Back to the Bible Podcast

Host: Larsen B. Plyler
Episode 148: Romans 7:7-25
Date: April 6, 2026

Overview

In this episode, Larsen B. Plyler explores Romans 7:7-25, unpacking the complex relationship between the law (the Torah), sin, and salvation, particularly as it pertains to Gentile Christians in Rome. He emphasizes Paul's point that while the law reveals sin, it cannot save from its power, and that true liberation comes only through Christ. The episode bridges previous lessons in Romans and sets up themes to be explored in the coming study of chapter eight.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Context and Audience of Romans 7

• Setting the Stage (00:36)
  • Paul addresses Gentile Christians in Rome, some of whom are being pressured to adopt Jewish law to be "right with God".
  • "The law of Moses was never intended to be the means by which Jewish people converted Gentile people to become followers of Jesus. That was never the point." (02:26)
  • Chapter 7 marks a pivotal point, especially regarding the Gentile relationship to the law and their path to righteousness.

2. The Law and Its Purpose

• A New Illustration: Marriage and Death (07:56)
  • Paul uses marriage as an analogy: death releases one from the law’s authority.
  • "When he dies, she is free from that and can marry another... In verse four, who dies? They died. They died in Christ through the body of Christ they were made to die to the law." (10:26)
• Freedom from the Law for Fruitfulness (11:10)
  • Believers have "died to the law" through Christ and are now free to be joined to Him, producing spiritual fruit.
  • The "arousing" of sinful passions by the law is best understood as the law spotlighting, not causing, sin.

3. Limits of the Law

• Law’s Role: Diagnosing, Not Curing (14:49)
  • The law highlights and confirms sin but does not provide the remedy.
  • "All the law did was make their sin even more obvious. But now there was freedom from the law's decree against sin. We are in Christ, he says, transformed so that we serve from the newness of the Spirit and not from the letter." (16:43)
• True transformation and freedom from sin come from within, through the Spirit, not external regulation.

4. The “Conversation Partner” and the Struggle With Sin

• Imagined Gentile Experience Under the Law (20:10)
  • Paul constructs a persona: a Gentile seeking righteousness by the law, discovering the law only intensifies his awareness of sin.
  • "Here is a person wanting to do right [who] says, here's God's standard of the law. Let me apply that to myself. And what's going to happen?" (20:43)
    • The answer: Only greater conviction of sin and death, not victory.
• Is the Law Sin? (22:21)
  • "May it never be. The law is not sin. It is God's word." (23:02)
  • The law is holy, righteous, and good—but it exposes our inability to keep it.

5. The Inner Conflict (Romans 7:14-25)

• Describing the Struggle (30:10)
  • The persona struggles: "For what I am working out I do not understand. For I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate." (31:01)
  • This is not Paul's Christian experience, but the plight of someone under the law, unable to break sin’s power.
  • "Sin still dwells in the person under the law... it has just spotlighted, it has intensified their recognition of guilt." (33:19)
• Culminating Cry (35:19)
  • "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?" (35:21)
  • Immediate thanksgiving: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (35:54)
  • The only solution is deliverance through Christ.

6. Transition to Hope in Christ

• The Law Points Beyond Itself (39:10)
  • Quotations from Anthony Thiselton: The law, though holy, intensifies the experience of slavery when confronted with human sin.
• Preview of Chapter Eight (41:30)
  • "There is now therefore no condemnation for the one who is in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." (41:35)
  • In Christ, believers are not just forgiven but transformed and assured of God’s unfailing love and their ultimate glorification.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Purpose of the Law:
  "The law was always pointing towards Jesus and the promises to Abraham." (03:19)
• On the Gentile Flight:
  "All the law could do on its own was to highlight that… this Gentile who is saying, there was a time where I did not know that coveting was a problem. And then I came under the law and I realized that coveting was a problem… now I'm involved in this sin." (26:26)
• On the Human Predicament:
  "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (35:21-35:54)
• On Assurance in Christ:
  "It is not the case for those who are in Christ… there is now therefore no condemnation for the one who is in Christ Jesus." (41:35)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:36 – Introduction to Romans 7 and Audience Context
• 07:56 – Paul’s Marriage Analogy: Death and Freedom from the Law
• 14:49 – The Law’s Real Purpose: Spotlighting Sin
• 20:10 – The Gentile Experience Under the Law
• 22:21 – Is the Law Sin? Paul’s Answer
• 30:10 – The Inner Struggle: Wanting to do Good, Doing Evil
• 35:19 – The Cry for Deliverance and Thanksgiving through Christ
• 39:10 – The Law’s Limitations and Foreshadowing Chapter Eight

Conclusion

Larsen B. Plyler makes a compelling case that Romans 7 is best understood as a description of the impotence of the law—especially for Gentile believers trying to seek righteousness through it—rather than a depiction of a Christian’s ongoing struggle with sin. The answer to the human predicament, spotlighted by the Torah, is not more law but deliverance and transformation through Christ Jesus. The episode ends with anticipation for Romans 8, where Paul will more fully develop the themes of liberation, assurance, and life in the Spirit.