Romans chapter seven (KJV) explained verse by verse
"Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?-verse 1
Comment: Saint Paul is asking the question only to the Brethren who know the law. The Romans he is writing to are Gentiles or non-Israelites. It is not so much as God's holy law, but about the law of heredity. Only when we are told or realize that we have a fallen nature inherited from Adam and Eve, do we know the law of inheritance belonging to us, as long as we live. Therefore we need to divorce ourselves from this old man of sin.
Verse 2: "For the woman which has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband."
Comment: Now notice here that the woman is a symbol of the church of Christ (Revelation 19:7) and Jesus declared Himself the Husband of His church. He cannot be married to her while she is still married to her sinful nature.
This frustrates the apostle all through this chapter until he saw the solution in Romans chapter eight through the Holy Spirit no longer walking after the sinful flesh.
Verse 3: "So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.."
Comment: Jesus Christ as your Saviour from sin, does not want to marry you in your sinful flesh. Since sin has no longer dominion over you or dominates you, (Romans 6:9) He wants to give you victory over sin.The husband that every man is married to, is the old man of sin We must crucify him with all his lusts of the flesh before we can be married to Jesus Christ. Friendship with the world is called a spiritual adultery (James 4:4). In other words, still having our fallen sinful nature means also being married to the world.
Verse 4: "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God."
Comment: The fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galations 5:22) is what our Lord Jesus wants to see and marry and not our law of sinful lust.
Verse 5: "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death."
Comment: St. Paul is not speaking of church members here, but of our flesh.
Verse 6: "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were being held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."
Comment: That letter is probably our marriage certificate we have inherited. Some will take this deliverance to mean God's holy moral law of the Ten Commandments. But this is not so. In Corinthians we have a similar verse: 'Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistles of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.' (2 Corinthians 3:3). As you probably already know, God Himself wrote the Ten Commandment law on two stone tablets to indicate the monumental lasting state of His law. But now in the New Testament God is writing that same holy law of His, into our hearts and minds sowith establishing the New Covenant. (Hebrews 8:10)
The word epistle is not a spelling mistake. It does not mean apostles, but people can read you when you experience the full joy of salvation. Those of us who have experinced the deliverance from our old law, have become the partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
Verse 7: "What shall we say then, Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except by the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."
Comment: Here now the apostle switches over to the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not covet, is the last one and covetousness is part of the flesh which made Paul very aware of sin. The other nine of the Ten Commandment will do the same thing.
Verse 8: "But sin taking the occation by the commandment wrought in me all kinds of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was dead."
Comment: Occasion means opportunity the Holy Spirit takes in convicting us of sin. Concupiscence means he saw it clearly now, he couldn't miss it.
Verse 9: "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died"
Comment: The commandment that came, was, the ninth, Thou shalt not covet. How did it slew him while he is still alive? In Romans chapter 6 Paul made it very plain that when you go with Christ into the watery grave by full immersion, you die to sin and self and rise again with Jesus into a new life of joyful obedience.
Verse 10: "And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death."
Comment: James the apostle speaks of the Ten Commandments as the royal law of liberty or freedom. (James 2:10-12) which God ordained for us to live by.
Verse 11: "For sin , taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."
Comment: Here again the apostle repeats the word occasion or opportunty. Why? The commadnment as we saw was covetousness and Paul had coveted the life of Christians before his conversion experience.
We also saw above that he was slain by the Spirit and he died to sin and self at Baptism. Baptizo is the Greek word which means to plunge under water. (Romans 6:1-3)
Verse 12: Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good."
Comment: You will find many many Christians today that will not say this of the Ten Commandments law of God but speak against it. You wonder why? They must have the wrong spirit as we shall see shortly in verse 14 because God's law is spiritual. I should not spend too much time on this verse which is God forbid! But sin, that it may appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Very clear to all. St. Paul has great respect for that law of love and freedom.
Verse 13: "Was then that which is good made death unto me?
Verse 14: "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin."
Comment: Very strange of Paul to say that he is sold under sin, but the law is not carnal but spiritual. That why he lets you read Romans 8 to get what he is saying here: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So they that are in the flesh cannot please God."-Romans 8:7
"For that which I do I allow not: form what I would, that do I not; but what I hate that I do."-verse 15
Comment: There are lots of Christians like that. They want to serve God, but end up serving themselves when not listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit to lead them otherwise.
Verse 16: " If I then do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good."
Comment: Why is that? Paul already said in verse 12 that the law is holy, just, and good and elsewhere that the law is spiritual. He suffered shipwreck, was beaten, suffered hunger for the Gospel and it is hard to believe that he did contrary to the law.
Verse 17: "Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."
Comment: Here is the root of the problem. The center of the word sin is 'I' and it must be conquered. He repeats it again in verse 20
Verse 18: "For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not."
Comment: The law of inheritance is wicked and who can know it?
Verse 19: "For the good that I would do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."
Verse 20: "Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."
Verse 21: "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me."
Comment: The law of carnality. He discovers that he is tied to a carnal nature from which he cannot escape by himself. He is married to the "old man" of carnality (7:24; 6:6). He can't divorce himself from that nature. The law convicts and condemns him (7:7). Self must be crucified.
Verse 22: "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:"
Comment: Can an unregenerate person find delight in the law of God? No, he does not, he hates the law of God.
Verse 23: "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."
Comment: No doubt here that the apostle Paul compares the holy law of God with his unholy law of sin inside himself which is now in conflict since his conversion to Christ. He is not referring to church members. Only a converted man delights in the law of God after the inward man! Paul sees a law in him which is the law of sin. To keep under my body that which wants to rise up, it is a constant battle of self.
Verse 24: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death."
Comment: By ourselves, we would lose the battle, but we have a deliverer in Heaven we can call on for help any time day or night. Jesus Christ the Author and the finisher of our faith.
Verse 25: 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."
Comment: I do not believe for one moment that the apostle Paul served the law of sin. He is giving this example as an allegory.
Note: We are commanded to crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts. How shall we do this? Shall we inflict pain on the body? No! But put to death the temptations to sin. The corrupt thought is to be expelled. Every thought is to be brought into captivity to Jesus Christ. The love of God must reign supreme; Christ must occupy an undivided throne. Our bodies are His purchased possession. The members of the body are to become the instruments of righteousness or right doing.
Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil. What are the Devils works? He does not make automobiles. He does not run a factory.
Here are the works. He is a liar and a thief. Jesus not just forgives us our sins, He also cleanses us from sins. Lying, stealing, pride, lust of the flesh, Sabbath breaking, covetousness, materialism, false witness and going into the wrong bed.
This is what Jesus came to destroy. We claim Christ's victory over sin. Ask God for the power of the Holy Spirit.