Paul continues the theme of God's righteousness revealed in our sanctification. This chapter reflects the struggle to obey; there are three aspects of our experience;

• innocence, without law;
• in sin, with law;
• in Christ, free from law.

v1-3: God's justice and character is revealed through the law, just as it is through other means; our conscience, believing testimony, and even human laws. There is everywhere a standard of right and wrong.

Paul uses an illustration of marriage, although he is not actually teaching about marriage and remarriage. Where a husband dies, the widow is free to marry. If the wife leaves the husband, she is "called" an adulteress; this is the stigma of her unfaithfulness, rather than disobedience to the law of God.

v4: We have died to the law; all legal contracts, such as marriage, are cancelled. Satan himself has no claim upon us. The law also has no claim upon us. Christ was dead and now is alive, and we were dead and are now alive. We are freed from the obligations and condemnation of any law. We are free to be married to Christ, that we should bear fruit for Him. Here is Christ the redeemer, who marries to raise up fruit on behalf of another, even God.

v5: Our relationship in the flesh with sin; an illicit relationship; the result was "fruit for death," as in 6.16, 21. We cannot be married both to Christ and to sin, or the law.

v6: Death brings deliverance from one relationship, and into a new relationship; we are discharged, like a soldier leaving the army. See also Jer 31.31-32; the new covenant with Israel. We can now serve God in a spiritual way.

v7-25: Paul's personal struggle with sin. If we truly want to grow spiritually, then we shall experience this struggle. Being under the law; faithful Jews would doubtless appreciate the struggle here. We find that the law reveals our sins, 1 Tim 1.8-11.

It has to be said that it is difficult to reconcile the struggles described here with the glorious freedoms explained in chapters 6 and 8. One of the themes is the impotency of the law to deliver us from sin.

v7: Coveting, not a random choice, but the basis for most sins.

v8: Sin took the opportunity, using the picture of wrestling, Gal 5.17. We may look upon temptation as an opportunity to trust and obey. But the commandment cannot give strength to obey. Such strength is found only in Christ.

Paul makes a distinction between law ('natural law') and commandment (the law of Moses). However, the reality is that all law defeats us; no law gives strength to obey.

v9: Indeed, the commandment brings only condemnation and death, for we are impotent to obey completely. Law itself cannot give us strength to obey.

v10: In Ps 119, the commandment brought life; but for Paul, under the law, it brings death.

v11: The real problem is the sin that deceives, even as the serpent deceived Eve. Our Adam (Christ) did not sin, but He gave His life to deliver us from the power of sin.

Although we were deceived, we are still guilty, and therefore under the condemnation of sin, as well as under its power.

v12: The law, being God's justice, is holy; but the commandment is holy and just and good. It is holy, for there is nothing impure; it is just or righteous, for there is nothing unequal; it is good, for there is nothing prejudicial.

v13: The effect of the law of Moses, the commandment; to chasten and to teach, to reveal the dreadfulness of sin, so that sin "might be recognised as sin," bringing guilt and condemnation. Again we are reminded of the proper use of the law, as the first part of the gospel. One danger we have is that we understate the seriousness of sin. The Greek word, translated "utterly" in the NIV is very strong; other translations use 'excessive,' the Greek is 'hyperbole,' elsewhere translated abundant or overflowing.

The law is given so that we might see how utterly sinful we are, and be convinced of our need of a Saviour, and flee to Christ.

Although the law is essential in exposing our sins, it is insufficient to inspire and equip us to life godly lives. 'The law commands, after all, rather than helps; it teaches us that there is a disease without hearing it. In fact, it increases what it does not heal so that we seek the medicine of grace with greater attention and care.' (Augustine, On the Spirit and the Letter.)

v14: Sold under sin, a slave to sin, carnal, unspiritual. The problem is not the law, but the law breaker.

v15-16: The struggle to understand our own sinful behaviour and attitudes. We ought to hate sin in all its forms, and love all forms of obedience.

v17-18: I am not sin, but I am sinful; the old man is the embodiment of sin; we cannot avoid personal responsibility for sin. The willing spirit is a characteristic of the converted man; yet here is the on going effect of sin, in its presence and power.

v19-20: The description of a defeated man.

v21: A law – something that dominates, in spite of our desire to obey God.

v22: A mental agreement that God's law is right and to be obeyed. Even though we fall short of the standards of God, such an attitude is different from that of an unbeliever, one who sets his mind on the things of the flesh, see 8.5.

v23: The on-going conflict; the picture here is of two wrestlers, each seeking to gain superiority over the other. The law of sin indicates a power over the soul, an influence leading us to do wrong.

v24: A Greek legend speaks of a king who tied a dead body to another as a punishment; we feel we are carrying such a body, the old man, with all the influence for sin that he brings. It is striking that Paul did not cry out in this way in response to his sufferings and imprisonments, but only in response to the power of sin in him.

v25: We see that deliverance is found in Christ; so that I may enjoy real daily victory. The vital thing is to know deliverance from the cycle of defeat into the habit of victory.