FOR (because) WE KNOW THAT THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL BUT I AM OF FLESH: Oidamen (1PRAI) gar hoti o nomos pneumatikos estin (3SPAI) ego de sarkinos eimi (1SPAI): (Lev 19:18; Dt 6:5; Ps 51:6; Mt 5:22,28; 22:37-40; Heb 4:12) (Ro 7:18,22,23; Job 42:6; Ps 119:25; Pr 30:2,5; Isa 6:5; 64:5,6; Lu 5:8; Lu 7:6; 18:11-14; Eph 3:8) (Mt 16:23; 1Cor 3:1-3)

Beginning in Romans 7:14 Paul begins to discuss the conflict of two natures. This section has been one of the most controversial in the New Testament. The majority of commentators (e.g., John MacArthur, John Piper, Warren Wiersbe, S Lewis Johnson, Robert Mounce, Harry Ironside, Donald Barnhouse, Albert Barnes, William MacDonald, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Melanchthon, Beza, John Owen, Delitzsch, Hodge, Shedd, Kuyper, F F Bruce, and C E Cranfield, et al) favor this to be a description of a regenerate man (Paul) wrestling with the sinful propensities still present in his mortal body as it is in every saved person. Others feel Paul is discussing his unsaved state prior to conversion. Some feel the text addresses the experience of any man, whether saved or unsaved, who seeks to obey the law. See below for the Excursus on believer vs non-believer.

Vine divides Romans 7:14-25 into three sections...

(a) Romans 7:14-17 -- here he shows his inability to keep himself from doing what he disapproves of;

(b) Romans 7:18-20 -- here he shows his inability to carry out that which he approves of;

(c) Romans 7:21-25 -- finally, bringing his discussion to its appointed conclusion, he shows how deliverance from this condition is to be effected. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

One other point that should be made is that the spiritual conflict in Romans 7:14-25 although having some similarities to the conflict in Galatians 5:16-23, nevertheless does have differences as summarized below...

(1) The opponent of the sinful human nature in Romans 7 is the whole Christian individual, but in Galatians 5 it is the Holy Spirit.

(2) The condition of the believer in Romans is under the Law, but in Galatians it is under Law or grace.

(3) The result of the conflict in Romans is inevitable defeat, but in Galatians it is defeat or victory.

(4) The nature of the conflict in Romans is abnormal Christian experience, but in Galatians it is normal Christian experience. (See Stanley D. Toussaint's analysis “The Contrast Between the Spiritual Conflict in Romans 7 and Galatians 5, ” Bibliotheca Sacra 123:492, 1966)

Lewis Sperry Chafer adds that...

In Romans 7:15-25 the conflict is between the regenerate man (hypothetically contemplated as acting independently, or apart from the indwelling Spirit) and his flesh. It is not between the Holy Spirit and the flesh. Probably there is no more subtle delusion common among believers than the supposition that the saved man, if he tries hard enough, can, on the basis of the fact that he is regenerate, overcome the flesh. The result of this struggle on the part of the Apostle was defeat to the extent that he became a wretched man.

Dr Charles Ryrie commenting on Romans 7:14-25 feels that

The intensely personal character of these verses and the use of present tenses indicate that this was Paul's own experience as a believer. This is his diagnosis of what happens when one tries to be sanctified by keeping the law. (The Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation: 1995. Moody Publishers)

Harry Ironside feels that Romans 7:14-25...

describes the exercises of a quickened soul under law who has not yet learned the way of deliverance. This once learned, one is free from the law forever. I have said earlier that primarily here we have a believing Jew struggling to obtain holiness by using the law as a rule of life and resolutely attempting to compel his old nature to be subject to it. In Christendom now the average Gentile believer goes through the same experience; for legality is commonly taught almost everywhere.

Therefore when one is converted it is but natural to reason that since he has been born of God it is only a matter of determination and persistent endeavor to subject himself to the law, and he will achieve a life of holiness. And God Himself permits the believer to be tested in order that His people may learn experientially that the flesh in the believer is no better than the flesh in an unbeliever. When he ceases from self-effort he finds deliverance through the Spirit by occupation with the risen Christ. (Ironside, H. Romans)

John MacArthur is confident that Romans 7...

...describes a believer. However, of those who agree that this is a believer, there is still disagreement. Some see a carnal, fleshly Christian; others a legalistic Christian (Ed note: cf Ryrie above, Barber below), frustrated by his feeble attempts in his own power to please God by keeping the Mosaic law. But the personal pronoun “I” refers to the apostle Paul, a standard of spiritual health and maturity. So, in Romans 7:14-25 Paul must be describing all Christians—even the most spiritual and mature—who, when they honestly evaluate themselves against the righteous standard of God’s law, realize how far short they fall. He does so in a series of 4 laments (Romans 7:14–17, 18–20, 21–23, 24, 25). (MacArthur, J.: The MacArthur Study Bible Nashville: Word or Logos)

MacDonald agrees adding that...

Up to this point the apostle has been describing a past experience in his life—namely, the traumatic crisis when he underwent deep conviction of sin through the law’s ministry. Now he changes to the present tense to describe an experience he had since he was born again—namely, the conflict between the two natures and the impossibility of finding deliverance from the power of indwelling sin through his own strength.  (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

Kent Hughes comments that...

This section of Romans 7 has known centuries of controversy: who is their subject? There are basically three views. The first is that this passage describes a non-Christian Pharisee under the Law (this was the view of the Greek Fathers). The second view is that it describes a normal Christian (the view of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin). The third position is that it describes a carnal Christian. I believe the second view is correct, mainly because Paul continues to write in the first-person singular but in the present tense. It seems most natural to understand this section as Paul talking about what he was then experiencing. (Hughes, R. K. Romans: Righteousness from heaven. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books)

F. F. Bruce writes

In this section Paul continues to speak in the first person singular, but he leaves the past tense and uses the present. Not only so, but there is an inward tension here which was absent from Romans 7:7-13. There, sin assaulted him by stealth and struck him down; here, he puts up an agonizing resistance, even if he cannot beat down the enemy. There, he described what happened to him when he lived in 'this present age'; here, 'the age to come' has already arrived, although the old age has not yet passed away. He is a man living simultaneously on two planes, eagerly longing to live a life in keeping with the higher plane, but sadly aware of the strength of indwelling sin that keeps on pulling him down to the lower plane.

Wayne Barber has an interesting approach to this controversial section, as explained in his introductory comments on Romans 7:14-25...

When a person understands what it means to "live under grace," he understands the hymn "I Need Thee Every Hour." He is a person like the apostle Paul who has learned to never again put any confidence in his own flesh. He has learned that the only works the flesh can produce are unrighteous works. He understands that sin is when he has failed to put his trust into Christ and His Spirit to do in him what he failed to admit that he could not do. He realizes that just as his own self-effort to please God could not save himself, neither could his self-effort sanctify himself.

It is comforting to hear the reports of revival that is happening all over our country. I was listening to a tape of a pastor in Texas sharing what took place in his church. The thing that impressed me, was not what took place in his church, but what took place in him. He came to the realization that grace brings us all, that all of his training, all of his efforts were useless apart from the empowering grace of God. In short, he realized that "he could not, and God never said he could, but God could and always said He would."

In Romans 5:2 (note) Paul told us how the transforming power of grace is accessed. He says, "through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God."

When we cast all of our expectations upon Christ and upon His Word, trusting only in Him, then we have just accessed His grace, which is not only His undeserved favor, but His transforming power. If we choose to put ourselves back under law, instead of His grace, we are putting ourselves back under bondage to the very thing from which Christ has freed us.

In chapters 6 and 7, Paul is showing us the connection between the controlling power of sin and the law. Have you seen it yet? It is under the law that flesh is energized. It is dead apart from the law, but, when you take your focus off of Jesus, and begin to trust in your own efforts, then you are once again back up under the law, performing for God, and your flesh will frustrate you beyond measure.

How sad for a free person to foolishly put himself back under the bondage of sin. You see, under the Law, the flesh is commanded to perform, and then it is condemned in all that it does because it cannot measure up to the same law that commanded it.

Well, it is with these thoughts that we encounter Romans 7:14. Remember I told you that I’m preaching this as "I SEE IT!" For years I missed the point of what Paul is doing in Romans 7:14-25. A lot of folks spin their wheels trying to decide whether the use of the first person singular pronoun is Paul referring to a time when he was lost, etc. His use of the present tense when it comes to not being able to do what God requires also causes confusion. But, if you go back to the premise of being under the law and the flesh being commanded to perform but being unable to do so in a way that pleases God, then the problem with interpretation is not as great. (See his sermon Frustration...Under Law)

Any time you place yourself back up under the Law, and you depend upon your self efforts to please God, you will encounter frustration, and experience bondage to your flesh.

Wiersbe agrees with Barber writing...

Having explained what the Law is supposed to do, Paul now explains what the Law cannot do...Our nature is carnal (fleshly); but the Law’s nature is spiritual. This explains why the old nature responds as it does to the Law. It has well been said, “The old nature knows no Law, the new nature needs no Law.” The Law cannot transform the old nature; it can only reveal how sinful that old nature is. The believer who tries to live under Law will only activate the old nature; he will not eradicate it. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor or Logos)

John MacArthur on the other hand writes...

Some interpreters believe that chapter 7 describes the carnal, or fleshly, Christian, one who is living on a very low level of spirituality. Many suggest that this person is a frustrated, legalistic Christian who attempts in his own power to please God by trying to live up to the Mosaic law. But the attitude expressed in chapter 7 is not typical of legalists, who tend to be self-satisfied with their fulfillment of the law. Most people are attracted to legalism in the first place because it offers the prospect of living up to God’s standards by one’s own power.

It seems rather that Paul is here describing the most spiritual and mature of Christians, who, the more they honestly measure themselves against God’s standards of righteousness the more they realize how much they fall short. The closer we get to God, the more we see our own sin. Thus it is immature, fleshly, and legalistic persons who tend to live under the illusion that they are spiritual and that they measure up well by God’s standards. The level of spiritual insight, brokenness, contrition, and humility that characterize the person depicted in Romans 7 are marks of a spiritual and mature believer, who before God has no trust in his own goodness and achievements. (MacArthur, J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press or Logos)

S Lewis Johnson writes that...

Not only are there many human formulas for salvation, there are also many for sanctification. There are purveyors of sanctification by taboos, sanctification by such positively good things as witnessing, Bible study, and prayer done in our own strength. What results is a form of Christian legalism, a pride of righteousness done in the power of the flesh. It, too, discounts our state before God and the work of the Holy Spirit within us. The Apostle Paul makes it very plain that, even after our birth from above, we are in ourselves unable to overcome indwelling sin. We need something done in us (cf. note Romans 8:2), or the continual working of the Holy Spirit in sanctification. Just as a man cannot save himself, so a Christian cannot sanctify himself. We believers cannot of ourselves live the Christian life. We cannot of ourselves keep any law of God due to indwelling sin. That, in essence, is the point of the apostle in Romans 7:13-25....

Another question that has arisen is this: Is Paul drawing upon his own experiences, or is he using himself as representative of one in the throes of this spiritual condition? In answer to this one may say that it is not a question of an either/or, but of a both/and. He is using himself as an example based upon his own experiences. What we have is no abstract argument, but the personal struggle of an agonizing soul.

It has also been asked whether this is necessary Christian experience. I am inclined to think that it is necessary Christian experience, that is, that struggle characterizes us as long as we are in the flesh. On the other hand, it is not complete Christian experience. There are occasions of glorious victory in the believer's life, although complete victory awaits the future (cf. Romans 8:1-11).

What we have, then, in Romans 7:13-25 is the picture of a believer seeking to keep the Law (cf. Romans 7:22; 8:4) with the resources of the Law and his new life alone (cf. Romans 8:3). Sixteen times we find ego used (Greek for I) , thirty times the "I" is found in the AV, while the Holy Spirit is not used at all in the section, that is, Romans 7:13-25. The Law is mentioned in chapter seven twenty times, but only four times in chapter eight (nomos itself five times). In chapter eight there are at least twenty references to the Holy Spirit. These things, I believe, are the key to the section.

We know (1492) (eido) (perfect tense) refers to intuitive knowledge. It indicates an absolute, positive, beyond a peradventure of a doubt, knowledge. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Law is spiritual. The Law is not fleshly. Paul has just explained that the Law is holy and righteous and good. These facts are not in question. We admit. It is a conceded, well-understood point.

Spiritual (4152) (pneumatikos from pneuma = spirit) in the NT is usually used in relation to the work of the Holy Spirit. Some commentators (UBS Handbook) feel Paul is using pneumatikos to refer to the human spirit as opposed to human flesh (see comments below).

However, most commentators interpret pneumatikos as referring to the Law so that Paul is saying that the Law is spiritual,  in the sense that the Law is divine, from God (cf phrases "Law of God" in Romans 7:22 [note], 7:25 [note]). The fact that the law is spiritual means that the Law is a reflection of the character of God. Godly people recognize this fact (we know).

Vine comments that

There are two ideas essentially connected with this word, pneumatikos, those of invisibility and power. It is said of that which owes its origin to God and is therefore in harmony with His character. Here the word spiritual sums up the three qualities, holy, righteous, and good, in verse 12. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

I am carnal - This is the KJV translation which reflects the original Greek manuscript (Textus Receptus) use of the Greek word sarkikos, which speaks of flesh in its ethical or moral sense. The verb is in the present tense. Paul is saying "I am continually carnal". He is not talking of his past unsaved state but of his present state.

Carnal (4559) (sarkikos) means of flesh and can refer to physical flesh or to the moral/ethical aspects of flesh. In the present context the KJV (and other translations) translates it carnal which suggests that one is dominated by the indwelling sinful tendencies, in contrast to the spiritual, which finds its origin and source in God, and is in affinity with God.

Newell has an interesting thought commenting that...

If Paul had been speaking of himself before being quickened, he would have used the word natural: "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God" (1Co 2:14). Carnal is not used to describe an unregenerate person, but a Christian not delivered from the power of the flesh: "I, brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ" (1Cor 3:1)

Many scholars feel the modern Greek manuscripts are more accurate in their use of sarkinos (see below). Most of the modern translations reflect the modern Greek manuscripts and

Of flesh (4560) (sarkinos) is used in some contexts to refer to that which is made of or consists of flesh (physical flesh). However, sarkinos can also refer to the moral/ethical aspect of human nature in its base behavior.

So Paul is either saying I am totally a fleshly being sold into bondage to the sin that is in my body if sarkinos is interpreted here to have a moral/ethical slant. In this case he is saying that there is something about my flesh that is wicked and devoted to sin. This wicked flesh lives in my mortal body (which is true of both the saved and unsaved) and I cannot divorce myself from it. A number of translations favor the moral/ethical sense over the physical sense -- "of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual]" (Amplified), "I am fleshly [being dominated by the sinful nature]" (Wuest),  “carnal” (RSV, Phillips), “unspiritual” (NEB, NJB), or “weak flesh” (NAB).

Now if Paul is using sarkinos with the physical meaning, he could be implying that he is "earth bound and mortal" or still has to deal with the things that are of the flesh, but even then one of the things that the physical body of flesh has to deal with is the moral/ethical aspect of the flesh that indwells these mortal bodies.

John Piper's view on this passage

I think the second position is right (description of Paul's experience as a Christian). Paul is speaking about himself here as a Christian. Let me say immediately that I do not mean we should settle in and coast with worldly living and a defeatist mentality. We should not make peace with our sin; we should make war on our sin. Defeat is not the only, or the even the main, experience of the Christian life. But it is part of it. I agree with J. I. Packer who wrote an article on this passage two years ago to defend the view that I am taking here. (See sermon Who Is This Divided Man?).

SOLD INTO BONDAGE TO SIN: pepramenos (RPPFSN) hupo ten hamartian: (Ro 7:24; Ge 37:27,36; 40:15; Ex 21:2-6; 22:3; 1Ki 21:20,25; 2Ki 17:17; Isa 50:1; 52:3; Am 2:6; Mt 18:25)

Sold into bondage to sin - There is no word in Greek for "bondage". The preposition hupo preceding sin means under and the implication then is to be "under the power of sin". The KJV/NKJV are more accurate than NASB or NIV in translating the phrase "sold under sin".

Sin is no longer a believer's master (Ro 6:12,14). It can become such but it is not the expected or desired state. And furthermore if it is the CONTINUOUS STATE (Ro 6:2-3) that individual has serious cause to examine the genuineness of their salvation (2Cor 13:5). So this translation might not be the best to study with, especially if one favors this man is a regenerate man.

Wuest also renders it more literally...

For we know that the law is spiritual. But as for myself, I am fleshly [being dominated by the sinful nature], permanently sold under the sinful nature.

Sold (4097) (piprasko) means to sell. Figuratively, in the passive voice as in this verse it means to be sold to Sin, thus becoming its slave. The Perfect tense  means they “had been sold and remained under the dominion of sin”. This tense pictures the permanence of their state.

A T Robertson paraphrases the perfect tense of sold picturing Sin as a banker who has foreclosed...

Sin has closed the mortgage and owns its slave.

The question that naturally arises is how can a genuine believer be "permanently" under the power of sin? (See also Excursus on believer vs non-believer)

Middletown Bible explains...

How it is possible for a Christian to be carnal, fleshly, a slave of sin. First of all we recognize that there is a sense in which a true believer is not carnal. Romans 8:9 (see note) says "ye are not in the flesh (carnal), but in the Spirit." Paul referred to his unsaved life as the time when he was "in the flesh" (see note Romans 7:5). In other words, positionally speaking, a true believer (saved person) is no longer in the carnal realm, but he is in the Spirit realm (see note Romans 8:9). He is in Christ and Christ is in him. Also positionally the saved person is no longer a slave of sin as we have seen in Romans 6 (see notes Romans 6:17; 18; 6:22). However, in Romans 7:14 Paul is not referring to his glorious position but to his actual condition. He is referring to his actual experience of living the Christian life. And it is possible for a true Christian to have a carnal WALK (compare 1 Cor 3:1-4). This does not mean that Paul’s Christian life was marked by and characterized by carnality. This is contradicted by everything we know about the apostle. But we must say that Romans 7:15-24 was the apostle’s very real experience and every honest believer must confess that to one degree or another he too has experienced the very same thing and gone through the same struggle that is here depicted by the apostle. (See Romans 7)

Vine makes a distinction that...

What is expressed (by the phrase sold under sin) is not the condemnation of the unregenerate state, but the evil of bondage to a corrupt nature, and the futility of making use of the Law as a means of deliverance. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson or Logos)

Stedman addresses this question explaining that Paul...

is simply describing what happens when a Christian (or even an unbeliever) tries to live under the Law. When a believer (or an unbeliever) by his dedication and will power and determination, tries to do what is right in order to please God, he is living under the Law. And Paul is telling us what to expect when we live like that -- for we all try to live that way from time to time. sin, you see, deceives us. (For full sermon click The Continuing Struggle) (Bolding added)

Newell comments that the phrase sold under sin...

describes all of us by nature. Instead of being spiritual and therefore able to hearken to, delight in and obey God's holy spiritual Law, we are turned back, since Adam sinned, to a fleshly condition, our spirits by nature dead to God, and our soul-faculties under the domination of the still unredeemed body. Now Paul, though his spirit was quickened (Saved, born again); and his inward desires, therefore, were toward God's Law; found to his horror his state by nature "carnal, " fleshly, "sold under sin." How little humanity realizes this awful, universal fact about man- sold under sin! Sold under sin is exactly what the new convert does not know! Forgiven, justified, he knows himself to be: and he has the joy of it! But now to find an evil nature, of which he had never become really conscious, and of which he thought himself fully rid, when he first believed, is a "second lesson" which is often more bitter than the first-of guilt! (Romans 7)

Cranfield has an interesting insight explaining that...

When Christians fail to take account of the fact that they (and all their fellow Christians also) are still pepramenoi hupo ten hamartian (sold under the sin), they are specially dangerous both to others and to themselves because they are self-deceived. The more seriously a Christian strives to live from grace and to submit to the discipline of the gospel, the more sensitive he becomes to the fact of his continuing sinfulness, the fact that even his very best acts and activities are disfigured by the egotism which is still powerful within him—and no less evil because it is often more subtly disguised than formerly. At the same time it must be said with emphasis that the realistic recognition that we are still indeed pepramenoi hupo ten hamartian (sold under the sin) should be no encouragement to us to wallow complacently in our sins. (Cranfield, C. E. B. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. London; New York: T&T Clark International)

Johnson adds that...

there is no question in Paul's mind that, while the believer is unable of himself to win the battle, he is nevertheless responsible for his failure. Inability is consistent with responsibility.

Ironside feels that in Romans 7:14-25 Paul is describing a believer living according to the flesh (carnal) explaining that ...

the carnal man who is sold under sin. That is, he is subject to the power of the evil nature to which he has died in Christ, a blessed truth indeed, but one which he has not yet apprehended in faith. Consequently he continually finds himself going contrary to the deepest desires of his divinely-implanted new nature. He practices things he does not want to do. He fails to carry out his determinations for good. The sins he commits he hates. The good he loves he has not the strength to perform. But this proves to him that there is something within him which is to be distinguished from his real self as a child of God. He has the fleshly nature still, though born of God. He knows the law is good. He wants to keep it, and slowly the consciousness dawns on him that it is not really himself as united to Christ who fails. It is sin, dwelling in him, which is exercising control. So he learns the weakness and unprofitableness of the flesh.  (Ironside, H. Romans)

Constable explains that...

Sold under sin is exactly what the new convert does not know! Forgiven, justified, he knows himself to be: and he has the joy of it! But now to find an evil nature (Ed note: flesh), of which he had never become really conscious, and of which he thought himself fully rid, when he first believed, is a ‘second lesson’ which is often more bitter than the first—of guilt.!”

Paul’s statement that he was then as a Christian the slave of sin seems to contradict what he wrote earlier in chapter 6 about no longer being the slave of sin. However remember that in chapter 6 Paul did not say that being dead to sin means that sin has lost its appeal for the Christian. It still has a strong appeal to the Christian whose human nature is still sinful (Romans 6:15-23). He said that being dead to sin means that we no longer must follow sin’s dictates.

In one sense the Christian is not a slave of sin (Romans 6:1-14). We have died to it, and it no longer dominates us. Nevertheless in another sense sin still has a strong attraction for us since our basic human nature is still sinful and we retain that nature throughout our lifetime.

For example, a criminal released from prison no longer has to live within the sphere of existence prescribed by prison walls. However he still has to live within the confines of his human limitations. God has liberated Christians from the prison house of sin (6:1–14). Notwithstanding we still carry with us a sinful nature that will be a source of temptation for us as long as we live (7:14–25). (Expository Notes on the Bible)