NOTES for Rom 7:14

¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

In his letters Paul writes much and often about the Law, about the Torah. He mentions the Torah especially often in Romans. One could say that this whole letter is devoted to the theme of the Torah. And one of the definitions of the Torah in the letter characterizes it as "spiritual." In what sense, then, does Paul call the Torah "spiritual"? The issue is undoubtedly God's breath, and the corresponding Greek word, like its Hebrew equivalent, means precisely this: breath, blowing. This is the very breath of God that the prophets sensed, but in his letters the apostle uses the same word also for the breath of life that God gives to every person entering the world. The Torah is related to this breath, to this presence of God. Paul clearly has in mind here not only the Torah as legislation, but also the inner Torah, that spiritual core which supports and defines the whole spiritual life of a person. It is precisely the inner Torah that makes a person able to resist sin.

It becomes for a person a kind of inner imperative, spiritual and moral, experienced not merely as a legal or moral code, but as God's will directly addressed to the person, as God's intentions abiding in his heart. Of course, a person is free to ignore them and forget the path of righteousness, but if this path matters to him, the inner Torah becomes the goal and meaning of his life. For Paul the way of righteousness was the goal and meaning of life even when he was neither a Christian nor an apostle, and was not yet Paul but Shaul, Saul. Even then he tried to walk the way of righteousness, to follow the inner Torah.

And he discovered that this was completely impossible. Or, more precisely, possible, but not to the end. Because to the end means without a single sin: the inner Torah is incompatible with any sin whatever. To live by it in fullness, one must in fact become sinless. But for fallen humanity this is unreal, and most who sought the way of righteousness therefore limited themselves to half measures, made compromises, understanding that they were unable to become perfectly righteous.

In reality, however, such a situation could mean only one thing: the person is not free; he is a slave of sin. A slave could sometimes do what he wanted within the limits set for him by his master. So also a person could follow the Torah within the limits set for him by the sin dwelling in him. But this is not freedom. A person could not follow the Torah as he thought necessary, in all its fullness: he did not belong to himself, he did not dispose of himself.

His faithfulness to the Torah could at any moment be limited by the sin in whose power he found himself. It is in this sense that Paul calls the Torah spiritual and himself a slave of sin. To follow the Torah without looking back, Paul had to become free. The day would come when he would meet his Liberator, his Redeemer. Until then, all that remained was to wait and hope, without forgetting the inner Torah. Waiting for the greater thing: that fullness of the life of the Kingdom which would enter his life together with the freedom from sin he had gained.

Other notes

For Rom 7:14-25

¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

¹⁵For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

¹⁶If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

¹⁷Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

¹⁸For 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.

¹⁹For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

²⁰Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

²¹I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

²²For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

²³But 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.

²⁴O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

²⁵I 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.

Are you satisfied with your life? Are you satisfied with what is happening around you? And within you? Do you think everything is in order?... Read more

Are you satisfied with your life? Are you satisfied with what is happening around you? And within you? Do you think everything is in order? Probably not everything. And thank God! In fact, it is very useful to ask ourselves such questions from time to time, so that we do not stand still. For if everything satisfies us, we will gradually cease striving for anything at all. Of course, we can settle for what we have—whether we regard that level as high or low—but what will that give us? Stability? Not at all. Quite the opposite. No, this is not what the Lord wants from us. Of course, He knows perfectly well what is happening in our souls; He sees the whole “dynamic.” But He always wants more for us and expects more from us. And if we find the situation Paul describes in the words, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate,” rather sad, for God it is the starting point for working with us. Yes, it is not good when convictions and faith accord poorly with behavior, but God is able to use this straw to pull us out of our “dividedness” and make us His true children—whole persons who believe in Him, love Him, and obey Him.

For Rom 7:13-25

¹³Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.