23 but I see another law in my members, warring in opposition to the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which exists in my members.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these things are opposed one to the other, that ye should not do those things which ye desire;
Whence [come] wars and whence fightings among you? [Is it] not thence, -- from your pleasures, which war in your members?
Beloved, I exhort [you], as strangers and sojourners, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
I speak humanly on account of the weakness of your flesh. For even as ye have yielded your members in bondage to uncleanness and to lawlessness unto lawlessness, so now yield your members in bondage to righteousness unto holiness.
Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not.
For when we were in the flesh the passions of sins, which [were] by the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit to death;
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, wrestling against sin.
Bring my soul out of prison, that I may celebrate thy name. The righteous shall surround me, because thou dealest bountifully with me.
For we know that the law is spiritual: but *I* am fleshly, sold under sin.
But *thou*, O man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance, meekness of spirit. Strive earnestly [in] the good conflict of faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which thou hast been called, and hast confessed the good confession before many witnesses.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Romans 7
Commentary on Romans 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
We may observe in this chapter,
Rom 7:1-6
Among other arguments used in the foregoing chapter to persuade us against sin, and to holiness, this was one (v. 14), that we are not under the law; and this argument is here further insisted upon and explained (v. 6): We are delivered from the law. What is meant by this? And how is it an argument why sin should not reign over us, and why we should walk in newness of life?
Rom 7:7-14
To what he had said in the former paragraph, the apostle here raises an objection, which he answers very fully: What shall we say then? Is the law sin? When he had been speaking of the dominion of sin, he had said so much of the influence of the law as a covenant upon that dominion that it might easily be misinterpreted as a reflection upon the law, to prevent which he shows from his own experience the great excellency and usefulness of the law, not as a covenant, but as a guide; and further discovers how sin took occasion by the commandment. Observe in particular,
Rom 7:14-25
Here is a description of the conflict between grace and corruption in the heart, between the law of God and the law of sin. And it is applicable two ways:-