through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ purchased it, prepared it, prepares us for it, preserves us to
it; he is the All in all in our salvation.
Chapter 7
Chapter Outline
Believers are united to Christ, that they may (1–6)
bring forth fruit unto God.
The use and excellence of the law. (7–13)
The spiritual conflicts between corruption (14–25)
and grace in a believer.Verses 1–6
So long as a man continues under the law as a covenant, and seeks justification by his own
obedience, he continues the slave of sin in some form. Nothing but the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,
can make any sinner free from the law of sin and death. Believers are delivered from that power
of the law, which condemns for the sins committed by them. And they are delivered from that
power of the law which stirs up and provokes the sin that dwells in them. Understand this not of
the law as a rule, but as a covenant of works. In profession and privilege, we are under a covenant
of grace, and not under a covenant of works; under the gospel of Christ, not under the law of Moses.
The difference is spoken of under the similitude or figure of being married to a new husband. The
second marriage is to Christ. By death we are freed from obligation to the law as a covenant, as
the wife is from her vows to her husband. In our believing powerfully and effectually, we are dead
to the law, and have no more to do with it than the dead servant, who is freed from his master, has
to do with his master's yoke. The day of our believing, is the day of being united to the Lord Jesus.
We enter upon a life of dependence on him, and duty to him. Good works are from union with
Christ; as the fruitfulness of the vine is the product of its being united to its roots; there is no fruit
to God, till we are united to Christ. The law, and the greatest efforts of one under the law, still in
the flesh, under the power of corrupt principles, cannot set the heart right with regard to the love
of God, overcome worldly lusts, or give truth and sincerity in the inward parts, or any thing that
comes by the special sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. Nothing more than a formal obedience
to the outward letter of any precept, can be performed by us, without the renewing, new-creating
grace of the new covenant.
Verses 7–13
There is no way of coming to that knowledge of sin, which is necessary to repentance, and
therefore to peace and pardon, but by trying our hearts and lives by the law. In his own case the
apostle would not have known the sinfulness of his thoughts, motives, and actions, but by the law.
That perfect standard showed how wrong his heart and life were, proving his sins to be more