What does Romans 7:9 Mean?

Study Notes

when the commandment
The passage ( Romans 7:7-25 ) is autobiographical. Paul's religious experience was in three strongly marked phases:

(1) He was a godly Jew under the law. That the passage does not refer to that period is clear from his own explicit statements elsewhere. At that time he held himself to be "blameless" as concerned the law Philippians 3:6 . He had "lived in all good conscience" Acts 23:1 .

(2) With his conversion came new light upon the law itself. He now perceived it to be "spiritual" ( Romans 7:14 ). He now saw that, so far from having kept it, he was condemned by it. He had supposed himself to be "alive," but now the commandment really "came" ( Romans 7:9 ) and he "died." Just when the apostle passed through the experience of Romans 7:7-25 we are not told. Perhaps during the days of physical blindness at Damascus Acts 9:9 , perhaps in Arabia Galatians 1:17 .

It is the experience of a renewed man, under the law, and still ignorant of the delivering power of the Holy Spirit Romans 8:2 .

(3) With the great revelations afterward embodied in Galatians and Romans, the apostle's experience entered it third phase. He now knew himself to be "dead to the law by the body of Christ," and, in the power of the indwelling Spirit, "free from the law of sin and death" Romans 8:2 while "the righteousness of the law" was wrought in him (not by him) while he walked after the Spirit Romans 8:4 , Romans 7. is the record of past conflicts and defeats experience as a renewed man under law.

sin Sin.

grace

Grace (in salvation). ( Romans 5:2 ); ( Romans 5:15-21 ); ( Romans 11:5-6 ); ( Romans 3:24 ).

( See Scofield John 1:17 ).

sin

"Sin" in Romans 6, 7 is the nature in distinction from "sins," which are manifestations of that nature.

Compare ( 1 John 1:8 ) with ( 1 John 1:10 ), where this distinction also appears.

grace

Grace (in salvation). ( Romans 5:2 ); ( Romans 5:15-21 ); ( Romans 11:5-6 ); ( Romans 3:24 ).

( See Scofield John 1:17 ).

Verse Meaning

Paul was relatively alive apart from the Law. No one is ever completely unrelated to it. However in his past, Paul had lived unaware of the Law"s true demands and was therefore self-righteous (cf. Philippians 3:6). His pre-conversion struggles were mainly intellectual (e.g, Was Jesus the Messiah?) rather than moral. [source][source]

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"Saul of Tarsus could have headed the Spanish Inquisition, and have had no qualms of conscience!" ^[1] [source]

When the commandment entered Paul"s consciousness, it aroused sin, and he died in the sense that he became aware of his spiritual deadness. This is true of everyone. Paul was not speaking of His union with Christ in death here. [source][source]

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Context Summary

To make his meaning clear the Apostle now enters upon a parable drawn from domestic life. He says that we are married to the Law as our first husband, and seek, through union with it, to bring forth fruit unto God. Every convert earnestly endeavors, in the first impulse of the new life, to be good and to form, by incessant effort, a life that is pleasing to God. Like Cain we bring the fruit of the ground, extorted from the soil by the sweat of the brow.

But we are soon disappointed in the result. Our laborious care ends in failure. Sinful desires are too masterful. As Luther said, "The old Adam is too strong for the young Melanchthon." Then we see that the Cross has put death between us and our painful effort. We learn that the marriage contract which bound us to our first husband, the Law, has been dissolved. We are set free to enter into marriage union with the blessed Lord, and He, by His indwelling Spirit, effects in us what our own energies have failed to produce. We are joined to Him that was raised up from the dead, and bring forth fruit unto God. [source]

Chapter Summary: Romans 7

¹  No law has power over a man longer than he lives
⁴  But we are dead to the law
⁷  Yet is not the law sin;
¹²  but holy, just and good;
¹⁶  as I acknowledge, who am grieved because I cannot keep it