Romans 7:5–6 Commentary – The Oldness of the Letter and the Newness of Spirit
The Oldness of the Letter and the Newness of Spirit
Key Passage: Romans 7:5–6
Romans VerseQuest Commentary Essay 43: The Oldness of the Letter and the Newness of Spirit Text: Romans 7:5–6
Introduction
Romans 7:5–6 says, “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” Paul has just finished declaring that the believer is “dead to the law by the body of Christ” and joined to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that fruit should be brought forth unto God. Now he explains the old condition and the new service. Before deliverance, men were “in the flesh,” under the motions of sins, stirred up by the law, working through the members, and bringing forth fruit unto death. But now—there is one of Paul’s great grace turns—the believer is delivered from the law and called to serve in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. That is not a minor adjustment in religious mood. That is a complete change of realm, power, relationship, and fruit.
The law was never the problem in itself. Paul will say plainly in Romans 7:12, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” The problem is what the law encounters when it meets fallen flesh. Put a holy commandment in front of Adam, and Adam does not become holy by looking at it. He becomes exposed. Tell the flesh, “Thou shalt not,” and the flesh starts licking its lips like a dog smelling meat. The law can define the line, expose the rebel, condemn the guilty, and show sin exceeding sinful, but it cannot give life to the dead man who keeps stepping over the line. Legalism takes that holy law, which God gave for a proper purpose, and tries to make it the instrument of justification or sanctification. That is like trying to perform heart surgery with a mirror. The mirror may show the corruption; it cannot remove it.
Romans 7:5–6 therefore exposes legalism as a ministry of frustration when used outside its proper place. The lost man under law is condemned because he cannot keep it. The saved man placed back under law as his rule of power finds the flesh provoked, not conquered. Law says, “Do,” but does not supply life. Grace says, “Christ has done,” and then gives the believer union with the risen Lord and power for true service. The oldness of the letter is command without life, demand without deliverance, exposure without power, condemnation without resurrection. The newness of spirit is not lawless emotion, mystical drifting, or fleshly liberty with Bible words attached. It is real service to God flowing from a new life in Christ, by the Spirit of God, under grace, with the heart changed and the members yielded unto righteousness. The letter can carve the sentence in stone. The Spirit writes living truth into a man.
Chapter One: For When We Were in the Flesh
Paul begins, “For when we were in the flesh.” That phrase describes the old condition, the Adam condition, the natural state before deliverance in Christ. To be “in the flesh” is not merely to have a physical body. Jesus Christ had a real body and was without sin. The believer still has a mortal body after salvation, yet Paul says in Romans 8:9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” Being “in the flesh” is a spiritual position and condition, a life in Adam, governed by fallen nature, outside the life of the Spirit, unable to please God. Romans 8:8 says, “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” That is not a poor performance review. That is a death sentence on human ability.
The flesh is man as he is in Adam: religious or irreligious, educated or ignorant, moral or immoral, polished or vulgar, but still fallen. The flesh can wear a suit, quote commandments, attend synagogue, build cathedrals, compose hymns, argue theology, and preach self-improvement until the rafters sweat, but it remains flesh. John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The flesh does not evolve into spirit with enough religious pressure. It does not become spiritual because someone put it under rules. It does not get justified because it learned church manners. The flesh is not sick gracefully; it is dead in trespasses and sins. You can put a Bible under Adam’s arm and a tie around his neck, and he is still Adam unless he is born again.
Paul says “when we were in the flesh,” because for the believer that is no longer the defining realm. The saved man still battles the flesh, but he is no longer “in the flesh” as his position before God. He is in Christ. That is one of the great distinctions legalism keeps confusing. Legalism treats the believer as though he is still a man in the flesh needing law to restrain him into acceptability. Paul treats the believer as one who has died with Christ, been delivered from law, and now serves in newness of spirit. The Christian life is not Adam with a tighter leash. It is a new man in Christ learning to walk according to the truth of his new standing. God did not save the sinner so Moses could babysit the flesh. God saved the sinner by joining him to Christ and giving him life.
Chapter Two: The Motions of Sins
Paul continues, “the motions of sins.” That phrase speaks of sinful passions, impulses, desires, stirrings, and inward movements. Sin is not merely outward conduct. It has motions inside the man before it produces visible fruit outside the man. James 1:14–15 says, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin.” Before the hand reaches, the heart has moved. Before the tongue strikes, the inward poison has risen. Before the feet walk into the wrong place, desire has already packed the suitcase. Sin begins its work in the inward motions of the fallen nature.
The world loves to define sin only by visible damage because it does not want God inspecting the heart. Men will condemn murder but excuse hatred, condemn adultery after it ruins a home but feed lust like a pet, condemn theft after the money is missing but praise covetous ambition, condemn lies when exposed but admire deception if it wins. God judges deeper. The motions of sins are already corrupt before the fruit appears. Matthew 15:19 says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” The factory is inside. The outward act is merely the product shipped to the loading dock.
This is why mere external law-keeping cannot sanctify the flesh. Law can address outward conduct, and it can expose inward desire when it says, “Thou shalt not covet,” but it cannot cure the inner motion. It points at the fire but does not remove the gasoline. A man under legalism may restrain the outward act while the inward motions continue boiling like a sewer under a marble floor. That produces either hypocrisy or despair. Hypocrisy says, “I did not commit the outward act, therefore I am righteous.” Despair says, “I see the inward corruption and cannot conquer it by commandment.” Grace deals with the man at a deeper level by death with Christ, deliverance from law, and life in the Spirit. God does not merely tell the motions of sins to behave. He gives the believer a new life from which to serve.
Chapter Three: Which Were by the Law
Paul says these motions of sins “were by the law.” That phrase must be handled carefully, or a careless reader will accuse the law of being sinful. Paul immediately rejects that thought in Romans 7:7: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid.” The law is not sin. The law is holy. But when the holy law meets fallen flesh, sin uses the commandment as an occasion. Romans 7:8 says, “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.” The problem is not the commandment; the problem is sin in the flesh reacting against the commandment. Tell fallen man where the line is, and something in him wants to step over it simply because God drew it.
That is the perversity of the flesh. It can turn a holy command into an opportunity for rebellion. Place a sign that says, “Wet Paint,” and Adam wants to touch it. Tell a child not to open the drawer, and suddenly the drawer becomes the most fascinating object in the universe. Tell Israel not to covet, and coveting stands up like a soldier hearing roll call. The law exposes the rebel by giving him a clear line to violate. It does not create the rebellion from nothing; it reveals and provokes what is already in the flesh. The match is holy, but the room is full of gas.
This is why using the law as the believer’s sanctifying power produces frustration. The legalist assumes more commandments will conquer the flesh. Paul says the motions of sins were by the law. The flesh does not become spiritual because the law leans harder on it. It becomes irritated, exposed, provoked, condemned, or proud when it imagines it has succeeded. Galatians 3:21 says, “for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” But no law can give life. Law can demand fruit, but it cannot impart life to the branch. It can order a corpse to walk, but the corpse will not obey until life enters it. Legalism is a man shouting commands into a graveyard and blaming the dead for poor attendance.
Chapter Four: Did Work in Our Members
Paul says the motions of sins “did work in our members.” Sin works. It is active, industrious, organized, and practical. It does not remain in the realm of theory. It takes the inward motion and moves it into the body’s members. Romans 6 has already dealt with this: “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.” The members are the body’s faculties—eyes, tongue, hands, feet, mind, appetites, strength, and capacities. Sin wants tools. It wants instruments. It wants a body through which it can express itself. The inward lust needs eyes. The inward bitterness needs a tongue. The inward covetousness needs hands. The inward rebellion needs feet.
This is why Paul does not teach a floating spirituality detached from the body. The battle is worked out in the members. A man can claim great spiritual insight while his tongue is still hired out to gossip, his eyes are still leased to lust, his hands are still serving greed, and his feet still know the path to compromise better than the path to prayer. That is not spirituality; that is Adam wearing perfume. Sin works through the members because the body is the workshop of practical obedience or disobedience. The body is not evil in itself, but in the flesh it becomes available to sin’s motions. Under grace, it is to be yielded unto God.
The law can identify the misuse of the members but cannot, by itself, stop the inward factory from running. It can say, “Do not steal,” but it cannot make a covetous heart content. It can say, “Do not commit adultery,” but it cannot make a lustful heart pure. It can say, “Do not bear false witness,” but it cannot make a deceitful heart honest. The newness of spirit goes deeper. Grace brings the believer into union with Christ, gives him the indwelling Spirit, and calls him to yield his members as instruments of righteousness unto God. God is not interested in a religious shell game where the outside appears restrained while the inside remains a carnival of lusts. He wants real service from a life made alive in Christ.
Chapter Five: To Bring Forth Fruit Unto Death
Paul says the old life’s result was “to bring forth fruit unto death.” That is a grim harvest. The flesh under law, stirred by sin, working in the members, produces fruit—but it is fruit unto death. Sin is fruitful in its own rotten way. It grows shame, guilt, corruption, bondage, fear, dead conscience, dead fellowship, dead testimony, dead homes, dead churches, and finally eternal death for the Christ-rejecter. The fruit may have colour at first, but it is poisoned at the core. The devil’s orchard has beautiful leaves and skulls under the roots.
The phrase “fruit unto death” should be compared with Romans 6:21–22, where Paul asks, “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” There are two harvests. Sin produces fruit unto death. Service to God produces fruit unto holiness. No man should pretend the two are morally equal. The old life did not produce life, no matter how exciting it felt in the moment. The flesh may enjoy the taste, but the end is death. Sin is a tree whose shade feels pleasant until the branches drop corpses.
Legalism cannot reverse that harvest because legalism still deals with the man in the flesh under the pressure of commandment. It may rearrange behavior, conceal certain fruits, and train a man to compare himself with worse sinners, but it cannot produce fruit unto God. Fruit unto God comes from being married to Him who is raised from the dead. Fruit unto death comes from the old realm. Therefore the issue is not merely whether a man has religion; it is whether he has life. A dead branch tied to a living tree with religious string is still dead. A man under law may appear disciplined, but if he is not in Christ, the end is death. And a believer who returns to law for power will discover that law does not produce the fruit of the Spirit; it exposes the weakness of the flesh.
Chapter Six: But Now We Are Delivered From the Law
Verse 6 begins, “But now we are delivered from the law.” “But now” is one of those phrases that ought to ring bells in a believer’s soul. It marks a change brought by grace. “When we were in the flesh” was the old condition. “But now” is the new standing. The believer is delivered from the law. Paul does not say the believer is delivered from the ceremonial parts but still under the moral law as a covenant system. He does not carve Moses into convenient slices so religious men can keep their favourite piece. He says delivered from the law. The law as a ruling covenant has no dominion over the believer who died with Christ.
This deliverance does not mean the believer is free to sin. Paul has already murdered that lie twice in Romans 6 with “God forbid.” Deliverance from the law means deliverance from law as the governing principle of justification and sanctification. The believer is justified by faith apart from deeds of the law, and he is sanctified practically through union with Christ, reckoning, yielding, walking in the Spirit, and living under grace. The law remains profitable when used lawfully: to reveal sin, instruct in righteousness as Scripture, expose the guilty, and testify to God’s holiness. But it is not the believer’s covenant master. The Christian is not under Sinai; he is in Christ.
Legalism hates this deliverance because legalism needs control. If believers are under grace, joined to Christ, and led by the Spirit according to Scripture, then the legalist loses his whip. He prefers a system where righteousness can be measured by external codes, human traditions, visible taboos, and man-made fences. That lets him grade the class and sit at the front with a red pen. Paul strips him of that office. Deliverance from the law is not deliverance into chaos; it is deliverance into Christ. The believer has not been turned loose into the world like a stray dog. He has been joined to the risen Lord and called to serve God in newness of spirit. Grace removes Moses as covenant husband and brings the believer under the living authority of Christ.
Chapter Seven: That Being Dead Wherein We Were Held
Paul says, “that being dead wherein we were held.” The wording points back to the truth of death ending dominion. The believer was held under the law’s authority as long as he stood in the old realm. But death has occurred through union with Christ. Romans 7:4 already said, “ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ.” The law held the man under its jurisdiction, but the cross brought death to the old relationship. The believer is not released because the law became unrighteous. He is released because he died with Christ. Death ends the bond.
The law held men by exposing sin and pronouncing condemnation. Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” That is the law’s demand: all things, continually. Not most things, sometimes. Not sincere things, generally. All things. Continually. One failure brings the curse. James 2:10 says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Legalism loves to lower the standard until the flesh can boast, but God’s law does not lower itself to preserve human pride. It holds the guilty fast and shuts every mouth.
Christ delivered the believer from that holding power by bearing the curse and bringing the believer through death with Him. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” The believer is not holding a permission slip to ignore God. He is standing in a death-and-resurrection relationship with Christ. The law’s condemning hold has been broken because the penalty has been answered in the body of Christ. Any man who tries to put the believer back under that hold is trying to resurrect what Calvary ended. That is not deeper holiness. That is theological grave robbery.
Chapter Eight: Service in Newness of Spirit
Paul gives the purpose: “that we should serve in newness of spirit.” Deliverance from the law is not deliverance from service. It is deliverance into the right kind of service. The Christian does not stop serving because he is under grace. He begins serving properly. The old service under the letter produced frustration, exposure, and death when encountered by the flesh. The new service flows from life in Christ and the power of the Spirit. This is not merely a change in rules; it is a change in life. God does not want a corpse propped up by commandments. He wants a living son serving from a renewed heart.
“Newness of spirit” connects with the new birth, the indwelling Holy Ghost, and the inward reality of grace. Second Corinthians 3:6 says, “for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” That verse does not mean the written word is bad or that doctrine should be replaced by mystical feelings. The same Spirit who gives life inspired the words of Scripture. The contrast is between the old covenant ministry of the letter written on stones, which condemned, and the new covenant life of the Spirit, who gives life. In Pauline application, the believer in Christ serves God not by returning to the oldness of a covenant that condemns the flesh, but by walking in the life and power supplied by God.
This service is real, practical, and holy. Grace produces service; it does not excuse laziness. Titus 2:11–12 says, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.” Grace teaches. Grace disciplines. Grace trains the believer to live soberly, righteously, and godly. Newness of spirit is not a soft phrase for spiritual carelessness. It is the living power to serve God from the heart. The legalist says, “Without law, nobody will serve.” Paul says, “Delivered from the law, we serve in newness of spirit.” The legalist’s problem is that he has more confidence in a stone tablet than in the risen Christ and the Spirit of God.
Chapter Nine: Not in the Oldness of the Letter
Paul closes the verse, “and not in the oldness of the letter.” The “oldness of the letter” is the old way of service under law as an external written code pressing upon the flesh. It is command without inward life, demand without resurrection power, exposure without deliverance. It is not that the written Scriptures are old in the sense of useless. God forbid. The written word is inspired, preserved, profitable, and authoritative. But serving God by the old covenant letter as a legal system is not the Christian’s mode of life. The believer is not called back to that oldness. He is called to serve in newness of spirit.
The oldness of the letter produces frustration when used for justification or sanctification because it keeps placing demand upon the wrong man. The flesh cannot be justified by law, and the flesh cannot be sanctified by law. Romans 3:20 already said, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.” Galatians 3:3 asks, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” That is the legalist’s error in one sentence. Begin by grace, then try to finish by law. Begin with Christ, then report back to Moses. Begin with the Spirit, then attempt perfection by flesh under commandment. Paul calls that foolish.
The Christian’s service is not oldness of letter but newness of spirit. That means the believer serves from life, union, grace, and inward renewal, under the authority of Christ and the word of God rightly divided. He does not despise holiness; he has the only source from which holiness grows. He does not throw away obedience; he receives the only power by which obedience becomes fruit unto God. The oldness of the letter can carve “Thou shalt not” on stone. The newness of spirit writes “Abba, Father” into a redeemed heart and moves the believer to yield his members unto righteousness. Legalism can polish the chains. Grace breaks them and puts the servant in the house of the Son.
Conclusion
Romans 7:5–6 contrasts the old realm and the new service. When we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, worked in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. That is the old story: flesh, sin, law, members, and death. The law was holy, but the flesh was corrupt. The commandment was right, but sin used it as an occasion. The members became instruments, and the fruit was death. That is why placing fallen flesh under law never produces spiritual life. It exposes the dead man but cannot raise him.
But now we are delivered from the law. The believer is not delivered from the law because God lowered His standard, changed His mind about holiness, or decided sin no longer mattered. He is delivered because death has occurred by the body of Christ. The old holding power has been broken through Calvary. Christ bore the curse. The believer died with Him. The legal relationship ended. The believer is now joined to the risen Lord and called into a new kind of service. That is not antinomianism. That is resurrection union.
Therefore the Christian serves in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Grace produces real service to God because grace gives life, changes the heart, supplies the Spirit, and joins the believer to Christ. Legalism may threaten, expose, and condemn, but it cannot produce fruit unto God. The oldness of the letter is a hammer striking a coffin. The newness of spirit is the voice of the risen Christ calling a man out of the grave. Do not crawl back under the ministry that held you when Christ has delivered you. Serve God where Paul puts you: dead to the law, alive in Christ, walking in newness of spirit, and bringing forth fruit unto God.
Romans 7:5–6 Commentary – The Oldness of the Letter and the Newness of Spirit
The Oldness of the Letter and the Newness of Spirit
Key Passage: Romans 7:5–6
Romans VerseQuest Commentary
Essay 43: The Oldness of the Letter and the Newness of Spirit
Text: Romans 7:5–6
Introduction
Romans 7:5–6 says, “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” Paul has just finished declaring that the believer is “dead to the law by the body of Christ” and joined to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that fruit should be brought forth unto God. Now he explains the old condition and the new service. Before deliverance, men were “in the flesh,” under the motions of sins, stirred up by the law, working through the members, and bringing forth fruit unto death. But now—there is one of Paul’s great grace turns—the believer is delivered from the law and called to serve in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. That is not a minor adjustment in religious mood. That is a complete change of realm, power, relationship, and fruit.
The law was never the problem in itself. Paul will say plainly in Romans 7:12, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” The problem is what the law encounters when it meets fallen flesh. Put a holy commandment in front of Adam, and Adam does not become holy by looking at it. He becomes exposed. Tell the flesh, “Thou shalt not,” and the flesh starts licking its lips like a dog smelling meat. The law can define the line, expose the rebel, condemn the guilty, and show sin exceeding sinful, but it cannot give life to the dead man who keeps stepping over the line. Legalism takes that holy law, which God gave for a proper purpose, and tries to make it the instrument of justification or sanctification. That is like trying to perform heart surgery with a mirror. The mirror may show the corruption; it cannot remove it.
Romans 7:5–6 therefore exposes legalism as a ministry of frustration when used outside its proper place. The lost man under law is condemned because he cannot keep it. The saved man placed back under law as his rule of power finds the flesh provoked, not conquered. Law says, “Do,” but does not supply life. Grace says, “Christ has done,” and then gives the believer union with the risen Lord and power for true service. The oldness of the letter is command without life, demand without deliverance, exposure without power, condemnation without resurrection. The newness of spirit is not lawless emotion, mystical drifting, or fleshly liberty with Bible words attached. It is real service to God flowing from a new life in Christ, by the Spirit of God, under grace, with the heart changed and the members yielded unto righteousness. The letter can carve the sentence in stone. The Spirit writes living truth into a man.
Chapter One: For When We Were in the Flesh
Paul begins, “For when we were in the flesh.” That phrase describes the old condition, the Adam condition, the natural state before deliverance in Christ. To be “in the flesh” is not merely to have a physical body. Jesus Christ had a real body and was without sin. The believer still has a mortal body after salvation, yet Paul says in Romans 8:9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” Being “in the flesh” is a spiritual position and condition, a life in Adam, governed by fallen nature, outside the life of the Spirit, unable to please God. Romans 8:8 says, “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” That is not a poor performance review. That is a death sentence on human ability.
The flesh is man as he is in Adam: religious or irreligious, educated or ignorant, moral or immoral, polished or vulgar, but still fallen. The flesh can wear a suit, quote commandments, attend synagogue, build cathedrals, compose hymns, argue theology, and preach self-improvement until the rafters sweat, but it remains flesh. John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The flesh does not evolve into spirit with enough religious pressure. It does not become spiritual because someone put it under rules. It does not get justified because it learned church manners. The flesh is not sick gracefully; it is dead in trespasses and sins. You can put a Bible under Adam’s arm and a tie around his neck, and he is still Adam unless he is born again.
Paul says “when we were in the flesh,” because for the believer that is no longer the defining realm. The saved man still battles the flesh, but he is no longer “in the flesh” as his position before God. He is in Christ. That is one of the great distinctions legalism keeps confusing. Legalism treats the believer as though he is still a man in the flesh needing law to restrain him into acceptability. Paul treats the believer as one who has died with Christ, been delivered from law, and now serves in newness of spirit. The Christian life is not Adam with a tighter leash. It is a new man in Christ learning to walk according to the truth of his new standing. God did not save the sinner so Moses could babysit the flesh. God saved the sinner by joining him to Christ and giving him life.
Chapter Two: The Motions of Sins
Paul continues, “the motions of sins.” That phrase speaks of sinful passions, impulses, desires, stirrings, and inward movements. Sin is not merely outward conduct. It has motions inside the man before it produces visible fruit outside the man. James 1:14–15 says, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin.” Before the hand reaches, the heart has moved. Before the tongue strikes, the inward poison has risen. Before the feet walk into the wrong place, desire has already packed the suitcase. Sin begins its work in the inward motions of the fallen nature.
The world loves to define sin only by visible damage because it does not want God inspecting the heart. Men will condemn murder but excuse hatred, condemn adultery after it ruins a home but feed lust like a pet, condemn theft after the money is missing but praise covetous ambition, condemn lies when exposed but admire deception if it wins. God judges deeper. The motions of sins are already corrupt before the fruit appears. Matthew 15:19 says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” The factory is inside. The outward act is merely the product shipped to the loading dock.
This is why mere external law-keeping cannot sanctify the flesh. Law can address outward conduct, and it can expose inward desire when it says, “Thou shalt not covet,” but it cannot cure the inner motion. It points at the fire but does not remove the gasoline. A man under legalism may restrain the outward act while the inward motions continue boiling like a sewer under a marble floor. That produces either hypocrisy or despair. Hypocrisy says, “I did not commit the outward act, therefore I am righteous.” Despair says, “I see the inward corruption and cannot conquer it by commandment.” Grace deals with the man at a deeper level by death with Christ, deliverance from law, and life in the Spirit. God does not merely tell the motions of sins to behave. He gives the believer a new life from which to serve.
Chapter Three: Which Were by the Law
Paul says these motions of sins “were by the law.” That phrase must be handled carefully, or a careless reader will accuse the law of being sinful. Paul immediately rejects that thought in Romans 7:7: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid.” The law is not sin. The law is holy. But when the holy law meets fallen flesh, sin uses the commandment as an occasion. Romans 7:8 says, “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.” The problem is not the commandment; the problem is sin in the flesh reacting against the commandment. Tell fallen man where the line is, and something in him wants to step over it simply because God drew it.
That is the perversity of the flesh. It can turn a holy command into an opportunity for rebellion. Place a sign that says, “Wet Paint,” and Adam wants to touch it. Tell a child not to open the drawer, and suddenly the drawer becomes the most fascinating object in the universe. Tell Israel not to covet, and coveting stands up like a soldier hearing roll call. The law exposes the rebel by giving him a clear line to violate. It does not create the rebellion from nothing; it reveals and provokes what is already in the flesh. The match is holy, but the room is full of gas.
This is why using the law as the believer’s sanctifying power produces frustration. The legalist assumes more commandments will conquer the flesh. Paul says the motions of sins were by the law. The flesh does not become spiritual because the law leans harder on it. It becomes irritated, exposed, provoked, condemned, or proud when it imagines it has succeeded. Galatians 3:21 says, “for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” But no law can give life. Law can demand fruit, but it cannot impart life to the branch. It can order a corpse to walk, but the corpse will not obey until life enters it. Legalism is a man shouting commands into a graveyard and blaming the dead for poor attendance.
Chapter Four: Did Work in Our Members
Paul says the motions of sins “did work in our members.” Sin works. It is active, industrious, organized, and practical. It does not remain in the realm of theory. It takes the inward motion and moves it into the body’s members. Romans 6 has already dealt with this: “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.” The members are the body’s faculties—eyes, tongue, hands, feet, mind, appetites, strength, and capacities. Sin wants tools. It wants instruments. It wants a body through which it can express itself. The inward lust needs eyes. The inward bitterness needs a tongue. The inward covetousness needs hands. The inward rebellion needs feet.
This is why Paul does not teach a floating spirituality detached from the body. The battle is worked out in the members. A man can claim great spiritual insight while his tongue is still hired out to gossip, his eyes are still leased to lust, his hands are still serving greed, and his feet still know the path to compromise better than the path to prayer. That is not spirituality; that is Adam wearing perfume. Sin works through the members because the body is the workshop of practical obedience or disobedience. The body is not evil in itself, but in the flesh it becomes available to sin’s motions. Under grace, it is to be yielded unto God.
The law can identify the misuse of the members but cannot, by itself, stop the inward factory from running. It can say, “Do not steal,” but it cannot make a covetous heart content. It can say, “Do not commit adultery,” but it cannot make a lustful heart pure. It can say, “Do not bear false witness,” but it cannot make a deceitful heart honest. The newness of spirit goes deeper. Grace brings the believer into union with Christ, gives him the indwelling Spirit, and calls him to yield his members as instruments of righteousness unto God. God is not interested in a religious shell game where the outside appears restrained while the inside remains a carnival of lusts. He wants real service from a life made alive in Christ.
Chapter Five: To Bring Forth Fruit Unto Death
Paul says the old life’s result was “to bring forth fruit unto death.” That is a grim harvest. The flesh under law, stirred by sin, working in the members, produces fruit—but it is fruit unto death. Sin is fruitful in its own rotten way. It grows shame, guilt, corruption, bondage, fear, dead conscience, dead fellowship, dead testimony, dead homes, dead churches, and finally eternal death for the Christ-rejecter. The fruit may have colour at first, but it is poisoned at the core. The devil’s orchard has beautiful leaves and skulls under the roots.
The phrase “fruit unto death” should be compared with Romans 6:21–22, where Paul asks, “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” There are two harvests. Sin produces fruit unto death. Service to God produces fruit unto holiness. No man should pretend the two are morally equal. The old life did not produce life, no matter how exciting it felt in the moment. The flesh may enjoy the taste, but the end is death. Sin is a tree whose shade feels pleasant until the branches drop corpses.
Legalism cannot reverse that harvest because legalism still deals with the man in the flesh under the pressure of commandment. It may rearrange behavior, conceal certain fruits, and train a man to compare himself with worse sinners, but it cannot produce fruit unto God. Fruit unto God comes from being married to Him who is raised from the dead. Fruit unto death comes from the old realm. Therefore the issue is not merely whether a man has religion; it is whether he has life. A dead branch tied to a living tree with religious string is still dead. A man under law may appear disciplined, but if he is not in Christ, the end is death. And a believer who returns to law for power will discover that law does not produce the fruit of the Spirit; it exposes the weakness of the flesh.
Chapter Six: But Now We Are Delivered From the Law
Verse 6 begins, “But now we are delivered from the law.” “But now” is one of those phrases that ought to ring bells in a believer’s soul. It marks a change brought by grace. “When we were in the flesh” was the old condition. “But now” is the new standing. The believer is delivered from the law. Paul does not say the believer is delivered from the ceremonial parts but still under the moral law as a covenant system. He does not carve Moses into convenient slices so religious men can keep their favourite piece. He says delivered from the law. The law as a ruling covenant has no dominion over the believer who died with Christ.
This deliverance does not mean the believer is free to sin. Paul has already murdered that lie twice in Romans 6 with “God forbid.” Deliverance from the law means deliverance from law as the governing principle of justification and sanctification. The believer is justified by faith apart from deeds of the law, and he is sanctified practically through union with Christ, reckoning, yielding, walking in the Spirit, and living under grace. The law remains profitable when used lawfully: to reveal sin, instruct in righteousness as Scripture, expose the guilty, and testify to God’s holiness. But it is not the believer’s covenant master. The Christian is not under Sinai; he is in Christ.
Legalism hates this deliverance because legalism needs control. If believers are under grace, joined to Christ, and led by the Spirit according to Scripture, then the legalist loses his whip. He prefers a system where righteousness can be measured by external codes, human traditions, visible taboos, and man-made fences. That lets him grade the class and sit at the front with a red pen. Paul strips him of that office. Deliverance from the law is not deliverance into chaos; it is deliverance into Christ. The believer has not been turned loose into the world like a stray dog. He has been joined to the risen Lord and called to serve God in newness of spirit. Grace removes Moses as covenant husband and brings the believer under the living authority of Christ.
Chapter Seven: That Being Dead Wherein We Were Held
Paul says, “that being dead wherein we were held.” The wording points back to the truth of death ending dominion. The believer was held under the law’s authority as long as he stood in the old realm. But death has occurred through union with Christ. Romans 7:4 already said, “ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ.” The law held the man under its jurisdiction, but the cross brought death to the old relationship. The believer is not released because the law became unrighteous. He is released because he died with Christ. Death ends the bond.
The law held men by exposing sin and pronouncing condemnation. Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” That is the law’s demand: all things, continually. Not most things, sometimes. Not sincere things, generally. All things. Continually. One failure brings the curse. James 2:10 says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Legalism loves to lower the standard until the flesh can boast, but God’s law does not lower itself to preserve human pride. It holds the guilty fast and shuts every mouth.
Christ delivered the believer from that holding power by bearing the curse and bringing the believer through death with Him. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” The believer is not holding a permission slip to ignore God. He is standing in a death-and-resurrection relationship with Christ. The law’s condemning hold has been broken because the penalty has been answered in the body of Christ. Any man who tries to put the believer back under that hold is trying to resurrect what Calvary ended. That is not deeper holiness. That is theological grave robbery.
Chapter Eight: Service in Newness of Spirit
Paul gives the purpose: “that we should serve in newness of spirit.” Deliverance from the law is not deliverance from service. It is deliverance into the right kind of service. The Christian does not stop serving because he is under grace. He begins serving properly. The old service under the letter produced frustration, exposure, and death when encountered by the flesh. The new service flows from life in Christ and the power of the Spirit. This is not merely a change in rules; it is a change in life. God does not want a corpse propped up by commandments. He wants a living son serving from a renewed heart.
“Newness of spirit” connects with the new birth, the indwelling Holy Ghost, and the inward reality of grace. Second Corinthians 3:6 says, “for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” That verse does not mean the written word is bad or that doctrine should be replaced by mystical feelings. The same Spirit who gives life inspired the words of Scripture. The contrast is between the old covenant ministry of the letter written on stones, which condemned, and the new covenant life of the Spirit, who gives life. In Pauline application, the believer in Christ serves God not by returning to the oldness of a covenant that condemns the flesh, but by walking in the life and power supplied by God.
This service is real, practical, and holy. Grace produces service; it does not excuse laziness. Titus 2:11–12 says, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.” Grace teaches. Grace disciplines. Grace trains the believer to live soberly, righteously, and godly. Newness of spirit is not a soft phrase for spiritual carelessness. It is the living power to serve God from the heart. The legalist says, “Without law, nobody will serve.” Paul says, “Delivered from the law, we serve in newness of spirit.” The legalist’s problem is that he has more confidence in a stone tablet than in the risen Christ and the Spirit of God.
Chapter Nine: Not in the Oldness of the Letter
Paul closes the verse, “and not in the oldness of the letter.” The “oldness of the letter” is the old way of service under law as an external written code pressing upon the flesh. It is command without inward life, demand without resurrection power, exposure without deliverance. It is not that the written Scriptures are old in the sense of useless. God forbid. The written word is inspired, preserved, profitable, and authoritative. But serving God by the old covenant letter as a legal system is not the Christian’s mode of life. The believer is not called back to that oldness. He is called to serve in newness of spirit.
The oldness of the letter produces frustration when used for justification or sanctification because it keeps placing demand upon the wrong man. The flesh cannot be justified by law, and the flesh cannot be sanctified by law. Romans 3:20 already said, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.” Galatians 3:3 asks, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” That is the legalist’s error in one sentence. Begin by grace, then try to finish by law. Begin with Christ, then report back to Moses. Begin with the Spirit, then attempt perfection by flesh under commandment. Paul calls that foolish.
The Christian’s service is not oldness of letter but newness of spirit. That means the believer serves from life, union, grace, and inward renewal, under the authority of Christ and the word of God rightly divided. He does not despise holiness; he has the only source from which holiness grows. He does not throw away obedience; he receives the only power by which obedience becomes fruit unto God. The oldness of the letter can carve “Thou shalt not” on stone. The newness of spirit writes “Abba, Father” into a redeemed heart and moves the believer to yield his members unto righteousness. Legalism can polish the chains. Grace breaks them and puts the servant in the house of the Son.
Conclusion
Romans 7:5–6 contrasts the old realm and the new service. When we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, worked in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. That is the old story: flesh, sin, law, members, and death. The law was holy, but the flesh was corrupt. The commandment was right, but sin used it as an occasion. The members became instruments, and the fruit was death. That is why placing fallen flesh under law never produces spiritual life. It exposes the dead man but cannot raise him.
But now we are delivered from the law. The believer is not delivered from the law because God lowered His standard, changed His mind about holiness, or decided sin no longer mattered. He is delivered because death has occurred by the body of Christ. The old holding power has been broken through Calvary. Christ bore the curse. The believer died with Him. The legal relationship ended. The believer is now joined to the risen Lord and called into a new kind of service. That is not antinomianism. That is resurrection union.
Therefore the Christian serves in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Grace produces real service to God because grace gives life, changes the heart, supplies the Spirit, and joins the believer to Christ. Legalism may threaten, expose, and condemn, but it cannot produce fruit unto God. The oldness of the letter is a hammer striking a coffin. The newness of spirit is the voice of the risen Christ calling a man out of the grave. Do not crawl back under the ministry that held you when Christ has delivered you. Serve God where Paul puts you: dead to the law, alive in Christ, walking in newness of spirit, and bringing forth fruit unto God.
Romans Verse-by-Verse Commentary
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Romans 1:1 Commentary – Paul, a Servant of Jesus Christ
Romans 1:2-4 Commentary – The Gospel Promised Beforehand
Romans 1:5–7 Commentary – Grace, Apostleship, and Obedience to the Faith