Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Seven
CHRIST THE SOVEREIGN MASTER
Scripture Reading: verses 21-25
I FIND THEN A LAW, THAT, WHEN I WOULD DO GOOD, EVIL IS PRESENT WITH ME. FOR I DELIGHT IN THE LAW OF GOD AFTER THE INWARD MAN: BUT I SEE ANOTHER LAW IN MY MEMBERS, WARRING AGAINST THE LAW OF MY MIND, AND BRINGING ME INTO CAPTIVITY TO THE LAW OF SIN WHICH IS IN MY MEMBERS. O WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM! WHO SHALL DELIVER ME FROM THE BODY OF THIS DEATH? I THANK GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. SO THEN WITH THE MIND I MYSELF SERVE THE LAW OF GOD; BUT WITH THE FLESH THE LAW OF SIN.
In this great courtroom drama, Paul is still the defense lawyer, presenting a masterpiece of argument before God, the Judge, on behalf of the pardoned sinner. Throughout this chapter, we have observed that the Christian is a complex character, and here he has two identities. One is after the flesh – his fleshly identity with the old man; his unregenerate state. His second identity is a spiritual identity – risen with the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.
In the passage before us, it almost seems as if these two identities were regarded as separate from the man himself, and for the sake of legal argument let us regard them as such. Paul calls one “the flesh;” the other “the mind,” referring undoubtedly to the renewed mind under the will of the Spirit of God.
May we suggest that the word “law” in these verses does not refer to the Law of Moses. It is law in the abstract, meaning “a controlling principle.” In everyday life, it is frequently used in ordinary parlance. We speak of the law of gravity, the law of nature, scientific laws, physical laws, and in all these we refer to certain regulating principles which control certain phenomena under given conditions. The first law to which Paul refers in this passage is in verse 21 where he says: “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.” He speaks in an objective way as if he were standing aloof and looking at this complex man that makes up “himself.” In his make-up he sees a regulating principle that wants to do good, but there is another law that presses evil on him. One is the regulating principle that finds its origin in Adam; the law of flesh; the law of sin. The other is the law that finds its origin in the new birth; it is of a new order. One tends downward; the other upward. So, speaking of that renewed nature which is his as a Christian, Paul says: “I delight in the law of God after the inward man,” but speaking of the other regulating principle, that of the flesh and sin, he says: “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”
Although the illustration is somewhat imperfect, we shall describe this more or less as the nature of the unregenerate man and the new man’s nature. The characteristics of the unregenerate man are the characteristics of the flesh and the flesh is still in every true believer. Until we are either dead and buried or caught up to meet the Lord in the air, we will never entirely be rid of the flesh. That will certainly bring the flesh to an end. Until then we will find that the regulating principle toward sin springs up in our lives from time to time, and only dependence on the Lord will keep these principles under. So there is a warring going on in the Christian life, the flesh warring against the spirit and the spirit warring against the flesh. Still speaking on behalf of the pardoned criminal, now looking at this complex creature with one identity connecting him with the flesh of sin, and another connecting him with the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul exclaims in deep soul agony: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” That is a very graphic expression.
Here’s an illustration that has been used again and again in relation to this. The expression refers to an old and horrible Roman custom. For certain wicked offences a criminal would be taken and, instead of being put to death, he would be locked up in prison and bound to a dead body. It is a gruesome idea but one of those systems of torture devised by tyrannous Rome for the subjugation of its enemies. Thus the criminal would be bound to a body of death until he himself died.
Speaking on behalf of all of us who have been pardoned for our sins, and yet find in ourselves these strange, mysterious, persistent impulses toward sin, Paul now indicates it is almost as if the Christian, the one who has been born of God, has been bound to a dead body. The dead body is “the man after the flesh,” the sinful man, the old nature. It is the believer alive through the resurrection power of Christ bound to the dead body of his own fleshly instincts and Paul cries out in agony of spirit, “Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” In view of this horrible Roman custom, one can understand why this would be the constant cry of the criminal who was bound to a body of death in the prison. Usually there was no deliverance for such a person, but, on the contrary, Paul exclaims in ecstatic joy: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”
In this last verse of Romans 7, Paul comes to the happy realization that the power of Jesus Christ his Lord, the Sovereign Master of his whole being, has severed the ties binding him to this body of sin, the sinful man, setting him free forever. What does he mean? Obviously, that he will keep in mind both identities; one with the old man, the man of flesh, and the other with the new man, the man of righteousness. He will not rely on his own power, not on any human experience, emotional, spiritual or otherwise, but solely on the power of this One whom he calls Jesus Christ our Lord. If deliverance from the impulses of sin is to be enjoyed by the Christian, it must be by subjugating one’s self to the sovereign right, authority, and will of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a practical issue and something which we constantly practice lest our arch enemy Satan take advantage of our fleshly propensities, our evil nature, tempting us into disobeying God, gratifying self and allowing sin to come into our lives. This calls for a great deal of exercise, and many times the Lord’s people must feel like the prisoner bound to the dead body. Who shall deliver us? Only Christ can sever these bonds and give us liberty to serve our God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.
