of the Spirit. In the same manner, by the term spirit, which is commonly opposed to the flesh, he
means that part of the soul which the Spirit of God has so re-formed, and purified from corruption,
that God’s image shines forth in it. Then both terms, flesh as well as spirit, belong to the soul; but
the latter to that part which is renewed, and the former to that which still retains its natural character.
227
To will is present, etc. He does not mean that he had nothing but an ineffectual desire, but his
meaning is, that the work really done did not correspond to his will; for the flesh hindered him from
doing perfectly what he did. So also understand what follows, The evil I desire not, that I do: for
the flesh not only impedes the faithful, so that they can not run swiftly, but it sets also before them
many obstacles at which they stumble. Hence they do not, because they accomplish not, what they
would, with the alacrity that is meet. This, to will, then, which he mentions, is the readiness of faith,
when the Holy Spirit so prepares the godly that they are ready and strive to render obedience to
God; but as their ability is not equal to what they wish, Paul says, that he found not what he desired,
even the accomplishment of the good he aimed at.
- The same view is to be taken of the expression which next follows, — that he did not the
good which he desired, but, on the contrary, the evil which he desired not: for the faithful, however
rightly they may be influenced, are yet so conscious of their own infirmity, that they can deem no
work proceeding from them as blameless. For as Paul does not here treat of some of the faults of
the godly, but delineates in general the whole course of their life, we conclude that their best works
are always stained with some blots of sin, so that no reward can be hoped, unless God pardons
them.
He at last repeats the sentiment, — that, as far as he was endued with celestial light, he was a
true witness and subscriber to the righteousness of the law. It hence follows, that had the pure
integrity of our nature remained, the law would not have brought death on us, and that it is not
adverse to the man who is endued with a sound and right mind and abhors sin. But to restore health
is the work of our heavenly Physician.
Romans 7:21-23
- Reperio igitur Legem volenti mihi facere
bonum quod mihi malum insideat.^228 - I find then a law, that, when I would do
good, evil is present with me. - Consentio enim Legi Dei secundum
interiorem hominem. - For I delight in the law of God after the
inward man:
(^227) The Apostle here is his own interpreter; he explains who the I is that does what the other I disapproved, and who the I is
that hates what the other I does. He tells us here that it is not the same I, though announced at first as though it were the same.
The one I, he informs us here, was his flesh, his innate sin or Corruption, and the other I, he tells us in Romans 7:22, was “the
inner man,” his new nature. The “inner man,” as Calvin will tell us presently, is not the soul as distinguished from the body, but
the renewed man as distinguished from the flesh. It is the same as the “new man” as distinguished from “the old man.” See
Ephesians 4:22, 24; Romans 6:6; 2 Corinthians 5:17. But “the inward man,” and “the outward man,” in 2 Corinthians 4:16, are
the soul and the body; and “the inner man,” in Ephesians 3:16, the same expression as in Romans 7:22, means the soul, as it is
evident from the context. The same is meant by “the hidden man of the heart,” in 1 Peter 3:4. — Ed.
(^228) “Insideat,” — ; the same verb in Romans 7:18, is rendered adest — is present. It means, to lie near, to be at hand. —
Ed.