Romans 7: “Who Will Deliver Me from This Body of Death?”
1. The Law and the Bound Marriage
“Do you not know, brethren — for I am speaking to those who know the law — that the law is binding on a person only during his life?” (Rom 7:1)
Paul begins with an image familiar to his Jewish hearers: the binding of the law compared to marriage.
The law is good and holy, but its power ends with death. Just as a widow is free from the law of her husband, so the believer, through death to sin in Christ, is freed from the old law to live for God.
St John Chrysostom explains:
“The law’s bond was good, but it held us fast until death; when Christ died, He dissolved the bond, not by destroying the law, but by dying our death.”
(Homilies on Romans 12)
This is not antinomianism but transformation: the law fulfilled in love.
2. The New Marriage to Christ
“You have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead.” (v. 4)
The Christian life is not lawlessness but new belonging — a mystical marriage to Christ.
We are united to Him in His death and resurrection; the fruit of this union is holiness.
St Augustine writes:
“The soul that was under the law is freed by grace and joined to Christ; the old husband died when the letter killed, the new husband lives when the Spirit gives life.”
(On the Spirit and the Letter 26)
The purpose of redemption is not merely release but fruitfulness: “in order that we may bear fruit for God.”
3. The Law Reveals Sin
“While we were in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.” (v. 5)
Here Paul describes the paradox: the law, though holy, occasions sin.
The commandment exposes rebellion — not by causing it, but by revealing its depth.
St Bede the Venerable comments:
“The law, like light shining on dust, does not create the dust but makes it visible.”
(Commentary on Romans, 7)
The problem is not the law but the heart; the mirror is not to blame for the stain it shows.
4. “We Are Released from the Law”
“But now we are released from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.” (v. 6)
Freedom from the law does not mean anarchy; it means spiritual transformation.
The “newness of the Spirit” replaces the “oldness of the letter.”
St Augustine explains:
“The letter is law without love; the Spirit is love fulfilling law. Under the letter we fear punishment, under the Spirit we love righteousness.”
(On the Spirit and the Letter 27)
The old law commands; the new law enables.
5. “Is the Law Sin?”
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means!” (v. 7)
Paul anticipates misunderstanding. The law is not sinful but diagnostic.
It names the disease; grace brings the cure.
“Yet, if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin.”
The commandment “You shall not covet” pierces the heart — showing that sin is not only in act but in desire.
St Ambrose remarks:
“The law teaches not only what to do, but what to mourn; it convicts desire itself, that grace may heal it.”
(On Repentance II.2)
The law exposes covetousness, revealing that sin is interior before it is external.
6. “Sin Seizing Opportunity”
“Sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.” (v. 8)
Paul personifies sin as an invader — using the good law as its occasion.
This shows the perversity of fallen nature: even holiness can provoke rebellion.
St Augustine comments:
“The law forbade, and sin desired; that is the sickness of the soul — to long for what is forbidden.”
(Confessions VIII.5)
The more we are told “do not,” the more the old Adam within us stirs — until grace crucifies him.
7. “Sin Came Alive and I Died”
“I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.” (v. 9)
Before the commandment, Paul lived in ignorance; once conscience was enlightened, guilt awoke.
This describes not Adam alone but every soul when awakened by the Word.
St Bede the Venerable writes:
“Knowledge without grace slays; for when the mind knows what is evil but lacks power to avoid it, death enters by knowledge.”
(Commentary on Romans, 7)
The law exposes impotence as well as guilt.
8. “The Commandment Holy, Just, and Good”
“So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.” (v. 12)
This affirmation is crucial: Paul never denigrates the law.
The problem lies not in what God commands but in what man is.
St John Chrysostom explains:
“The commandment is like a physician who prescribes well; if the patient neglects it and dies, the medicine is not at fault.”
(Homilies on Romans 13)
Grace does not replace the law’s holiness; it fulfils it.
9. The Inner Conflict
“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (v. 15)
Here the Apostle speaks as a man under conviction, not under condemnation.
This is the universal human experience — conscience divided, desire disordered, will weakened.
St Augustine identifies the speaker as the regenerate yet struggling Christian:
“This is not the man without grace but the man not yet perfected; the war within him shows that grace has begun but not yet completed its victory.”
(Against Julian II.8)
The tension between “I will” and “I do” proves the reality of the moral battle.
10. “It Is No Longer I Who Do It”
“Now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” (v. 17)
Paul does not excuse himself but distinguishes identity: sin is parasite, not essence.
Grace teaches the believer to renounce what is alien to his true self in Christ.
St Bede comments:
“The Apostle separates the ‘I’ of faith from the ‘I’ of flesh; sin lives in him, but he does not live in sin.”
(Commentary on Romans, 7)
This is the drama of sanctification — being reclaimed from within.
11. “Nothing Good Dwells in Me”
“For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.” (v. 18)
Paul’s words do not despise creation but describe fallen nature.
The “flesh” here means the self cut off from grace.
St Augustine explains:
“To will the good is the beginning of healing; to do it is the perfection of health. Grace begins in will and is perfected in deed.”
(On the Spirit and the Letter 32)
Without the Spirit, the human will is like a broken bow — able to aim, but powerless to strike.
12. The Law of the Mind vs. the Law of the Members
“I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind.” (vv. 22–23)
This duality defines the Christian condition: intellect enlightened, body still burdened.
The war is not hypothetical; it is daily experience.
St Ambrose remarks:
“The flesh is servant, not tyrant; it rebels but cannot rule unless the mind consents.”
(On the Duties of the Clergy II.12)
The battle itself is a sign of grace, for only the living soul feels conflict.
13. “Wretched Man That I Am!”
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (v. 24)
This cry is both despair and hope — despair in self, hope in God.
The answer comes at once:
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25)
St Augustine comments:
“He groans as man under the law, he rejoices as man under grace; misery confesses, mercy delivers.”
(Tractates on John 41.1)
Only Christ can bridge the gulf between willing and doing, knowledge and obedience.
14. Theological Summary
| Theme | Revelation |
| Law and sin | The law exposes but cannot cure sin |
| Inner conflict | The divided will of fallen humanity |
| Grace and freedom | Deliverance only through Christ |
| Marriage image | From bondage to union with Christ |
| Wretched man | The human cry answered by redemption |
St John Chrysostom summarises:
“Paul speaks as every soul should — first accusing itself, then finding its advocate in Christ.”
(Homilies on Romans 14)
15. Moral and Spiritual Application
Use the law rightly. Let it reveal sin, not harden pride.
Do not despair of conflict. Struggle is proof of grace at work.
Pray daily for deliverance. “Who will deliver me?” is the Christian’s constant prayer.
Live by the Spirit, not by effort alone. The will needs the breath of grace.
Give thanks. Gratitude is the answer to guilt.
16. Christ the Deliverer
| Human Condition | Fulfilment in Christ |
| Bound by the law | Freed by grace |
| Flesh at war with spirit | Spirit conquering flesh |
| Death reigning | Life in the Risen Lord |
| Law condemning | Love fulfilling |
| Cry of despair | Thanksgiving through Jesus Christ |
St Augustine concludes:
“Grace does not destroy the law but gives what the law commands; the same Spirit who wrote the law in stone writes it now in hearts.”
(On the Spirit and the Letter 33)
17. Closing Prayer
O God of mercy and truth,
who gave the law to reveal sin
and sent Your Son to take it away,
deliver us from the body of death
and fill us with the Spirit of life.
Strengthen our will, enlighten our mind,
and renew our hearts in obedience and love.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 