If You Stay Under the Law, You Stay a Slave to Sin
Thinking about Romans 7:14.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. (Romans 7:14)
Paul has emphasized how Christians have “become dead to the law through the body of Christ” (Romans 7:4).
He talked about when “we were in the flesh” - referring to the time when they were still under the Law before they were “delivered from the law” through Jesus Christ (Romans 7:5-6).
This didn’t mean the Law was sin - “certainly not!” (Romans 7:7). The Law brought the knowledge of sin, and sin operated through the Law to bring death (Romans 7:7-11). The Law was “holy and just and good” - Sin was the real killer, not the Law (Romans 7:12-13).
Beginning in Romans 7:14, I think Paul is “bringing home” the application to the Jews (and the Judaizing Christians who tried to hold on to portions of the Law - Acts 15:1) about their problem.
The law is spiritual.
Paul has made this point repeatedly.
“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law” (Romans 7:7).
“Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not!” (Romans 7:12-13).
The word for “spiritual” means “not belonging to the things of men since it came from God” (Pollard, Truth for Today Commentary, 245).
The Law is spiritual - it is from God and of God. It is holy, just, and good. So what about those who lived under the Law?
Well - there was a problem.
I am carnal.
Paul writes, “but,” which indicates a contrast between what the Law is, and where he found himself when he lived under the Law - and where all others who lived under the Law found themselves.
The meaning behind the word “carnal” is fleshly.
Paul describes what he means by this statement by saying, “sold under sin.”
The proposition “under” (hupo) refers to something being in a controlled position or under obligation. The idea is that Paul was controlled by sin, much like a wrestler being pinned by his opponent so that he cannot escape. - Pollard, Truth for Today Commentary, 245
The figure of being sold (piprasko) is of the person who is auctioned as chattel with no rights, being treated as a mere object. To be “sold” is to have all of one’s natural rights forfeited. It describes the desperate situation from which only God can rescue a person. - Pollard, Truth for Today Commentary, 245
Paul describes the condition of someone pinned down and controlled by sin - not merely struggling with occasion temptation. It’s someone who has been sold into slavery and desperately needs to be set free.
The problem.
The Law of Moses is spiritual - it is from God and is holy, just, and good.
Those who lived under the Law of Moses and tried to follow it had a significant problem - once they sinned and fell short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), they became Sin’s slave. How could they be set free from the cruel, cold-blooded grasp of that wicked taskmaster?
The Law could not do it. The Law did what Law was designed to do - you break the Law, you pay the price. No one could be justified by the Law (Romans 3:19-20).
Justification is “by faith apart from the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28). Justification is offered “freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).
The problem is this: You stay under the Law, and you stay a slave to sin.
It didn’t matter how many “good deeds” someone did under the Law, how many prayers they prayed, or how many tears they cried - justification (forgiveness, redemption) did not come through the Law.
I understand there are other views on this section of Romans. Some believe that Paul is explaining the struggle that Christians face with temptation and sin even after becoming a Christian - and that struggle certainly exists (1 John 1:5-2:2).
However, I don’t think that’s what Paul discusses in Romans 7:14-25. He’s been discussing the Law of Moses and the need to be delivered from it so we can be freed from sin.
I think in this section, Paul shows the enormous problem that exists if someone rejects Christ and tries to cling to the Law.
Great job!