Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 7:23
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.
23. I see ] The true Self contemplates, as it were, the perverting element, the Alter Ego, the flesh. Such conscious contemplation surely befits the idea of the regenerate state rather than that of the state of nature.
another law ] See on Rom 3:27. The word “law” is used here with the elasticity of reference pointed out there. It means here a force making itself felt consistently, and so resulting in a rule of ( evil) procedure so far as it acts. It is called more explicitly “the law of sin,” just below.
in my members ] See on Rom 6:13.
warring against ] The Gr. word implies not only a battle but a campaign. The conflict is a lasting one in this life. See it described from the other side, 1Co 9:27.
the law of my mind ] i.e., practically, the law of God, “with which my mind delights,” (Rom 7:22,) and which in that respect it makes its own. The “ mind ” is here the “inner man” of Rom 7:22: so too in Rom 7:25. The word “ mind ” sometimes denotes specially the reason, as distinguished e.g. from spiritual intuition (1Co 14:14-15). Sometimes (Col 2:18), apparently, it denotes the rational powers in general as in the unregenerate state; and again, those powers as regenerate (Rom 12:2). In Eph 4:23 it seems to denote the whole inner man, and thus includes the “spirit.” So here.
bringing me into captivity ] The word indicates captivity in war. The Gr. is a present participle, and thus need not imply a successful effort; it cannot imply a completed one. The aim of the “campaign” is described. And no doubt St Paul means to admit a partial success; he feels, in the slightest sin, however it may be (in the world’s estimate) involuntary or inadvertent, a victory of sin and a “capture” of the better self. See note on Rom 7:14 (“sold under sin”). See 2Co 10:5 for the same metaphor on the other side of the contest.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But I see another law – Note, Rom 7:21.
In my members – In my body; in my flesh; in my corrupt and sinful propensities; Note, Rom 6:13; compare 1Co 6:15; Col 3:5. The body is composed of many members; and as the flesh is regarded as the source of sin Rom 7:18, the law of sin is said to be in the members, that is, in the body itself.
Warring against – Fighting against; or resisting.
The law of my mind – This stands opposed to the prevailing inclinations of a corrupt nature. It means the same as was expressed by the phrase the inward man, and denotes the desires and purposes of a renewed heart.
And bringing me into captivity – Making me a prisoner, or a captive. This is the completion of the figure respecting the warfare. A captive taken in war was at the disposal of the victor. So the apostle represents himself as engaged in a warfare; and as being overcome, and made an unwilling captive to the evil inclinations of the heart. The expression is strong; and denotes strong corrupt propensities. But though strong, it is believed it is language which all sincere Christians can adopt of themselves, as expressive of that painful and often disastrous conflict in their bosoms when they contend against the native propensities of their hearts.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 23. But I see another law in my members] Though the person in question is less or more under the continual influence of reason and conscience, which offer constant testimony against sin, yet as long as help is sought only from the law, and the grace of Christ in the Gospel is not received, the remonstrances of reason and conscience are rendered of no effect by the prevalence of sinful passions; which, from repeated gratifications, have acquired all the force of habit, and now give law to the whole carnal man.
Warring against the law of my mind] There is an allusion here to the case of a city besieged, at last taken by storm, and the inhabitants carried away into captivity; , carrying on a system of warfare; laying continual siege to the soul; repeating incessantly its attacks; harassing, battering, and storming the spirit; and, by all these assaults, reducing the man to extreme misery. Never was a picture more impressively drawn and more effectually finished; for the next sentence shows that this spiritual city was at last taken by storm, and the inhabitants who survived the sackage led into the most shameful, painful, and oppressive captivity.
Bringing me into captivity to the law of sin] He does not here speak of an occasional advantage gained by sin, it was a complete and final victory gained by corruption; which, having stormed and reduced the city, carried away the inhabitants with irresistible force, into captivity. This is the consequence of being overcome; he was now in the hands of the foe as the victor’s lawful captive; and this is the import of the original word, , and is the very term used by our Lord when speaking of the final ruin, dispersion, and captivity of the Jews. He says, , they shall be led away captives into all the nations, Lu 21:24. When all this is considered, who, in his right mind, can apply it to the holy soul of the apostle of the Gentiles? Is there any thing in it that can belong to his gracious state? Surely nothing. The basest slave of sin, who has any remaining checks of conscience, cannot be brought into a worse state than that described here by the apostle. Sin and corruption have a final triumph; and conscience and reason are taken prisoners, laid in fetters, and sold for slaves. Can this ever be said of a man in whom the Spirit of God dwells, and whom the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made free from the law of sin and death? See Ro 8:2.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Another law in my members; i.e. a law quite different from the law of God, mentioned in the foregoing verse. By the law in the members understand natural corruption, which, like a law, commandeth and inclineth by sensual rewards and punishments; and by the law in the mind understand a principle of grace, which, as a law, as well as the other, commandeth and inelineth to that which is good. The law in the members and the law in the mind, are the same that are called flesh and Spirit, Gal 5:17. These two laws and principles are in all regenerate persons, and are directly contrary to one another; hence there is continual warring and combating betwixt them; as is expressed in both these places, as also in Jam 4:1; 1Pe 2:11.
Bringing me into captivity to the law of sin; i.e. drawing and hurrying me to the commission of sin, against my will and consent. He pursues the metaphor; the flesh doth not only war in the regenerate, but many times it overcomes and hath success: see Rom 7:15.
To the law of sin which is in my members; i.e. to itself. The antecedent is put in the room of the relative: see Gen 9:16, and elsewhere. The law in the members and the law of sin in the members are the same.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. But I see anotheritshould be “a different”
law in my members(Seeon Ro 7:5).
warring against the law of mymind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in mymembersIn this important verse, observe, first, that the word”law” means an inward principle of action, good or evil,operating with the fixedness and regularity of a law. The apostlefound two such laws within him; the one “the law of sin in hismembers,” called (in Gal 5:17;Gal 5:24) “the flesh whichlusteth against the spirit,” “the flesh with the affectionsand lusts,” that is, the sinful principle in the regenerate; theother, “the law of the mind,” or the holy principle of therenewed nature. Second, when the apostle says he “sees” theone of these principles “warring against” the other, and”bringing him into captivity” to itself, he is notreferring to any actual rebellion going on within him while he waswriting, or to any captivity to his own lusts then existing. Heis simply describing the two conflicting principles, and pointing outwhat it was the inherent property of each to aim at bringing about.Third, when the apostle describes himself as “brought intocaptivity” by the triumph of the sinful principle of hisnature, he clearly speaks in the person of a renewed man. Mendo not feel themselves to be in captivity in the territories of theirown sovereign and associated with their own friends, breathing acongenial atmosphere, and acting quite spontaneously. But here theapostle describes himself, when drawn under the power of his sinfulnature, as forcibly seized and reluctantly dragged to his enemy’scamp, from which he would gladly make his escape. This ought tosettle the question, whether he is here speaking as a regenerate manor the reverse.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But I see another law in my members,…. That is, he saw, he perceived it by experience; he felt the force and power of inbred corruption working in him, and as a law demanding obedience to it; and which he might well call “another law”, it being not only distinct from, but opposite to the law of God he delighted in; the one is good, the other evil; this other law is a transgression of the law of God, and which he observed to be “in [his] members”, i.e. in the members of his body; not that it had its seat only, or chiefly in his body, and the parts of it, but because it exerted itself by them, it made use of them to fulfil its lusts: the same phrase is used in the Targum on Ps 38:3; which renders the words there thus, there is no peace, , “in my members” because of my sin: now this law was, says he,
warring against the law of my mind; by the “law of [his] mind” is meant, either the law of God written on his mind in conversion, and which he delighted in, and served with his mind, as renewed by the Spirit of God; or the new nature in him, the principle of grace wrought in his mind, called “the law” of it, because it was the governing principle there; which reigns, and will reign in every regenerate person through righteousness, unto eternal life, though the law of sin opposes all its force and power against it; that is not only contrary to it, lusts against it, but wars, and commits acts of hostility against it: the state of regenerate persons is a warfare, they have many enemies to combat with, as Satan and the world; but those of their own household, within themselves, in their own hearts, are the worst of all; there is a civil war in them, as it were a company of two armies, flesh and spirit, sin and grace, combating together; and so it will be as long as this life lasts; so true is that saying of the Jews m, in which they agree with the apostle,
“as long as the righteous live, , “they are at war with the corruption of their nature”; when they die they are at rest:”
hence we read of , “the war of the evil imagination” n: but what is worst of all, this is sometimes
bringing [them] into captivity to the law of sin, which is in [their] members; that is, to itself; for the law in the members, and the law of sin in the members, must be the same: and it may be said to bring into captivity to itself, when it only endeavours to do it, though it does not effect it; for sometimes words which express an effect only design the endeavour to effect, but not that itself; see
Eze 24:13. But admitting that this phrase intends the real and actual effecting of it, it is to be understood of a captivity to sin, different from that an unregenerate man is in; who is a voluntary captive to sin and Satan, gives up himself to such slavery and bondage, and rather goes, than is brought or carried into it; whereas a regenerate man is, through the force of sin, and power of temptation, violently drawn and carried into captivity; in which he is held against his will, and to his great uneasiness: besides, this expression does not denote absolute dominion, which sin has not over a regenerate man; nor is it utterly inconsistent with his character as such; for as a subject of one nation may be taken a prisoner, and be carried captive into another nation, and yet remain a subject where he was, and does not become one of that country of which he is carried captive; so a regenerate man, being carried captive by sin, does not come under the absolute dominion of sin, or cease to be a subject of the kingdom of grace, or in other words, a regenerate person: moreover, the very phrase of “bringing into captivity” supposes that the person before was not a captive; whereas every unregenerate man one, was always so, and never otherwise: add to all this, that this captivity was very distressing and uneasy to the person, and makes him cry out, “O wretched man”, c. whereas the captivity of an unregenerate person is very agreeable to him he likes his prison, he loves his chains, and do not choose to be in any other state and condition; though, as the Jews o say, there is no captivity , “like the captivity of the soul”; and nothing so grieving and afflictive to a good man as that is. The apostle uses much such language as his countrymen do, who frequently represent man as having two principles in him, the one good, the other bad; the one they call , “the evil imagination”, or corruption of nature; the other they call
, “the good imagination”, or principle of grace and goodness; which they say p, are at continual war with each other, and the one is sometimes , “carried captive” by the other. The good imagination, they say q, is like to one that , “is bound in a prison”; as it is said, “out of prison he cometh to reign”; to which agrees what they say r,
“how shall I serve my Creator whilst I am , “a captive to my corruption”, and a servant to my lust?”
m Bereshit Rabba, Parash. 9. fol. 7. 4. n Tzeror Hammer, fol. 93. 3. & 113. 3. & 115. 2. & 144. 4. & 145. 1, 2. o Caphtor, fol. 14. 2. p Zohar in Gen. fol. 56. 3. q Pirke Abot R. Nathan, c. 16. fol. 5. 2. r Machzor Jud. Hispan. apud L. Capell. in Rom. vi. 16.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
A different law ( ). For the distinction between and , see Ga 1:6f.
Warring against (). Rare verb (Xenophon) to carry on a campaign against. Only here in N.T.
The law of my mind ( ). The reflective intelligence Paul means by , “the inward man” of verse 22. It is this higher self that agrees that the law of God is good (Rom 7:12; Rom 7:16; Rom 7:22).
Bringing me into captivity (). See on this late and vivid verb for capture and slavery Luke 21:24; 2Cor 10:5. Surely it is a tragic picture drawn by Paul with this outcome, “sold under sin” (14), “captivity to the law of sin” (23). The ancient writers (Plato, Ovid, Seneca, Epictetus) describe the same dual struggle in man between his conscience and his deeds.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
I see [] . See on Joh 1:29. Paul is a spectator of his own personality.
Another [] . See on Mt 6:24.
Warring against [] . Only here in the New Testament. Taking the field against.
The law of my mind [ ] . Nouv mind, is a term distinctively characteristic of Paul, though not confined to him. See Luk 24:45; Rev 13:18; Rev 17:9.
Paul ‘s usage of this term is not based, like that of spirit and flesh, on the Septuagint, though the word occurs six times as the rendering of lebh heart, and once of ruach spirit.
He uses it to throw into sharper relief the function of reflective intelligence and moral judgment which is expressed generally by kardia heart. The key to its Pauline usage is furnished by the contrast in 1Co 14:14 – 19, between speaking with a tongue and with the understanding [ ] , and between the spirit and the understanding (ver. 14). There it is the faculty of reflective intelligence which receives and is wrought upon by the Spirit. It is associated with gnwmh opinion, resulting from its exercise, in 1Co 1:10; and with krinei judgeth in Rom 14:5.
Paul uses it mainly with an ethical reference – moral judgment as related to action. See Rom 12:2, where the renewing of the nouv mind is urged as a necessary preliminary to a right moral judgment (” that ye may prove, ” etc.,). The nouv which does not exercise this judgment is ajdokimov not approved, reprobate. See note on reprobate, Rom 1:28, and compare on 2Ti 3:8; Tit 1:15, where the nouv is associated with the conscience. See also on Eph 4:23.
It stands related to pneuma spirit, as the faculty to the efficient power. It is “the faculty of moral judgment which perceives and approves what is good, but has not the power of practically controlling the life in conformity with its theoretical requirements.” In the portrayal of the struggle in this chapter there is no reference to the pneuma spirit, which, on the other hand, distinctively characterizes the christian state in ch. 8. In this chapter Paul employs only terms pertaining to the natural faculties of the human mind, and of these nouv mind is in the foreground.
Bringing into captivity [] . Only here, 2Co 10:5, and Luk 21:24. See on captives, Luk 4:18. The warlike figure is maintained. Lit., making me prisoner of war.
Law of sin. The regime of the sin – principle. sin is represented in the New Testament as an organized economy. See Ephesians 6.
The conflict between the worse and the better principle in human nature appears in numerous passages in the classics. Godet remarks that this is the passage in all Paul ‘s epistles which presents the most points of contact with profane literature. Thus Ovid : “Desire counsels me in one direction, reason in another.” ” I see and approve the better, but I follow the worse. “Epictetus :” He who sins does not what he would, and does what he would not. “Seneca :” What, then, is it that, when we would go in one direction, drags us in the other? “See also the passage in Plato (” Phaedrus,” 246), in which the human soul is represented as a chariot drawn by two horses, one drawing up and the other down.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But I see another law in my members “ (Blepo de heteron nomon en tois melesin mon) “But I see a different kind (of) law (principle) in my (body) members.” At a blink of the eye Paul recognized another law of his members, recognized by his intelligence; it was the old principle of self first, covetousness, carnal lust, look out for self first, as Adam and Eve did, passed it on, Rom 5:12; Rom 5:14; Rom 5:17.
2) “Warring against the law of my mind,” (antistrateuomenon to nomo teu noos mou) “Warring against the law-principle of my mind (spiritual mind).” The new man, the new nature is a battleground – a territory never to be surrendered to Satan – shall the old or the new mind have dominance (jurisdiction) over the body members? 1Co 6:19-20; Rom 12:1-2.
3) “And bringing me into captivity,” (Kai aichmalotizonta) “And captivating me,” or “taking me captive,” often seizing control of me, to the extent I become a servant of the Devil – yet the child of God is to resist and battle against his control, by or through the word and spirit, Rom 6:14-15; Eph 6:11-18.
4) “To the law of sin which is in my members,” (en to nomo tes hamartias to onti en tois melesin mou) “in (to) the law of. sin (captivity), the sin principle existing in my body members;- Although sin has a pre-life claim thru Adam unto death, he does not have a contract on the life-service of the child of God. After one is saved, by virtue of the Seal of the Holy Spirit in salvation, he, thereafter belongs to God and should serve him always, thru the spirit, Mar 9:41; 1Co 3:9; 1Co 10:31.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(23) Another law.A different law. In my members, i.e., that has its chief seat of activity in my members. This is the law of sin, which is ready to take advantage of every fleshly impulse.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. Another law So uniform and controlling is the mastery of this sin=I, that it has the absoluteness of a law in my members, a law of sin. It is a rebel law warring against the law of my higher mind, namely, the divine law.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rom 7:23. Another law in my members St. Paul having in the foregoing verse spoken of the law of God, he here speaks of natural inclination as of a law;as of a law in the members, and a law of sin in the members; to shew that it is a principle of operation in men even under the law, as steady and constant in its direction and impulse to sin as the law of God should be to obedience, and failed not to prevail in the unregenerate soul. The Apostle here, as in the former chapter, uses the word members for the lower faculties and affections of the animal man, which are as it were the instruments of action. Plato uses the phrase ‘ for the rational part of our nature. See Rom 7:22.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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.
Ver. 23. A law in my members ] Called the deeds of the body, Rom 8:13 , because corruption acteth and uttereth itself by the members of the body. a The ( vox Empedoclea ) is within, but easily and often budgeth and breaketh out.
Warring against the law ] The regenerate part. Plato in Cratylo pulchre ait; Ut mentem appellamus , ita legem dicimus , quasi , alioqui mens hominum vagatur.
And bringing me into captivity ] The sins of the saints (those of daily incursion) are either of precipitancy, asGal 6:1Gal 6:1 , or of infirmity; when a man wrestles, and hath some time to fight it out, but for want of breath and strength, falls, and is in some captivity to the law of sin; this is the worse.
a Plato appellat.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
see. App-133.
warring against. Greek. antistrateuomai. Only here.
bringing . . . into captivity = (seeking to) lead captive. Greek. aichmalotizo. Only here. Luk 21:24. 2Co 10:5. 2Ti 3:6. The kindred verb, aichmaloteuo, only in Eph 4:8.
law of sin: i.e. the old nature.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rom 7:23. ) I see, from the higher department of the soul, as from a watch-tower, [the department, or region of the soul] which is called , the mind, and is itself the repository of conscience.-, another [law] and one alien [to the law of my mind].-, in the members) The soul is, as it were, the king; the members are as the citizens; sin is, as an enemy, admitted through the fault of the king, who is doomed to be punished by the oppression of the citizens.- ) the dictate [law] of my mind, which delights in the Divine law.- , bringing me into captivity) by any actual victory which it pleases.[78] The apostle again uses rather a harsh term, arising from holy impatience:[79] the allegory is taken from war, comp. the similar term, warring.
[78] i.e. leading me at will to do whatever it pleases.-ED.
[79] To express his holy impatience to be rid of the tyrant.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 7:23
Rom 7:23
but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind,-While he approved this law of God with his inward man, there was another law in his members-the outward man-warring against this law approved by the inward man.
and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.-[This law of sin does not fight a battle merely, but carries on a successful campaign against the law of the mind-the law of God. This campaign is successful against him because it leaves him in captivity to the law of sin in his members. His suffering is not in the path of wickedness which he pursues, but in the chain that drags him along that destructive way-a chain that he cannot break. His sin is not an act; it is a helpless subjection to the law of sin in his members. This is a legal experience, written to show that, whatever else the law can do, it can deliver no man from the flesh.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
sin
Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 5:21”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
another: Rom 7:5, Rom 7:21, Rom 7:25, Rom 8:2, Ecc 7:20, Gal 5:17, 1Ti 6:11, 1Ti 6:12, Heb 12:4, Jam 3:2, Jam 4:1, 1Pe 2:11
members: Rom 6:13, Rom 6:19
and: Rom 7:14, Psa 142:7, 2Ti 2:25, 2Ti 2:26
Reciprocal: Psa 65:3 – prevail Psa 73:2 – feet Psa 119:133 – let not Son 5:3 – have put Son 6:13 – two armies Isa 61:1 – to proclaim Mic 7:19 – subdue Rom 3:27 – but by Rom 6:12 – Let not Rom 7:17 – sin 2Co 10:5 – bringing Gal 2:19 – through Col 3:5 – members Jam 1:25 – the perfect
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
RESTORATION OF FALLEN HUMANITY
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.
Rom 7:23-25
The Bible teaches us that man was made capable of making the best of himself, of choosing between right and wrong, and choosing the right; that he chose the wrong, and that mankind since has been unable to rise to the height of his opportunities and to choose what is best for him. This truth occurs not only in the Old Testament, but the idea of the Fall is found in the religious idea of many people, and the very fact that it is found so widely spread, and that the idea is so prevalent, seems to argue that there is substantial truth behind it.
What is the effect of this doctrine of the Fall upon the lives of those who are weighed down with the sins of the social evils of the day? What is going to be the effect upon us of holding this view that mankind is fallen and needs restoration?
I. It will keep us on our guard against unsound schemes of social amelioration, it will make us realise that if we are to make for lasting progress, we must try and set right the very mainspring of the actions of men. We must try and get at the character as well as the environment. Not that we must neglect interest and work on behalf of such things as education, and sanitation, and housing, and fair conditions of labour, but all this must be built upon work for the character of men. We may give men the fair conditions of labour they ask for, all the opportunities that they covet, and yet they may be unable and unwilling to use them; and we who care for our fellow-men, and who work for the welfare of the whole, if we hold the doctrine of the Fall, will be on our guard against laying hold upon schemes which seem fair, but will prove unsuccessful. St. Paul found within himself a chaos of disorder, one law fighting against another, and he came to the conclusion that if he were to make the best of himself, it must be through Jesus Christ. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ. And the experience of the last nineteen hundred years has shown that it is possible for weak men to become strong by being joined to the second Adam, the source of strength, by trying to model their lives on His life, by asking for and receiving strength from Him. Many and many a man has found that it has been possible to keep these laws, these jarring laws, at peace. And if we are anxious to do something to remedy those social evils that are a burden to us, we must bring men into contact with the second Adam, Jesus Christ our Lord. What organisation is so well qualified to bring men into touch with Christ, and to lift up their ideals in this country, as the Church of England? Having the whole of the population mapped out, and having every one under the care of some one whose chief work it is to care for his fellow-men, and to help them to make the best of their lives, the Church of England has the power to work for the social progress of the working people of our country.
II. The fact of believing in the Fall and the restoration by Jesus Christ will have an effect on our individual lives if it is held plainly.If you believe you have a tendency to go off the track and do wrong, you will be careful to try and keep in touch with Him Who is the source of all strength. St. Paul proved, and many a man has proved, that it is possible to overcome this evil tendency by the strength which comes through Jesus Christ. If we believe that, then it will make us fly to the fountain of grace, to use the means of grace that we know of.
III. The Church gives us an hypothesis of life, which has proved useful in the past and will prove useful in the future.Let us hold fast to this doctrine of the Fall and the restoration in Jesus Christ, and we shall work for lasting progress amongst our people. In Christ there is neither bond nor free, but all are one in Him. And, again, we shall work for the salvation of the individual as well as the community. I can do all things through Christ Who strengtheneth me.
Rev. A. Shillito.
Illustration
There always have been people both before and after Pelagius who denied the Fall. There always have been people who have said that humanity is sound enough at the core, and that, if only the environment were right, mankind would be able to make the best of itself. That seems to me to be the fundamental defect of so many of the idealistic, socialistic schemes that are put forward to-day, for there are people who would not, even if they had every chance, make the best of their opportunities, who would not willingly consider the welfare of the whole rather than their own. The fundamental mistake of so many of these schemes is that they miss out what is a great fact of lifethat there is something wrong with mankind. Then, again, there are others who deny the idea of a fall because they think it is inconsistent with the idea of evolution. The idea of evolution has taken such a hold upon us that many people find it hard, some impossible, to square the theory of development with the idea of a fall. But, after all, it is but a theory, a theory which seems to be true, and which explains a great deal that could not be explained before; but there are still many gaps, and it is quite possible that science may find a place for such a fact as the Fall. We have not yet explained how man came to have powers of reflection and self-consciousness. It is quite possible that science may have to acknowledge that these came from outside, and, if so, then, at that time when these powers of reflection were given, it is possible that mankind made the choice and fell. At any rate, this theory of a fall, which is taught from very old times and throughout the Bible, has proved an admirable working hypothesis for life, and we are not going to give it up for something which has not, at any rate at present, proved itself true.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE BITTER CRY OF HUMANITY
Side by side with the glory of our calling, place the shame and the misery of what we are. My desires, my passions are ever at war with the true self, and too often overcome it. And so there goes up the bitter cry, Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I. The Cross of Jesus Christ is the Divine answer to this great and exceeding bitter cry of our suffering, struggling, sinful humanity.For the Cross is not merely an altar, but a battlefield, by far the greatest battlefield in all human history. That was the crisis of the conflict between good and evil which gives endless interest to the most insignificant human life, which is the source of the pathos and the tragedy, the degradation and the glory, of the long history of our race. It is the human struggle which we watch upon the Cross: the human victory there won which we acclaim with endless joy and exultation. Man faced the fiercest assault of the foe, and Man conquered. Man conquered mans foe, and in the only way in which that foe could be conquered, the way of obedience. He became obedient unto death.
II. But what has this to do with us?It cannot be too often repeated, that it has nothing to do with us, if Christ be merely Another, separate from us as we are, or imagine ourselves to be, separate from each other. That which He took of the Virgin Mary, and took in the only way in which it could have been taken, by the Virgin Birth, was not a separate human individuality, but human nature; that nature which we all share. It was in that nature that He faced and overcame our enemy.
III. A separate individuality cannot be imparted to us, but a common nature can. And that nature which the Eternal Word assumed of the Virgin Mary, and in which He conquered sin and death, is communicated to us by His Spirit, above all, in the sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Communion. Here is the heart of the Atonement. That victory over sin and death is mine, and yet not mine. That is the splendid paradox which lies at the very root of Christianity. It is mine, because I share in that human nature which, by its perfect obedience, the obedience unto death, triumphed gloriously upon the Cross. It is not mine until, by a deliberate act of my will, in self-surrender to Christ, I have made it my own. By grace and by faith, not by one of these without the other, we become one with Him Who died and rose again. It is faith, the hand of the soul stretched out to receive, which accepts and welcomes grace, the hand of God stretched out to give.
Rev. J. H. Beibitz.
Illustration
O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.
O wisest love! that flesh and blood,
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against the foe,
Should strive, and should prevail.
(THIRD OUTLINE)
PAULS CONCEPTION OF CHRISTS WORK
What was St. Pauls conception of the Christ and of His function in the world, which lay at the root of His Christian enthusiasm?
I. St. Paul recognised in the Christ the Divine manhood or true Being of mankind.This manhood was, he says, personified in the first Adam, who was a living soul embodied in the rudimentary conditions of animality and innocence. By means of self-chosen methods, under the influence and temptation of their outwardly attractive and promising appearance, Adam and Eve sought to realise their nature and destiny; but in so doing they pass under the dominion of the outward world; and learn in the sorrow and suffering of bondage to this dominion, the ineffectiveness of self-efforts based upon the outward appearance of things. For the realisation of the Nature and Destiny of man such efforts are a transgression of the law of Righteousness. The law of human development is self-surrender to the inspirations of the inward principle of lifea law of development abundantly illustrated in the Garden of Eden. In the fullness of time the Divine manhood is personified in Jesus, the second Adam or Man. He refuses any alliance with the powers of the outward world, however specious and alluring. He repudiates all self-chosen methods, and surrenders Himself only and wholly to the inspirations of the indwelling Spirit of Life. By His obedience he realises, through suffering and death to self, the destiny of the Divine sonship of the race. He became emphatically the Christ, declared by His resurrection to be the Son of the Living God. The last and closing revelation of the Divine manhood is an inward revelation of the exalted Christ, the glorified Son of Man Who is our true God and Eternal Life. He is the Life-giving Spirit indwelling the being of every man, and He it is who realises the Divine Sonship in each and all who believe in the Christ as the Life of mankind; for in Him is the Resurrection Power Who raises this life into fullness of consciousness in every member of the race. As such He is, in the language of St. Paul, the Lord and Giver of Lifethe last Adam, Who became a Life-giving Spirit. We need again and again to be reminded that this Life-giving Spirit in the being of every man is the Living God of Christianityis the Lord God, in fellowship with Whom is found the Wisdom and Power that brings men into the peace and joy of life eternal. All other gods are idols.
II. The function of the Christ, according to St. Pauls estimate, is to present to the world the true Image of Divine love, and to reproduce in all that believe this Divine love to be the eternal life of men the same image and likeness; making them in all things perfect, even as their Father Which is in heaven is perfect.
Rev. R. W. Corbet.
Illustration
The law which had slain his former life of comparative innocence now puts to death the new life of effort to conform to its commandments. He is again at-two within himself. He finds himself consenting to the law that is holy, righteous, and good, even at times delighting in the law of God inwardly; but he sees a different law ruling his outward members, warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into bondage to the law of sin and death which is in his members. He is doubly slain; the old life without the law is impossible. The law killed that life, and the new life of moral endeavour under the law is also impossible. It has made sin more exceedingly sinful, but it has contributed no power adequate to counteract and to overcome the overmastering exactions of the law of sin and death which rules the outward conditions of existence. Sin still reigns; its reign is recognised to be infinitely disastrous, but all efforts to dispute and put an end to its reign have signally failed; and in this failure the new life of moral endeavour has received its death-blow as an instrument or way of righteousness. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? is the cry of every ardent soul who has struggled, together with St. Paul, to conform to the law of righteousness by any will or efforts of their own. But, as ever, mans extremity is Gods opportunity, and in the extremity of his distress he found, as others find, the answer to their question of despair. I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. All that was necessary to crown with infinite satisfaction the aspirations of mans true nature was found in the exalted Christthe glorified Son of Man.
(FOURTH OUTLINE)
THE GREAT DELIVERER
I. The awakened sinner.He is represented as contemplating the ideal of righteousness as contained in the law and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. It fascinates and inspires him to a godly life. But even as he is conscious of this
(a) He discovers his inability to realise it. When he would do good, evil is present. Day by day his efforts are frustrated or miserably fail.
(b) By-and-by the source of this weakness reveals itself. He becomes conscious of a force, law, or process within his own nature, opposing the law of righteousness. It subjects him to a grievous thraldom. And as he reflects upon the fate to which such a tendency, if unchecked, will surely consign him, he calls out in horror and alarm.
II. The need of a deliverer.The helplessness of the sinner would occasion despair, were it not relieved. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? This alarm is intended to be produced that he may ask the more earnestly for One Who is mighty to save.
(a) He does not appeal to the justice of God: it is for mercy he cries. And only mercy can intervene in such a case.
(b) A greater than human power is required. We can help one another in many things, even spiritual things. But there are ills and burdens we cannot remove.
III. The Deliverer found.
(a) The relief is immediate. The figure employed, as also the ecstatic thanksgiving, preclude the idea of a gradual deliverance. It is through such deep and excited moments of realisation that the great transition is made.
(b) Solemn and heartfelt gratitude is evoked. Salvation from sin is our greatest debt to God. His creation brought us into being, and His providence sustains us in comfort and sufficiency; but His grace surpasses all. The natural utterance of one so marvellously delivered would be, What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?
Illustration
It has been supposed by some that the body of death mentioned is an allusion to the Roman custom of attaching corpses to prisoners convicted of capital offencesa loathsome and terrible burden! But it is unnecessary to conclude that this was Pauls intention. The inward experience might in itself be so described. When good and evil incarnate themselves, so to speak, in the same nature, there must be the utmost discord and misery. But the pain accompanying such spiritual disclosures is not arbitrarily inflicted. It is sent to bring us to our true and only Saviour.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
:23
Rom 7:23. This verse should be understood in the light of the paragraph of verses 15-21. Members means all the parts that go to make up a human being. The conflict between the fleshly law (rule) of sin and that of the mind or spirit or better part of said being, is the subject of this verse.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 7:23. But I see a different law. Not simply another, but a different, one; comp. Gal 1:6-7. Paul represents himself as witnessing the conflict within his own person.
In my members. To be joined with Maw. This does not mean in my flesh, i.e., carnal nature, over against my renewed nature, but points to the members or the body, as the locality where the working of the opposing law is most evident. It is not implied that these members are the sole seat of sin. This is unpauline, whether applied to the regenerate or to the unregenerate.
Warring against the law of my mind. The conflict is against the law of God, not as such, but as having the locality of its operation in the mind. This term refers to the higher part of mans nature, or spirit; here regarded in its practical activity. This does not mean the unfallen human spirit, there being no trace of such a notion in the New Testament. Nor on the other hand is mind here equivalent to renewed nature. In that case we would find some hint of the Holy Spirits influence. So far as a man is living under the law, the best that his mind can do for him is to present a powerless opposition to the law in the members.
Bringing me into captivity, taking me prisoner, under the law of sin. In is the literal sense. The sense is not materially altered by this change of reading. The law in the members is the warrior that takes the captive, the law of sin is the victor under whom the captive is held; the two laws are practically identical. A wretched condition (Rom 7:24), but some recognition of it is a necessary preliminary to deliverance.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here observe, That in this and the foregoing verses, mention is made of four laws contending one against another, whereof two are on one side, and two on the other; namely, the law of God, and the law of the mind; the law of the members, and the law of sin. By the law of God is understood the word of God; by the law of the mind, is understood in the regenerate, grace in the heart; in the unregenerate, light in the conscience; by the law of the members, understand original lust and concupiscence; by the law of sin those corrupt principles according to which lust governs.
Learn hence, That there is a conflict or combat between the law of the mind, and the law of the members, and this both in regenerate and unregenerate persons.
This appears, 1. By the testimony of nature speaking in the Heathen. Thus Medea, video meliora proboque, deterior a sequor their rational appetite displeaseth reason, and leads it captive.
2. By the testimony of scripture, and that
1. As to the unregenerate, witness Herod, Mar 6:26. who had conflict between lust and conscience; as had also Pilate upon the occasion of our Savior’s death: Conscience bid him spare, popularity bid him kill.
2. As to the regenerate, The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, &c. Gal 5:17
3. By the testimony of experience: Who finds not every day within himself a contest of contrary motions and inclinations? A Christian’s bosom is like Rebecca’s womb, it has twins of two contrary natures: A smooth Jacob and rough Esau, flesh and spirit.
But wherein consists the difference between that conflict which is found in the natural and spiritual, the regenerate and unregenerate man?
Ans. 1. The conflict in an unregenerate person is not between grace and sin, but between one lust and another; the struggle is, which lust shall be in the throne, as rebels in a kingdom, having cast off the authority of their lawful prince, everyone snatches at the sceptre, and would command and rule. Thus every lust is ambitious of superiority, and usurps a regency in the soul: So that though the sinner oft changes his master, yet not his servitude, he is a slave still.
Now, from this contrariety of lust rebelling in a carnal heart, he is necessitated to oppose the lust which he favours less, to gratify another which he favours more. Thus the conflict is between sin and sin, not between grace and sin.
2. As an unregenerate man’s combat with sin is betwixt one lust and another, so it is only between one faculty and another. Thus light in the understanding opposes lust in the will. The judgment and conscience of a sinner says, “Oh do not that abominable thing which the soul of God hates.” But then lust in the will votes for it, and is angry with conscience for being so bold as to oppose it.
Whereas, the conflict in a regenerate person, is between grace and sin, not betweixt sin and sin, and not betwixt the understanding and the will, but betwixt the regenerate and unregenerate part in the same will.
And although grace be foiled in a particular combat, yet it keeps the field, and the Christian will not throw down his weapon, till he lays down his life.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Rom 7:23-24. But I see another law Another commanding, constraining power of evil inclinations and fleshly appetites, whose influence is so strong and constant, that it may be fitly called another law; in my members In my animal part; (of the members, see note on Rom 6:13;) warring against the law of my mind Against the dictates of my judgment and conscience, which conflict is spoken of Gal 5:17; The flesh lusteth against the spirit, &c.; and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin: As if he had said, The issue of which conflict is not dubious, for passion continually prevails over reason, the flesh over the spirit, and I am led captive in spite of all my efforts to resist. O wretched man Namely, in this respect, as to this particular; who shall deliver me Miserable captive as I am; from the body of this death? Some prefer translating the clause, from this body of death; joining , this, with , body, as is done in the Vulgate version. But it seems more proper to consider it as an emphatical Hebraism, signifying the body, that is, the passions and appetites, or the lusts of the body, which cause this death, the death threatened in the curse of the law. Or, as Mr. Smith, in the discourse above mentioned, observes, The body of death may signify death in all its vigour, even that death which is the penalty of a broken law, just as the body of sin signifies the strength of sin. The greatness and insupportable weight of death is its body; and the man here described is represented as exposed to that death, which is the wages of sin. This is the object which chiefly alarms the guilty. Though the remonstrances of conscience are not heard, perhaps, against sin at first, yet after it is committed, conscience raises her voice in more awful accents, and proclaims Gods wrath through the whole soul, which produces a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation from God, which is precisely the state of mind expressed in this passage, namely, the state of a man labouring under the spirit of bondage to fear, or the state described Rom 7:5; when being in the flesh, that is, unregenerate and under the law, sinful passions, manifested and condemned, but not removed by that dispensation, wrought in his members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 23. This verse is the development of 21b: Evil is present with me. All the expressions of this verse refer to the same figure and form a picture. At the moment when the speaker starts to follow the law of God which attracts him, he beholds (, I see) an armed adversary advancing against him to bar his passage; such is the literal meaning of the term , to set oneself in battle against. This enemy is a law opposed to that of God dwelling in his own members. Thereby Paul denotes the egoistical instincts attached to the members of the body, and which seek their gratification through them, in spite of the assent the understanding gives to the law which labors to repress them. Thus two adversaries find themselves as it were face to face, the law of the mind and that which dwells in the members. The prize of the contest is the I, the ego which both seek; and its ordinary result, the taking of the ego by the second.
The words: bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, represent the ego at the moment when it is dragged captive ( , to make prisoner) by the law of the members, and so given over to the power of sin. St. Paul calls this master the law of sin which is in my members. These last words appear at first sight like a repetition. But they are added to show in these members, which strive so faithfully against the law of the mind to wrest the ego from it, the army equipped as it were by sin to fight in its service and pay.
In the two verses, 22 and 23, we thus find four particular laws mentioned, in which there is summed up the general law, or the entire mode of living belonging to the natural man. Two of these laws are objective, and are imposed on the will as it were from without. The one is the law of God, the moral law written or unwritten; the other is the law of sin, that egoistical instinct which hereditarily reigns over mankind since the fall. To these two objective laws there correspond two subjective ones, which are, so to speak, the representatives of the two former in the individual: the law of the mind, which is nothing else than the moral sense in man, appropriating the law of God, and making it the rule of the individual; and the law of the members, which is, on the other hand, the subjective organ by which the individual falls under the law of sin. And the four laws combined, the habitual fact being added of the victory which the latter two gained over the former two, constitute the general law of our existence before regeneration, that order of life which Paul recognizes within him when he examines himself, the of Rom 7:21. If the apostle were merely a cold moralist, dissecting our state of moral misery with the scalpel of psychological analysis, he would have passed directly from Rom 7:23 to the second part of Rom 7:25, where in a precise antithesis he sums up once more the result of this whole investigation. But he writes as an apostle, not as a philosopher. In drawing the picture of this state, the question he feels weighing on his heart is one of salvation. Anguish seizes him as if he were still in the heat of this struggle. He utters the cry of distress (Rom 7:24), then immediately that of thanksgiving, because now when he is writing he knows of deliverance (Rom 7:25 a); after which he resumes the course of exposition in the second part of Rom 7:25.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. [And such a state of conflict is unavoidable; for, in my spiritual and intellectual nature, I not only approve, but actually delight in, the law of God, so that I eagerly and heartily wish to perform its requirements, that I may be righteous; but when it comes to performance, I find a law within my flesh operating its members, antagonistic to that law of God which my intellect approves, and warring against it, and sometimes overcoming my allegiance to it, and bringing me into captivity to the sinful law which influences my flesh.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
23. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and striving to bring me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. The E. V. commits a glaring error in this verse by involving the idea that Paul was actually brought into captivity to the law of sin. This conclusion is utterly alien to the Greek, which conveys no such an idea. On the contrary, it is the perpetual present, revealing simply a constant and indefatigable effort on the part of inbred sin to bring him into captivity. But, thank God, it never succeeded, as his testimony repeatedly assures us. In Colossians 3 he gives us a catalogue of the members of this old man of sin, i. e., anger, wrath, malice, envy, jealousy, revenge, lust, temper, pride, vanity, etc. It so happened that this chapter suffered especially in the way of corruptions, which you observe in not only this, but in several other passages, thus accounting for the misunderstandings, misinterpretations and strange applications which have been made by a diversity of exegesis. If the E. V. were correct in this verse, authenticating the conclusion that Paul was ever and anon actually brought into captivity to the law of sin, it would actually require the aorist tense, which does not here occur, but simply the perpetual present, only indicating a continuous effort on the part of the indwelling enemy to bring him into captivity, but fortunately for him never succeeding, as in that case he would have become a backslider.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my {c} mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
(c) The law of the mind in this place is not to be understood as referring to the mind as it is naturally, and as our mind is from our birth, but of the mind which is renewed by the Spirit of God.