Romans 7

Marriage analogy

In the first part of chapter 7, Paul continues with the prior thought about a new life in Christ.  He provides a third analogy, that of marriage.  Our life of sin, pre-Christ, is dead.  Just as a widower can remarry after her husband dies, so we can remarry into Christ and start a new life.

This has more application and familiarity today than the slavery analogy.

Struggling with sin

In the second part of Romans 7, Paul opens up about himself.  This is an interesting and thoughtful look at himself as a man.  

He struggles with sin.  His conclusion in the chapter sums it well - in his mind, he is in God's law. But he knows that he will always be a slave to his sinful nature in this life.

In the midst of this, he has an interesting talk about how the law made more sin exist.  He uses the analogy of coveting.  Since coveting was a sin under the law, it opened the door in his heart for all kind of possible coveting.  Coveting became a huge problem for him and one he could not get rid.

He does not explain what exactly he coveted, so it would be speculation for us to venture in there.  But in his pre-Christ days, he clearly had a very restless heart as he persecuted Christians.  Whether or not this anger was motivated by coveting, we cannot know.