The whole chapter seven speaks of laws: the law of God, the law of sin and the law of the Spirit. Which of these laws works depends on whose territory we are. If we are in Adam, that means in our corrupt nature, our spirit is under the rule of the law of sin. Even if we observe God’s law outwardly, it leads to pride and pharisaism. One can be outwardly moral and decent and yet one is a slave of sin, pride and spiritual blindness. Pharisees were in the Church in the time of Christ but they are in the Church nowadays as well. The Apostle calls: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The answer is that we have been delivered, I have been delivered, by God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so thanks be to Him! However, if I am not in Christ, not conformed to God’s will, but I am in myself, it is true about me that “I serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin”. But if I am in Christ, the law of the Spirit has set me free from the law of sin and death (see Rom 8:1-2).

The Apostle Paul shows by his own example the reality of the law of sin. It’s a kind of mental pressure which forces him as well as every one of us to practise evil which we will not to do. The Apostle points out that the cause is sin that dwells in me, but the good that I will to do does not dwell in me. This is, as it were, a little unfair.

Verses 13-19 speak of sin which took occasion by what was good to produce death in me. Through God’s commandment sin becomes exceedingly sinful. God’s commandment as such does not give the strength to overcome sin. Since our birth we have been in bondage to sin. Who sold us? The first parents did so because they were disobedient to God’s Word and believed the spirit of lies and death. Jesus delivered us from this bondage. By His death on the cross He defeated sin and the devil. Victory over sin is only in Christ. If we are in active communion with Christ through faith and devotion, we can not sin (1Jn 3:6). Unfortunately, when we get out of the presence of God and communion with Jesus, we are exposed to various forms of sin again, such as self-will, laziness, different passions, pride, self-pity, envy, impurity, vanity, avarice.

“I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.”

Verses 9-12 speak about the law, the commandment, sin, death … They reiterate that the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. It is said that when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Thus the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. Here the Bible points out the mystery of sin, revealing that sin even abuses God’s commandments. Sin deceived me and killed me through the commandment.

On account of one sin angels were cast down into the abyss of hell. The sin of the first man – disobedience – brought death. Death entered the soul of man and subdued it. From the moment of the first sin the whole human generation is wounded by sin and all men are born slaves to sin. Human soul is dominated by the law of sin and death. Man defends what is harmful and loathes what is good for him. God gave His law for man’s orientation. However, because man is united with sin and enslaved by it, God’s law which is good and holy is an impossible burden for him and he wants to get rid of it at any price. Sin is natural part of man; one need not force oneself into sinning at all. On the other hand, God’s law is like something strange to him, something that, in his view, restricts and binds him or even ruins his happiness. Sin works through a lie which corrupt human nature automatically accepts as the truth. But as for the truth, man does not believe in it but has literally a defence system against the truth.

God’s Word says that we have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that is through Jesus crucified, and that we should walk in the newness of the Spirit. We who are united to Him in His death are the Mystical Body of Christ. Through His death we are dead to sin, but we have become dead to the law as well. We are unable to fulfil the requirements of God’s law with our own strength.

Rom 7:1-3: The first husband is the law. The second husband is Christ. The married woman is each one of us. The law convicts us of sin and thus condemns us to death. It makes requirements but does not give us the strength to fulfil them and justly convicts us saying that the wages of sin is death (6:23). Therefore, the Lord Jesus died for us to save us from death. Thus we are delivered from the yoke of the law and He, the Risen One, is the second husband. He does not dispense us from the requirements of the law; on the contrary, He requires an even more rigid adherence to the law in our hearts, but the difference is that He Himself – the Risen One, whom we now belong to, fulfils His requirements in us. “Abide in Me, and I in you … without Me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:4-5)