Romans 7:1–25: Released from the Law, and the Holy Law Used by Sin

Says Paul tells those who know the law that "the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives" (7:1, BSB), and that believers "also died to the law through the body of Christ" (7:4, BSB). He then asks two questions and refuses each: "Is the law sin? Certainly not!" (7:7, BSB), and "Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not!" (7:13, BSB).

Implies The chapter takes up "not under law" (6:14–15) and the law that increased the trespass (5:20): believers are released from the law, yet the law is not sin, and the problem is sin using it (note.exegetical.Rom.7.7-Rom.7.25.law-holy-sin-deceives; note.exegetical.Rom.6.12-Rom.6.15.not-under-law; note.exegetical.Rom.5.18-Rom.5.21.one-act-of-righteousness).

Structure. 7:1–6: died to the law. 7:7–13: sin and the commandment. 7:14–25: the divided "I". Two doctrinal notes follow: who the "I" is (7:7–25), and the holy law used by sin (7:7–25).

Background. The historical notes treat Roman and Jewish marriage law (note.historical.Rom.7.1-Rom.7.25.marriage-law) and how the "I" has been read (note.historical.Rom.7.1-Rom.7.25.reception-7-14-25). The Hebrew note treats the quotation in 7:7 and Gen 3:13 (note.language.Rom.7.7.exod-20-17-deut-5-21).

Note ID: note.exegetical.Rom.7.1-Rom.7.25.overview

¹ Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? ² For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. ³ So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. ⁴ Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. ⁵ For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death. ⁶ But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (BSB)

Says Paul begins from a rule: "the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives" (7:1, BSB). A married woman "is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives" (7:2, BSB); if he dies, "she is free from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man" (7:3, BSB). So "you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God" (7:4, BSB). ἐθανατώθητε τῷ νόμῳ (ethanatōthēte tō nomō, "you were put to death in relation to the law") is aorist passive (note.language.Rom.7.1-Rom.7.6.katargeo-soma-christou; lex.G5220; lex.G1210; lex.G3428; lex.G2961).

Implies "Through the body of Christ" (7:4) refers to his body given up in death on the cross, not to the church. διά (dia, "through") names the means of the believers' death, as in their dying with him (6:3–6), and Col 1:22 joins his physical body and his death. The alternative takes it of the church as his body (12:5; 1 Cor 12:27). The union with Christ in his death is set out in note.exegetical.Rom.6.5-Rom.6.11.died-with-christ and is not repeated here.

Uncertain How the marriage picture maps. In 7:2–3 the husband dies; in 7:4 the believers themselves die. This commentary follows the Greek note's lean: the picture illustrates one point, release from the law by a death, and is not an exact allegory, since the application changes who dies. The alternative maps it closely, with the law or the old self (6:6) as the first husband.

Says "For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death" (7:5, BSB). "But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law" (7:6, BSB), so that we serve in newness of πνεῦμα (pneuma, "Spirit, spirit"), not in the oldness of γράμμα (gramma, "letter, written code") (lex.G3804; lex.G3821; lex.G1121; lex.G1398). The text ἀποθανόντες (apothanontes, "having died") is printed with high confidence; TR's ἀποθανόντος (apothanontos, "[it] having died") would make the law the one that died (var.Rom.7.6.apothanontes).

Uncertain Whether πνεύματος (pneumatos, "of S/spirit") in 7:6 is God's Spirit (lean; BSB "the new way of the Spirit"; γράμμα and πνεῦμα are contrasted in 2:29 and 2 Cor 3:6) or a new inner spirit (alternative). Rom 8:2–4 takes the contrast up.

Background. Roman and Jewish marriage law, including that under Jewish law only the husband could divorce, is set out in note.historical.Rom.7.1-Rom.7.25.marriage-law. The background explains the picture; it does not fix how it maps.

Textual: Romans 7:6 (variant unit: ἀποθανόντες / τοῦ θανάτου / ἀποθανόντος) - In text: κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, ἀποθανόντες ἐν ᾧ κατειχόμεθα (katērgēthēmen apo tou nomou, apothanontes en hō kateichometha, "we have been released from the law, having died to what bound us"): ℵ, A, B, C, K, L, P, am*, syrˢᶜʰ, syrᵖ, cop, arm, aeth, go, Didymus, Basil, Chrysostom, Euthalius, Cyril (catena), Theodoret, John of Damascus, Tertullian, Origen (Lat.). = SBLGNT, NA28, WH, Treg, Byz - Alternative 1: κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ θανάτου ἐν ᾧ κατειχόμεθα (katērgēthēmen apo tou nomou tou thanatou en hō kateichometha, "we have been released from the law of death, in which we were held"): D, E, F, G, itᵈ, itᵉ, itᶠ, itᵍ, vg. - Alternative 2: κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, ἀποθανόντος ἐν ᾧ κατειχόμεθα (katērgēthēmen apo tou nomou, apothanontos en hō kateichometha, "we have been released from the law, that having died in which we were held"): no manuscript named in Tischendorf 8 for this form; he gives it as the Elzevir text's reading. = TR - Evidence (from the variant record):

Editions (checked 2026-10-31): SBLGNT, RP2018, TR (local files); WH/Treg/NA28 from the SBLGNT apparatus; NA28 by reference only. Sigla: as in STYLE_GUIDE §2.3; corrector notation and full key in src.tischendorf-8. Minuscules are Gregory–Aland numbers, with Tischendorf's Pauline number once in parentheses ("Tisch."); those not verified are counted, not listed. Witnesses are listed only where Tischendorf names them.

SBLGNT, NA28, WH, Treg, RP2018, and Tischendorf 8 (p. 395) read ἀποθανόντες; TR reads ἀποθανόντος.

Manuscripts (Tischendorf 8, vol. 2 (1872), pp. 395–396, leaves n402–n403): ἀποθανόντες: ℵ A B C K L P, about seventy and more minuscules, am*, syr (both), cop, arm, aeth, go, Didymus, Basil, Chrysostom, Euthalius, Cyril, Theodoret, John of Damascus, Tertullian, Origen (Lat.). τοῦ θανάτου: D E F G, d e f g, vg (except am*), and Latin Fathers. Tischendorf calls ἀποθανόντος an error, apparently Beza's, following Erasmus's reading of Chrysostom. - Decision: Print ἀποθανόντες with high confidence: it has the Greek manuscripts Tischendorf names and the early versions. The sense changes: with ἀποθανόντες believers have died to the law that held them (as in 7:4); TR's ἀποθανόντος makes the law the one that died. The Western τοῦ θανάτου ("the law of death") smooths the participle away. See note.language.Rom.7.1-Rom.7.6.katargeo-soma-christou. Confidence high. - Variant record: var.Rom.7.6.apothanontes.

Note ID: note.exegetical.Rom.7.1-Rom.7.6.died-to-the-law

⁷ What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ⁸ But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead. ⁹ Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. ¹⁰ So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. ¹³ Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. (BSB)

Says "Is the law sin? Certainly not!" (7:7, BSB). The law made sin known: "I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”" (7:7, BSB). Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις (ouk epithymēseis, "you shall not covet") quotes the tenth commandment (Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21) in its LXX form, without its objects (note.language.Rom.7.7.exod-20-17-deut-5-21; xref.Rom.7.7.Exod.20.17.heb; xref.Rom.7.7.Deut.5.21.heb; lex.G1939; lex.G1785).

Says Then "sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire" (7:8, BSB), and "deceived me and through the commandment put me to death" (7:11, BSB) (lex.G874; lex.G2716; note.language.Rom.7.7-Rom.7.13.epithymia-exepatesen).

Uncertain What "Once I was alive apart from the law" (7:9, BSB) refers to: a time before the speaker knew the commandment, Adam before the command, or Israel before Sinai. This commentary takes no lean, since each reading goes with a view of who the "I" is (note.exegetical.Rom.7.7-Rom.7.25.identity-of-the-i).

Uncertain Whether "the very commandment that was meant to bring life" (7:10, BSB) echoes Lev 18:5, where one who keeps the statutes will live by them (Paul quotes it at 10:5 and Gal 3:12), or reflects the promise of life in the law generally (Deut 30:15–16). This commentary takes no lean (xref.Rom.7.10.Lev.18.5.heb).

Uncertain Whether ἐξηπάτησέν με (exēpatēsen me, "deceived me," 7:11) echoes Gen 3:13, where the woman says the serpent deceived her (LXX ἠπάτησέν με, ēpatēsen me, "deceived me"). This commentary follows the Hebrew and Greek notes' lean that it does: Paul uses the same compound verb of the serpent and Eve in 2 Cor 11:3, and 7:8–11 joins a commandment, desire, deception, and death. The alternative is that the verb simply names sin's deceit, as in 16:18 and 1 Cor 3:18, since 7:11 names no serpent. The echo does not decide who the "I" is (xref.Rom.7.11.Gen.3.13.heb; lex.G1818; note.language.Rom.5.12-Rom.5.14.gen-2-3-adam).

Says "So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good" (7:12, BSB). Sin "produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful" (7:13, BSB).

Implies The problem is sin using the commandment, not the law itself (7:7, 12–13). The grounds are gathered in note.exegetical.Rom.7.7-Rom.7.25.law-holy-sin-deceives.

Note ID: note.exegetical.Rom.7.7-Rom.7.13.sin-and-the-commandment

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good. ¹⁷ In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. ¹⁸ I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. ²⁰ And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. ²¹ So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. ²³ But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (BSB)

Says "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin" (7:14, BSB). From 7:14 the main verbs are present, after the past tenses of 7:7–13 (note.language.Rom.7.14-Rom.7.25.sarkinos-nomos; lex.G4152).

Uncertain Whether the present tenses of 7:14–25 describe the speaker's state as he writes or portray another state vividly. This belongs to the question of who the "I" is, and this commentary takes no lean (note.exegetical.Rom.7.7-Rom.7.25.identity-of-the-i).

Uncertain σάρκινος … πεπραμένος ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν (sarkinos … pepramenos hypo tēn hamartian, "of flesh … sold under sin," 7:14). This commentary follows the Greek note's lean to σάρκινος as "made of flesh," frail beside the spiritual law, since the -ινος ending marks material (2 Cor 3:3). The alternative is ethical, "carnal," like σαρκικός (sarkikos, "fleshly"); the BSB's "unspiritual" leans that way (lex.G4560; var.Rom.7.14.sarkinos). πεπραμένος uses the picture of sale into slavery (lex.G4097); how far it reaches belongs to the question of the "I".

Says "For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do" (7:15, BSB). He concludes that "it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it" (7:17, BSB), and he says, "in my inner being I delight in God’s law" (7:22, BSB) (lex.G3611; lex.G4561; lex.G4913).

Uncertain τὸν νόμον (ton nomon, "the law") in 7:21. This commentary follows the Greek note's lean to a rule or principle (BSB "principle"), since the ὅτι (hoti, "that") clause states a rule of experience. The alternative is the Mosaic law, as in 7:22.

Uncertain What Paul means by "another law at work in my body" (7:23, BSB). The lean is a different power, named in the same verse as the law of sin in the members (compare 8:2). The alternative is the Mosaic law as sin uses it (7:5, 8, 11) (lex.G497; lex.G163).

Says "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (7:24, BSB). "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (7:25, BSB). Every form of the text of 7:25a thanks or credits God (var.Rom.7.25.charis; lex.G5005; lex.G4506).

Uncertain Why 7:25b, "with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin" (7:25, BSB), follows the thanksgiving. The lean is that ἄρα οὖν (ara oun, "so then") sums up 7:14–24, with the thanksgiving answering 7:24 ahead of 8:1–4. The alternative takes the order as displaced, a conjectural rearrangement with no manuscript support (lex.G3563).

Textual: Romans 7:14 (variant unit: σάρκινος / σαρκικός) - In text: ἐγὼ δὲ σάρκινός εἰμι (egō de sarkinos eimi, "but I am of flesh"): ℵ*, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, Methodius, Ephraem, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril, John of Damascus. = SBLGNT, NA28, WH, Treg - Alternative: ἐγὼ δὲ σαρκικός εἰμι (egō de sarkikos eimi, "but I am fleshly (carnal)"): ℵᶜ, K, L, P, Origen, Chrysostom, Euthalius, Theodoret, Photius. = Byz, TR - Evidence (from the variant record):

Editions (checked 2026-10-31): SBLGNT, RP2018, TR (local files); WH/Treg/NA28 from the SBLGNT apparatus; NA28 by reference only. Sigla: as in STYLE_GUIDE §2.3; corrector notation and full key in src.tischendorf-8. Minuscules are Gregory–Aland numbers, with Tischendorf's Pauline number once in parentheses ("Tisch."); those not verified are counted, not listed. Witnesses are listed only where Tischendorf names them.

SBLGNT, NA28, WH, Treg, and Tischendorf 8 (p. 397) read σάρκινος; RP2018 and TR read σαρκικός.

Manuscripts (Tischendorf 8, vol. 2 (1872), p. 397, leaf n404): σάρκινος: ℵ* A B C D E F G and many minuscules, Methodius, Ephraem, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril, John of Damascus (Basil's text varies). σαρκικός: ℵᶜ K L P and far more minuscules, Origen, Chrysostom, Euthalius, Theodoret, Photius.

Internal: σαρκικός is the commoner word, and the TR has it in each NT place where σάρκινος stands, except 2 Cor 3:3 (Abbott-Smith); a change toward it is easier than away from it. - Decision: Print σάρκινος with high confidence: the early uncials of every group, and the rarer word. The two adjectives overlap, so the sense changes only in shade: "made of flesh" or "fleshly, carnal." How σάρκινος is taken in 7:14 is discussed in note.language.Rom.7.14-Rom.7.25.sarkinos-nomos. Confidence high. - Variant record: var.Rom.7.14.sarkinos.

Textual: Romans 7:25 (variant unit: χάρις / χάρις δέ / ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ / εὐχαριστῶ) - In text: χάρις τῷ θεῷ (charis tō theō, "thanks be to God"): B, sah, Origen, Methodius, Jerome. = SBLGNT, Treg - Alternative 1: χάρις δὲ τῷ θεῷ (charis de tō theō, "but thanks be to God"): ℵᵃ, C², 104, 436, Cyril, John of Damascus. = NA28, WH - Alternative 2: ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ (hē charis tou theou, "the grace of God [will rescue me]"): D, E, itᵈ, itᵉ, vg, Origen (Lat.), Jerome, Ambrosiaster. - Alternative 3: ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου (hē charis tou kyriou, "the grace of the Lord"): F, G, itᶠ, itᵍ. - Alternative 4: εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ (eucharistō tō theō, "I thank God"): ℵ*, A, K, L, P, syrˢᶜʰ, syrᵖ, go, Origen, Chrysostom, Mark the Hermit, Euthalius, Theodoret. = Byz, TR - Evidence (from the variant record):

Editions (checked 2026-10-31): SBLGNT, RP2018, TR (local files); WH/Treg/NA28 from the SBLGNT apparatus; NA28 by reference only. Sigla: as in STYLE_GUIDE §2.3; corrector notation and full key in src.tischendorf-8. Minuscules are Gregory–Aland numbers, with Tischendorf's Pauline number once in parentheses ("Tisch."); those not verified are counted, not listed. Witnesses are listed only where Tischendorf names them.

SBLGNT, Treg, and Tischendorf 8 (p. 399) read χάρις τῷ θεῷ; WH and NA28 add δέ; RP2018 and TR read εὐχαριστῶ.

Manuscripts (Tischendorf 8, vol. 2 (1872), p. 399, leaf n406): χάρις: B, sah, Origen, Methodius, Jerome. χάρις δέ: ℵᵃ C² (Tischendorf: C's first hand is hidden here, "latet"), 104 (Tisch. 31), 436 (Tisch. 80), and six more minuscules, Cyril, John of Damascus (cop and arm unclear on δέ). ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ: D E, one minuscule, d e vg, Origen (Lat.), Jerome, Ambrosiaster. ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου: F G f g. εὐχαριστῶ: ℵ A K L P and most others, syr, go, Origen, Chrysostom, Mark the Hermit, Euthalius, Theodoret. - Decision: Print χάρις τῷ θεῷ with medium confidence. B and the abrupt exclamation best explain the rest: δέ links it to 7:24, εὐχαριστῶ is a smoother thanksgiving, and the Western ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ turns it into the answer to "Who will rescue me?" χάρις δέ (ℵᵃ C²) is the main alternative. Every form thanks or credits God; for 7:25b see note.language.Rom.7.14-Rom.7.25.sarkinos-nomos. Confidence medium. - Variant record: var.Rom.7.25.charis.

Note ID: note.exegetical.Rom.7.14-Rom.7.25.the-divided-i

Uncertain Who the "I" of 7:7–25 is. This commentary takes no team lean. The three main views follow, each with its main grounds; their history is reported in note.historical.Rom.7.1-Rom.7.25.reception-7-14-25.

Paul as a believer. Augustine in his later writings (src.npnf1-augustine-c-duas-ep), Luther (src.luther-preface-romans), Calvin (src.calvin-romans-owen), and Cranfield (src.cranfield-icc-romans) read 7:14–25 of Paul as a Christian. Grounds: the present tenses from 7:14; "in my inner being I delight in God’s law" (7:22, BSB); and 7:25b, which still describes the struggle after the thanksgiving.

Paul or the Jew under the law before conversion. The Greek fathers, among them Chrysostom (src.npnf1-chrysostom-romans), and Wesley read it of a person under the law. Wesley says the Apostle "changes the Person" to describe "the Misery of one under the Law" (src.wesley-notes-nt-1755). Grounds: "sold as a slave to sin" (7:14, BSB), the captivity and the cry of 7:23–24, and the contrast with 8:2, where the law of the Spirit of life has set the believer free.

A representative "I". Kümmel argued that the "I" is a rhetorical form, not autobiography (src.kummel-romer7-1929), and Moo reads it of Paul in solidarity with Israel under the law (src.moo-romans). In this view the "I" speaks for Adam and/or Israel meeting the law. Grounds: 7:9–11, where the commandment "came" and sin "deceived me," echoes Gen 3 and Sinai.

Mixed views. Some combine these, for example a struggle that precedes the full life of the Spirit in chapter 8 without being simply pre-Christian.

Implies Every view keeps the same boundary: the law is holy, righteous, good, and spiritual (7:12, 14), and "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (8:1, BSB), whom the Spirit has set free (8:2–4). No view makes the law sinful, excuses sin, or denies believers real victory. Because who the "I" is remains uncertain, this commentary does not use 7:14–25 as a ground for the doctrine of sanctification, which rests on Rom 6 (note.exegetical.Rom.6.1-Rom.6.14.union-and-sanctification).

Note ID: note.exegetical.Rom.7.7-Rom.7.25.identity-of-the-i

Says Paul concludes that "the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good" (7:12, BSB), and "the law is spiritual" (7:14, BSB).

Implies The problem is sin using the law, not the law itself. Sin was "seizing its opportunity through the commandment" (7:8, BSB; also 7:11) and "produced death in me through what was good" (7:13, BSB). This is how the law increased the trespass (5:20; note.exegetical.Rom.5.18-Rom.5.21.one-act-of-righteousness; note.language.Rom.5.20-Rom.5.21.pareiselthen-hina), and why it cannot justify (3:20; on "works of the law," see note.exegetical.Rom.3.27-Rom.3.31.boasting-excluded and note.language.Rom.3.19-Rom.3.20.hypodikos-erga-nomou).

Implies Nothing in Rom 7 denies that believers have real victory or excuses sin. Paul goes on: "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (8:1, BSB), and the law of the Spirit of life "set you free from the law of sin and death" (8:2, BSB), so that the law's righteous standard is fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit (8:4). Grace gives no license to sin (6:1–2, 15; note.exegetical.Rom.6.1-Rom.6.14.union-and-sanctification).

Note ID: note.exegetical.Rom.7.7-Rom.7.25.law-holy-sin-deceives

Minor variants (no change in meaning). None of these units has its own variant record; the 7:6, 7:14, and 7:25a records are boxed with their notes above. - Romans 7:13: text ἐγένετο (SBLGNT, WH, Treg, NA28, Tischendorf 8; ℵ, A, B, C, D, E, P, 1908 (Tisch. 47), 436 (Tisch. 80), one more minuscule, Methodius, John of Damascus) / alt. 1 γέγονεν (RP2018, TR; K, L, most others, Chrysostom, Cyril (catena), Gennadius, Euthalius, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius) / alt. 2 verb omitted (F, G). Byz, TR = alternative 1. Same sense; no variant record. - Romans 7:17: text οἰκοῦσα (SBLGNT, Treg, NA28, RP2018, TR; A, C, D, E, F, G, K, L, P, apparently all others, Clement, Basil, Chrysostom, Cyril, Theodoret, John of Damascus) / alt. ἐνοικοῦσα (WH, Tischendorf 8; ℵ, B, Methodius, Ambrosiaster). Byz, TR = text. Same sense; no variant record. - Romans 7:18: text οὔ (SBLGNT, WH, Treg, NA28, Tischendorf 8; ℵ, A, B, C, 1908 (Tisch. 47), 436 (Tisch. 80), one more minuscule, cop, arm, Methodius, Cyril, Greek manuscripts known to Augustine) / alt. 1 οὐχ εὑρίσκω (RP2018, TR; D, E, F, G, K, L, P, most others, vg, syr, go, Chrysostom, Euthalius, Theodoret, John of Damascus, Origen (Lat.), Ambrosiaster) / alt. 2 οὐ γινώσκω (one minuscule). Byz, TR = alternative 1. The added verb completes the sense; no variant record. - Romans 7:20: text θέλω (SBLGNT, WH, Treg; B, C, D, E, F, G, eleven minuscules, the Latin d, e, f, g, vg, syrˢᶜʰ (apparently), arm, aeth, Methodius, Cyril, Ambrosiaster, Pelagius) / alt. θέλω ἐγώ (NA28, RP2018, TR, Tischendorf 8; ℵ, A, K, L, P, most others, cop, go, syrᵖ, Origen (Lat.), Theodoret, John of Damascus). Byz, TR = alternative. Same sense; no variant record. - Romans 7:23: text ἐν τῷ νόμῳ (SBLGNT, WH, Treg, NA28, Tischendorf 8; ℵ, B, D, E, F, G, K, P, over fifteen minuscules, the Latin d, e, f, g, vg, go, Clement, Euthalius, Theodoret, Origen (Lat.), Ambrosiaster) / alt. τῷ νόμῳ (RP2018, TR; A, C, L, most others, syr, arm, Methodius, Chrysostom, Cyril, John of Damascus). Byz, TR = alternative. Same sense; no variant record. - Romans 7:25b: text τῷ μὲν νοΐ (SBLGNT, WH, Treg, NA28, RP2018, TR; ℵᶜ, A, B, C, D, E, K, L, P, most others, sah, cop, syrᵖ) / alt. τῷ νοΐ (ℵ*, F, G, one minuscule, the Latin d, e, f, g, m, vg, Origen (Lat.), Ambrosiaster). Byz, TR = text. δέ still carries the contrast of mind and flesh; no variant record.

This summary repeats the conclusions above. It adds no new argument.

• Says The law has authority over a person only as long as he lives, and believers died to the law through the body of Christ, to belong to the risen Christ (7:1–4); now they are released from the law (7:5–6). The law is not sin: it made sin known, quoting "Do not covet" from Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21 in the LXX form, and sin seized its opportunity through the commandment and deceived and killed the "I" (7:7–11). The law is holy, righteous, good, and spiritual (7:12, 14). The "I" does what he hates, delights in God's law in his inner being, cries for rescue, and gives thanks to God through Jesus Christ (7:14–25).
• Implies "Through the body of Christ" (7:4) refers to his death on the cross, not to the church. The problem is sin using the law, not the law itself. Every view of the "I" keeps 7:12, 14 and 8:1–4: nothing in Rom 7 denies believers real victory or excuses sin.
• Uncertain Who the "I" of 7:7–25 is (no team lean; three views named); the present tenses of 7:14–25 and "once I was alive" in 7:9 (no lean); how the marriage picture maps (lean: one point, release by a death); πνεύματος (pneumatos) in 7:6 (lean: God's Spirit); an echo of Lev 18:5 in 7:10 (no lean); an echo of Gen 3:13 in 7:11 (lean: it echoes, without deciding the "I"); σάρκινος (sarkinos; lean: made of flesh); τὸν νόμον in 7:21 (lean: a principle); "another law" (lean: a different power); and 7:25b after the thanksgiving (lean: a summary).