Romans 7:1

The Believer’s Relationship to the Law

7:1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters ¹  (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person ²  as long as he lives?

Romans 5:1-21

The Expectation of Justification

5:1 ³ Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have ⁴  peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 5:2 through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice ⁵  in the hope of God’s glory. 5:3 Not ⁶  only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 5:4 and endurance, character, and character, hope. 5:5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God ⁷  has been poured out ⁸  in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

5:6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 5:7 (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) ⁹  5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 5:9 Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous ¹⁰  by his blood, ¹¹  we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. ¹²  5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? 5:11 Not ¹³  only this, but we also rejoice ¹⁴  in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

The Amplification of Justification

5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people ¹⁵  because ¹⁶  all sinned – 5:13 for before the law was given, ¹⁷  sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin ¹⁸  when there is no law. 5:14 Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam (who is a type ¹⁹  of the coming one) transgressed. ²⁰  5:15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. ²¹  For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, ²²  how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many! 5:16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned. ²³  For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, ²⁴  led to condemnation, but ²⁵  the gracious gift from the many failures ²⁶  led to justification. 5:17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, ²⁷  death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

5:18 Consequently, ²⁸  just as condemnation ²⁹  for all people ³⁰  came ³¹  through one transgression, ³²  so too through the one righteous act ³³  came righteousness leading to life ³⁴  for all people. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man ³⁵  many ³⁶  were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man ³⁷  many ³⁸  will be made righteous. 5:20 Now the law came in ³⁹  so that the transgression ⁴⁰  may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 5:21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 7:1-25

The Believer’s Relationship to the Law

7:1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters ⁴¹  (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person ⁴²  as long as he lives? 7:2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her ⁴³  husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage. ⁴⁴  7:3 So then, ⁴⁵  if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her ⁴⁶  husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress. 7:4 So, my brothers and sisters, ⁴⁷  you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God. ⁴⁸  7:5 For when we were in the flesh, ⁴⁹  the sinful desires, ⁵⁰  aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body ⁵¹  to bear fruit for death. 7:6 But now we have been released from the law, because we have died ⁵²  to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code. ⁵³ 

7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ⁵⁴  would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else ⁵⁵  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ⁵⁶  7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. ⁵⁷  For apart from the law, sin is dead. 7:9 And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive 7:10 and I died. So ⁵⁸  I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! ⁵⁹  7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died. ⁶⁰  7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin. ⁶¹  7:15 For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate. ⁶²  7:16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. ⁶³  7:17 But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me. 7:18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. ⁶⁴  7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.

7:21 So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. 7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. 7:23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 7:25 Thanks be ⁶⁵  to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, ⁶⁶  I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but ⁶⁷  with my flesh I serve ⁶⁸  the law of sin.

[7:1]  ¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[7:1]  ² sn Here person refers to a human being.

[5:1]  ³ sn Many interpreters see Rom 5:1 as beginning the second major division of the letter.

[5:1]  ⁴ tc A number of important witnesses have the subjunctive ἔχωμεν (ecwmen, “let us have”) instead of ἔχομεν (ecomen, “we have”) in v. 1. Included in the subjunctive’s support are א* A B* C D K L 33 81 630 1175 1739* pm lat bo. But the indicative is not without its supporters: א¹ B² F G P Ψ 0220^vid 104 365 1241 1505 1506 1739^c 1881 2464 pm. If the problem were to be solved on an external basis only, the subjunctive would be preferred. Because of this, the “A” rating on behalf of the indicative in the UBS⁴ appears overly confident. Nevertheless, the indicative is probably correct. First, the earliest witness to Rom 5:1 has the indicative (0220^vid, third century). Second, the first set of correctors is sometimes, if not often, of equal importance with the original hand. Hence, א¹ might be given equal value with א*. Third, there is a good cross-section of witnesses for the indicative: Alexandrian (in 0220^vid, probably א¹ 1241 1506 1881 al), Western (in F G), and Byzantine (noted in NA²⁷ as pm). Thus, although the external evidence is strongly in favor of the subjunctive, the indicative is represented well enough that its ancestry could easily go back to the original. Turning to the internal evidence, the indicative gains much ground. (1) The variant may have been produced via an error of hearing (since omicron and omega were pronounced alike in ancient Greek). This, of course, does not indicate which reading was original – just that an error of hearing may have produced one of them. In light of the indecisiveness of the transcriptional evidence, intrinsic evidence could play a much larger role. This is indeed the case here. (2) The indicative fits well with the overall argument of the book to this point. Up until now, Paul has been establishing the “indicatives of the faith.” There is only one imperative (used rhetorically) and only one hortatory subjunctive (and this in a quotation within a diatribe) up till this point, while from ch. 6 on there are sixty-one imperatives and seven hortatory subjunctives. Clearly, an exhortation would be out of place in ch. 5. (3) Paul presupposes that the audience has peace with God (via reconciliation) in 5:10. This seems to assume the indicative in v. 1. (4) As C. E. B. Cranfield notes, “it would surely be strange for Paul, in such a carefully argued writing as this, to exhort his readers to enjoy or to guard a peace which he has not yet explicitly shown to be possessed by them” (Romans [ICC], 1:257). (5) The notion that εἰρήνην ἔχωμεν (eirhnhn ecwmen) can even naturally mean “enjoy peace” is problematic (ExSyn 464), yet those who embrace the subjunctive have to give the verb some such force. Thus, although the external evidence is stronger in support of the subjunctive, the internal evidence points to the indicative. Although a decision is difficult, ἔχομεν appears to be the authentic reading.

[5:2]  ⁵ tn Or “exult, boast.”

[5:3]  ⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[5:5]  ⁹ tn The phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ (Jh agaph tou qeou, “the love of God”) could be interpreted as either an objective genitive (“our love for God”), subjective genitive (“God’s love for us”), or both (M. Zerwick’s “general” genitive [Biblical Greek, §§36-39]; D. B. Wallace’s “plenary” genitive [ExSyn 119-21]). The immediate context, which discusses what God has done for believers, favors a subjective genitive, but the fact that this love is poured out within the hearts of believers implies that it may be the source for believers’ love for God; consequently an objective genitive cannot be ruled out. It is possible that both these ideas are meant in the text and that this is a plenary genitive: “The love that comes from God and that produces our love for God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (ExSyn 121).

[5:5]  ¹⁰ sn On the OT background of the Spirit being poured out, see Isa 32:15; Joel 2:28-29.

[5:7]  ¹¹ sn Verse 7 forms something of a parenthetical comment in Paul’s argument.

[5:9]  ¹³ tn Grk “having now been declared righteous.” The participle δικαιωθέντες (dikaiwqente") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

[5:9]  ¹⁴ tn Or, according to BDF §219.3, “at the price of his blood.”

[5:9]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the wrath,” referring to God’s wrath as v. 10 shows.

[5:11]  ¹⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[5:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “exult, boast.”

[5:12]  ¹⁷ tn Here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpou") has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[5:12]  ¹⁸ tn The translation of the phrase ἐφ᾿ ᾧ (ef Jw) has been heavily debated. For a discussion of all the possibilities, see C. E. B. Cranfield, “On Some of the Problems in the Interpretation of Romans 5.12,” SJT 22 (1969): 324-41. Only a few of the major options can be mentioned here: (1) the phrase can be taken as a relative clause in which the pronoun refers to Adam, “death spread to all people in whom [Adam] all sinned.” (2) The phrase can be taken with consecutive (resultative) force, meaning “death spread to all people with the result that all sinned.” (3) Others take the phrase as causal in force: “death spread to all people because all sinned.”

[5:13]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “for before the law.”

[5:13]  ²⁰ tn Or “sin is not reckoned.”

[5:14]  ²¹ tn Or “pattern.”

[5:14]  ²² tn Or “disobeyed”; Grk “in the likeness of Adam’s transgression.”

[5:15]  ²³ tn Grk “but not as the transgression, so also [is] the gracious gift.”

[5:15]  ²⁴ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

[5:16]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and not as through the one who sinned [is] the gift.”

[5:16]  ²⁶ tn The word “transgression” is not in the Greek text at this point, but has been supplied for clarity.

[5:16]  ²⁷ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[5:16]  ²⁸ tn Or “falls, trespasses,” the same word used in vv. 15, 17, 18, 20.

[5:17]  ²⁷ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

[5:18]  ²⁹ tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

[5:18]  ³⁰ tn Grk “[it is] unto condemnation for all people.”

[5:18]  ³¹ tn Here ἀνθρώπους (anqrwpou") has been translated as a generic (“people”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[5:18]  ³² tn There are no verbs in the Greek text of v. 18, forcing translators to supply phrases like “came through one transgression,” “resulted from one transgression,” etc.

[5:18]  ³³ sn One transgression refers to the sin of Adam in Gen 3:1-24.

[5:18]  ³⁴ sn The one righteous act refers to Jesus’ death on the cross.

[5:18]  ³⁵ tn Grk “righteousness of life.”

[5:19]  ³¹ sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).

[5:19]  ³² tn Grk “the many.”

[5:19]  ³³ sn One man refers here to Jesus Christ.

[5:19]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the many.”

[5:20]  ³³ tn Grk “slipped in.”

[5:20]  ³⁴ tn Or “trespass.”

[7:1]  ³⁵ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[7:1]  ³⁶ sn Here person refers to a human being.

[7:2]  ³⁷ tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[7:2]  ³⁸ tn Grk “husband.”

[7:3]  ³⁹ tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

[7:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[7:4]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[7:4]  ⁴² tn Grk “that we might bear fruit to God.”

[7:5]  ⁴³ tn That is, before we were in Christ.

[7:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “sinful passions.”

[7:5]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “our members”; the words “of our body” have been supplied to clarify the meaning.

[7:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “having died.” The participle ἀποθανόντες (apoqanonte") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

[7:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”

[7:7]  ⁴⁷ sn Romans 7:7-25. There has been an enormous debate over the significance of the first person singular pronouns (“I”) in this passage and how to understand their referent. Did Paul intend (1) a reference to himself and other Christians too; (2) a reference to his own pre-Christian experience as a Jew, struggling with the law and sin (and thus addressing his fellow countrymen as Jews); or (3) a reference to himself as a child of Adam, reflecting the experience of Adam that is shared by both Jews and Gentiles alike (i.e., all people everywhere)? Good arguments can be assembled for each of these views, and each has problems dealing with specific statements in the passage. The classic argument against an autobiographical interpretation was made by W. G. Kümmel, Römer 7 und die Bekehrung des Paulus. A good case for seeing at least an autobiographical element in the chapter has been made by G. Theissen, Psychologische Aspekte paulinischer Theologie [FRLANT], 181-268. One major point that seems to favor some sort of an autobiographical reading of these verses is the lack of any mention of the Holy Spirit for empowerment in the struggle described in Rom 7:7-25. The Spirit is mentioned beginning in 8:1 as the solution to the problem of the struggle with sin (8:4-6, 9).

[7:7]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “I would not have known covetousness.”

[7:7]  ⁴⁹ sn A quotation from Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21.

[7:8]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “covetousness.”

[7:10]  ⁵¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate the result of the statement in the previous verse. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[7:10]  ⁵² tn Grk “and there was found in/for me the commandment which was for life – this was for death.”

[7:11]  ⁵³ tn Or “and through it killed me.”

[7:14]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “under sin.”

[7:15]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “but what I hate, this I do.”

[7:16]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “I agree with the law that it is good.”

[7:18]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “For to wish is present in/with me, but not to do it.”

[7:25]  ⁶³ tc ‡ Most mss (א* A 1739 1881 Ï sy) read “I give thanks to God” rather than “Now thanks be to God” (א¹ [B] Ψ 33 81 104 365 1506 pc), the reading of NA²⁷. The reading with the verb (εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ, eucaristw tw qew) possibly arose from a transcriptional error in which several letters were doubled (TCGNT 455). The conjunction δέ (de, “now”) is included in some mss as well (א¹ Ψ 33 81 104 365 1506 pc), but it should probably not be considered original. The ms support for the omission of δέ is both excellent and widespread (א* A B D 1739 1881 Ï lat sy), and its addition can be explained as an insertion to smooth out the transition between v. 24 and 25.

[7:25]  ⁶⁴ tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

[7:25]  ⁶⁵ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[7:25]  ⁶⁶ tn The words “I serve” have been repeated here for clarity.