Skip to main content
Romans 7 – The Battle Within: Law, Sin, and the Struggle for Holiness
Romans 7 – The Battle Within: Law, Sin, and the Struggle for Holiness
CONTEXT:
Romans 7 continues Paul’s argument on justification and sanctification. He now turns to the Law—its purpose, its limits, and how it relates to sin. This chapter famously describes the internal war believers face between the flesh and the Spirit.
⸻
1. The Law Has Jurisdiction Only While We Live
“Do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?” (Romans 7:1)
The Mosaic Law ruled over Israel like a covenantal marriage. But death (symbolizing our union with Christ in His death) severs the legal hold the Law had over us.
Cross-reference: Galatians 2:19 — “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.”
⸻
2. We Died to the Law So We Could Belong to Christ
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ… in order that we may bear fruit for God.” (Romans 7:4)
Our union with Christ is not just freedom from condemnation—it’s freedom to be fruitful! Just as a widow may remarry, we are now bound to a new covenant with Christ.
“Now we are released from the law… so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit.” (v.6)
⸻
3. The Law is Not Sin—It Reveals Sin
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means!” (Romans 7:7)
The Law is like a mirror: it reveals dirt but cannot wash it off. It exposes sin but offers no power to conquer it.
“I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” (v.7)
The Law awakens sinful desires, not because it’s evil, but because the flesh rebels against God’s boundaries.
⸻
4. Sin Deceived Me and Killed Me
“Sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.” (Romans 7:11)
Paul echoes the deception in Eden. Just as the serpent twisted God’s command to Eve, so sin twists the Law into a weapon of death.
Genesis 3:13 — “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
⸻
5. The Law Is Holy, But I Am Not
“So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Romans 7:12)
“For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (v.15)
This is Paul’s honest confession of the believer’s struggle: though regenerated, the flesh remains. The Law can expose the problem, but only the Spirit (Romans 8!) can empower the solution.
⸻
6. I Delight in God’s Law—Yet Another Law Wages War
“For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war…” (Romans 7:22–23)
This internal war is not hypocrisy—it’s proof of new birth. The unregenerate man does not war against sin—he swims in it.
This is sanctification in process: we’re positionally righteous but still being conformed.
⸻
7. Who Will Deliver Me?
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24)
Paul doesn’t say “What will deliver me?” but “Who”—implying only a Person can save us.
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v.25)
This is the turning point—a bridge to Romans 8: the Spirit-empowered life.
⸻
HISTORICAL INSIGHT:
Paul may be referencing a Roman punishment where a corpse was chained to a murderer—“body of death” imagery. In the same way, the old man is dead, but the stench of the flesh lingers until resurrection (2 Cor 5:1–4).
⸻
ESCHATOLOGICAL CONNECTION:
Romans 7 points us toward future glory—we long for full deliverance from the flesh. This echoes Romans 8:23, where we await the “redemption of our bodies.” The struggle will end in glorification!
⸻
Faith Takeaway:
The Law reveals sin, but only Christ and the Spirit can conquer it. The war within you is not a sign of failure—but of new birth. The struggle is the evidence. Victory is coming. The Spirit will win (Romans 8:2)!
⸻
