotten power over them, and so carrying them in despite of the law, and conscience admonishing the contrary.

Romans 7:18

For in men whose affections are not mortified by the Spirit of Christ, but carnally disposed, or led by their own corrupt customs, it is not the law, or knowing their duty, that will do any good on them. To approve, indeed, or like that which is good, the law enable them, but the carnal affections do still suggest the contrary, and carry them in despite of the prohibitions of the law.

Romans 7:19

And this is clear by the experiment, for they do not perform that good which, as the law commands, so they consent to be good; but the evil which they consent not to be good, and which the law tells them they should not do, that they do.

²⁰ to me, μοι. ²¹ know, γινώσκω. ²² But now, Νυγὶ δέ. ²³ no longer, οὐκ ἔτι.

²⁴ good dwelleth not, οὐκ οἰκί᾽ ἀγαθόν. ²⁶ to me, μοι. ²⁶ Or, not to do that which is good:

for the King’s MS. reads, τὸ δὴ κατεργάζεσθαι τὸ καλὸν οὗ.

[b] speak after the manner of men] Ἀνθρώπινον λέγειν here is thought to signify his taking expressions out of common life, διὰ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς ὑμῶν, in respect of the weakness of their gross or carnal understandings, his using allegories and figures; and as before he had used proofs from sacred types, the death and resurrection of Christ applied to his purpose of mortification and new life, so now proceeding to vulgar known similitudes, taken from masters and servants, as Gal. iii. 15. And thus it may fitly be interpreted; but it may otherwise be rendered also, that the weakness of their flesh be taken in respect of strength to perform God’s will, (and not to understand Paul’s language,) and consequently the ἀνθρώπινον λέγειν he, speaking or requiring from them, most moderately, by way of condescension to their infirmities, requiring the least that in any reason could be required of them, so as ἀνθρώπινος, 1 Cor. x. 12, signifies that which hath nothing extraordinary in it, that which is common among men; so St. Chrysostom there, ἀνθρώπινος, τουτέστι μικρὸς, βραχύς, σύμμετρος, “it signifies little, short, proportionable to their strength.” So in Demosthenes contr. Midiam, ἀνθρωπίνη καὶ μετρία σκήψις, “a human and moderate consideration.” So in Horace, lib. 2, humane commoda signifies parum commoda, “little profitable.” And if it be here considered how moderate and equitable a proposal it is which here follows, it will be acknowledged that this of ἀνθρώπινον λέγω in this notion may very well be the form to introduce it.

Romans 7:20

Which plainly argues the truth of that which was said, vv. 15. 17, (and is full answer to the objection against the law, ver. 7,) that the law is far from being guilty of their sin, and that it is not they by the duct and dictate of the law, or their own conscience guided by the law, that do evil; but carnality, or custom of sin, that hath got such a sway or power over them.

Romans 7:21

By this then you may discern the law, and the goodness and the energy or force of it, that when carnality moves men to evil, the mind illuminated by the law inclines them to good; or, that evil, when it is represented to them, finds them inclined to the contrary.

Romans 7:22

For according to the understanding or superior faculty, (contrary to the carnal or bodily part of them,) they are pleased with all those things that the law of God is pleased with.

Romans 7:23

But there is another commanding power in the members, which sets itself in direct opposition to those dictates of the law in the mind, which in carnal men, ver. 14, gets the better of the day, carries them captive slaves, to do what the flesh requires to have done by them.

[g] another law] For the understanding the sense of the apostle in this whole chapter, it is useful to compare this passage with Gal. v. 17, The spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit, &c., which is thought to be parallel, and to import the same sense with this. Of these two places therefore it must first be remembered, that the difference which is between these texts ariseth not from the distinction between the spirit in the one, and the law of the mind in the other, nor consequently is it to be placed betwixt the lusting of the flesh against the spirit, simply taken, and the warring of the law in the members against the law in the mind, as that is no more than a war; but betwixt the former simply taken, or with the addition of the spirit lusting back again against the flesh, or with the circumstances mentioned Gal. v. 17, (none of which imply a yielding to the lusts of the flesh,) and the latter, taken with that addition here mentioned, of bringing the man into captivity to the law of sin. And this indeed is all the difference that can be assigned betwixt a regenerate and unregenerate man, that in the one the spirit prevails, in the other the flesh is victorious; that is, the will of the one is led by the spirit, chooses and acts the deeds of the spirit, (the will of God,) but the will of the other follows the carnal dictates, τελεῖ ἐπιθυμίαν σαρκὸς, performs the will of the flesh, and so falls under the condemnation which belongs to such: ἡ γὰρ τοιαύτη κατάστασις

n Lib. 4. de Dict. et Fact. Socr.

Romans 7:24

This is a sad condition, (the very state of a carnal man under the law,) and out of which the law cannot rescue any man, nor from the destruction that attends it.

Romans 7:25

Yet, blessed be God, by the grace and strength of Jesus Christ, ch. vi. 23, there is a way to get out of this cursed estate; 1. pardon to every penitent sinner, which may encourage any to break off this estate of sin; and, 2. grace and strength in Christ to perform what God in Christ will accept, that is, sincere, though not perfect, obedience, (the thing affirmed ver. 6. and resumed at the beginning of ch. viii.) So then the conclusion of this digression from ver. 7. to this place is, that the bare knowledge of the law of Moses doth only direct the understanding what is the duty; which notwithstanding, the carnal man accustomed to his own ways of sin may think fit still to go on in them, and so (though one and the same person) doth two things at once, with his understanding he serves the law of God, is delighted and pleased with those things wherewith that is delighted, and yet at