Romans, Session 12: Romans 7.1-25

Read the passage: Romans 7:1-25 (ESV, Bible Gateway)

Getting started

As we look at chapter 7, first look back to 6.15: what question is Paul still dealing with?

In v1-6 of chapter 7 Paul will give a further reason why we don’t go on sinning.

Read verses 1-7

Paul is giving another reason why we can’t just carry on sinning if we’re not under law but under grace.

What reason is that? i.e. what point is he making in these verses?

Verse 4-6

With these verses in mind, think further about the metaphor of being married to Christ. Not continuing in sin is the ‘negative’ side of this metaphor, but what are some of the positives?

Verse 7

Why does Paul need to anticipate the question, ‘Is the law sin?’

How does Paul answer the question? What does he say the purpose of the law is?

Verse 8-9

What effect can the law have on us?

Verse 9-10

What experience with God’s law and his own heart is Paul describing here?
It was clearly the 10th Commandment, ‘You shall not covet’ that helped Paul see all this. Briefly look at the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20.1-17. Why might it have been the command not to covet that brought the reality of sin and his true spiritual condition home to Paul?

Verse 7-12

Paul describes how the law against coveting revealed something to Paul about his own covetousness and the more he tried not to covet, the more covetous he became. What about you? Have you experienced something similar? Have you read a rule/command/law and immediately thought ‘I’m not going to obey that!’ or found a desire to break that command growing inside you?
- Is the problem with God’s law, or does it lie elsewhere (v10-13)?

Read verses 14-23

What conflict is going on in Paul’s heart, mind, and life?
- Is Paul talking about his past, pre-Christian life or his current life as a Christian? What makes you say one way or the other?
- Have you experienced this same inner struggle in your own life?
- Given what Paul writes here, what should concern you more – that you don’t see your sin, or that you do and grieve over it? What is the attitude of someone growing in holiness, that they become less aware of their sin or more?
- Why should being conscious of your sinfulness actually be an encouragement to you?

Verse 24

What is Paul’s summary judgment about himself?
- Why is understanding we are ‘wretched’ key to understanding the gospel of God’s righteousness in Christ and of the joy and peace that come with it?

Verse 25

Where does Paul find the answer to his wretchedness? Can he sort himself out himself?

Leader’s notes

Getting started

As we look at chapter 7, first look back to 6.15: what question is Paul still dealing with?
If we’re under grace, can we carry on sinning?

Read verses 1-7

What reason is that? i.e. what point is he making in these verses?
Death breaks the power of the law, just as death breaks the law of marriage. Having died with Christ, we have been set free from the law and the sinful passions aroused by the law, just as a married woman is freed from the law of marriage when her husband dies. The death of Christ ends the law’s control over us – but not so we can now live for ourselves, but for Christ. You’re either married to the law or to Christ, controlled by the law of Christ, serving in the old way of the law, or serving Christ by the Spirit. There is no middle ground. Becoming a Christian involves a complete change of allegiance. Now we are married to Christ – so we can’t go on living however we want, just like any married person cannot live however they want!

Verse 4-6

With these verses in mind, think further about the metaphor of being married to Christ. Not continuing in sin is the ‘negative’ side of this metaphor, but what are some of the positives?
Just as in human marriage, you can develop a relationship of love and intimacy and security and fulfilment with Christ. You can bear good fruit – the fruit of a life of obedience to Him.

Verse 7

Why does Paul need to anticipate the question, ‘Is the law sin?’
Because, he’s said by being married to Christ we’ve been freed from the law. It might be implied from that that the law itself is the problem.

How does Paul answer the question? What does he say the purpose of the law is?
God’s law shows us what sin is.

Verse 8-9

What effect can the law have on us?
The law can stir up sin in our hearts. This means the law doesn’t just tell us what sin is, it tells us sin lives inside us. This also tells us that the law can never save us by us obeying it: it tells us we need saving and cannot do it ourselves.

Verse 9-10

What experience with God’s law and his own heart is Paul describing here?
There was a time in Paul’s life when he really became aware of what the law required – what it really meant, for example, to love God with everything and obey Him perfectly. Before the reality of the law’s requirements dawned on him he was ‘alive’ – he considered himself to be doing well, that he was a righteous, spiritual kind of man; but when he saw how the law demands a level of perfection and righteousness he could never attain, sin came ‘alive’ to him – he saw it for what it really is – and he ‘died’ – he realised he was condemned and spiritually dead.
It was clearly the 10th Commandment, ‘You shall not covet’ that helped Paul see all this. Briefly look at the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20.1-17. Why might it have been the command not to covet that brought the reality of sin and his true spiritual condition home to Paul?
Paul was a Pharisee, so he was used to seeing commands as ‘does’ and ‘don’ts’ – that they were largely to do with external acts – things you did and did not do. But covetousness has to do with our hearts desires and wants – about how we are discontented with our lives, or wish we were in control of our lives – because if we were we would have that thing we want. And so, at its root, covetousness is idolatry – at the same time it says God and His gifts in my life are not enough, I will only be satisfied if I have this other thing, and it says that if I were on the throne of my life, if I could control things, things would be better – which is to dethrone God. When Paul saw all this it revealed to him the true state of his heart.

Read verses 14-23

What conflict is going on in Paul’s heart, mind, and life?
Paul describes the experience of not fully understanding why he does what he does. He wants to do good but instead finds himself doing the sin that he doesn’t want to do. In his mind he wants to obey God’s law, but finds himself unable to fully do so. In fact, what he finds himself repeatedly doing is sin. He realises that rather than an innate goodness dwelling in his heart, sin is lurking there, holding him captive.
- Is Paul talking about his past, pre-Christian life or his current life as a Christian? What makes you say one way or the other?
  People have debated this for years! Some have argued that he is talking about the past – after all, would Paul really say of himself that after his conversion, ‘I am of the flesh, sold under sin’? However, there are reasons for thinking he is talking about his present, his life now, as a Christian: From v14 on he switches verb tenses from the past to the present; before v14 he spoke of being dead – from v14 on he describes a struggle in which he refuses to give in; in v18 Paul is brutally honest and clear-headed about the state of his heart – something unbelievers are not; he delights in God’s law (v22) – something an unbeliever could not say – after all, remember that Paul’s ‘signature’ sin was covetousness – he realised he wanted to be God, the law-maker for his own life. So for Paul to say he delights in God’s law means he is talking of his present, Christian self.
- Have you experienced this same inner struggle in your own life?
  Every truly converted person experiences this: we see God’s law as the good, spiritual thing it is and – in our heart of hearts, in our true and new selves – we desire to keep it. But still sin is at work in us – but it is sin, our old nature, not the real and new us. And now, when we sin, we know it’s going against who we really are as Christians.
- Why should being conscious of your sinfulness actually be an encouragement to you?
  Temptation and conflict with temptation, even sometimes falling into sin itself, are not evidence that you’re not a Christian. They are consistent with being a Christian growing in holiness and maturity.

Download the complete study: Bible study on Romans (PDF) and leader’s guide (PDF)