The Strand Study Bible

Written From Corinth During Paul’s Third Missionary Journey

ROMANS

1859

7:27 & 9:18 & 15:24, Isa 28:15,18, Ezk 31:17 & 32:21,27 and Hab 2:5). 6:23 b Eternal life (salvation) is not for sale. It is a gift; and the LORD JESUS CHRIST’S presence is my present ( gift ).You either receive this gift freely or not at all (Jn 1:12 & 3:16 & 4:10 and Eph 2:8-9). 7:9 Each person, before coming to know God and His Law, is kept safe ( For I was alive ), until confronted by the Law, and wrong is recognized ( but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died ). Until then, people remain alive in the sight of God (Jn 15:22). 7:10 Sadly, some religious movements have tried to use this Scripture to prove that “good works” (keeping the commandments) are essential to gaining salvation ( And the commandment, which was ordained to life , I found to be unto death ). Notice, however, Paul’s words, “ I found to be unto death .” While it is true that God does offer people one of two ways to get to Heaven ( their way via “good works” or God’s way via Christ’s “ WORK ” on the cross ) only one of the two ways will eventually get us there ( Christ’s “ WORK ” on the cross ). The other way Paul “ found to be unto death. ” Note the two ways people attempt to enter Heaven: 1. Good works ( Mt 19:17 c , Lk 10: 25- 28 , Rom 10: 1- 5 , Gal 3: 10- 12 ,19- 21 -22, Jn 5:29 , Heb 12:14 b and Jms 2:14 a,b ) 2. Christ’s WORK on the cross ( Jn 14:6 ) 7:11 It is sin that kills, not the Law. The Law is simply there to reveal our sinfulness (vs. 13 & 3:20 and Gal 3:19,24). 7:12 The reason the Law is holy, and just, and good is because it shows us our need for a Savior (Gal 3:24). 7:15 No one does a better job at paraphrasing this portion of Scripture (Rom 7:15-24) than does David H. Stern. In his work called Complete Jewish Bible , Stern rephrases Romans 7:15-24 and notes: I don’t understand my own behavior – I don’t do what I want to do; instead, I do the very thing I hate! Now if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am agreeing that the Torah is good. But now it is no longer “the real me” doing it, but the sin housed inside me. For I know that there is nothing good housed inside me – that is, inside my old nature. I can want what is good, but I can’t do it! For I don’t do the good I want; instead, the evil that I don’t want is what I do! But if I am doing what “the real me” doesn’t want, it is no longer “the real me” doing it but the sin housed inside me. So I find it to be the rule, a kind of perverse “ Torah ,” that although I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me! For in my inner self I completely agree with God’s Torah ; but in my various parts, I see a different “ Torah ,” one that battles with the Torah in my mind and makes me a prisoner of sin’s “ Torah ,” which is operating in my various parts. What a miserable creature I am! Who will rescue me from this body bound for death? 1 8:2 Paul here reminds us of a higher law that enables us to soar above the human law of sin and death. It’s called “ the law of the Spirit .” Tony Evans in The Fire that Ignites notes: You learned long ago that there’s a law that keeps things down on the ground instead of flying off into the sky. It’s called the law of gravity. But airplanes don’t obey that law. Why not? It’s not that gravity doesn’t exist for airplanes, but that the law of gravity is transcended by something else, the laws of aerodynamics. When you take an object of a particular design and apply a certain power thrust, a certain speed, you get a certain lift. Airplanes don’t negate the law of gravity; they just override it with a higher law. So it is with your life and mine. When the Spirit takes over, He doesn’t cancel the deadly law of sin in our lives–sin still tries to do its thing to us–but the Spirit overrules and supersedes the law of sin with a new law , a higher law–the law of the Spirit that gives life, enabling us to soar. 2 NOTE – Christians who learn to continually yield to the SPIRIT through the Word (Eph 5:18-21 and Colo 3:16-20) soon learn that there is a higher law ( the law of the Spirit ) that overrules and supersedes the human law of sin and death.

1 Stern, David H. Complet Jewish Bible , Clarksville, MD, Jewish New Testament Publications, 1998. Print. 2 Evans, Tony. The Fire that Ignites . Sisters, OR: Multnomah Pub. 2003. Print.