"Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know the law), how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?" (verse 1). Man is subject to the law as long as he lives; at his death the law has no more jurisdiction over him. During his life; however, the law imposes the obligation of compliance, obedience, and acceptance of regulations. After a man is dead 'all scores' are settled - he can no longer be prosecuted or punished. When life ceases, law ceases to hold sway. The words 'exercise authority' mean to 'exercise dominion' or to 'lord it over' (See: Luke 22:25; II Corinthians 1:24; I Timothy 6:15).
Why the law then? The law was given to be "our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24). The law showed man his sin and his failure to live up to God's standard. If man sees his hopelessness in striving to live up to God's standard, he will in desperation turn to Christ, who bore sin and guilt for man in His death on the cross. The law will make a man move from the realm of trying to be accepted before God on the basis of his performance and become accepted before Him on the basis of God's amazing grace.
"For the woman who hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband" (verse 2). Paul uses an analogy here of the married woman and her husband. Whenever the woman loses her husband, she is liberated from her obligation to him whenever her husband dies. At her husband's death she is no longer bound in a legal manner by the marriage vows between them. The husband's death alters the woman's obligations; she is no longer a wife. The death of either partner dissolves the marriage.
"So, then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man" (verse 3). While the woman is married, she is bound by law to her husband; any sexual relationship outside of that marriage is adultery. But when her husband dies, she is no longer obligated to him. She is free to marry another man, and she is not an adulteress by the law.
"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye
shall be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring
forth fruit unto God" (verse 4). Prior to his salvation the unregenerate was married to the law
(the Mosaic law and/or the law of conscience) and bound by it. Now, however, he has died with
Christ, and now associated with Him, thus he is free from the law. "For I, through the law, am
dead to the law, that I might live unto God" (Galatians 2:19). He is free from the law because
Christ Jesus the Lord paid the price for his redemption. The law stands in relation to the
Christian as a wife does to her deceased husband. One of the reasons God has freed us from the
law is that we might be joined to Christ and be fruitful. We bear fruit when we live godly and
holy lives. This is one of the reasons that God loved us and Jesus died for us, that we might be
holy. Furthermore, fruit is the purpose of our being in Christ. Jesus said, "I have chosen you,
and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain?
(John 15:16). God enables us the bring forth fruit by the presence of His Holy Spirit. What are
the fruit of the Spirit, "love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
self-control (temperance)" (Galatians 5:22,23).
"The body of Christ" refers to the crucifixion of our Lord in the body and places in relief the concreteness of that event by which we have been discharged from the law. Union with Christ in His death, however, must never be severed from union with Him in His resurrection. "(Christ Jesus) his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed" (I Peter 2:24).
"For when we were in the flesh, the sinful impulses (motions of sin), which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death" (verse 5). In this verse Paul discusses the fruit forthcoming from the marriage to the law. Its fruit was death. The law can never give life. While the flesh was in complete control of our bodies we were in total depravity, having been born only once (John 3:6a). The fleshly (carnal) man served sin faithfully and fruitfully; his just reward is death - both physically and spiritually. Of course the flesh is not intrinsically evil, but it is inclined in that direction. Flesh, when used in its ethical sense, has no good and even neutral associations; it is unqualifiedly evil. The 'sinful impulses' here refers to the passions which lead to sin and express themselves in sins. The only fruit of sin and its impulses working in our members result in death
"But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead in which we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter" (verse 6). Once the individual is saved, he is freed from the law, and (spiritual) death no longer has control over him. He has been rescued, delivered, and loosed from spiritual death; it has been made of none effect over him. Furthermore, he enjoys a new relationship and another way (a newness) of life. The old slavery to sin was ended when the salvation experience took place; in Christ, the full legal penalty for our transgressions was paid for. The 'newness of the spirit' refers to the Holy Spirit, and that newness is the effect of God's Spirit.
Paul refers to the spirit and letter of the law in II Corinthians 3:6, "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." Death to the letter of the law (the old husband) has set us free to the new life in Christ. Paul does not mean that the law is void in the sense that it is stripped of its authority (Romans 3:31); it does not have any more authority over the redeemed sinner. The law is no longer our tyrant, and we need not fear condemnation by the law. It does not necessarily mean that the believer 'has nothing to do with the law.' The law continues to teach the believer much that is indispensable about God's holiness and the holiness He expects of His people.
In this passage Paul has created a fundamental antithesis. In summation the expositor finds the difference between two ages, two covenants, the old and the new, the pre- and post-conversion lives. In the old life we were dominated by the terrible quartet - flesh, law, sin, and death (verse 5). In our new life, we were released from the law, we are slaves of God through the power of the Spirit (6). We were 'in the flesh' now we are 'in the Spirit.' We were aroused by the law, but are now released from it. We bore fruit for death (5), but now fruit for God. How did this take place? It is that radical double event called death and resurrection. We died to the law through the death of Christ; now we belong to Christ, having been raised from the dead in Him (Stott, 196, 197).
This passage (verses 7 - 13) must be recognized at autobiographical. The apostle uses the word "I," and 'me" too often for the reader not to recognize that it is autobiographical. Paul looks at himself at a infant growing up under Judaism, then as a subject of the law, and then as a convert to Christianity. After reading this passage, some expositors may think that Paul is describing his present experience as a defeated Christian; however, since the verbs are in the past tense it seems a fair assumption that he is here going back to his unconverted days. Verses 14 - 25 must explain Paul's experiences after his conversion. In his pre-conversion days he sought salvation in vain efforts to keep the law. But the law condemned him. In desperation to keep the law and to gain salvation thereby, Paul came utterly to an end of himself and all his own efforts, then he surrendered completely to the Lord Jesus Christ. In his trusting the merits of his Lord, he found the satisfaction that comes to everyone who places their complete faith and trust in God's Son.
"What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known coveting (lust), except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (verse 7). Paul uses the strongest of Greek negatives to show that the law is not sin. The law not only is not sinful but continues to have great value for the Christian by convicting him of sin. The law is the pure reflection of God's moral character. It is perfect because it was given by a perfect God. The law was not sin, but rather given to show those subject to law that they could not live up to God's standard. Apart from the law, man would have no way of accurately judging the sinfulness of sin.
The law enslaves; it shows how immoral man really is, and hence sin is forbidden by God. It provides God with legal justification for condemnation. The only way Paul knew, and the only way that all of us know, that coveting is sinful is by the tenth commandment which reads, "Thou shalt not covet..." (Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21). Furthermore, the law reveals sin (verse 7b); it arouses sin (verse 8); it ruins the sinner (verses 9 - 11), and it reflects the absolute sinfulness of sin (verses 12, 13) (MacArthur, 367, 368).
The law reveals sin; Paul recognized the gravity of sin which unmasks and exposes it as rebellion against God. By the law he was brought under conviction. As a Pharisee Paul could well say that he was blameless, except that he had broken the tenth commandment "Thou shalt not covet." Covetousness is an internal thing - a desire, a drive, a lust; indeed, it includes every kind of illicit desire and is in itself a form of idolatry. Covetousness puts the object of desire in the place of God.
"But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of coveting (concupiscence). For apart from (without) the law sin is dead" (verse 8). The word translated coveting in the new KJV and lust in the old KJV comes from the word that means "to breathe violently," "to be in a heat" as with an urge to kill. The word is found many times in the New Testament; three times (Luke 22:15; Philippians 1:23; I Thessalonians 2:17) it is used in a good sense. All the other times it is used in a bad sense and translated "concupiscence" or "lust" and is a fierce and compelling drive to commit sin. Yeager says, "covetousness is the desire, heated to incandescence, to possess everything" (Vol. XI, p. 490).
'Occasion,' or 'opportunity' comes from a military term meaning 'a starting-point' 'a base of operations for an expedition' or 'a springboard for further advance.' Sin established within man a base or foothold by means of the commandments which provoke him.
"Apart from the law sin is (was) dead" does not mean that there is no sin where people do not know the law of God; it means sin is not recognized as sin. Just as a stream of water flows smoothly where nothing impedes its progress, but it gurgles and splashes as it goes rapidly over the rocks on its way. So the law reveals the guilt and condemnation which sin brings. Then sin springs to life in all its evil nature.
"For I was alive apart from (without) the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died" (verse 9). What does the writer mean, "I was alive apart from (without) the law once?" Was this not before he became a subject of gospel address (in the original innocence of childhood); it was before he reached the age where he knew the difference between right and wrong? Paul felt secure, under no conviction of sin. The full implication of the law had not yet registered in Paul's consciousness; it had not become an unbearable burden upon his heart. But when he realized he fell short of the law of Moses, he saw himself as a sinner. Saul (Paul) recognized himself as a transgressor; in I Corinthians 15:56 he wrote, "the strength of sin is the law." When Saul (Paul) became aware of his responsibility to God and His law, he made a career out of 'keeping the law.' He wrote of himself "as touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless..." (Philippians 3:5,6). Truly Saul of Tarsus had done none of the things which were forbidden in the law, as far as he knew; he had not committed adultery, murder, theft and many of the other sins. Like the rich, young ruler, he had kept all the laws from his youth up, Paul thought. But God convicted him of the sin of covetousness; so he was a law-breaker. "Sin revived" or "sin became alive" to him. Sin was "invigorated." Paul found himself doomed by the law's verdict, totally bereft of power to help himself and certainly without peace of heart and mind.
"And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death" (verse 10). Paul discovered that the law could only bring death and not life. Israel learned this great truth (Exodus 32:1ff). When Israel disobeyed God and His leader, Moses, they learned that many of them must pay with their lives for their disobedience. God slew three thousand men that day when they made the golden calf as a substitute for worship of Almighty God.
"For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me" (verse 11). Paul states that sin deceived him; it deceived him in that it suggested to him that he was good enough to keep the commandments of God. The law is not the culprit; sin is the deceiver and the killer. Sin led him to believe that he was able to keep the law. He stated in II Corinthians 3:6, "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter (of the law) killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."
Sin is life's most beguiling deceit. It deceives man into thinking wrongly about God. He assumes that God will condone sin. It deceives man into thinking wrongly about himself. He assumes that he can sin with impunity. It deceives man into thinking wrongly about himself. He assumes that sin is enjoyable and pleasurable, and that its indulgence holds the promise of satisfaction and delight (Laurin, 228).
"Wherefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good" (verse 12). Paul states here that the law is holy in its source and nature, just in its precepts and penalty, and good in its design. The law so far from being sin is wholly and emphatically the opposite. In fact, David highly exalted God's law in Psalm 19:7ff stating, "The law of the Lord is perfect...the testimony of the Lord is sure...the precepts of the Lord are right...the commandment of the Lord is pure...the fear of the Lord is clean...the judgments of the Lord are true..." Paul gives additional insight into the place and purpose of the law in Galatians 3:19-22. It was to drive men to faith in Jesus Christ, who fulfilled all the demands of the law on behalf of sinners who trust in His righteousness instead of their own.
"Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good--that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful" (verse 13). The law points out that man is sinful. It is like a mirror; however, it cannot comb one's disheveled hair nor can it wash the individual's soiled face. It does make it obvious that the hair needs combing and the face needs washing. The law shows the sinner what sin looks like in the eyes of God. It is exceeding sinful; it shows how great sin really is in the sight of God. God hates sin whether it is in the life of the believer or the unbeliever; it is gruesome and true malignity. Idolatry, murder, theft, disregard for parents, and false witnessing are all exceeding sinful to a righteous and holy God. Of course, these sins can be forgiven when the sinner repents of them and seeks God's forgiveness. There is one sin, however, that is unpardonable. That is the sin of unbelief. Unbelief makes a person view himself as acceptable to God; pride makes a person look at his native goodness and leads him to assume that his personal moral standards and performance are in compliance with God.
"Exceedingly sinful" means 'in over measure;' in English the word 'hyperbole' fits the description; an exaggeration. The law makes the sinner aware of two things; that is, sin is not a mistake, nor an error, nor a mere human weakness. Sin is sin! Furthermore, God would have man know 'the utter malignity of sin' or 'the unspeakable sinfulness of sin.'
"For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin" (verse 14). The law is spiritual, as being from God, who is spirit, and as requiring of men spiritual purity. What does it mean to be carnal? A person is carnal when he permits the flesh to rule over the spiritual. Carnality pertains to the flesh, to the human body which is depraved. It is that part of man that was inherited from Adam. The body of Paul, and every sinner prior to salvation, is sold into slavery. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and they are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Galatians 5:17).
"For that which I do I [understand] not; for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I" (verse 15). The writer, as a child of God, has to do battle with his old nature. He does not understand his actions; he is baffled and bewildered. He wills to do good and right, but his old flesh rises up and desires the preeminence. Paul's regenerated nature wants to do God's will, but he admits that he does not always obey it. He states that he sees and approves the better course, but he follows the worse. Saul, the man in the flesh, and Paul, the saved man, are in conflict.
Paul found ways that he was sinning that were not attractive to him. Even his profound Christian experience does not instantly stamp out all sin from the believer's life. Becoming Christ-like is a life-long process. It is like a strenuous race or fight. All must depend totally upon the work of Christ for salvation. No one can earn salvation by good behavior.
"If, then, I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good" (verse 16). Paul agrees with God's law which forbids what the fleshly man is doing and is thus affirming that the law of God is good. Paul acts against his own wishes; his will is contrary to his deeds.
"Now, then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me" (verse 17). Even though Paul is saved, he still lives in a mortal body that is subject to sin. The saved man wants to do right, and the carnal (fleshly) man wants to do evil. Paul is still living in the same 'old house' he lived in before he was saved. Hence there are two personalities living in the same house (Paul's body). The penalty for sins committed after a person is saved does not condemn him to hell, but he pays a heavy penalty in the loss of reward. He may even suffer for his sins committed while here on the earth, in the case of disease in the body.
"The devil made me do it" may sound like a lame excuse, but it may be true. Sin is stronger than the Christian; however, we overcome only by the power of God. There is a fleshly man here with whom he must contend. There must be another actor in the drama, another factor that interferes with Paul's performance of what he wants to do. That other factor is indwelling sin. Sin is not a power that operates outside of him, making him do its bidding; sin is something resident in his very being. The person has an old nature, an Adamic nature, a nature with which he was born, which can do nothing right; he has a new nature, the nature of God, which can do nothing wrong. "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not" (verse 18). The only good thing in Paul is the indwelling Spirit and his soul that has been saved. There is nothing good in the flesh. Truly there is something good about Paul - he has a new personality with a will to do good, an intellect that recognizes the utility of doing good and the folly of doing evil things. This passage asserts the conflict between 'willing' and 'doing' as a way of demonstrating the extent to which the flesh has fallen under the control of sin. Although the will to do the good lies near at hand or is well within Paul's reach, the 'performing' of the good he does not do.
After salvation, sin, like a deposed and exiled ruler, no longer reigns in a person's life, but it manages to survive. It no longer resides in the innermost self but finds its residual dwelling in his flesh, in the unredeemed humanness that remains until a believer meets the lord at the rapture or at death. Galatians 5:17 reads, "For the flesh lusteth (sets its desire) against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary (in opposition) the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (MacArthur, 386, 387).
"For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do" (verse 19). Paul continues to relate the conflict that is going on because of the two natures warring against one another. The saved man wants to do good, but the carnal (fleshy) man wants to do evil. Paul has a will that agrees with the law of God, but his conduct violates the law of God; thus a warfare rages.
"Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me" (verse 20). The unsaved man orders his flesh, which, until glorification is eager to manifest its evil works. Paul stated in Galatians 5:19-21, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, wrath, factions, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and the like..." His fleshly will wants to do these things, but the saved man wants to do what is right. This conflict will continue until the resurrection or the rapture when man has a new body to go with the redeemed soul. Paul uses repetition here to made sure his readers get the point.
"I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me" (verse 21). The will of the inward man cannot banish the desires of the flesh. The redeemed soul and the unsaved man live in the same body. Only as man walks in the Spirit does he have victory over the flesh. Galatians 5:16 reads, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Paul loves God and His law, but the old fleshly man hates God and His law. He wants to do right; his intentions are good. It is in the performance; that creates the problem because action does not agree with ambition in spiritual service.
"For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members" (verses 22, 23). Paul wrote to the Galatians (5:22,23), "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; against such there is not law." In verse 23 Paul uses the term "warring." Until the Lord comes again, every Christian has to do battle with Satan, sin, and the flesh.
Paul uses the words "bringing me into captivity" which are words meaning 'subjection.' Satan and sin ever seek to bring the godly man into subjection. These two natures will contend with one another until the redemption of the body. Whenever Paul felt that he was in a life and death struggle, then he recognized that his strength came from God. Only in Him could he be victorious. One is no less a Christian because of the battle that rages within; in fact, that battle that rages within is a testimony that the person is a child of God.
"Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (verse 24). To be 'wretched' means to undergo long suffering. Paul regarded his body as one that could only produce death; it had its source in Adam. Only heaven's power can bring about a release. Whenever the Christian receives his glorified body, then and only then, will he be no longer in 'the body of death.'
Paul cries out in utter anguish and frustration. His life was full of toils and harassed by perpetual conflicts; it was like the condition of the captive doomed to labor in the mines. One commentator (Haldane) states that men perceive themselves to be sinners in direct proportions to which they have previously discovered the holiness of God and His law.
"I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So, then, with the mind I myself serve the
law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin" (verse 25). The writer gives thanks that through
the Lord Jesus Christ, he and those who read the epistle can look forward to victory. Paul's new
man serves the law (the dictates) of God, but the fleshly man serves the law (dictates) of sin.
"Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" I Corinthians
15:51. Only when that change comes will the believer be free from the law of sin. One day God
will change our "lowly body, that it may be fashioned like his glorious body" (Philippians 3:21).
The Apostle John looked forward to that day, and he wrote, "we shall be like (Christ) for we
shall see him as he is" (I John 3:2). When we feel overcome as did Paul, we need to thank God
that He has given us freedom through Jesus Christ. Only Christ's power can lift us up in victory.