How the "I" of 7:7–25 has been read: Greek fathers, Augustine, Reformers, Wesley, and Kümmel
Says "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin" (7:14, BSB); "in my inner being I delight in God’s law" (7:22).
Sanday and Headlam report that Origen and most Greek fathers referred the passage to the unregenerate, citing "sold" (7:14) and "wretched man" (7:24) and taking the present tenses as dramatic. Chrysostom reads 7:14 as a sketch of man under the law and before it (Hom. Rom. 13). Augustine says it "had once appeared to me also" that Paul meant a man under the law; 7:17, 7:22 and 8:1 changed his mind, and against the Pelagians he argued that Paul speaks of himself (C. du. ep. Pelag. 1.8.13–1.10.22). Methodius, the Latin fathers generally, and the Reformers, especially on the Calvinist side, took the regenerate view (Sanday–Headlam). Luther says that in chapter 7 Paul "portrays himself as still a sinner" (Preface to Romans, trans. Thornton). Calvin reads 7:14–15 of a regenerate man. Wesley says Paul "changes the Person" to describe "a man, first, ignorant of the Law, then under it" (on 7:7). Kümmel (1929) argued that the "I" is a rhetorical form, not autobiography; Moo reads it as Paul in solidarity with Israel under the law. Sanday and Headlam mediate: the struggle precedes the fully regenerate life of chapter 8, and the term regeneration is absent from the context.
Uncertain Who the "I" is is uncertain, and this note takes no lean; see the exegetical notes. Each view keeps 7:12, 14 and 8:1–4.
Claims
- SaysRom 7:14 says the law is spiritual but the 'I' is unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin; Rom 7:22 says that in the inner being the 'I' delights in God's law.
- UncertainWho the 'I' of Rom 7:7–25 is (believer, person under the law before conversion, or a representative 'I'); no team lean; every view keeps 7:12, 14 and 8:1–4.
Citations
- BSB public domain Rom 7:14, 22, 24
- Sanday–Headlam, Romans (ICC) public domain 'The Inward Conflict', pp. 184–186 (pinned 1922 printing, criticalexegetic00sand_0 n305–n307; pages checked on the page images 2026-10-31; paraphrased)
- Chrysostom, Hom. Rom. (NPNF¹ 11) public domain Hom. 13 on Rom 7:14, NPNF¹ 11:427 (scan aselectlibrary11unknuoft n446; page checked on the page image 2026-10-31; paraphrased)
- Augustine, C. du. ep. Pel. (NPNF¹ 5) public domain Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.8.13–1.10.22, NPNF¹ 5:381–384 (scan selectlibraryofn05auguuoft n456–n459; pages, and the 1.10.22 wording on p. 384, checked on the page images 2026-10-31; quoted at 1.10.22, otherwise paraphrased)
- Calvin, Romans (Owen) public domain on Rom 7:14 and 7:15 (CCEL calcom38.xi.vi; paraphrased)
- Luther, Preface to Romans Custom Preface to Romans (1522), trans. Andrew Thornton, OSB (Project Wittenberg rom-eng.txt; quoted). "This translation was made by Bro. Andrew Thornton, OSB, for the Saint Anselm College Humanities Program. (c)1983 by Saint Anselm Abbey. This translation may be used freely with proper attribution."
- Wesley, Notes NT (1755) public domain Notes (1755), on Rom 7:7, p. 394, n407 (wording checked on the page image, 2026-10-31; long s normalized; quoted)
- 🔒︎ Kümmel, Römer 7 (1929) Copyrighted UNT 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1929), whole work (by reference only; not displayed)
- 🔒︎ Moo, Romans (NICNT) Copyrighted 1996 ed., on Rom 7:7–25 (by reference; page not given)
2026-10-31
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