Romans 7:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"But if I do what I do not will, I agree with the law, that it is good." Do you see that reason, so long as it remains uncorrupted, truly preserves its own nobility? Even if it gives itself over to vice, it does so with hatred. This may be the greatest praise of the law, both natural and written. That the law is good, the Apostle says, is clear from this: I accuse myself when I transgress the law and hate what I have done. But if the law were the cause of sin, how could one delight in the law and yet hate what the law commands? "I agree with the law," the Apostle says, "that it is good."

That the law is good, he says, is clear from this: by nature I know what must be done, and my reason is not corrupted, even though I give myself over to vice.

He again turns the precision of contemplation toward the nature of the body and examines the force of the diseases naturally present in it. The impulses that lead away into every possible passion, and the accusations connected with a pleasure-loving life, have the flesh as their source. The disciple of the Savior assures us of this when he says, "Where do wars and quarrels among you come from? Is it not from your desires that war in your members?" (Jas 4:1).

The law has been defended from every accusation, but we should beware lest anyone think that our free will is being denied. This is not so. The man spoken of here is under the law before the coming of grace. Sin binds him while he tries by his own strength to live honorably, without the help of God's liberating grace. By free will man is able to believe in the Liberator and receive grace. Then, with the freedom and help of Him who gives them, he may no longer sin and may cease to be under the law. But with the law, or in the law, having been filled with this grace of God, he will fulfill through love for God what he could not fulfill through fear (cf. 2 Tim 1:7).

If, then, I do what I do not desire and what I pursue with hatred, I agree with the law that forbids me this, that it is good.

This very hatred that I have for sin I have received from the law. Therefore I justify the law and confess that it is good.

If I wish to follow what the law prescribes, contrary to the desire of the flesh, then according to the flesh I do what I hate. But according to the desire of the spirit, I agree with the spiritual and good law of God.

The Apostle depicts the state of the unregenerate man, in whom an inner struggle takes place between mind and will, between spirit and flesh. With man's fall, the will ceased to obey the suggestions of reason. Reason still preserved knowledge of the good, desires it, and strives toward it. Yet it does not have the power to move the will to perform what it wants. The voice of conscience, the inner arbiter of man's actions, is likewise too weak to govern and restrain man's activity. It is itself confused and irresolute, so that it is difficult even to follow its directions. The flesh, from being the instrument of the spirit, became its ruler. It drew even the spiritual capacities into seeking various means to satisfy its needs.

In order to arouse as much as possible our aversion and hatred for sin, the Apostle paints a heavy picture of the violence sin works upon us. He also depicts the unnatural division that occurs in our nature because of sin: "I do not understand what I do. For what I will to do, that I do not do; but what I hate, that I do. But if I do what I do not will, I agree with the law that it is good. Therefore it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. According to the inner man I delight in the law of God. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin."

Above, when he said, "I do not do what I will, and I do what I hate," he spoke abstractly and did not define exactly what he wills and what he hates. Yet from the course of the discourse it is clear that he wills what is lawful and hates what is lawless. If we insert these terms into the discourse, we receive this: I do the unlawful, which I hate, and not the lawful, which I will. But if this is so, then it is obvious that I praise the law as good. In the conviction of the mind and in the feeling of the heart, I approve the law. I hold that the law is good for me, was given for my good, and will lead me to good if I follow it. Even in the fallen sinner the fear of God remains whole, as does conscience, which points out what is due.