b. The law, the sin, and the flesh (7:7-25)

Several points made by Paul in the course of his argument, particularly in 5:20; 6:14; and 7:1-6, may give the impression that the law is evil and is identical to sin. So here in v.7 he raises the question, Is the law sin? and proceeds to answer it. In this section Paul uses I as the subject. Is this his autobiographical experience? Even if this is autobiographical, it is not merely Paul’s own experience. It has universal application (Notes, 379). As discussed earlier, this section is a further elaboration of 7:5. There Paul uses “we” as the subject. In 8:4 he describes the opposite of the condition of 7:7-25 and uses “us” as the object of God’s enabling work. Moreover, on the level of practical life, everyone can identify with this experience. Whether autobiographical or not, this I is inclusive and represents all men and women.

From this analysis of general human experience, Paul demonstrates that the law is not sin. The law itself is not evil. Sin is the cause of the evil effects of the law. Sin in this context is not merely an evil act but the power that causes men and women to commit sin. Wesley calls it “inbred corruption” (Notes, 379; cf. Murray “sinful principle” (1:250). Black gives the title “The Problem of Indwelling Sin” to 7:7-12 (p. 96). The law itself is holy, righteous, and good (v.12). The law is to bring life. But sin perverts it and actually brings death through it. By this, sin is shown to be utterly sinful (v.13).

In vv.14-25 Paul describes a familiar moral struggle. I delight in God’s law and want to do it. But the law (principle, or power) of sin within me prevents me from doing it and compels me to do the evil I do not want. So in desperation I cry out, What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? “This body of death” means the body dominated by death in the sense of vv.10-11, or by “the law of sin and death” (8:2). The deliverance comes through Jesus Christ (v.25a).

Some commentators understand v.25b to be the result of the deliverance. They maintain that after the deliverance we will still be living in the same way as before. So, in this view, vv.7-25 describe the normal condition of the Christian life (Morris, Romans, 288).

If this were true, why would I be excited about the deliverance? In order to bring the contrast to a sharp focus, Paul summarizes the condition before the deliverance in v.25b and treats the condition after the deliverance in 8:1-17. This is confirmed by so then in v.25b. So the same condition is described in v.5, vv.7-25a, and v.25b. The opposite condition is described in 7:6 and 8:1-17. After the deliverance through Christ Jesus, I no longer lives in the former condition.

The verbs in 7:1-13 are in the past tense, but the verbs in vv.14-25 are in the present tense. This leads some commentators to think that the condition described in vv.14-25 is the normative Christian experience (Nygren, 285-97). However, the “I” in vv.14-25 is sold as a slave to sin (v.14), and sin lives in him (vv.17, 20). He is a prisoner of the law (power, or principle) of sin, which is at work within his members (v.23). This is radically different from the Christian experience described in 6:1-7:6. Christians have died to sin (6:2). They are no longer enslaved to sin (6:6), but are freed from it (6:7), and have become slaves of righteousness (6:18, 22). They have been released from the law, dead to what once bound them (7:6).

Other commentators think that vv.14-25 describe non-Christian experience (Dodd, 107-8). However, the “I” knows that the law of God is good (v.16) and wants to do what is good (v.18). He delights in God’s law (v.22). This is not the picture Paul paints of non-Christians in 1:18-3:20.

Who, then, is this “I” whom Paul is describing in vv.14-25, if it is not a normative Christian nor a non-Christian? Paul is describing the condition of the worldly person (sarkinos, sarkikos), any person living in the flesh (en tē sarki). This is supported by the following evidences. (1) As mentioned earlier, 7:5 is a summary of vv.7-25; v.5 explicitly states that the condition pertains to when “we were in the flesh” (en tē sarki). (2) This section repeatedly emphasizes the condition of the flesh (sarx). v.14 says, I am sarkinos (niv unspiritual; rsv “fleshly”; nasb “of flesh”); v.18 “in my flesh” (en tē sarki). (3) v.25b summarizes the condition of “I” in vv.14-25. Here Paul writes “tē sarki” [niv in the sinful nature; rsv, NASB with my flesh] [I am] a slave to the law of sin. (4) The “I” in this section cannot do the requirements of the law because of sin. God, however, condemned sin so that the condition is reversed (8:3-4). In 8:3 Paul intimates that the condition exists because the law “was weakened by sarx” (niv “the sinful nature”; niv note, rsv, nasb “the flesh”). So the problem in vv.14-25 is due to the flesh (sarx). (5) The condition in 8:1-17 is the opposite of that in 7:14-25. The condition of 8:1-17 is that of those who live according to the Spirit (8:4). The opposite of this is living according to the flesh (sarx, 8:4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, niv “the sinful nature”; niv note, rsv, nasb “the flesh”). (6) The destiny of I in vv.14-25 is death (v.24), and the destiny of the flesh (sarx) is death also (7:5; 8:6). (7) The “I” in vv.14-25 cannot do good (vv.18, 21), that is, the demands of the law (v.16). The mind of the flesh (sarx, niv “sinful mind”; rsv, nasb “the mind that is set on the flesh”) does not and cannot submit to God’s law (8:7).

The key concept is that of sarx and its derivatives. Sarx, usually translated as “sinful nature,” “unspiritual,” or “worldly” in NIV and as “flesh” in NIV notes, RSV, and NASB, has a wide range of meanings. The most important, however, is the theological meaning, which is the key to the understanding of this discussion.

According to 1Co 3:3, fleshly believers (sarkikos; niv “worldly”; rsv “of the flesh”; nasb “fleshly”) behave like mere human beings. Ro 7:4 mentions our marriage to Christ Jesus to bear fruit to God. In contrast, 7:5 says that we were in the flesh (sarx) bearing fruit to death. Being in the flesh is the opposite of being married to Christ and drawing upon his resources. v.25b summarizes the condition of the fleshly person. So then, I myself [autos egō] in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in tē sarki [niv the sinful nature; rsv, nasb ‘flesh’] a slave to the law of sin. In Greek autos egō is an emphatic way of saying, “I, myself.” The meaning is “I, independent of any outside influence, and thus completely on my own.”

Thus sarx (flesh) is human nature independent of God’s grace. In such condition, it is invaded, enslaved, and corrupted by sin (v.14). Therefore, even though sin and the flesh are not identical, they produce the same effects. In 8:1-17 walking according to sarx (niv sinful nature; rsv, nasb “flesh”) is contrasted to walking according to the Spirit. To walk according to the flesh is to function without God’s grace, but only on the resources of this corrupted human nature.

Surely non-Christians are of the flesh. 1Co 3:1-3 clearly indicates that some Christians, “infants in Christ,” are still fleshly (sarkinos; niv worldly; rsv, nasb “of the flesh”). This is subnormative for Christians. They should be spiritual, not fleshly. Ro 7:5 says, “When we were en tē sarki” (nasb “in the flesh”; rsv “living in the flesh”; niv “controlled by the sinful nature”). This means that we are no longer in the flesh. We are no longer living in the condition of vv.14-25.

Thus we come to this conclusion. Non-Christians and some Christians are living in the condition of vv.7-25. Greathouse writes:

To the extent, therefore, that a believer has not met the conditions of 6:11-13, to that extent sin still remains to trouble his new-found peace. To the extent that he is depending upon his own self-effort for sanctification, to that extent he is yet under the law. . . . Something of this divided condition and occasional defeat is therefore present experience for the believer until he is cleansed from remaining sin by the sanctifying power of the Spirit. (Greathouse, 160)

Gal 3:3 mentions that the Galatian Christians have begun with the Spirit but are trying to be made complete by sarx (“flesh”). Since the danger of living in the condition of vv.14-25 is ever present with Christians (cf. Wesley, Plain Account, 39, 45), the verbs in this section are in the present tense. But this is subnormative for Christians. They should be living in the state of 8:1-17. If Christians are living in the condition of vv.7-25, they should present themselves to God, and God will sanctify them (6:19-22) and enable them to live in the condition of 8:1-17. This is the “second work of grace” of Wesleyan theology.