Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Romans 7:14

ὁ νόμος πνευματικός : the law comes from God who is Spirit, and it shares His nature: its affinities are Divine, not human, ἐγὼ δὲ σάρκινός εἰμι, πεπραμένος ὑμὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν : I, as opposed to the law, am a creature of flesh, sold under sin, σάρκινος is properly material = carneus, consisting of flesh, as opposed to σαρκικός, which is ethical= carnalis. Paul uses it because he is thinking of human nature, rather than of human character; as in opposition to the Divine law. He does not mean that there is no higher element in human nature having affinity to the law (against this see Romans 7:22-25), but that such higher elements are so depressed and impotent that no injustice is done in describing human nature as in his own person he describes it here. Flesh has such an exclusive preponderance that man can only be regarded as a being who has no affinity for the spiritual law of God, and necessarily kicks against it. Not that this is to be regarded as his essential nature. It describes him only as πεπραμένος ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν : the slave of sin. To speak of man as “flesh” is to speak of him as distinguished from God who is “Spirit”; but owing to the diffusion of sin in humanity, and the ascendency it has acquired, this mere distinction becomes an antagonism, and the mind of “the flesh” is enmity against God. In σάρκινος there is the sense of man's weakness, and pity for it; σαρκικός would only have expressed condemnation, perhaps a shade of disgust or contempt. Weiss rightly remarks that the present tense εἰμι is determined simply by the ἐστιν preceding. Paul is contrasting the law of God and human nature, of course on the basis of his own experience; but the contrast is worked out ideally, or timelessly, as we might say, all the tenses being present; it is obvious, however, on reflection, that the experience described is essentially that of his pre-Christian days. It is the un-regenerate man's experience, surviving at least in memory into regenerate days, and read with regenerate eyes.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Romans 7:14

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