Romans 7:7

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 7:7-13

The work of the Law in awakening the soul. After the general statement about the two marriages of the soul, the apostle proceeds to exhibit the soul in its unregenerate state, and how it is awakened through Law to a sense of its guilt and danger. In the section now before us we have the soul presented in its state of security, and then passing into its state of alarm. The subsequent section, as we shall see, presents the soul in its regenerate condition contending successfully against its... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Romans 7:7-25

( b ) The relation of law to sin, and how law prepares the soul for emancipation in Christ from the dominion of sin. In the section of the argument which begins at Romans 7:1 we have seen that the idea of being under sin has passed into that of being under law, in such apparent connection of thought as to identify the positions. The apostle, seeing that readers might be perplexed by such identification, now, in the first place, explains what he has meant by it. Is the Law, then, sin?... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Romans 7:7

What shall we say then? - The objection which is here urged is one that would very naturally rise, and which we may suppose would be urged with no slight indignation. The Jew would ask, “Are we then to suppose that the holy Law of God is not only insufficient to sanctify us, but that it is the mere occasion of increased sin? Is its tendency to produce sinful passions, and to make people worse than they were before?” To this objection the apostle replies with great wisdom, by showing that the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Romans 7:7-8

Romans 7:7-8. What shall we say then? This, to the beginning of the next chapter, is a kind of digression, wherein the apostle, in order to show, in the most lively manner, the weakness and inefficacy of the law, changes the person, and speaks as of himself. This he frequently does when he is not speaking of his own person, but only assuming another character. See Romans 3:7; 1 Corinthians 10:30; 1 Corinthians 4:6. The character here assumed is that of an unrenewed, unregenerated man;... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Romans 7:1-25

The law cannot help (7:1-25)Through Christ, believers have not only died to sin, they have died to the law also, which means that their lives are now different. Paul gives an example. If a husband dies, the wife is no longer bound to him and is free to marry again. Likewise believers have died to the law so that the bond between them and the law is broken. However, they have been raised to new life and are now united to another, the living Christ (7:1-4). Formerly, they found that the more the... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Romans 7:7

What, &c . See Romans 3:5 . God forbid . See Romans 3:4 . known . App-132 . but . Literally if ( App-118 ) not ( App-105 ). known = recognized (it as). App-132 . lust = desire, i.e. of the old nature. See John 8:44 . except . Same as "but". covet . Greek. epithumeo. Quoted here and Romans 13:9 from the Septuagint of Exodus 20:17 . The word is used of any strong desire, and applies to the desires of the new nature as well as to those of the old. Compare Galatians 1:5 , Galatians... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Romans 7:7

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.Is the law sin ...? Paul here identified what law was his subject by appealing to the tenth commandment in the law of Moses. How is it possible for people to affirm that Paul was speaking of the commandments of Jesus Christ by his use of the term "law" in this chapter? As noted in the paragraph heading this chapter,... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Romans 7:7

Romans 7:7. Is the law sin?— Unrighteousness?—as giving any allowance, or contributing any thing to sin. See Romans 7:12. The skill which St. Paul uses in dexterously avoiding, as much as possible, the giving offence to the Jews, is very visible in the word I, in this verse. In the beginning of the chapter, where he mentions their knowledge in the law, he says ye; in the 4th verse, he joins himself with them and says we; but here, and so on to the end of the chapter, where he represents the... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Romans 7:7

7, 8. What . . . then? Is the law sin? God forbid!—"I have said that when we were in the flesh the law stirred our inward corruption, and was thus the occasion of deadly fruit: Is then the law to blame for this? Far from us be such a thought." Nay—"On the contrary" (as in Romans 8:37; 1 Corinthians 12:22; Greek). I had not known sin but by the law—It is important to fix what is meant by "sin" here. It certainly is not "the general nature of sin" [ALFORD, c.], though it be true that this is... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Romans 7:7

Paul’s example of the Law, the tenth commandment, clarifies that by "the Law" he was not referring to the whole Old Testament. He meant the Mosaic Law and particularly the moral part of it, namely, the Ten Commandments. Reformed theologians like to distinguish the moral from the ceremonial parts of the Mosaic Law at this point. Many of them contend that God has only terminated the ceremonial part of the Law. [Note: E.g., John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2:458-60.] However here... read more

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