Romans 7:1-6
7:1 a Both Jewish Christians and many of the Gentile Christians were familiar with the law. Jews were taught the law of Moses from birth. Many of the Gentiles in the church at Rome had been God-fearers, Gentiles who were interested in Judaism and attended the synagogue regularly.• the law applies only while a person is living: Paul may be paraphrasing a rabbinic saying: “If a person is dead, he is free from the Torah and the fulfilling of the commandments” (Babylonian Shabbat 30a; baraita Shabbat 151).
Summary for Rom 7:2-3: 7:2-3 b These verses are not an allegory, in which every element of the story has a theological counterpart. Paul simply cites an illustration to make two basic points: Death can release a person from obligation to the law, and freedom from one relationship can allow a person to establish a new one. Paul applies the illustration in 7:4 c.
7:4 d Christians have died to the power of the law (literally died to the law) and so are no longer bound to it. Paul often refers to the law of Moses as representing the old regime of sin and death, but through union with Christ in his death, believers are set free.
7:5 e old nature (literally flesh): Although “flesh” can refer to the human body in a neutral sense (see 8:3 f, which speaks of Christ coming “in the flesh”), Paul more often uses the word negatively, to denote human existence apart from God. To be “in the flesh” is to be dominated by sin and its hostility to God.
• the law aroused these evil desires: The law of God is a good thing in itself (see 7:12 g), but it arouses sinful tendencies by provoking the rebellion that is in people’s hearts. When we are in rebellion against God, his commands spark in us a desire to do the exact opposite of what he commands.
7:6 h the letter of the law (literally the letter): Paul uses the word letter to refer to the law, which was engraved on tablets of stone and consisted of individual letters (see 2:29 i; 2 Cor 3:5-7 j).
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