Romans
Chapter
7
{Note:
In Chapter 6 an analogy to marriage was established by Paul. In a
marriage, the husband is the head of the family. As the one in
authority, he 'lords' over the wife. This relationship lasts as long
as they are married and he lives. In the analogy, the unbelieving
human is the wife and the 'old sin nature' is the 'first husband'.
The Mosaic Law is the 'marriage manual/counselor' God gave to assist
you with living with your first husband. When you become a believer,
positionally you are divorced from your first husband and take a new
husband - the Lord Jesus Christ. The Way of Life as made clear by God
the Holy Spirit is mandated by the new husband and is a HIGHER Way of
life. And, this mystery doctrine of the New Testament is a supplement
to your 'marriage manual/counselor'.}
{The
Believer's Relationship to the Law}
1~~Or
are you ignorant brethren (believers),
for
I communicate to those who know the {Mosaic} law
{reference to Jewish believers in Rome who are students of the law
but distorting it},
that
the {Mosaic} Law lords it over mankind
for
as long a time as he lives.
{Analogy
of Marriage}
2~~For
the wife/woman
under
the authority of the man/'her husband'
stands
bound to her husband by law while he is living;
but
if the husband has died
{divorced in the sense of retroactive positional truth i.e.
believing in
Christ; divorced from first husband which is the old sin nature and
married to the second husband the Lord Jesus Christ}
she
has been released by the law from her husband.
3~~Therefore,
if while her husband is living,
she
has become intimate with another man,
she
shall be classified as an adulteress.
But
if her husband has died {physical death or divorce},
she
is free from that law
so
that she is not an adulteress
though
she has become married to another man.
{Paul
Now Makes the Analogy Clear}
4~~Therefore
my brethren {believers},
you
also were made to die
{death or divorce from the old sin nature}
with
reference to the law
{Mosaic Law was the marriage counselor of the first marriage to the
old sin nature}
by
the human body of the Christ,
with
the result that
you
might belong to another . . .
to
the One Who has been raised up {resurrection of Christ}
from
deaths {spiritual and physical death},
in
order that we might bear fruit {production of spiritual maturity}
to
the God.
5~~For
while we were in the flesh {the first marriage}
{the old sin nature; the status quo of the unbeliever from birth all
the way to salvation},
the
sinful trends
-
which through the law were effective
{operative and understood because they are defined in the Mosaic
Law}
in
our members {our bodies, including the brain} -
resulting
in the production of fruit
associated
with spiritual death {sin, good and evil}.
6~~But
now we have been released from the law
{the marriage counselor of the first marriage to the old sin
nature}, through having died to that by which we were bound
(first marriage to the sin nature)};
so
that we might serve in a new marriage
by
means of the Spirit {Holy Spirit - new marriage counselor},
and
not in the old marriage {as served}
by
the letter/'Mosaic Law' {as the marriage counselor}.
7~~Therefore,
to what conclusion are we forced?
{idiom: literally: 'what shall we say?'}
Is
the law {Mosaic Law - the first marriage counselor} sin?
Definitely
not!
On
the contrary,
I
was not cognizant of the sin nature,
except
through the law.
For
instance,
I
did not understand the lust pattern,
except
the law kept on saying,
you
will not lust {quote from 10th commandment of Exodus 20:17}.
8~~But
sin/'the sin nature' {hamartia - singular},
having
grasp/taken the opportunity
through
the commandment {entole -referring to 10th commandment}, produced
{katergazomai} in me {the knowledge of}
every
category of lust/concupiscence {epithumia}.
For
apart from the law
sin/'the
sin nature' . . .
{keeps
on being} unknown/dead {to your awareness} {nekros}.
{Note: The Ten Commandments contains nine specific prohibitions and then the Tenth was a general prohibition against forms of lusts. If you do not have knowledge of something, that knowledge is 'dead' to you - or we would say it is 'unknown' to you. So, Paul is saying by giving us the Law, the lust patterns of our Old Sin Nature became known to us.}
9~~Now
at one time, I lived apart from the law
{physically alive, but spiritually dead - ruled by the old sin nature
and unaware of it until the Mosaic Law presented it}.
But
when the {tenth} commandment {entole} came,
the
sin/'the sin nature'
was
invigorated/activated/'alive again' {anazao},
and
I {realized I had} died
{meaning - the knowledge that Paul (and all of us) 'died spiritually'
when we sin came from his understanding the meaning of the
Mosaic Law}.
10~~And
that commandment
{codex 2 of Mosaic Law - solution to problem stated in codex 1},
which
. . . {points} to life {eternal life} . . .
{the
same} was discovered by me {pointing} to death
{meaning that spiritual death that comes from sin is explained in
codex number 1 of the Mosaic Law}.
11~~For
'the sin nature'/sin {hamartia - singular},
having
seized the opportunity {aphorme}
through
{the study of} the commandment {entole}
{10th commandment - Exodus 20:17 - you will not lust, which
taught us about lust as the connecting link between the old sin
nature and its function: sin, good and evil}
deceived/cheated
{exapatao} me
{the sin nature tempts us to lust and then the marriage counselor
condemns us for the lust},
and
through the same {tenth commandment}
killed
{apokteino} me
{principal of spiritual death at the point of sinning}.
{Note: Exapatao means both to deceive and to cheat. Here it means that once Paul and all of us are aware that sin IS sin via the study of the Tenth Commandment in particular, there is another obstacle to overcome. Next, aphorme means 'the starting point of an expedition. It comes to mean both opportunity and 'capital' that gives the opportunity to go on an expedition. Opportunity and capitalism actually are very close concepts. Capitalism is the source of much opportunity and is a divine institution that flies in the face of 'human viewpoint' - communism, socialism, welfare state, on and on. It also explains why the non-free world despises capitalism so much - jealousy, greed, envy of what capitalism produces. So when Paul says the old sin nature 'cheated' him, it also means that when in carnality, sin cheats a believer out of the blessings of the divine institutions.}
12~~As
a matter of fact therefore,
the
law {nomos} . . . {is} holy/'set-apart to God' {hagios}.
Also
the commandment {entole} . . .
{is}
holy/'set-apart to God' {hagios}
{perfect within the framework of its designed function} . . .
and
just/righteous {dikaios},
and
'good of intrinsic value'/'absolute good' {agathos}.
13~~Therefore,
the
'good of intrinsic value'/'absolute good' {agathos}
{referring to the Mosaic law in context}
to
me . . . did it become death {thanatos}?
'Definitely
not'
{me ginomai - idiom: literally 'may it not come to pass'}!
{Paul is disputing his critics that say HE says the Mosaic Law is
dead. Paul is now declaring that the Mosaic Law teaches that the
wages of sin is death - meaning spiritual death once carnal - but
that does not mean that it is spiritual death or it causes spiritual
death! Instead the Law is holy and righteous and intrinsically
good - it is from God!}
But,
in contrast {alla}, sin/'the sin nature'
{hamartia - here it is an 'independent nominative' - the REAL
culprit being revealed}
-
'in order that it might be revealed/'worked out' {katergazomai}
{as}
sinful' - through the 'intrinsically good'
{agathos - here referring to the function of the Mosaic Law} -
made
{spiritual} death a reality to me . . .
in
order that, sin/'the sin nature'
might
become utterly/'according to the extreme' {kata huperbole}
sinful
{hamartolos} . . . by the commandment.
{Note: Hamartia here is an independent nominative. They usually are rare in the New Testament, but are used extensively in Chapters 7 and 8. So, an independent nominative (a nominative is the case of the noun that is the subject of a verb) is a noun that is in the nominative case but is independent of the verb that follows. This occurs when an IDEA is conceived that is independent of any verbal relationship - the expression of the idea can be left alone in the nominative case.}
{Note: Katergazomai means to 'work out' - to make something already in existence as a reality. In context, it means to bring to the surface something that is on the inside. So here the meaning is to reveal sin as sinful - and is part of the elliptical construction of the phrase.}
14~~Certainly,
we know {eido - from knowledge in the right lobe}
that
the law is spiritual {pneumatikos}.
But
I
{Paul - using himself as the example for all Church Age believers}
keep
on being fleshly/carnal {sarkikos}
{means all of us are inclined to be carnal or under the control of
the old sin nature},
when
I have been led astray {piprasko}
under
the authority of sin/'the sin nature'.
{Note: Piprasko means to sell. It was also used to mean to 'be sold out' or betrayed and that is the concept here. It means to be led astray. SideNote: Theologians discovered this meaning of piprasko when looking at how the Hebrew was translated into the Greek in the Septuagint.}
{Note: Half way through this verse, Paul moved from the 'culprit' of the first marriage being the husband - the old sin nature, to the culprit of the 2nd marriage - the wife - us. In the 2nd marriage to Jesus Christ, the husband is perfect and the marriage counselor - God the Holy Spirit - is perfect, therefore, only the wife - all believers in the Church Age - are the only 'potential problem area' in the marriage.}
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