I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
All Commentaries on Romans 7:21 Go To Romans 7
Thomas Aquinas
AD 1274
After showing that the Law is good because it concords with reason [n. 556], the Apostle now draws two conclusions based on the two things he had posited; 290 the second conclusion is there [v. 23; n. 586] at But I see. In regard to the first he does two things: first, he draws a conclusion from what he had said; secondly, he offers a sign to clarify it [v. 22; n. 585]. 584. Now he had posited two things: the first was that the Law is spiritual, from which he concludes: So I find, namely, by experience, it to be a law consistent with that of Moses, when I will to do the good, i.e., there is agreement between the Law of Moses and my reason, by which I approve the good and detest evil, just as that Law commands the good and forbids evil: "The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that you mayst do it" (Dt 30:14). And in this way it was necessary that evil, i.e., sin or the inclination of sin, lie at hand, i.e., lie next to my reason, as though dwelling in my flesh: "Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom," i.e., from the flesh (Mic 7:5). 585. Then (v.22) he presents a sign to show that the Law agrees with reason. For no one delights except in that which agrees with him. But man according to his reason delights in the Law of God; therefore, the Law of God agrees with reason. And that is what he says: I delight in the law of God in my inner man, i.e., according to reason or mind, which is called the inner man, not that the soul is fashioned according to man’s figure, as Tertullian supposed, or that it alone is man, as Plato said that man is a soul using a body; but because that which is more important in man is called man, as was explained above [n. 570]. But in man that which is more important, so far as appearance is concerned, is outward, namely, the body so fashioned that it is called the outward man. But so far as 291 the truth is concerned, the more important is within, namely, the mind or reason, which is here called the inner man: "How sweet to my taste are your words" (Ps 119:103). 586. Then (v.23) he presents the other conclusion which corresponds to his previous statement that "I am carnal." The conclusion is this: But I see another law in my members, which is the inclination to sin and can be called a law for two reasons: first, by reason of the effect. For just as the Law induces to do good, so the inclination induces to sin. Secondly, by reason of their cause. 587. But since the inclination to sin is a punishment for sin, it has a twofold cause: one cause is sin, which has taken mastery over the sinner and imposed its law on him, i.e., the inclination to sin, just as a master imposes his law on a vanquished slave. The other cause of the inclination is God, who imposed this punishment on sinful man, i.e., that his lower powers do not obey reason. And in this sense the very disobedience of the lower powers constitutes the inclination to sin and is called a law, inasmuch it was introduced by the law of divine justice, just as the sentence of a just judge has the force of law: "And this has been done from that day forward, and was since made a statute, and an ordinance, and as a law in Israel" (1 Sam 30:25). 588. This law is found in the sensitive appetite as in its source, but it is found spread over all the members which play a role for concupiscent desire in sinning: "Just as you once yielded your members to serve impurity and every iniquity, so now yield your members to serve righteousness" (Rom 6:19). Hence he says "in my members." Now this law has two effects in man: first, it resists reason; hence he says: at war with the law of my mind, i.e., with the Law of Moses, which is called the law of the mind, 292 inasmuch as it agrees with the mind or with the natural law, which is called the law of the mind, because it is present by nature in the mind: "They show that what the law requires is written in their hearts" (Rom 2:15). Concerning this resistance it says in Gal (5:17): "The desires of the flesh are against the spirit." The second effect is that it makes man a slave; hence he says: and making me captive, or leading me captive, according to another text, to the law of sin which is in my members, i.e., in myself, following the Hebrew custom of speech whereby a noun is used in place of a pronoun. But the law of sin makes man captive in two ways: the sinner it makes captive through consent and action; the man in grace through the movement of concupiscent desire. Psalm 126 says of this captivity: "When the Lord led back the captives of Zion." 589. Then (v.24) he deals with liberation from the law of sin and does three things: first, he poses a question; secondly, he answers [v. 25; n. 592]; thirdly, he draws a conclusion [v. 25b; n. 594]. In regard to the first he does two things. 590. First, he declares his misery when he says: Wretched man that I am. This wretchedness is the result of sin which dwells in man: either in the flesh only, as in the just man, or also in the mind, as in the sinner: "Sin makes nations miserable" (Pr 14:34). 591. Secondly he asks: Who will deliver me from this body of death? This question seems to express the desire voiced in Ps 142 (v.7): "Bring my soul out of prison." 293 Yet it should be remembered that in man’s body one can consider the very nature of the body which agrees with the soul. It is not from this that he desires to be separated: "We do not wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed over" (2 Cor 5:4). One can also consider the corruptible body which is a load upon the soul, as it says in Wis (9:15). Hence it is significant that he says: from this body of death. 592. Then (v.25) he responds to the question. For man by his own power cannot be freed from the corruption of the body, nor even of the soul, although he agrees with reason against sin, but only by the grace of Christ, as it says in Jn (8:36): "So if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed." Therefore, he says: the grace of God will free me and it is given through Jesus Christ: "Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (Jn 1:17). 593. This grace liberates from the body of this death in two ways: in one way so that the corruption of the body does not dominate the soul and draw it to sinning; in another way so that the corruption of the body is taken away entirely. In regard to the first, it is fitting for the sinner to say: Grace has freed me from the body of this death, i.e., from sin into which the soul is led by the corruption of the body. But the just man has already been freed to that point; hence, it befits him to say in regard to the second: The grace of God has freed me from the body of this death, so that in my body is neither the corruption of sin nor of death: which will happen at the resurrection. 594. Then (v.25b) he draws the conclusion which follows in different ways from the foregoing words, depending on how they are explained. For if they are explained in the person of a sinner, the conclusion is inferred in the following manner: It has been said that the grace of God has freed me from the body of 294 this death, so that I am not led into sin by it; therefore, when I have been freed, I serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin, which law remains in my flesh in regard to the inclination to sin, in virtue of which the desires of the flesh are against the spirit. But if the words are understood as spoken in the person of a just man, the conclusion is inferred in this manner: The grace of God through Jesus Christ has freed me from the body of this death, so that the corruption of sin and death is not in me. So then I, one and the same before being freed, serve the law of God with my mind by consenting to it; but with my flesh I serve the law of sin, inasmuch as my flesh is moved to concupiscent desire according to the law of the flesh.
