Romans 7:1
Ἢ ἀγνοεῖτε, ἀδελφοί— γινώσκουσιν γὰρ νόμον λαλῶ— ὅτι ὁ νόμος κυριεύει τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐφ’ ὅσον χρόνον ζῇ;
Or are you ignorant, brothers (for I speak to those who know the law) that the law regulates a man for as long a time as he might live.
Paraphrase: I know you know these things, brothers and sisters, but I want to be very clear as to what I am teaching. Let me use another analogy very familiar to all of us. You know that every person is answerable to the laws of the land for as long as he lives. The law has nothing to say to a dead person.
Comments:
It is odd that γινώσκουσιν is anarthrous seeing that it is also substantive. GGBB (p619): “The substantival participle may or may not be articular, although most are.”
Romans 7:2
ἡ γὰρ ὕπανδρος γυνὴ, τῷ ζῶντι ἀνδρὶ δέδεται νόμῳ· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνήρ, κατήργηται ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ ἀνδρός.
For the woman under a man has been bound by law to a living husband. Now if her husband should die, she is released from the law of the husband.
Paraphrase: It’s the same idea as a wife whose husband passes away. When her husband is living, the law forbids her from marrying another man. If her husband should die, however, the same law no longer applies to her; she is free to marry another man whenever she has the opportunity.
Comments:
For “the law of the husband” cf Leviticus 14:2; Numbers 6:13.
I translated the article in ὁ ἀνήρ in keeping with principle 18. There are other instances of this below.
Romans 7:3
ἄρα οὖν, ζῶντος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς, μοιχαλὶς χρηματίσει ἐὰν γένηται ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνήρ, ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, τοῦ μὴ εἶναι αὐτὴν μοιχαλίδα, γενομένην ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ.
Therefore then, while her husband is living, she is labelled “adulteress” if she might be for another husband. But if the her husband might die, free she is from the law so that she might not be an adulteress when being for another husband.
Paraphrase: If she should marry another man while her husband is still living, she would surely be branded an adulteress and would receive the prescribed punishment. The case is entirely different, however, if her husband dies. Now she is no longer bound by that law which forbid her to remarry. Now she is reckoned to be a single person and may accept the proposal of anyone she chooses. When she marries another man, no one would think to accuse her of breaking the seventh command.
Comments:
Robertson (p1190): “Paul is specially fond of ἄρα οὖν.”
Romans 7:4
Ὥστε, ἀδελφοί μου, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐθανατώθητε τῷ νόμῳ διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι ὑμᾶς ἑτέρῳ, τῷ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγερθέντι, ἵνα καρποφορήσωμεν τῷ Θεῷ.
So my brothers, even you were made dead to the law through the body of Christ in order that you might be to another, to the One being raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
Paraphrase: Now in the same way, my dear brothers and sisters, you have died to the law. How? You died to the law when the body of Jesus was nailed to the cruel cross and His blood was shed. His life was taken because of the guilt He carried (Isaiah 53:4; Romans 6:10), and His death was an atonement for these sins. When He gave His life in this way, all the guilt He was carrying was forgiven. (Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35) Now we know that Jesus was not carrying the guilt of any sin which He committed. Certainly not! He was carrying your sin and my sin; and by His death, He has made atonement for those sins. Now if your guilt has been forgiven and your sins atoned for, then what charge can the law bring against you? The law has nothing to say any more. He is completely satisfied; you will not hear from him again. Now your conscience is set free from guilt, and you are free to entertain the proposal of a new Husband. This Husband is the same Jesus whose body was broken for you and who now calls you to enter into a new covenant of marriage with Himself. Once you are joined to this new Husband, you will see the difference He makes in your life. By this union, you will bring glory to God by a lifestyle marked by holiness.
Comments:
Romans 7:5
ὅτε γὰρ ἦμεν ἐν τῇ σαρκί, τὰ παθήματα τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν τὰ διὰ τοῦ νόμου ἐνηργεῖτο ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν ἡμῶν, εἰς τὸ καρποφορῆσαι τῷ θανάτῳ.
For when we were in the flesh, the desires of sins, those through the law, were active in our members in order that we might bear fruit to death.
Paraphrase: My dear brothers and sisters, some of you are still thinking that you can be justified before God on the basis of your own strict and careful obedience to His law. The truth is, those very sinful desires, which are so contrary to God’s law and which brought us under His wrath, are actually stirred up and invigorated by the presence of the law. That is why we can never hope to be justified by the law. The law brings us into even greater guilt and condemnation. It causes our sinful desires to wake up. Then these desires lead us to use our body to commit all kinds of sin and debauchery (Romans 6:19) of which we would not have even thought, if the law hadn’t forbidden it. The result is the opposite of justification. Eventually, we will hear the dreadful sentence of God’s condemnation and be led away to eternal death as God’s just punishment for sin. (Romans 6:23)
Comments:
Romans 7:6
νυνὶ δὲ κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, ἀποθανόντες ἐν ᾧ κατειχόμεθα, ὥστε δουλεύειν ἡμᾶς ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος, καὶ οὐ παλαιότητι γράμματος.
But now we were released from the law having died in what we were held down, so that we are enslaved in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
Paraphrase: But things have changed now. We are no longer under the terms of that covenant; it has left the room having nothing to say against us. Now we have been brought under a new and better covenant. (2 Corinthians 3:6) When we are under this covenant, God works everything in us which He demands from us. (Jeremiah 31:33-34) Under the old covenant, it was just letters, words, and laws. We had to obey using only our own resources; God expected us to meet His expectations on our own. Under the new covenant, God also expects us to obey His laws; but this time, He baptizes us in His Spirit so that we receive a strength to obey that is not our own.
Comments:
Romans 7:7
Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; ὁ νόμος ἁμαρτία; μὴ γένοιτο! ἀλλὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἔγνων, εἰ μὴ διὰ νόμου· τήν τε γὰρ ἐπιθυμίαν, οὐκ ᾔδειν, εἰ μὴ ὁ νόμος ἔλεγεν, Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις.
Therefore, what shall we say? Is the law sin? May it never be, but I did know sin except through the law, for covetousness, I had not known except the law said, “You shall not covet.”
Paraphrase: Now I know what you are thinking. You are going to accuse me of teaching that God’s perfect law is actually the cause of sin which is all the same as teaching that God Himself is the cause of sin. No, this is not my teaching; I reject it out of hand. The truth is that the law identifies sin and shows us which of our choices are sinful and offensive to God. Take coveting, for example. How would I have ever known that something so apparently trifling was really such a serious sin if I hadn’t read this in the tenth command where God so clearly forbids it?
Comments:
Romans 7:8
ἀφορμὴν δὲ λαβοῦσα ἡ ἁμαρτία διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς, κατειργάσατο ἐν ἐμοὶ πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν· χωρὶς γὰρ νόμου, ἁμαρτία νεκρά.
But sin, seizing the opportunity, through the command worked in me all covetousness; for apart from the law, sin is dead.
Paraphrase: “But wait!” you will say. “You didn’t just say that the law identifies sin; you said that God’s perfect law actually awakens and invigorates sin!” I did say that, and let me clarify. When I say that the law increases sin, I do not mean that the law is the efficient cause of increasing sin. I mean that it is the occasion of the sin increasing. Let me make this clear by returning to my example of the tenth command. You can think of sin as a cruel person living in my soul and waiting for his opportunity. When I began to study the law of God and I came to understand that coveting was sinful, Sin saw its chance. He leaped to his feet and began to stir up all kinds of sinful desires in me. If I hadn’t known the tenth command, Sin would have remained inactive and I would not have desired so earnestly all those forbidden things. I have found in my life that the mere existence of a law forbidding something makes us want to do the very thing which is forbidden! It seems to me that we desire the forbidden thing all the more just because it is forbidden. (Proverbs 9:17) If we hadn’t read the prohibition, we likely would never have thought to do the forbidden thing. Do you see how the law did not directly cause the increase in sin but rather was the occasion for it? The real problem is the sin which lies slumbering in everyone of us.
Comments:
Romans 7:9
Ἐγὼ δὲ ἔζων χωρὶς νόμου ποτέ· ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς ἐντολῆς, ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀνέζησεν· ἐγὼ δὲ ἀπέθανον.
Romans 7:10
καὶ εὑρέθη μοι ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ εἰς ζωὴν, αὕτη εἰς θάνατον.
Romans 7:11
ἡ γὰρ ἁμαρτία, ἀφορμὴν λαβοῦσα διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς, ἐξηπάτησέν με, καὶ δι’ αὐτῆς ἀπέκτεινεν.
Romans 7:12
Ὥστε ὁ μὲν νόμος ἅγιος, καὶ ἡ ἐντολὴ ἁγία καὶ δικαία καὶ ἀγαθή.
Romans 7:13
Τὸ οὖν ἀγαθὸν, ἐμοὶ ἐγένετο θάνατος; μὴ γένοιτο! ἀλλὰ ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἵνα φανῇ ἁμαρτία, διὰ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μοι κατεργαζομένη θάνατον· ἵνα γένηται καθ’ ὑπερβολὴν ἁμαρτωλὸς, ἡ ἁμαρτία διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς.
Romans 7:14
Οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ὁ νόμος πνευματικός ἐστιν· ἐγὼ δὲ σάρκινός εἰμι, πεπραμένος ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν.
Romans 7:15
ὃ γὰρ κατεργάζομαι, οὐ γινώσκω· οὐ γὰρ ὃ θέλω, τοῦτο πράσσω· ἀλλ’ ὃ μισῶ, τοῦτο ποιῶ.
Romans 7:16
εἰ δὲ ὃ οὐ θέλω, τοῦτο ποιῶ, σύμφημι τῷ νόμῳ, ὅτι καλός.
Romans 7:17
νυνὶ δὲ, οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτὸ, ἀλλὰ ἡ οἰκοῦσα* ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία.
Romans 7:18
Οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ οἰκεῖ ἐν ἐμοί, τοῦτ’ ἔστιν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου, ἀγαθόν· τὸ γὰρ θέλειν παράκειταί μοι, τὸ δὲ κατεργάζεσθαι τὸ καλὸν, οὔ.
Romans 7:19
οὐ γὰρ ὃ θέλω ποιῶ ἀγαθόν, ἀλλὰ ὃ οὐ θέλω κακὸν, τοῦτο πράσσω.
Romans 7:20
εἰ δὲ ὃ οὐ θέλω, ἐγὼ τοῦτο ποιῶ, οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτὸ, ἀλλὰ ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία.
Romans 7:21
Εὑρίσκω ἄρα τὸν νόμον, τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοὶ ποιεῖν τὸ καλὸν, ὅτι ἐμοὶ τὸ κακὸν παράκειται.
Romans 7:22
συνήδομαι γὰρ τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, κατὰ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον·
Romans 7:23
βλέπω δὲ ἕτερον νόμον ἐν τοῖς μέλεσίν μου, ἀντιστρατευόμενον τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοός μου, καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντά με ἐν τῷ νόμῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, τῷ ὄντι ἐν τοῖς μέλεσίν μου.
Romans 7:24
Ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος! τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου;
Romans 7:25
χάρις [δὲ] τῷ Θεῷ, διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν! Ἄρα οὖν, αὐτὸς ἐγὼ τῷ μὲν νοῒ δουλεύω νόμῳ Θεοῦ, τῇ δὲ σαρκὶ νόμῳ ἁμαρτίας.