Romans 7:21

Rom_7:21-25

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

The inward conflict

There is no word with which we are more familiar than conflict. We see strife everywhere; amongst the elements of nature, the beasts and birds, nations and families. On the arena of political, mercantile, and social life there is ever a ceaseless conflict between opposing interests and wills. But there is no strife so severe as that which is carried on between the principles of good and evil in the soul.

I. The ground of the Christians complaint. The law in his members, which--

1. Prevents him from attaining that standard of excellence which is presented before him in the Word of God. He cannot do the things that he would. His desire is to be perfectly conformed to the law of God, but it is thwarted by corrupt inclinations, and often he is betrayed into acts which he bitterly deplores.

2. Hinders the full development of his spiritual life. Every Christian has the outline of Christs image. Just as the oak is folded up within the acorn; just as the first beam of light is the sure precursor of noon; just as in the child there is the man, so in grace are all the elements of glory. The imperfection of Christs image in the Christian arises solely from the corruptions of his nature; hence it is like the sun obscured by a mist, or a plant whose vitality is impaired by a poisonous atmosphere. The brightest light burns but dimly if the atmosphere is impure, and an instrument that is out of tune will give forth discordant notes, even though the hand of a master should sweep the chords. It is this corrupt nature that weakens your faith, contracts your knowledge, and damps your zeal.

3. It produces much mental distress. How can there be peace when there is constant warfare within? How can a holy God look with approval on beings so sinful? Hence doubt, discouragement, and fear. Moreover, anxiety is sometimes felt as to the result of the conflict.

II. The source of the Christians hope.

1. Deliverance from the power of evil comes to us from without, not from within. Sin never works its own cure, nor does the sinner ever release himself from its miserable bondage, A poison may lose its virulence, and for a broken or a wounded limb nature has a healing art. But who ever heard of sin dying out from the soul?

2. This deliverance is vouchsafed to us by God through Christ. In no other way can deliverance from the power of sin be achieved. A man who has nothing to oppose to temptation but the power of his will, or his fear of consequences, is like a man walking on thin ice. Christianity finds an infinite evil and proposes an infinite remedy. Beholding us under the dominion of sin, it provides for us release, for if the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed. And He does so through His Spirit. What we need is no external reformation, such as law or moral precepts effect, but an inward and spiritual change. And God alone can do this. It matters not what is the evil that you dread, by the grace of God you can overcome it.

3. This deliverance will be progressive and eventually final. There may be many an alternate victory and defeat; but courage, the work is begun, and perfect freedom will come at length. (H. J. Gamble.)

The inward conflict

Notice--

I. The leading desire of all true believers: they would do good.

1. Every real Christian would be conformed to the will of God in heart and life. Whatever advance he has made, he is still sensible of deficiency, and presses after higher attainments.

2. The spiritual principle imparted in regeneration has a necessary tendency to what is good. What the enlightened understanding approves the sanctified will prefers.

3. This prevailing inclination of the will to what is good is a manifest token of Divine grace, for it is God that worketh in us to will. The will is the man, and the obedience of the will is the obedience of the man (2Co_8:12).

II. The impediments to this desire: evil is present with me.

1. Sudden and unseasonable discursions of the mind, unfitting and indisposing us for duty (Job_15:12; Jer_4:14).

2. Unbelieving jealousies and suspicions, either with respect to ourselves or God. Faith animates the soul, but unbelief weakens and destroys its energies. If the soul makes some efforts heavenwards this clips its wings (Psa_13:5; Psa_73:13; Psa_87:9).

3. Unworthy motives and sinister ends. We are in danger of being influenced by selfishness, pride, or legality, in all our religious duties; and ere we are aware they become polluted with some evil which is present with us (Isa_58:3; Zec_7:5).

4. Worldly thoughts and cares. If we do not decline the invitation of the gospel, and go to our farms and our oxen, yet our farms and our oxen will come to us. In running the Christian race we must lay aside every weight, and the sin which easily besets us; and the world is a weight sufficient to impede our spiritual progress (Psa_119:25).

III. The reason why the attainments of believers are so inadequate to their wishes and desires. I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.

1. This law is indwelling sin, which is said to be--

(1) A law in the members (Rom_7:23), not only because it resides in the members, but because it employs them in its service.

(2) The law of sin and death, being that which impels to sin and leads to death (Rom_8:2; Jam_1:15).

2. It is a law within us, which we carry with us into the closet, into the temple, into the city, into the wilderness, and even to a sick and dying bed. It mingles with our choicest duties, and spoils our sweetest enjoyments. It makes this world a Bochim, a place of tears (Rom_7:24; 2Co_5:2).

3. Indwelling sin still has the force of law, maintaining a complete ascendency over every unrenewed heart; and though it was not a law to Paul, yet it was a law within him, and the source of daily vexation.

Conclusion:

1. We see that the Christian is better known by what he would be than by what he really is. If his progress were as rapid as his desires are strong, how happy would he be!

2. The best of men have no need to be proud of their performances, every work is marred in their hands.

3. Since the saints on earth have no perfection in themselves, let them be thankful for that perfection they have in Christ (Col_2:10).

4. We see the difference between the hypocrite and the real Christian. Sin has the consent of the will in the one, but it is not so with the other.

5. It is no wonder that amidst the conflicts and dangers of the present state the Christian longs to be in heaven (Rom_8:22-23). (B. Beddome, M. A.)

The inward conflict

I. The condition of the awakened sinner.

1. Miserable.

2. Salutary.

3. Hopeful.

4. Perilous.

II. The startling discovery of the awakened sinner. He finds--

1. That he is not free to do good.

2. That evil predominates over him.

3. That this is the law of his corrupt nature.

III. The happy change effected by Christ in the heart of the awakened sinner.

1. Condemnation succeeded by peace.

2. Sorrow by joy.

3. Complaining by gratitude.

4. Conflict by conquest. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The daily struggle

A law here means an habitual thing: as we speak of the laws of nature, the laws of electricity, etc.

I. The law of the new man.

1. The Christian would do good, etc. The desires are an index of the affections. If a man loves a thing he desires that thing. The mother parted from her child desires her child again; the patriot, far from his country, desires and seeks to return to it. The child of God would do good, not merely to escape hell, but because he has a love for holiness.

2. He delights in what is good (Rom_7:22). O how I love Thy law! is the language of all the children of God. What excites the repugnance of the unrenewed mind is delightful to the new mind. I love it, though my utmost efforts only show me how far I come short of its perfection; I welcome it, though it condemns, and I long to wake up after its perfect image.

3. He actually does good. We have no right to use a lower language than God uses; and therefore every child of God is called upon to do good, and may do good, and God is well pleased with the good he does. God hears the prayers and praises of His people, and has complacency in them. God marks the labours of love of His people, and will reward them. As far as anything we do is of the new nature it is good, for whatever is of the Spirit is spiritual, and whatever springs from the new nature is of God; for we are His workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works. And not only so, but being a law, it lasts, and being lasting, he will persevere in doing good. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.

II. But that the Christian may know the conflict he is to maintain, let us look at the law of the old man. I find a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.

1. Now this is not the mere sense of natural conscience that now and then reproves and then evil inclinations rise and burst like the waters when they are dammed up; for the spiritual conflict issues in habitual, I do not say invariable, victory. If a man were all holy, as he will be in heaven, there would be no conflict; but if a man is a heavenly scion grafted by the Spirit upon the old nature, so that the old stem is still corrupt, whilst the new branches of the new tree are holy, and therefore their fruit good, then there will remain the old stem. Still in the old man the imaginations, desires, affections, motives, are always downward, earthward, sinward; the desires, aspirations, affections, hopes of the new man are pure and heavenward and Godward: so you have the man as he was, and the new man as through grace he is. No man this side of heaven is out of the reach of sin and out of the danger of temptation. Opportunity acting upon sinful inclination may lead the best of men to fall into sin.

2. Then we have an evil world. This world which is ever about us, in our families, relationships, business; the world with all its show and pride, tempting some with its pleasures, baiting the hook for others with its riches, how tempting a world it is--when the Christian would do good it is present with him.

3. And when the believer would do good, the evil spirit is present with him. Satan with his emissaries is trying to hinder, harass, and destroy.

Conclusion:

1. Does not this teach us that we have constantly to watch and pray, that we enter not into temptation? If you have not looked upon your Christian life as a conflict, you have not taken a right view of it.

2. And then, is there not in all this an encouragement to go continually to Him in whom we have righteousness and strength? If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, etc. (Canon Stowell.)

The bondage of sin

I. Wherein it consists.

1. The will desires, approves, attempts what is good.

2. But is overpowered and led captive by that which is evil.

II. Why is it the source of so much misery? Because it makes man at variance--

1. With himself.

2. With the law of God.

3. With his own interest, bringing condemnation and death.

III. How we may be delivered from it.

1. By the grace of God.

2. Through Christ. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The law of sin in believers an evil ever present

Learn--

I. That there is an evil principle even in the hearts of true believers. By nature it is treated as our familiar friend (Rom_7:20); not as a wayfaring man, or as a stranger that tarrieth for a night. It is ever ready to betray us into evil, or to interrupt us in duty, so that when we would do good evil is present with us, at all times, in all places, and in all duties.

II. This abiding principle has the force and power of a law. As the word, when applied to the principle of grace, in Rom_7:18, implies not merely the presence, but also the activity of it; so here. And though it be weakened, yet its nature is not changed, and this teacheth us what endeavours it will use for regaining its former dominion; and what advantage it has against us. It doth easily beset us. An inmate may dwell in an house, and yet not be always meddling; but this law so dwells in us that when with most earnestness we desire to be quit of it, with most violence it will force itself upon us. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

III. Though this law be naturally present with all men, yet it is the distinguishing privilege of some to feel it, and to mourn continually under it.

1. How few are there who are concerned about it! As it is natural to us, so most men are ready to imagine, either that there is no such principle within them, or that if there be, it cannot be sinful, but only constitutional. Others represent it as belonging to the very essence of the soul, and they conclude it is all in vain for any to strive against it. But our apostle clearly distinguishes between sin and the faculties of the soul. The inhabitant must be different from the house in which it dwelleth.

2. If there be such a law of sin, it is our duty to find it out. What will it profit a man to have a disease and not to discover it; a fire lying secretly in his house and not to know it? So much as men find of this law in them, so much they will abhor it and no more. Proportionably also to their discovery of it will be their earnestness for grace.

IV. That they who feel this evil law, ever present with them, will complain most when they aim best. When I would do good, evil is present with me. (J. Stafford.)

Heart, its aberrations

The compass on board an iron vessel is very subject to aberrations; yet, for all that, its evident desire is to be true to the pole. True hearts in this wicked world, and in this fleshly body, are all too apt to swerve, but they still show their inward and persistent tendency to point towards heaven and God. On board iron vessels it is a common thing to see a compass placed aloft, to be as much away from the cause of aberration as possible; a wise hint to us to elevate our affections and desires; the nearer to God the less swayed by worldly influences. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.

Delight in the law

I. Indicates the tendency of the heart.

II. May co-exist with much evil.

III. Has its full expression in a holy life. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Delight in the law of God

I. Why?

1. Because it is the transcript of the mind and will of God our Father.

2. Because it is salutary and beneficial both to ourselves and to others.

3. Because it is congenial to our renewed nature.

II. How manifested?

1. By studying it.

2. By practising it.

3. By trying to bring others under its acknowledged authority. The word συνήδομαι is a very strong expression, implying real sympathy and inward harmony with the commandments.

You might as well talk of a person without an ear for music delighting in the oratorios of Mendelssohn, as of one dead in trespasses and sins delighting in the Divine law. No unrenewed person ever yet delighted in the law as the law of God, and that too in the inward man. A rebel may be able to see the wisdom of the measures framed by the monarch for the guidance of his subjects, but he cannot delight in them in his innermost soul as the laws proceeding from the throne. For this there must be a change in his mind, he must become loyal. (C. Neil, M. A.)

Delighting in the law of God

I. Different senses of the term law.

1. That which binds: hence the law of God as a rule of life whether revealed in the Scriptures or in the heart.

2. The law as distinguished from the prophets.

3. The law as distinguished from the gospel.

4. The whole revelation of God as contained in the Scriptures. This is the sense in which the word is often used in the Psalms, and in which we now take it.

II. What is meant by delighting in it. In general this is to regard with lively satisfaction and pleasure. But what the expression really implies, depends on the nature of the object. To delight in a landscape expresses a different state of mind from delighting in a friend, and delight in a poem from delighting in the law of God. There is--

1. An aesthetic delight in the Scriptures such as Lowth strongly expresses in his Hebrew poetry. Many admire the histories, prophecies, and portraiture of character in the Bible.

2. An intellectual delight in the wisdom of its laws and institutions. The principles of its jurisprudence and government have been the admiration of statesmen.

3. A mere delight in the purity of its precepts. This is exhibited by those who deny its Divine origin. All this is different from what is meant in the text.

III. True delight in the law of God is due to the influence of the Spirit.

1. This influence is--

(1) A subjective change in the mind analogous to opening the eyes of the blind; such a change as imparts the power of spiritual vision. This is not enough. A man may have the power of vision in a dark room.

(2) It produces a revelation of the truth in its true nature and relations. This is experienced much more abundantly at some times than at others.

2. The effect of these operations is--

(1) An apprehension of the truth and, consequently, of the Divine origin of the law.

(2) An appreciation of its excellence.

(3) An experience of its power to sanctify, console, guide, etc.

(4) An acquiescence in it and rejoicing in it as an exhibition of Gods character, the rule of duty, the plan of salvation, the person and work of Christ and the future state. Conclusion: The more we delight in the law of God the more we shall be conformed to it, and the better able to teach it. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

Delight in the law, a good sign of a gracious heart

1. Of the blessed man the Psalmist says (Psa_1:1-6) that his delight is in the law of the Lord, and therefore doth he meditate in it, day and night. That which is the burden of a carnal heart is the delight of the renewed soul. This was the happy experience of our apostle. In the preceding verse he speaks of a living principle within him, willing that which is good. Here he carries his thoughts further: for to delight in the law of God is more than to will that which is good.

2. The word, here rendered delight, is not found anywhere else in the New Testament. The apostle makes use of an uncommon word to express unspeakable satisfaction.

I. It is the distinguishing character of a good man, that he delights in the law of God.

1. The children of God delight to know and do the will of their Father (1Jn_5:3).

2. As every child of God hath his measure of light to behold the excellency of the Divine law, so he hath his measure of delight in it.

3. If you love the law of God, you will take pleasure in it, even though it condemns you; you will not wish it were changed for one less holy. You will also meditate upon it, and study conformity to it.

II. A true delight in the law of God is an unspeakable blessing.

1. Such a delight must spring from love; and you know how studious love is to please; preferring the will of the object beloved to its own will. So love to God will turn all duty into delight.

2. This delight in the law of God supposeth some good degree of conformity to the object beloved. In all love three things are necessary. Goodness in the object, knowledge of that goodness, and suitableness, or conformity. These three things united beget love, and, if they increase, they will produce that delight which our apostle professes in the law of God.

3. This delight can never be produced, but by seeing the law as it is in Christ. It was in the heart of Christ: Thy law is within My heart. By viewing the law in Christ, the believer unites the law with the gospel, and they mutually embrace each other: while both agree to promote the happiness of the creature, and the glory of the Creator and Redeemer.

III. Although this delight is a proof of our conformity to Christ, yet our apostle would not have us conceive too highly of it in the present imperfect state. There is something, even in believers themselves, which does not, cannot delight in the law of God. So far as a man is sanctified, so far will he delight in the law of God, and no further. There is flesh as well as spirit in the best of saints upon earth. (J. Stafford.)

The opposing laws

I. The conflict.

1. It is a strife between two instincts called laws. The law of God desires to obtain the mastery over the soul. But the law of nature resists its influence.

2. This strife originates the fact of our dual nature. The inner man is the spirit of life which naturally has heavenly instincts and desires. But the members composed of the earth naturally desire earthly things. Hence the two desires do pull different ways.

3. The strife exists because the fall of man into sin. Originally mans higher nature was obedient to God. He sinned through yielding to the outer man. Through his higher instincts yielding to bodily impulses, he cast to the wind all the nobler feelings of the inner man.

II. The nature of this conflict.

1. It is, in a Christian man, a strife between what he loves and what he hates, between what he knows to be right and for his good and what he knows will be his ruin.

2. Although we are conscious of this fact, still we find the law of sin prevailing. In the warfare we find that the spiritual law and desire and knowledge often get the worst of it.

III. What is the moral influence of this inevitable conflict?

1. To teach us not to expect too much in this world. We are not to be cast down by failure. Half of those who go back do so owing to discouragement. They are too sanguine. We are not to look upon life in this world as life in heaven, where it will be without temptation. But--

2. We are not to relax in our struggles. The fact of our having to fight shows that God never intended us to enter heaven without doing something to show that we are worthy of the reward. We may not be able to obtain a victory at present, but we may hold our own and make advance.

Conclusion: We learn--

1. That it is not always knowledge of what is right nor love of what is good that saves a man. The inner man may delight in Divine things, but worldly things may be too strong for him. What are you to do, then? Fight, strive.

2. That we long for that time when our higher nature shall be victorious, and our lower nature purified.

3. How foolish it is to meet worldly temptations with worldly weapons. The arm of flesh can never resist flesh. Arguments, reasonings, etc., are vain.

4. To appreciate the heavenly armour, and the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit.

5. Humility, and that victory is not to the strong. (J. J. S. Bird, B. A.)

Why am I thus

?--

I. In every true Christian the ruling power in him delights in the law of God.

1. The new nature cannot sin because it is born of God. We are made partakers of the Divine nature, and therefore delight in the law of God.

(1) We would not wish to have one syllable of that law altered, though it condemns us. We perceive it not as truth established by investigation, but as truth all radiant, shining in its own majesty.

(2) Nor would we have the spirituality of the law in any degree compromised. We are not only pleased with the law as we read it, but with the very spirit of the law. He never thinks that God is too exacting.

(3) We desire to have no dispensation from the law. In the Church of Rome indulgences are regarded as a blessing. We ask no such favour. A license even for a moment would be but a liberty to leave the paths of light and peace to wander in darkness and danger.

(4) We desire to keep the law according to the mind of God. If it were proposed to us that we should have whatever we should ask for, the gift we should crave beyond every other is holiness.

2. Now, every Christian that has that desire within his soul will never be satisfied until that desire is fulfilled, and--

(1) This shows that we delight in the law of God after the inward man.

(2) This, however, is proved in a more practical way when the Christian overcomes many of the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Often in striving to be holy he has to put himself to much stern self-denial; but he does it cheerfully. When a man is willing to bear reproach for righteousness sake, then it is that the man gives proof that he delights in the law of God.

II. Where there is this delight in the law of God, yet there is another law in the members conflicting with it. Paul could see it first, and then he had to encounter it, and at length to some extent he was enthralled by it.

1. There is in each one of us a law of sin.

(1) It may be seen even when it is not in operation, if our eyes are lightened. Whenever I hear a man say he has no propensity to sin, I infer at once that he does not live at home. Sometimes it is dormant. Gunpowder is not always exploding, but it is always explosive. The viper may be coiled up doing no damage; but it hath a deadly virus beneath its fangs.

(2) Sin generally breaks forth suddenly, taking us by surprise.

(3) But note when there is most money in the house, then is the likeliest time for thieves to break in; and when there is most grace in the soul the devil will try to assault it. Pirates were not accustomed to attack vessels when they went out to fetch gold from the Indies: they always waylaid them when they were coming home. Let us be more watchful than in seasons of tranquility.

(4) It is remarkable how sin will show itself in the holiest of duties. When you feel that you ought to pray, do you not find sometimes an unwillingness? When your soul is led away with thoughts of things Divine, straight across your soul there comes a bad thought. Or perhaps you get through your devotion with much delight in God; but presently there steals over your mind a self-satisfaction that you have prayed so well that you must be growing in grace. Perhaps, again, you did not feel any liberty in prayer, and then you will murmur you might as well give up praying.

2. And this law in his members wars against the law of the mind. There must be two sides to a war.

(1) We have known this warfare on this wise. A wrong desire has come and we have utterly loathed it, but it has followed us again and again. We have been harassed with doubts, yet the more bitterly we, have detested them the more relentlessly they have pursued us. Mayhap, a hideous sentiment is wrapped up in a neat epigram, and then it will haunt the memory, and we shall strive to dislodge it in vain.

(2) Whence these evils? Sometimes from Satan; but most commonly temptation derives strength as well as opportunity from the moods or habits to which our own constitution is prone.

(3) But the war carried on by this evil nature is not always by the continual besieging of the soul, at times it tries to take us by assault. When we are off our guard up it will come and attack us.

3. This warring brought Paul into captivity to the law of sin. Not that he means he wandered into immoralities. No observer may have noticed any fault in the apostles character, but he could see it in himself. It is a captivity like that of the Israelites in Babylon itself when a child of God is suffered to fall into some great sin. But, long before it comes to that pass, this law of sin brings us unto captivity in other respects. While you are contending against inbred sin doubts will invade your heart. Surely if I were a child of God I should not be hampered in devotion or go to a place of worship and feel no enjoyment. Oh, what a captivity the soul is brought into when it allows inbred sin to cast any doubts upon its safety in Christ.

III. It is some comfort that this war is an interesting phase of Christian evidence. Such as are dead in sin have never made proof of any of these things. These inward conflicts show that we are alive. The strong man while he keeps the house will keep it in peace. It is when a stronger than he comes to eject him that there is a fight. Do not be depressed about it. The best of Gods saints have suffered in this very same manner. Look up yonder to those saints in their white robes! Ask them whence their victory came. The richest consolation comes from the last verse. Though the fight may be long and arduous, the result is not doubtful. You will have to get to heaven fighting for every inch of the way; but you will get there. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Christian warfare and victory

I. A believer delights in the law of God (verse 22).

1. Before a man comes to Christ he hates the law of God (Rom_8:7) on account of--

(1) Its purity. It is infinitely opposed to all sin. But natural men love sin, and therefore they hate the law, as bats hate the light and fly against it.

(2) Its breadth. It extends to all their outward actions, seen and unseen; to every idle word; to the looks of their eye; it dives into the deepest caves of their heart; it condemns the most secret springs of sin and lust that nestle there.

(3) Its unchangeableness. If the law would let down its requirements then ungodly men would be well pleased. But it is unchangeable as God.

2. When a man comes to Christ this is all changed. He can say, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. O how I love Thy law. I delight to do Thy will. There are two reasons for this:

(1) The law is no longer an enemy. Christ hath redeemed me from the curse of the law, etc.

(2) The Spirit of God writes the law on the heart (Jer_31:38). Coming to Christ takes away our fear of the law; the Holy Spirit coming into our heart makes us love the law.

II. A true believer feels an opposing law in his members (verse 23). When a sinner comes first to Christ, he often thinks he will never sin any more. A little breath of temptation soon discovers his heart, and he cries out, I see another law. Observe--

1. What he calls it, another law; quite different from the law of God--a law of sin (verse 25); a law of sin and death (Rom_8:2). It is the same law which is called the flesh (Gal_5:17); the old man (Eph_4:22); your members (Col_3:1-25); a body of death (verse 24).

2. What His law is doing--warring. There never can be peace in the bosom of a believer. There is peace with God, but constant war with sin. Sometimes, indeed, an army lies in ambush quiet till a favourable moment comes. So the lusts often lie quiet till the hour of temptation, and then they war against the soul. The heart is like a volcano, sometimes it slumbers and sends up nothing but a little smoke; but the fire will soon break out again. Is Satan ever successful? In the deep wisdom of God the law in the members does sometimes bring the soul into captivity. Noah was a perfect man, and walked with God, and yet he was drunken. Abraham was the friend of God, and yet he told a lie. Job was a perfect man, and yet he was provoked to curse the day of his birth. And so with Moses, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Peter, and the apostles.

(1) Have you experienced this war fare? It is a clear mark of Gods children.

(2) If any of you are groaning under it--

(a) Be humbled.

(b) Let this teach you your need of Jesus.

(c) Be not discouraged. Jesus is able to save you to the uttermost.

III. The feeling of a believer during this warfare.

1. He feels wretched (verse 24). There is nobody in this world so happy as a believer. He has the pardon of all his sins in Christ. Still when he feels the plague of his own heart he cries, O wretched man that I am!

2. He seeks deliverance. If lust work in your heart, and you lie down contented with it, you are none of Christs!

3. He gives thanks for victory. Truly we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us; for we can give thanks before the fight is done. (R. M. McCheyne, M. A.)

Sin--conflict with--victory over

We have here--

I. Pauls experience.

1. That there were within himself two conflicting principles.

2. That these principles were under the direction of opposing intelligences--Warring. The conflict is not a collision between blind forces. In every war there is intelligence on both sides. The law of the mind is under the direction of the Captain of our salvation. That of the members is under the direction of the devil. The Holy War in the Town of Mansoul is more than a poetic dream.

3. That the tendency of sin is to make men slaves to itself. When sin is indulged in for a length of time the power of resistance is weakened, and man becomes the helpless prey of the foe. Witness the miser, sensualist, opium eater, drunkard, etc. The grasp of sin is a tenacious one. It rallies, too, after many a defeat, and clings with deadly obstinacy oftentimes to those most valiant for the truth.

II. Pauls emotions in the face of his experiences. He felt--

1. Wretched,

2. Loathsome. Sin was as hateful as a corpse is to living men.

3. Helpless. Who shall deliver me?

4. Hopeless. The whole verse seems a wail of despair. Who shall, etc.

III. Pauls deliverance. I thank God, etc. The darkest hour is nearest the dawn. This deliverance was--

1. From God. God alone is able. Who can forgive sins but God? It is He only who giveth us the victory, etc.

2. Through Christ. Paul knew of no other way. His good moral life (Php_3:1-21), his mental culture (Act_17:1-34), his zeal for the cause of God (2Co_11:1-33); in none of these does he hope.

IV. Pauls inference from the whole. So then with the mind, etc. Victory is at hand. The enemy is routed from the citadel.

1. The better part of his nature--the immortal part--was in the service of God.

2. Only the inferior part--the mortal members of the flesh--were in any sense in the service of sin. (R. T. Howell.)

Victory amid strife

1. Such is the weary conflict which Adams fall entailed on all born in the way of nature. In paradise there was no disturbance; God had made them for Himself, and nothing had come between them and God. They knew not sin, and so knew not what it was to sin; they could not even fear sin which they knew not. Man lived as he willed, since he willed what God commanded; he lived enjoying God, and from Him, who is good, himself was good.

2. To fall altered the whole face of man. Easy was the command to keep. The heavier was the disobedience which kept not a command so easy. And so, because man rebelled against God, he lost the command over himself. He would not have the free, loving, blissful service of God; and so he was subjected to the hateful, restless service of his lower self. Every faculty became disordered. Yet is there, even in unregenerate man, some trace of his Makers bands. He cannot truly serve God, but he cannot, until he has wholly destroyed his souls life, tranquilly serve sin. Yet, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life, are the more powerful. He obeys, though unwillingly, the law of sin which he had taken upon himself; not wholly lost, because not willingly.

3. Such was our state by nature, to heal which our Redeemer came. He willed to restore us; but He willed not to restore us without cost and trial of ours. He wills that we should know how sore a thing is rebellion against God. He willeth to restore to us the mastery over ourselves, but through ourselves; to give us the victory, but by overcoming in us. The strife then remains. To have no strife would be a sign not of victory, but of slavery, not of life, but of death. But the abiding state whereof Paul speaks cannot be that in which a Christian ought to be. To be sold under sin, (which is only said of the most wicked of the wicked kings of Israel), to be carnal, to serve with the flesh the law of sin, to be brought under captivity to it, cannot be our state as sons of God and members of Christ. If this were so, where were the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free? To what end would be the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the power of Christ within us, His armour of righteousness, wherewith He compasses us? No! the end of the Christians conflict must be, not defeat, but victory. There are, says an ancient father, four states of man. In the first, man struggles not, but is subdued; in the second, he struggles, and is still subdued; in the third, he struggles, and subdues; in the fourth, he has to struggle no more. The first state is mans condition when not under the law of God. The second is his state under the law, but not with the fulness of Divine grace. The third, wherein he is in the main victorious, is under the full grace of the gospel. The fourth, of tranquil freedom from all struggle, is in the blessed and everlasting peace.

4. But however any be under the power of grace, they, while in the flesh, must have conflict still. It would not be a state of trial without conflict. In us, although reborn of God, there yet remains that infection of nature whereby the desire of the flesh is not subject to the law of God. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.

5. Yet through this very truth some deceive, some distress themselves wrongly. They argue in opposite ways. We have a nature ready to burst out into sin, unless it be kept down by grace. But by grace it may be kept down increasingly. What is evil ought to be continually lessened; what is good ought to be strengthened. Yet this infection within us, although of the nature of sin, unless our will consent to its suggestions; and so long as, by Gods grace, we master it, is not sin, but the occasion of the victories of His grace. People distress themselves by not owning this; they deceive themselves if they make it the occasion of carelessness. The one says, My nature is sinful, and therefore I am the object of Gods displeasure, the other, My nature is sinful, and therefore I cannot help it, and am not the object of Gods displeasure, although I do what is wrong. The one mistakes sinfulness of nature for actual sin, the other excuses actual sin because his nature is sinful. Each is untrue. A man is not the object of Gods displeasure, on account of the remains of his inborn corruption, if he in earnest strive with it. If he strive not in earnest with it, he is the object of Gods displeasure, not on account of the sinfulness of his nature, but on account of his own negligence as to that sinfulness of nature, or his sinful concurrence with it. Nothing is sin to us, which has not some consent of the will. We are, then, to have this conflict; we ought not, by Gods grace, in any of the more grievous sins, to be defeated in it.

6. This conflict is continual. It spreads through the whole life, and through every part in man. Man it besieged on all sides. No power, faculty, sense, is free from it. But though the whole man is besieged thus, his inward self, where God dwells, is hemmed in, but not overcome, unless his will consents. Sin lieth at the door. The will holds the door closed; the will alone opens the door. If thou open not the door thyself, sin cannot enter in. Do thou submit thy own will to God, and God will subject this contrary will to thee. Thou canst not have victory unless thou be assaulted. Fear not. Rather thou mayest take it as a token of Gods love, who sets thee in the conflict. He will uphold thee by His hand, when the waves are boisterous. So shalt thou have the victory through His Spirit. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind.--

The dual nature and the duel within

I. There are in all believers two principles.

1. The first in order of time is the old Adam nature. It is born of and with the flesh. Some fancy that it is to be improved, gradually tamed down and sanctified; but it is enmity against God, and is not reconciled to God; neither, indeed, can be.

(1) This old nature lives in our members; its nest is the body, and it works through the body. There are certain appetites of ours which are perfectly allowable, nay, even necessary; but they can be very easily pushed to sinful extremes.

(2) The sin which lurks in the flesh will grow weaker in proportion as the holy principle grows stronger; and it is at no time to be tolerated or excused, but we are to fight against it, and conquer it.

2. When we are born again there is dropped into our soul the living and incorruptible seed of the Word of God. It is akin to the Divine nature, and cannot sin, because it is born of God. It is at deadly enmity with the old nature, which it will in the end destroy; but it has its work to do, which will not be accomplished all at once.

II. The existence of these two principles necessitates a conflict. The lion will not lie down with the lamb. Fire will not be on good terms with water. Death will not parley with life, nor Christ with Belial. The dual life provokes a daily duel.

1. The conflict is not felt by all young Christians at the first. Christian life may be divided into three stages.

(1) That of comfort, in which the young Christian rejoices in the Lord.

(2) That of conflict. The more of this the better. Instead of being children at home we have grown into men, and therefore we must go to war. Under the old law, when a man was married, or built a house, he was excused from fighting for a season, but when that was over, he must take his place in the ranks; and so is it with the child of God.

(3) That of contemplation; in which the believer sits down to reflect upon the goodness of the Lord towards him, and upon all the good things in store for him. This is the land Beulah, which Bunyan describes as lying on the edge of the river, and so near to the Celestial City that you can hear the music and smell the perfumes from the gardens of the blessed. That is a stage which we must not expect to reach just now.

2. The reason of the fight is this; the new nature comes into our heart, to rule over it, but the carnal mind is not willing to surrender. A new throne is set up, and the old monarch, outlawed, and made to lurk in holes and corners, says to himself, I will not have this. I will get the throne back again. (Read the Holy War.) And let me warn you that the flesh may be doing us most mischief when it seems to be doing none. During war the sappers and miners will work underneath a city, and those inside say, The enemy are very quiet; what can they be at? They know their business well enough, and are laying their mines for unexpected strokes. Hence an old divine used to say that he was never so much afraid of any devil as he was of no devil. To be let alone tends to breed a dry rot in the soul.

III. This warfare sometimes leads us into captivity. This sometimes consists in--

1. The very rising of the old nature. The old nature suggests to you some sin: you hate the sin, and you despise yourself for lying open to be tempted in such a way. The very fact that such a thought has crossed your mind is bondage to your pure spirit. You do not fall into the sin; you shake off the serpent, but you feel its slime upon your soul. What a difference. A spot of ink on my coat nobody perceives; but a drop on a white handkerchief everybody at once detects, The very passing of temptation across a renewed soul brings it into captivity. I saw in Rome a very large and well executed photograph of a street and an ancient temple; but I noticed that right across the middle was the trace of a mule and a cart. The artist had done his best to prevent it, but there was the ghost of that cart and mule. An observer unskilled in art might not notice the mark, but a careful artist, with a high ideal, is vexed to see his work thus marred; and so with moral stains, that which the common man thinks a trifle is a great sorrow to the pure-hearted son of God, and he is brought into captivity by it.

2. The loss of joy through the uprising of the flesh. You want to sing the praises of God, but the temptation comes, and you have to battle with it, and the song gives place to the battle shout. It is time for prayer, but somehow you cannot control your thoughts. In holy contemplation you try to concentrate your thoughts, but somebody knocks at the door, or a child begins to cry, or a man begins to grind an organ under your window, and how can you meditate? All things seem to be against you. Little outside matters which are trifling to others will often prove terrible disturbers of your spirit.

3. Actual sin. We do, in moments of forgetfulness, that which we would willingly undo, and say that which we would willingly unsay. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak; and then the consequence is, to a child of God, that he feels himself a captive. He has yielded to treacherous banishments, and now, like Samson, his locks are shorn. He goes out to shake himself as he did aforetime, but the Philistines are upon him, and it will be a happy thing for him if he does not lose his eyes, and come to grind at the mill like a slave.

IV. This warfare, and this occasional triumph of the flesh, make us look to Christ for victory. Whenever there is a question between me and the devil my constant way is to tell the accuser, Well, if I am not a saint I am a sinner, and Jesus came into the world to save sinners, therefore I will go to Christ, and look to Him again. That is the way to conquer sin, as well as to overcome despair; for, when faith in Jesus comes back to your soul, you will be strong to fight, and you will win the victory. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The conflict in natural and spiritual persons

Note here--

1. The combatants or champions--the law of the mind, and the law of the members. Grotius distinguisheth of a fourfold law--

(1) The law of God; recorded in Scripture.

(2) The law of the mind; the judgment between things honest and dishonest.

(3) The law of the members; the carnal or sensual appetite.

(4) The law of sin; the custom of sinning. To complete which we must add--

(5) The law of original sin propagated by generation, which is strengthened by custom, and, together with our sensual appetite depraved, makes up the law of sin.

(6) The law of sanctifying grace infused in regeneration; which completes the law of the mind.

2. The equality of this fight; sin indwelling fighting against grace indwelling, there being a pitched battle, in which some graces and corruptions bear the office of commanders, others of common soldiers.

3. The disparity of the fight, managed by way of rebellion on the part of sin, by way of loyalty and authority on the part of grace.

4. The dubiousness of the fight, both parties often fighting, as it were, with equal prowess and success; sometimes one, sometimes the other, seeming to get the better (Exo_17:11).

5. The sad event too often on the better side which is led captive. In which term yet there is a mixture of comfort; sin, when in triumph, acting as a tyrant, not as a lawful sovereign. The law of the mind may be overborne by, but never indents with, the law of the members. Withal, note in the text a mixture of civil and military terms to illustrate the spiritual conflict; there being a lawsuit, as well as a pitched battle, between grace and corruption.

I. In every man, especially in the regenerate, there is a conflict between the law of the mind and the law of the members.

1. This appears--

(1) By the testimony of nature speaking in the heathen--Video meliora, proboque: Deteriora sequor.

(2) By testimony of Scripture--

(a) As to the godly (Gal_5:17).

(b) As to the unregenerate (Mar_6:26; Rom_2:14-15).

(3) By every mans experience.

2. Concerning this conflict note as follows--

(1) As the great, so the little, world (man) is made up of contraries. The outward man of contrary elements, health, and sickness; the inward man, of contrary principles, reason and passion, conscience and sense.

(2) Man is both an actor in, and a theatre of, the greatest action and noblest conflict in the world. He that conquers himself is a nobler hero than Alexander, who conquered a great part of the world (Pro_16:32).

(3) In the state of innocency there was no conflict: in the state of glory there will be no conflict, there being no corruption to combat with grace, in infants there is a conflict; in a state of corruption there is no spiritual conflict, because there is no renewing grace to combat with corruption (Luk_11:21-22).

(4) The natural conflict is in every godly man, the spiritual conflict is in no natural man. This I note to allay the fears of drooping saints.

(5) As the great wisdom of God lies in governing the great world made up of contraries, so the great wisdom of a godly man lies in governing the little world made up of like contraries.

(6) This government lies principally in discerning these conflicting contraries, and improving their contrariety for the advantage of the outward and inward man. In this government Christ is principal (Psa_110:2); a saint instrumental (Hos_11:12).

(7) This singular wisdom is attainable in the use of ordinary means, and that by the meanest who have grace to follow Christs conduct; yet not by the power of free will or human industry, but by the bounty of free and special grace (2Ti_3:15; Jam_1:5; Rom_9:16).

(8) It cannot be expected that any unregenerate person should understand to purpose the difference between these two conflicts; because he hath no experience of this double state, and double principle.

II. Wherein doth the natural and spiritual conflict differ?

1. In the ground or cause of the fight; which--

(1) In the unregenerate, is--

(a) Natural principles, or the relics of Gods image in the understanding. The notion of a deity, and of loving my neighbour as myself, cannot be razed out of any mans heart; nor can these principles lie always idle, but will more or less be in action against corrupt inclinations.

(b) Acquired principles, from education and custom. This light discovers more of sins obliquity and danger, thereby laying on stronger restraint, through fear, shame, etc.

(c) The natural temper of the body, which indisposes to some special sins, and disposes to some special graces, or the reverse.

(d) The contrariety of one lust to another. Thus ambition says, spend; covetousness, spare; revenge incites to murder; self-love restrains, for fear of a halter. Here, now, is a combat, but only between flesh more refined and flesh more corrupted.

(2) On the other hand, in the regenerate, the combat ariseth from the antipathy of two contrary natures perfectly hating each other (Gal_5:17). Of all affections, love and hatred are most uncompoundable. A godly man hates sin as God hates it, not so much for its danger as for its loathsomeness. As in persons, so much more in principles, there is a mutual abomination (cf. Psa_139:22; Pro_29:27; Psa_97:10; Psa_119:128; Rom_8:7)

. Enemies may, but enmity can never, be reconciled.

2. In the object or matter of conflict; which--

(1) In a natural man, is--

(a) Grosser evils that startle the conscience.

(b) Infamous evils that are attended with worldly fear or shame; or--

(c) Some particular evils that cross temper, education, or custom, etc.

(2) But in spiritual persons it is--

(1) Little sins, as well as great.

(2) Secret sins, as well as open.

(3) The first risings, as well as the gross acts.

(4) Sins which promise worldly safety, credit, profit, contentment, as well as those sins that threaten the contrary.

(5) In a word, all moral evil; hatred and antipathy being of the whole kind (Psa_119:128); especially of those evils which most endanger the new man (Psa_18:23); and such as are beloved sins (Mat_18:8-9).

3. In the subject of the conflict. In natural men the fight is in several faculties; reason fighting against sense and passion, or the conscience against the corrupt inclination of the will; whence the fight is more at a distance by missile arms. But in the regenerate the fight is more close in the same faculty; the wisdom of flesh and spirit counteracting, in the same understanding, the lustings of the flesh and spirit in the same will; whence the fight is between veterans of approved courage, grace and corruption immediately; which at first, haply, was managed by the spearmen and targetiers, reason and interest. The former is like the fight of the soldiers of fortune, more lazy, and by way of siege; the latter more keen and vigorous, by way of assault and onslaught, like that of Scanderbeg, who fought with his enemies breast to breast in a box or grate.

4. In their weapons. The natural mans weapons are, like himself, carnal; to wit, natural or moral reason, worldly fears or hopes, and sometimes spiritual fears or hopes, but carnalised--i.e., slavish and mercenary. But the regenerate mans weapons are spiritual (2Co_10:4); to wit, gracious interest, and all the spiritual armour (Eph_6:11-18).

5. In the manner of the fight. The natural mans combat is more mercenary; admits of more parleys. But the spiritual man, as such, fights it out to the last, and will give no quarter. The former is like the strife between wind and tide, which often come about, and are both of one side; the latter is like the dam and the tide, that strive till one be borne down; or like stream and tide meeting and conflicting till one hath overborne the other.

6. In the extent of the conflict, in relation to its subject and duration.

(1) The extent of the subject is double--

(a) As to the faculties; the seat of war in the regenerate is every faculty, flesh and spirit being ever mixed; as light and darkness in every point of air in the twilight (1Th_5:23). So that, in the regenerate, there is at the same time both a civil and a foreign war; that in the same faculty, this in one faculty against another. Contrariwise, in the unregenerate, there is usually nothing but a foreign war between several faculties, there being nothing of spiritual good in their wills and affections, to set the same faculty against itself.

(b) As to acts, it extends to every act of piety and charity, especially if more spiritual (verse 21); for which the natural man hath no conflict, but against them. Nor, indeed, doth he know experimentally what spiritual acts of piety are. But the regenerate find it by constant experience; faith and unbelief, humanity and pride, ever opposing and counterworking each other; whence he is forced to cut his way through his enemies, and to dispute it step by step. Others may seek, but he strives (Luk_13:24), and takes the kingdom of heaven by a holy violence (Mat_11:12).

(2) As to the extent or duration of the war, which, being in the regenerate irreconcilable, must needs be interminable, like the war between the Romans and Carthaginians; or as fire and water will fight forever, if together forever. In the natural man, contrariwise, the quarrel is soon taken up; as between the Romans and other nations; there being not that antipathy between reason and corruption as there is between grace and corruption.

7. In the concomitants and consequents of the fight.

(1) Godly men sin more with knowledge, but wicked men more against knowledge.

(2) The fight in natural men seeks only the repression, not the suppression, of sin; to lop the superfluous branches, not stub up the root; to charm the serpent, not to break its head. But the spiritual fight seeks the full mortification and abolition of sin (Rom_6:6), and the complete perfection of grace (Php_3:10-14). (Roger Drake, D. D.)

The conflict and captivity; or the law of the mind and the law in the members

I. The law of the mind. The mind has laws of sensation, perception, apprehension, imagination, comparison, memory, reasoning, and volition. But that law of which the apostle speaks is a law which has relation to morals and religion. It is that law in virtue of which we consent to the law of God that it is good, and delight therein after the inward man (verses 16, 22); that law which prompts us to good, and restrains us from evil (verse 19); that law which congratulates and makes us glad when we render it obedience (2Co_1:12), but which reproves and makes us miserable when we dare, against its warnings, to do that which is evil (Rom_2:14-15, and this whole section). In one word, that law is conscience. But we observe more particularly--

1. That it is of the very essence of this law to affirm the binding force over the man of truth, goodness, and righteousness. Its proper function is, not to determine what is right in any given case, but to affirm that the right is a matter of moral obligation in all cases. The function of conscience is not to make, perceive, or define law, but to affirm that we are bound to the lawful and right. Conscience, as is indicated by the very name, involves a complex knowledge. It includes a knowledge of--

(1) Myself as capable of moral actions.

(2) Of an external law of righteousness, according to the requirements of which I am bound to act; and--

(3) Of the fact that I am so bound.

2. That this law, while it does morally bind, nevertheless does not compel, but only impel.

(1) Prospectively, it impels to the right, or restrains from the wrong, and therefore acts as a motive force affecting the determinations of the will.

(2) Retrospectively, it congratulates the mind, when the right has been chosen and achieved in opposition to the solicitations of wrong; and reproaches the mind, when the wrong has been elected and done in opposition to the inner consciousness of duty (Heb_10:22; 1Pe_3:16).

3. That this law has its ground in the reality of moral distinctions. That of which it affirms the binding force is something distinct from and independent of itself. It recognises the distinction between right and wrong, good and evil, because that it has a special aptitude for such recognition; and, on the same ground, it affirms its own peculiar relationship to these discriminated things as a moral subject.

4. That this law involves implicitly the recognition of an absolute and infallible Administrator of righteousness. For it not only affirms that the law is binding, but also that it will certainly be in the end enforced. The joy of a good conscience, and the remorse of an evil one, are, in no case, pronounced by conscience itself to be final awards, but only premonitory and anticipative.

II. The law in the members.

1. This is the law of the animal organism, which, inasmuch as it pertains to that in man which is lower, ought always to be subject to that which is superior.

2. Now this law is in itself, and within its proper sphere, perfectly right and good (Gen_1:28). It includes--

(1) The appetites of hunger and thirst, which are at the base of all the labour of mankind, to insure a continuous supply of food.

(2) The susceptibility of pain and injury, which is at the foundation of all manufacture, architecture, hunting, and war.

(3) The social and family affections, which are developed in marriage, in the care of children, and in the love of relatives and race.

III. The conflict between the two.

1. In mans complex consciousness the two laws meet. Both alike are laws of his nature, and obedience to both, within certain limits, is required. So long as they impel onwards in the same direction there can be no difficulty. Within its own domain the inferior law is right. But it must not break through the fences set up by the moral law. It must not provide for the defence, support, or enjoyment of the animal life by any means that offend against truth, justice, and mercy.

2. It is just here that the conflict begins. The law in the members, regardless of any rule of morality, impels onward to the attainment of one end only, the preservation and self-satisfaction of the animal life. Then the law of the mind interposes to arrest that action. Then the inferior law, made all the more clamorous by the invention of authority, may prevail, and the whole man will be delivered captive to that other law which is described as the law of sin and death (Jam_1:14-15). (W. Tyson.)

Spiritual fluctuations

As the needle of a compass, when it is directed to its beloved star, at the first waves on either side, and seems indifferent to the rising or declining sun, and when it seems first determined to the north, remains a while trembling, and stands not still in full enjoyment till after first a great variety of motion, and then an undisturbed posture; so is the piety, and so is the conversion of a man, wrought by degrees and several steps of imperfection; and at first our choices are wavering, convinced by the grace of God, and yet not persuaded; and then persuaded, but not resolved; and then resolved, but deferring to begin; and then beginning, but, as all beginnings are, in weakness and uncertainty; and we fly out often in large indiscretions, and we look back to Sodom, and long to return to Egypt; and when the storm is quite over, we find little bubblings and unevennesses upon the face of the waters, and often weaken our own purposes by returns of sin. (Jeremy Taylor.)

Sin tolerated and sin kept down

What swarms of rabbits the traveller sees on the commons and fields near Leatherhead (in Surrey), and yet a few miles further on at Wooten one scarcely sees a single specimen of that prolific race. The creature is indigenous to both places, but at Leatherhead he is tolerated, and therefore multiplies, while at the other places the gamekeepers diligently shoot down all they see. Sins are natural to all men, but it makes all the difference whether they are fostered or kept under; the carnal mind makes itself a warren for evil, but a gracious Spirit wages constant war with every transgression. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 7:21. I find then a law — An inward constraining power, flowing from my depraved nature; that when I would — When I incline and purpose to do good, evil is present with me — To prevent the execution of such a purpose. The expression, when I would do good, intimates that this inclination to do good was not permanent; it only arose on particular occasions. This is another feature of an unregenerate man; his inclinations and purposes to do good, and live to the glory of God, are only temporary. “They,” says Macknight, “who think the apostle is here describing his own case, and the case of other regenerated persons, should consider that he does not speak of single instances of omission of duty, and commission of sin; for the words which he uses all denote a continuation or habit of acting. Now how such a habit of doing evil and neglecting good can be attributed to any regenerated person, and especially to the Apostle Paul, who, before this Epistle to the Romans was written, told the Thessalonians, Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily, and righteously, and unblameably we behaved among you, I confess I do not comprehend. See also 2Co 1:12; 2Co 7:1-2; 2Co 10:2-3. To elude the force of this argument, Augustine affirms that the apostle does not speak of his outward actions, but of the inward motions of his concupiscence, by which he means, evil desire in general: and that for the reason mentioned in the note on Rom 7:17, he expresses these motions by the pronoun I. Be it so. On this supposition, Rom 7:15 will mean, ‘What I, my concupiscence, thoroughly worketh, in my mind, I do not approve. For I, my concupiscence, practiseth not, in my mind, that to which I incline; but what I hate, that I, my concupiscence, doth.’ Now, not to insist on the impropriety of applying words which denote outward actions, to motions of evil desire in the mind, I ask, what sense is there in the apostle’s telling us, that his concupiscence did not practise in his mind what he inclined to? For if what he inclined to was good, it could not possibly be practised by concupiscence, if concupiscence be evil desire; consequently, it was foolishness in him either to expect it from concupiscence, or to complain of the want of it, as he does Rom 7:19. He might complain of the existence of concupiscence in his mind; but if it were suffered to remain there uncontrolled, and if it hindered the actings of his sanctified will so effectually that he never did that to which he inclined, but always did the evil to which his sanctified will did not incline, is not this the clearest proof that concupiscence, or evil desire, was the prevailing principle in his mind, and that his sanctified will had no power to restrain its workings? Now could the apostle give any plainer description of an unregenerate person than this?”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

law

Six "laws" are to be distinguished in Romans: The law of Moses, which condemns Rom 3:19 "law" as a principle Rom 3:21 the law of faith, which excludes self-righteousness Rom 3:27 the law of sin in the members, which is victorious over the law of the mind Rom 7:21; Rom 7:23; Rom 7:25 the law of the mind, which consents to the law of Moses but cannot do it because of the law of sin in the members Rom 7:16; Rom 7:23 and the "law of the Spirit," having power to deliver the believer from the law of sin which is in his members, and his conscience from condemnation by the Mosaic law. Moreover the Spirit works in the yielded believer the very righteousness which Moses’ law requires Rom 8:2; Rom 8:4.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7:21 principle of life (literally law): Paul is referring to a regular occurrence, such as when we speak of the “law of gravity.” The struggle between wanting to do what is right and instead doing what is wrong reveals a regular pattern operating in the human sphere.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom 7:21. Εὑρίσκω) In this distressing conflict I find the law, [But Engl. Vers. “a law”] without which I formerly lived. This is all [I merely find the law]. That proposition, which occurs at Rom 7:14, is repeated.—τὸν νόμον) the law itself, which is in itself holy.—τῷ θέλοντι, [for, or to me] willing) The Dative of advantage: I find the law, which is not sinful or deadly [for, or] to me [so far as I am concerned; in my experience]. The first principles of harmony, friendship, and agreement between the law and man, are expressed with admirable nicety of language. The participle is purposely put first, τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοὶ, for, or to the person willing, viz. me,[77] in antithesis to the second [with] me, which presently after occurs absolutely. With the words, for, or to me willing, comp. Php 2:13.—ὅτι, because) [But Engl. Vers. I find a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me].—παράκειται, lies near, [is present with me]) Here the balance is changed; for at Rom 7:18, the good will lies near [is present;] the same word, παράκειται] as the lighter part [side of the scale]; whereas by this time, now the evil, though not the evil will, lies near [is present], as the lighter part [side of the scale].

[77] The participle cannot be placed first in English Tr. What he means is; the law is found by him who wills to do good, which is now the case with me.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_7:21. Among the numerous interpretations of this passage, which Chrysostom terms ἀσαφὲς εἰρημένον, and the exposition of which has been given up as hopeless by van Hengel and Rückert, the following fall to be considered:(1) ΤῸΝ ΝΌΜΟΝ taken generally as rule, necessity, and the like: I find therefore for me, who am desirous of doing the good, the rule, the unavoidably determining element, that evil lies before me; so that it is substantially the ἕτερος νόμος ἐν τοῖς μέλεσι, Rom_7:23, that is here meant. So, in the main, Luther, Beza, Calvin, Grotius, Estius, Wolf, and others, including Ammon, Boehme, Flatt, Köllner, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius, Nielsen, Winer, Baur, Philippi, Tholuck, Delitzsch, Psychol. p. 379, Umbreit, Krummacher, Jatho, and the latest Catholic expositors, Reithmayr, Maier, and Bisping. But it is fatal to this view, that ὁ νόμος, in accordance with the entire context, can be nothing else than the Mosaic law, since a definition altering this wonted reference of the meaning is not appended, but is only introduced in Rom_7:23 by the addition of ἕτερον; further, that ὍΤΙ ἘΜΟῚ ΤῸ ΚΑΚῸΝ ΠΑΡΆΚΕΙΤΑΙ is not a relation that presents itself in idea as a ΝΌΜΟς, but, on the contrary, as something empirical, as a phenomenon of fact; and lastly, that we should have to expect τὸν νόμον, in that case, only before ὍΤΙ. (2) ΤῸΝ ΝΌΜΟΝ understood of the Mosaic law: I find therefore in me, who am desirous of doing the law, (namely) the good, that evil lies before me. According to this view, consequently, τὸ καλόν is in apposition with Τ. ΝΌΜΟΝ, and ὍΤΙ Κ.Τ.Λ. is the object of ΕὙΡΊΣΚΩ. So, in substance, Homberg, Bos, Knapp, Scr. var. arg. p. 389, Klee, Bornemann in Luc. p. 67, Olshausen, Fritzsche, and Krehl. But after what goes before (Rom_7:15-20), it is inconsistent with the context to separate ποιεῖν τὸ καλόν; and, besides, the appositional view of ΤῸ ΚΑΛΌΝ is a forced expedient, feebly introducing something quite superfluous, especially after the ΤῸΝ ΝΌΜΟΝ prefixed with full emphasis. (3) ΤῸΝ ΝΌΜΟΝ likewise taken of the Mosaic law, and ὅτι taken as because: I find therefore the law for me, who am disposed to do the good, because evil lies before me; i.e. I find therefore that the law, so far as I have the will to do what is good, is by my side concurring with me, because evil is present with me (and therefore I need the law as συνήγορον and ἘΠΙΤΕΊΝΟΝΤΑ ΤῸ ΒΟΎΛΗΜΑ, see Chrysostom). So substantially the Peschito, Chrysostom, Theophylact (ΕὙΡΊΣΚΩ ἌΡΑ ΤῸΝ ΝΌΜΟΝ ΣΥΝΗΓΟΡΟῦΝΤΆ ΜΟΙ, ΘΈΛΟΝΤΙ ΜῈΝ ΠΟΙΕῖΝ ΤῸ ΚΑΛῸΝ, ΜῊ ΠΟΙΟῦΝΤΙ ΔῈ, ΔΙΌΤΙ ἘΜΟῚ ΠΑΡΆΚΕΙΤΑΙ ΤῸ ΚΑΚΌΝ); comp. also Origen, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Oecumenius (less clearly Theodoret), Hammond, Bengel, Semler, Morus, and my own second edition. But the idea, which according to this view would be conveyed by the dative Τῷ ΘΈΛΟΝΤΙ ἘΜΟῚ Κ.Τ.Λ., must have been more definitely and expressly indicated than by the mere dativus commodi; moreover, this explanation does not harmonize with the apostles purpose of summing up now, as the result of his previous view, the whole misery, in which the natural man sees himself when confronted with the law; see Rom_7:22-25. Hofmann also, modifying his earlier similar view (Schriftbew. I. p. 549), now understands under τ. νόμον the Mosaic law, and takes ὅτι in the sense of because, but τὸ καλόν as predicate to Τ. ΝΌΜΟΝ, the dative as depending on ΤῸ ΚΑΛΌΝ, and ΠΟΙΕῖΝ, which is supposed to be without an object, as belonging to ΘΈΛ. The speaker thus declares what he recognises the law as being, namely, as that which to him, who is willing to do, is the good; and he finds it so, because the evil is at hand to him; when he comes to act, the evil is there also, and presents itself to him to be done; which contradiction between the thing willed and the thing lying to his hand makes him perceive the harmony between his willing and the law, so that, namely, he would be doing what he wills, if he were doing that which the law commands. This extremely tortuous explanation, which first of all imports the nucleus of the thought which is supposed to be expressed so enigmatically, breaks down at the very outset by its assumption that ποιεῖν is meant to stand without object (when I come to act!), although the object (comp. Rom_7:15-20) stands beside it (τὸ καλόν) and according to the entire preceding context necessarily belongs to it,a statement as to which nothing but exegetical subjectivity can pronounce the arbitrary verdict that it is groundless prejudice. (4) Ewalds attributive reference of τὸ κακόν to the law is utterly erroneous: I find therefore the law, when I desire to do what is beautiful, how it lies at hand to me as the evil. Paul assuredly could not, even in this connection, have said τὸ κακόν of the divine law after Rom_7:12; Rom_7:14; comp. Rom_7:22. (5) Abandoning all these views, I believe that ΤῸΝ ΝΌΜΟΝ is to be understood of the Mosaic law and joined with τῷ θέλοντι, that ΠΟΙΕῖΝ is to be taken as infinitive of the purpose (Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 224), and ὅτι κ.τ.λ. as object of εὑρίσκω (comp. Esr. Rom_2:26): it results to me, therefore, that, while my will is directed to the law in order to do the good, the evil lies before me. What deep wretchedness! My moral will points to the law in order to do the good, but the evil is present with me in my fleshly nature, to make the θέλειν void! What I will, that I cannot do. In connection with this view, observe: (a) That the position of the words τὸν νόμον τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοί serves, without any harshness, to set forth ΤῸΝ ΝΌΜΟΝ emphatically, just as often also in classical writers the substantive with the article is emphatically prefixed to the participle with the article, on which it depends (see Kühner ad Xen. Mem. i. 6. 13; Bornemann and Kühner ad Anab. v. 6, 7; Krüger, § 50, 10. 1; Bernhardy, p. 461);(b) That θέλειν with the accusative as object of the willing, i.e. of the moral striving and longing, of desire and love, is particularly frequent in the LXX. (see also Mat_27:43 and the remark thereon); compare here, especially, Isa_5:24 : οὐ γὰρ ἠθέλησαν τὸν νόμον κυρίου. (c) Finally, how aptly the συνήδομαι γὰρ τῷ νόμῳ κ.τ.λ. in the illustrative clause that follows, Rom_7:22, harmonizes with the ΤῸΝ ΝΌΜΟΝ Τῷ ΘΈΛΟΝΤΙ ἘΜΟΊ; while the subsequent ΒΛΈΠΩ ΔῈ ἝΤΕΡΟΝ ΝΌΜΟΝ Κ.Τ.Λ., in Rom_7:23, answers to the ὍΤΙ ἘΜΟῚ ΤῸ ΚΑΚῸΝ ΠΑΡΆΚΕΙΤΑΙ.

The dative τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοί is that of the ethical reference: deprehendo mihi, experience proves it to me. Comp. εὑρέθη μοι, Rom_7:10; Hom. Od. xxi. 304: οἷ δʼ αὐτῷ πρώτῳ κακὸν εὑρέτο οἰνοβαρείων. Soph. Aj. 1144: ᾧ φθέγμʼ ἀν οὐκ ἄν εὗρες. O. R. 546: δυσμενῆ γὰρ καὶ βαρὺν σʼ εὕρηκʼ ἐμοί. Oed. C. 970: οὐκ ἂν ἐξεύροις ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτίας ὄνειδος οὐδέν. Plat. Rep. p. 421 E; Eur. Ion. 1407.

Rom_7:21-23. Result from Rom_7:14-20.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 7:21-23 summarise the argument. εὑρίσκω ἄρα τὸν νόμον … ὅτι : most commentators hold that the clause introduced by ὅτι is the explanation of τὸν νόμον . The law, in short, which Paul has discovered by experience, is the constant fact that when his inclination is to do good, evil is present with him. This sense of law approximates very closely to the modern sense which the word bears in physical science so closely that its very modernness may be made an objection to it. Possibly Paul meant, in using the word, to convey at the same time the idea of an outward compulsion put on him by sin, which expressed itself in this constant incapacity to do the good he inclined to authority or constraint as well as normality being included in his idea of the word. But ὁ νόμος in Paul always seems to have much more definitely the suggestion of something with legislative authority: it is questionable whether the first meaning given above would have occurred, or would have seemed natural, except to a reader familiar with the phraseology of modern science. Besides, the subject of the whole paragraph is the relation of “the law” to sin, and the form of the sentence is quite analogous to that of Rom 7:10 , in which a preliminary conclusion has been come to on the question. Hence I agree with those who make τὸν νόμον the Mosaic law. The construction is not intolerable, if we observe that εὑρίσκω ἄρα τὸν νόμον τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοὶ κ . τ . λ . is equivalent to εὑρίσκεται ἄρα ὁ νόμος τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοὶ κ . τ . λ . “This is what I find the law or life under the law to come to in experience: when I wish to do good, evil is present with me.” This is the answer he has already given in Rom 7:7 to the question, Is the law sin? No, it is not sin, but nevertheless sin is most closely connected with it. The repeated ἐμοί has something tragic in it: me , who am so anxious to do otherwise.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Third Cycle: Rom 7:21-25.

This cycle, while repeating the same experiences, stamps them as the abiding and definitive result of the state of things described throughout the whole passage (ἄρα, consequently). The following cycle really contains the full picture of man’s state under the law. Like the others, it first expresses the general thesis, Rom 7:21, parallel to Rom 7:18; Rom 7:14; then the proof from fact, Rom 7:22-23 as above; and finally, the conclusion, Rom 7:24-25, which, while reproducing that of the other cycles, goes beyond it and forms the transition to the description of the new state which has replaced the former in the regenerate (chap. 8).

Vv. 21. “I find then, this law, that, when I would do good, evil cleaves to me.”

Always the same two characteristics of his moral state: will for good, but powerless; evil carrying him away in practice.

We have frequently seen the term νόμος, law, taking the general sense of a governing principle of life; any rule whatever imposing itself authoritatively on the will (νόμος πίστεως, the law of faith; νόμος ἔργων, the law of works, Rom 3:27; νόμος πνεύματος, τῆς ἁμαρτίας, the law of the spirit, of sin, Rom 8:2, etc.). Such, undoubtedly, is the meaning of the word here. Paul is summing up the mode of his existence since the time when the law came in to affect his inward life, and from which the law gives him no means of escape. This is what he calls τὸν νόμον, this law. This general and abstract meaning of the term law follows first from the expression: the law of God, Rom 7:22, where by this complement of God the law of which he speaks here is contrasted with the moral and Mosaic law; and next from Rom 7:23, where Paul again applies the general idea of law, speaking, in contrast to the law of God, of another law.

This mode of existence appears with two opposite characteristics; the will for good: to me who would do good, and the doing of evil: evil cleaves to me. The dative τῷ θέλοντι, to me who would, is the object of τὸν νόμον, the law; for this word has here a very active sense: “The law which imposes itself on me who would do”...We have taken the liberty of translating the words thus: with me, when I would do. The ὅτι, that, depends also on τὸν νόμον, the law: this law which I find in me consisting in the fact that...

The verb παράκεισθαι, to be present with, is taken here in the same sense as in Rom 7:18: to be within reach, to present itself at once: “As to me, when I wish to do good, evil is present first.”

The two ἐμοί, to me, serve to bring out strongly the unity of the subject who has the misfortune to wish one thing and to do its opposite.

The numerous critics who have begun with taking the term law in this verse in the sense of the Mosaic law, have thereby involved themselves in inextricable difficulties. Witness the following:—1. Knapp and Olshausen take τὸ καλόν, good, as in apposition to τὸν νόμον, the law; then ὅτι, that, as the object of I find: “As to me who would perform the law, that is, good, I find that evil is present with me.” But this apposition is very strange, and the participle τῷ θέλοντι would require to be placed before τὸν νόμον.—2. Chrysostom and the Peshitto take the words τῷ θέλοντι, to me wishing, as the dative of favor, and the conjunction ὅτι in the sense of because: “I find the law coming to my aid, to mine who would do good, and that because evil is present with me.” The law coming to Paul’s help in the struggle against evil! The idea is the antipodes of what Paul teaches throughout this whole chapter.—3. Ewald obtains a directly opposite sense, by taking τὸ κακόν, evil, as the apposition to τὸν νόμον, the law: “I find the law, that is, evil, present with me when I would do good.”

Not only is this construction forced grammatically, but above all this identification of the law and of evil would be an evident exaggeration (comp. Rom 7:7). Only Marcion could have expressed himself thus.—4. Meyer gives as the object of the participle θέλοντι, wishing, the substantive law, and takes ποιεῖν, to do, as the infinitive of aim: “I find that with me when I wish the law with the view of doing good, evil is present.” But the object τὸν νόμον would require to be placed between τῷ and θέλοντι; and the term wishing the law is unsupported by example. Finally, it is far from natural to take the infinitive ποιεῖν, to do, as the infinitive of aim; it is evidently the object of θέλοντι, wishing.—5. The masterpiece of all these explanations is that of Hofmann; according to him the verb ποιεῖν, to do, has no object; it must be taken in the sense of acting; τὸ καλόν, good, is an attribute of τὸν νόμον, the law, and ὅτι signifies because: “I discover that the law is goodness for me when I would act, because evil is present with me;” meaning: that evil, by arresting me in my eagerness to act when good is before me, serves to prove to me by this resistance that it is really the law which I intend to realize. Is it possible to imagine a more tortuous thought and a more artificial construction? The active verb ποιεῖν, to do, without an object; the attribute separated from its substantive, etc.!

The true meaning of the word νόμος, law, which we have established, delivers this poor verse from all those tortures to which it has been subjected. Our meaning is found in a goodly number of commentators (Calvin, Tholuck, Philippi, etc.). If after that confirmation were needed, it would be found in the two following verses, the one of which demonstrates the: in me when I would do good (Rom 7:21 a), the other the: evil is present with me (Rom 7:21 b).

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_7:21

I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. This verse has been subjected to a greater variety of interpretations than any other in the chapter, or perhaps in the whole epistle. The construction in the original is doubtful; and besides this difficulty, there is no little uncertainty as to the sense in which the word law is to be here taken. The question is, whether Paul means the law of God, of which he has been speaking throughout the chapter, or whether he uses the word in a new sense, for a rule, course, or law of action. Our translators have assumed the latter. If the former sense of the word be preferred, the passage may be thus interpreted. I find, therefore, that to me wishing to do good, evil (the law as the cause of evil) is present with me. See Koppe. This is very unnatural. Or thus, I find, therefore, that to me wishing to act according to the law, i.e., to do good, evil is present with me.‹29› Or, as Tholuck explains it, I find, therefore, that while I would do the law, (i. e. good) evil is present. Then τὸν νόμον depends on ποιεῖν, (willing to do the law) and τὸ καλόν is in apposition with τὸν νόμον. The law is the good which the apostle desired to do. But in the context, the phrase ποιεῖν τὸν νόμον does not occur, and the passage as thus explained is awkward and unnatural. Besides τὸ καλόν would be entirely superfluous, as τὸν νόμον needs no explanation. The considerations in favor of the second explanation of the word law appear to be decisive.

1. The other interpretation does not afford a sense suited to the context, as appears from Pauls own explanation of his meaning in the following verses. I find, he says, this law, that while wishing to do good, I do evil, Rom_7:21; that is, I find that while I delight in the law of God, after the inward man, there is another law in my members which causes me to sin, Rom_7:22, Rom_7:23. Here it is evident, that the apostle means to explain what he intended by saying in Rom_7:21, that he found or experienced a law which caused him to act contrary to his better judgment and desires.

2. Having used the word law by itself for the Divine law throughout the chapter, he, for the first time, in Rom_7:22, calls it the law of God, to mark the distinction between the law intended in Rom_7:21, and that intended in Rom_7:22.

3. This sense of the word is not unusual; it occurs repeatedly in the immediately succeeding verses.

But admitting that νομος is taken here in the sense of controlling principle or inward necessity, the construction of the passage is still doubtful. Τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοί may depend on εὑρίσκω, I find in me. The construction is then regular: I find in myself willing to do good the law, that evil is present with me, so Meyer; or, as Winer (§65, 4.) proposes, Invenio hanc legem (normam) volenti mihi honestum facere, ut mihi, etc. And Beza: Comperio igitur volenti mihi facere bonum hanc legem esse impositum, quod mihi malum adjaceat. Most commentators, however, assume a trajection of the particle ὃτι, placing it before the first, instead of the second clause of the verse: I find this law, that (ὃτι) to me willing to do good, evil is present with me; instead of, I find this law to me willing to do good, that (ὃτι) evil is present. The English version assumes this trajection. The sense is the same; and if it can be elicited without altering the position of the words, no such alteration should be made. Pauls experience had taught him, that while wishing to do good, he was still subject to evil, and from this subjection nothing but the grace of God could deliver him. This experience is common to all believes. Fideles, says Calvin, dum ad bonum nituntur, quandam in se tyrannicam legem reperire, quia eorum medullis et ossibus infixa est vitiositas legi Dei adversa et repugnans.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The conclusion: As the Law of God exhorteth to goodness, so doth the Law of sin (that is, the corruption wherein we are born) force us to wickedness: but the Spirit, that is, our mind, in that that it is regenerate, consenteth with the Law of God: but the flesh, that is, the whole natural man, is bondslave to the Law of sin. Therefore to be short, wickedness and death are not of the Law, but of sin, which reigneth in them that are not regenerate: for they neither will, nor do good, but will, and do evil: But in them that are regenerate, it striveth against the Spirit or law of the mind, so that they cannot either live so well as they would, or be so void of sin as they would.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 21. I find then a law] I am in such a condition and state of soul, under the power of such habits and sinful propensities, that when I would do good-when my will and reason are strongly bent on obedience to the law of God and opposition to the principle of sin, evil is present with me, κακον παρακειται, evil is at hand, it lies constantly before me. That, as the will to do good is constantly at hand, Ro 7:18, so the principle of rebellion exciting me to sin is equally present; but, as the one is only will, wish, and desire, without power to do what is willed, to obtain what is wished, or to perform what is desired, sin continually prevails.

The word νομος, law, in this verse, must be taken as implying any strong or confirmed habit, συνηθεια, as Hesychius renders it, under the influence of which the man generally acts; and in this sense the apostle most evidently uses it in Ro 7:23.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. I find then, etc. Here Paul supposes a fourfold law. The first is the law of God, which alone is properly so called, which is the rule of righteousness, by which our life is rightly formed. To this he joins the law of the mind, and by this he means the prompt readiness of the faithful mind to render obedience to the divine law, it being a certain conformity on our part with the law of God. On the other hand, he sets in opposition to this the law of unrighteousness; and according to a certain kind of similarity, he gives this name to that dominion which iniquity exercises over a man not yet regenerated, as well as over the flesh of a regenerated man; for the laws even of tyrants, however iniquitous they may be, are called laws, though not properly. To correspond with this law of sin he makes the law of the members, that is, the lust which is in the members, on account of the concord it has with iniquity.

As to the first clause, many interpreters take the word law in its proper sense, and consider κατὰ or διὰ to be understood; and so Erasmus renders it, “by the law;” as though Paul had said, that he, by the law of God as his teacher and guide, had found out that his sin was innate. But without supplying anything, the sentence would run better thus, “While the faithful strive after what is good, they find in themselves a certain law which exercises a tyrannical power; for a vicious propensity, adverse to and resisting the law of God, is implanted in their very marrow and bones.”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(21) I find then a law.—Of the many ways of taking this difficult verse, two seem to stand out as most plausible or possible. In any case “a law” should be rather “the law.” This is taken by the majority of commentators, including Bishop Ellicott, in the sense of “rule,” “habitually-repeated fact.” “I find this law, or this rule, that when I would do good evil is present with me.” Such is my constant and regular experience. The objection to this interpretation is that it gives to the word “law” an entirely different sense from that which it bears in the context, or in any other part of St. Paul’s writings. The other view is that which is maintained by Dr. Vaughan. According to this we should have to assume an anacoluthon. The Apostle begins the sentence as if he were going to say, “I find therefore the Law (the Mosaic law), when I desire to do good, unable to help me;” but he changes somewhat the form of the sentence in the latter portion, and instead of saying “I find the Law unable to help me,” he says, “I find that evil is at my side.” “To me” is also repeated a second time, in the Greek superfluously, for the sake of greater clearness. Or perhaps a still simpler and better explanation would be that the Apostle had intended in the first instance to say, “I find the Law, when I wish to do good, putting evil before me,” and then shrank (as in Rom_7:7) from using so harsh an expression, and softened it by turning the latter half of the sentence into a passive instead of an active form—“I find the Law, when I wish to do good—that evil is put before me.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. I find then, &c.] The Gr. construction of this verse is difficult. But the explanation is helped by remembering that the law, not “a law,” is the right version; and all analogy of passages leads us to refer this to the Divine Law. There can thus be little doubt of the practical meaning of the verse:—“such is the relation between me and the Law, that my will is with it, my action is against it.” The Gr. is (as nearly literally as possible), So then I find the Law, with me willing to do what is good, [I find, I say,] that with me what is evil is present. The construction is rapid and broken, but characteristic of St Paul. It is as if he had written, “I find the Law thus in its attitude; I find that what is evil is present with me, while yet my will is for the good.”

He thus states, (what it is one main object, if not the chief of all, to state in this whole remarkable passage of the Epistle,) that the subjugation of sin is not the function of the Law. The awful holiness of the Law both evokes the resistance of sin, and (in the regenerate) ever more and more detects its presence in the minutest shades. Another Influence (Rom_8:3) is needed, side by side with this detection, if sin is to be subdued.

Meyer suggests a rendering of the above clauses which is perfectly possible as regards construction, but in our view less natural, and less proper to the context: “I find then that with me, choosing [willing, lit.] the law, so as to do right, evil is present.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For I delight in the law of God,.... This an unregenerate man cannot do; he does not like its commands, they are disagreeable to his corrupt nature; and as it is a threatening, cursing, damning law, it can never be delighted in by him: the moralist, the Pharisee, who obeys it externally, do not love it, nor delight in it; he obeys it not from love to its precepts, but from fear of its threatenings; from a desire of popular esteem, and from low, mercenary, selfish views, in order to gain the applause of men, and favour of God: only a regenerate man delights in the law of God; which he does, as it is fulfilled by Christ, who has answered all the demands of it: and as it is in the hands of Christ, held forth by him as a rule of holy walk and conversation; and as it is written upon his heart by the Spirit of God, to which he yields a voluntary and cheerful obedience: he serves it with his mind, of a ready mind freely, and without any constraint but that of love; he delights together with the law, as the word here used signifies; the delight is mutual and reciprocal, the law delights in him, and he delights in the law; and they both delight in the selfsame things, and particularly in the perfect obedience which the Son of God has yielded to it. The apostle adds,

after the inward man; by which he means the renewed man, the new man, or new nature, formed in his soul; which had its seat in the inward part, is an internal principle, oil in the vessel of the heart, a seed under ground, the kingdom within us, the hidden man of the heart, which is not obvious to everyone's view, it being not anything that is external, though never so good: this in its nature is agreeable to the law of God, and according to this a regenerate man delights in it: but then this restrictive limiting clause supposes another man, the old man, the carnal I, according to which the apostle did not delight in the law of God; and proves, that he speaks of himself as regenerate, and not as unregenerate, or as representing an unregenerate man, because no such distinction is to be found in such a person; nor does such a person delight at all, in any sense, upon any consideration in the law of God, but is enmity against it, and not subjected to it; nor can he be otherwise, without the grace of God.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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

Ver. 21. When I would do good] Something lay at the fountain head, as it were, and stopped him when he would do his duty. But God valueth a man by his desires. {a} There often cometh a prohibition from Chancery to stay proceedings at common law, so here; when we would pray, meditate, confer, &c., we are hindered and interrupted. But God considereth it; and as the service of a sick child is doubly accepted, so here.

Evil is present] We can stay no more from sinning than the heart can from punting and the pulse from beating. Our lives are fuller of sins than the firmament of stars or the furnace of sparks. Erasmus was utterly out, that said with Origen, Paulum hoc sermone balbutire; quam ipse potius ineptiat, saith learned Beza. So Joannes Sylvius Aegranus, a learned but a profane person, reprehended Paul for want of learning, and said, Quod usus sit declamatoriis verbis, non congruentibus ad rem, &c. Nominabat sophisms, quod diceremus homines non posse implere legem. (Joh. Manl.)

{a} Tota vita boni Christiani sanctum desiderium est. Aug.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I find then a law - There is a law whose operation I experience whenever I attempt to do good. There have been various opinions about the meaning of the word “law” in this place. It is evident that it is used here in a sense somewhat unusual. But it retains the notion which commonly attaches to it of what binds, or controls. And though this to which he refers differs from a law, inasmuch as it is not imposed by a superior, which is the usual idea of a law, yet it has so far the sense of law that it binds, controls, influences, or is that to which he was subject. There can be no doubt that he refers here to his carnal and corrupt nature; to the evil propensities and dispositions which were leading him astray. His representing this as a law is in accordance with all that he says of it, that it is servitude, that he is in bondage to it, and that it impedes his efforts to be holy and pure. The meaning is this, “I find a habit, a propensity, an influence of corrupt passions and desires, which, when I would do right, impedes my progress, and prevents my accomplishing what I would.” Compare Gal 5:17. Every Christian is as much acquainted with this as was the apostle Paul.

Do good - Do right. Be perfect.

Evil - Some corrupt desire, or improper feeling, or evil propensity.

Is present with me - Is near; is at hand. It starts up unbidden, and undesired. It is in the path, and never leaves us, but is always ready to impede our going, and to turn us from our good designs; compare Psa 65:3, “Iniquities prevail against me.’ The sense is, that to do evil is agreeable to our strong natural inclinations and passions.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This verse hath greatly vexed interpreters. The apostle speaking simply and abstractly of

a law, the question is: What law he means? Some take the word improperly, for a decree or condition, which was imposed upon him, and to which he was necessarily subject, that when he would do good, evil should be present with him. Others by law here do understand the law of sin; of which he speaks afterwards, Rom 7:23,25. Sin is like a law, and so powerful and imperious in its commands and dictates, that we have much ado, the best of us, to resist it, and shake off its yoke. q.d. I find by sad experience such a forcible power in sin, that when I would do good, I am hindered, and cannot do it so freely and fully as I desire. Others by law here do understand the law of God; and those that so understand it, have given no less than eight interpretations, to make the grammatical connexion: the best is of those that say the preposition κατα is understood, a frequent ellipsis in the Greek tongue, {see Jam 1:26} and then the sense is this; I find that when, according to the law or command of God, I would do good, evil is present with me.

Evil is present with me; another periphrasis of original sin, of which there are many in this chapter. Just now it was the sin that dwelleth in us, and here it is the evil that is present with us: it inheres and adheres, or hangs upon us continually. It is adjacent, so the Greek word signifies, and always at hand; we carry it about with us at all times, and into all places; whithersoever we go, it follows us; or, as it is here, in our doing of good it is a very great impediment to us.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

I find then a law - An inward constraining power, flowing from the dictate of corrupt nature.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The difficulty of the struggle and the plea for deliverance:

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

v. 22. For I delight in the Law of God after the inward man;

v. 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.

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

v. 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.

St. Paul now gives an explanation of the peculiar situation which he has just described. He has discovered and found, by experience, a constant fact, a rule, or law, that when his inclination and intention is to do good, evil is present with him, is always at hand. His desire and determination is to do good, but the evil, always present, offers itself, mixes with all his performing and omitting. He is not speaking of an unusual, an exceptional condition, but of one that is the rule, one in which he finds himself day after day, an experience, also, which is common to all believers. This statement the apostle both explains and confirms: For I find my delight in the will of God according to the inner man; but I see, I become aware of, another rule, a different norm, in my members, which struggles, battles, against the Law of my mind that forcibly subjects me, that brings me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. The inner man, the regenerated self, the new man of the apostle, rejoices over, finds his delight in, the Law of God, in doing His holy will. But there is that other, that different rule and norm, represented by the will of the old Adam in his members. The rule in the members of the body is the law of sin, sin itself, in so far as it tries to govern and direct the actions of the members into sinful channels. The perverted mind and will, as represented in the old Adam, is anxious to keep the members of the body in subjection to its will and direction. And that brings on the struggle. As the lower nature prevails, it leads the person captive to the law of sin which exhibits and exerts its power through the members of the body. In the soul of the regenerated person the regenerated mind struggles with the perverted flesh, and the mind, though it wages incessant warfare against the flesh and always keeps the ideal of perfect sanctification in view, cannot free itself altogether from the dominion and power of the flesh. And therefore the regenerated person, chafing and fretting and struggling in his unwilling service, longs for the day when he will enjoy the final, complete redemption from the power of sin.

This thought brings on the last exclamation of the apostle: O miserable, afflicted, wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me, tear me out of this body of death, or, the body of this death? All the longing of the believer for the final deliverance of his mortal body, which is still such an uncertain, weak organ of the Spirit and so easily becomes subject to sin, is here expressed. Every Christian is eagerly awaiting the day when his slavery to sin will definitely be at an end, when he, with transfigured body and in eternal life, will live unto God and will serve God without any hindrance. But the apostle’s cry for deliverance is followed by one of thanksgiving: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! The deliverance has already been gained, the final redemption is certain, and its full consummation for every believer is only a matter of a few days or years. So, then, Paul for himself, according to his regenerated elf, with his mind, with his new man, serves the Law of God, but with his flesh, with his old Adam, the law of sin. His real, willing service is therefore offered to God, even though his flesh still compels him to yield at times. And so the feeling of joy and gratitude prevails in the life of Christians. In the midst of their present sinful wretchedness they never give up the struggle against sin, they never lose sight of the fact that they are Christians, and therefore also always thank God through Jesus Christ, to whom they owe their present blessed state of regeneration.

Summary

The apostle reminds the Christians that they belong to Christ, their risen Savior, and are governed by His Spirit; he shows that the Law teaches the knowledge of sin and causes death on account of sin, which makes use of the Law; he pictures the constant struggle between flesh and spirit, but finally points to the coming deliverance from all evil.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As if the apostle had said, "I verily find sin, having an impelling power and impulsive virtue in it, like a law in my members, thwarting and contradicting the inclinations of my mind, and the resolutions of my will , that when I would do good, evil is present with me to oppose and hinder me from the doing of it."

Note here, A double burden which the apostle complained of;

1. Of presence of sin at all times, Evil is present with me. It follows me, as if he had said, and is as inseparable from me as my shadow. This he calls a law, because of its mighty power and efficacy, and because of its constant residence in his nature.

2. Of the operation of it, especially at some particular and special times and seasons. When I would do good, then evil is present with me. As if he had said, "When I address myself to any holy duty, and heavenly employment, when I desire and design to draw near to God, and would hope for the sweetest fellowship and communion with him, then, alas! then to my great sorrow, is evil present with me.

Ah, when I promise myself most comfort and communion in the enjoyment of my God, how do I then find a bad heart in the best season, a dead and drowsy spirit when I would be most spiritual in the duties I perform!"

From whence we learn, That the holiest and best of saints in this their imperfect state, do sensibly feel, and sadly bewail, the working of sin and corruption in them,; and that in the very seasons and opportunities of their communion with God; When I would do good, then evil is present with me.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. “Moreover, I find a law, that, to me, wishing to do good, evil is present with me.” This is where the counterfeit professors woefully lie on Paul, making his language an apology for committing sin. They differ from Paul wide as the poles. While they wickedly pervert this Scripture to their own destruction, making it an apology for known and willing sin, Paul positively and repeatedly certifies that he did no such thing, and the only trouble in his case was the inward conflict of an indwelling enemy. His testimony in this verse is that the evil is ever present to menace, tempt and antagonize him in his enterprises to glorify God. While this is true, we must remember his positive abnegation of all yielding to it, and repeated affirmation that this indwelling sin, of its own spontaneity, was really doing all the mischief in the case, while he pleads constantly his own innocency.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present . [So then, I say again that I, in my own conscience, endorse the goodness of the law, for my spiritual nature wishes to perform its dictates, and only fails to do so because overcome by my fleshly nature, which sin has such power to influence. I find it then to be the rule of life, regulating my conduct,that though I always want to do good, evil is ever present with me, because I am in the flesh, which is never without evil influences. The presence of the flesh is the presence of evil, and since I can not rid myself of the one, neither can I of the other.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. I find then a law. It is then the law of our unregenerate state that, even if we would do good, and purpose to be better, evil will be present, and will be practiced.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

21. ἄρα sums up the reiterated positions of Rom 7:15-20.

τὸν νόμον = this law of my condition: a new sense of the word involving some confusion of language. The law of his condition is that there are two laws at once in his complex nature, one a law of his mind, i.e. the law of GOD accepted by his mind, one a law intruded upon his ‘members’ by sin, embodying the law of sin. It is just possible however that τὸν νόμον = the law of GOD (cf. ἡ ὀργή); and tr. ‘I find as regards the Law, that when I will to do the good’ (i.e. the bidding of this law) etc. This is strained, but diminishes the confusion. Cf. S. H.

τὸ καλὸν. The ideally true and right, as referred to a standard: ἀγαθόν = that which is good, as judged by effects.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21.] I find then (i.e. as appears from what has been detailed) the (this) law (presently to be defined as the law of sin in my members, and exemplified in the following words: so τοῦ ῥήματος τοῦ κυρίου, ὡς ἔλεγεν, Act 11:16:—τῶν λόγων τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ, ὅτι αὐτὸς εἶπεν, Act 20:35 (De W.). This is the view of Calv., Beza, Grot., Estius, Wolf, Winer, Meyer (Exo_1, but in subsequent editions he has altered his view more than once), De Wette, al. It cannot well be referred to the Mosaic law, as, with various forced arrangements and constructions, Chrys., Theophyl., Theodoret, Tholuck, Olsh., Fritz., Köllner; the great objection being, that all these do violence to the context. Tholuck’s remark, that had νόμον meant as above, it would have been anarthrous, or τοῦτον τὸν νόμον, is sufficiently answered by the above examples: and the dative after εὑρίσκω, to which he also objects as inadmissible in any language, is justified by Soph. Œd. Col. 966, οὐκ ἄν ἐξεύροις ἐμοὶ | ἁμαρτίας ὄνειδος οὐδέν,—and by Plato, Rep. iv. p. 421, ἕτερα … τοῖς φύλαξιν εὑρήκαμεν, ‘alia invenimus nostris custodibus observanda,’ Ficin.) to me (for myself) wishing to do good, that (consisting in this, that) evil is present with (see above, ver. 18) me.

22,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. εὑρίσκω ἄρα τὸν νόμον: ‘I find then this rule,’ ‘this constraining principle,’ hardly ‘this constantly recurring experience,’ which would be too modern. The νόμος here mentioned is akin to the ἕτερον νόμον of ver. 23. It is not merely the observed fact that the will to do good is forestalled by evil, but the coercion of the will that is thus exercised. Lips. seems to be nearest to the mark, das Gesetz d. h. die objectiv mir auferlegte Nothwendigkeit.

Many commentators, from Chrysostom onwards, have tried to make τὸν νόμον = the Mosaic Law: but either (i) they read into the passage more than the context will allow; or (ii) they give to the sentence a construction which is linguistically intolerable. The best attempt in this direction is prob. that of Va. who translates, ‘I find then with regard to the Law, that to me who would fain do that which is good, to me (I say) that which is evil is present.’ He supposes a double break in the construction: (1) τὸν νόμον put as if the sentence had been intended to run ‘I find then the Law—when I wish to do good—powerless to help me’; and (2) ἐμοί repeated for the sake of clearness. It is apparently in a similar sense that Dr. T. K. Abbott proposes as an alternative rendering (the first being as above), ‘With respect to the law, I find,’ &c. But the anacoluthon after τὸν νόμον seems too great even for dictation to an amanuensis. Other expedients like those of Mey. (not Mey.-W.) Fri. Ew. are still more impossible. See esp. Gif. Additional Note, p. 145.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A law. With the article, the law. The constant rule of experience imposing itself on the will. Thus in the phrases law of faith, works, the spirit. Here the law of moral contradiction.

When I would [τω θελοντι εμοι] . Lit., as Rev., to me who would, or to the wishing me, thus emphasizing the I whose characteristic it is to wish, but not to do.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.