Learning Inductive Bible Study Methods with Romans 7

Over the last month or so, I’ve been searching for ways to improve how I study the Bible. I’ve used the Abide method, designed by the women at Risen Motherhood; I’ve practiced reading and narration as Charlotte Mason recommends; I’ve also written down portions of Scripture in my journal in cursive to help me commit their content to memory. Recently I came across this article by Jim Wilson, which gives a great outline for the how and why of the inductive Bible study method.

I meet with a couple women from church on a regular basis and I love studying the Bible with them. We’re reading through the book of Romans together, and for our last study we discussed chapter 7. Rather than just listing the main points of the chapter, I decided to get in some writing practice while learning to use the inductive Bible study method. Here’s what I came up with. I included all of Romans 7 followed by my notes on each section. My writing ends with a few general things I noticed about the passage and a list of key words.

I hope this article encourages you to keep up your daily Bible reading, and to find a Bible study method that works well for you if you haven’t already. May the word of Christ dwell in you richly! ¹

My Notes on Romans 7

“Or do you not know, brothers–for I am speaking to those who know the law–that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”
Romans 7:1-6

The law is binding on a person only for as long as he lives. If you are married, and your spouse dies, you are not bound by law anymore; you are free to remarry. If, however, your spouse is still alive, you may not live with or marry another person.

Paul compares this to the law. He says that when we follow Christ, we die to the law and the law has no power over us anymore. We are free to love Christ and do what He commands; we are bound by grace, and not works, meaning Christ saves us, not our adherence to the law. This is such good news! Although my actions must reflect my love for God, I don’t have to work to bring about my own salvation. Christ has done that for me, and I belong to Him.

“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
Romans 7:7-12

The law is not sin, but the law does reveal our sin. How does this work? Paul explains. Until we read the law, we are not aware of the wrong we are doing. When we read the law, we realize specific sins in our lives. Paul uses the example of covetousness. He says, “For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.” Paul goes on to say that “apart from the law, sin lies dead.”

I find this sentence interesting: “So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” It seems like in this sentence, Paul distinguishes between the law and the commandment. He could, however, also be using a form of parallelism, which is common in Hebrew poetry. Psalm 12 says, “Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.” The first sentence says the same thing in two ways, that the godly people are gone, and the second sentences repeats this format, saying that the people are lying. So, Paul could be saying the same thing in two different ways.

I do wonder, though, if Paul is in fact distinguishing between the law and the commandment. He could be using ‘the law’ as a general term, and then narrowing down to each specific commandment. So, the law is holy, and each commandment is holy and righteous and good. But why would Paul distinguish between the two? Wouldn’t he also consider the law to be righteous and good, in addition to being holy? Perhaps the answer comes down to our actions in relation to each commandment. The words ‘good’ and ‘righteous’ do mean something different than the word ‘holy.’ Holy means set apart, good means doing something for the benefit of another, and righteous means having a right standing before God. This would mean that the law is set apart, while each commandment is set apart for our benefit so that we may know how to have a right standing before God.

“Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
Romans 7:13-25

That which is good does not bring death to us, rather sin produces death in us through that which is good. This is similar to what Paul says before; the law is not sin, but the law reveals our sin. Sin becomes sinful beyond measure through the commandment. We cannot know what is good unless God reveals it to us, and he does this in His law. We know the law is spiritual, but we are of the flesh. We continue to do the things we don’t want to do, even though we know they’re sinful according to God’s law. Paul says that “it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me.”

When we want to do what is right, evil is also close at hand. This is a sobering reality, and makes the battles we fight as Christians all the more important. We must not let down our guard. The desires of our minds may be for what is good, but our flesh, or our “members” as Paul says, is captive to the law of sin. Only Jesus can deliver us from this body of death. Again, this is such good news! We live in this already-but-not-yet state while here on earth, but in heaven and in the new heavens and the new earth, Jesus will make our bodies whole and perfect. So, our flesh will be able to carry out what our mind desires. We’ll no longer do what we don’t want to do, but we will do what we do want to do.

As I read I noticed a few things. Paul switches between first, second, and third person during this passage. This stood out to me because as a writer, sometimes I don’t know which tense to use. Actually, a more accurate way to say that is that more often than not I’m afraid to use the first person tense, ‘I’. I don’t want the focus to be on me, but rather on what God is doing in my life. Over the last few years, in which I’ve been writing more often–dare I say, habitually!–I’ve come to realize the benefit of using ‘I’ statements. Using ‘I’ makes me feel like I’m telling the story of God’s work in my life. In this case, I might be the technical subject of the sentences, but my hope is that they point to God’s goodness and providence and love. Paul does exactly that here. He shows his readers how he, Paul, struggles against the desires of his flesh. Then, he directs his readers to Jesus’ saving grace. As a writer, I’m free to use ‘I’ in my writing, as long as my writing gives God the glory, and not myself.

Using ‘I’ statements also gives the reader someone with which to identify. My writing is about me, a real person who struggles with sin, and points to times in my life where God has shown me my sin and given me a way to overcome it. First Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” God also writes each of us a unique story that we can use to encourage others. He gives us each a unique voice and a unique set of circumstances. We must ask ourselves how we can use our experiences to serve and love other our neighbors.

Some key words Paul uses are law, good, body, members, sin, commandment, death, dwells, and evil.

Photo: My Bible

1. Colossians 3:16 ↩