7:4 Is this a proof text that the church is the bride of Christ as some claim?
No! Paul illustrates here the Christian's liberation from the Old Testament law with the analogy of marriage, showing how the death of one partner frees the other from a life-long obligation. He compares it to Christians who having died with Christ on the cross (spiritually, by their conversion to Christ), are freed from the constraints of the law that bound them to sin, as the woman was freed from the constraints of the law that bound her to her husband while he lived (cp Ro 1:1-6). This is still a continuation of the subject of chapter 6 and simply shows how by their identification with Christ in his sacrificial death, Christians have been delivered from sin's power to follow Christ - to be one with Him (cp Ro 6:6-10; 2Cor 5:14-15; Ga 2:20; Col 3:1-3). Ro 7:2-3 is not teaching that only the death of a spouse frees a Christian to remarry; it is not teaching about divorce and remarriage at all, as some think. Both Jesus and Paul deal with those issues elsewhere in scripture - see comments on Mt 5:31-32.
(See comments on all Ro 6 questions, also Ro 3:9, 5:12-14, 7:4, 7:7-23, 8:1-2, 8:3-4; Ga 5:17; Jas 4:5 and 1 Jn 3:6-9,
7:7-23 Does what Paul describes here portray the normal Christian life as so many in the church believe?
A great many Christians believe that what Paul describes here was an ongoing experience for him over which he had no control, even after he came to Christ, and because their experience is the same as Paul describes here, they see it as the normal Christian life. But Paul is not teaching that at all (cp Ga 5:17). As we saw in our study on Ro 6:6-11 this is the most misunderstood scripture in Christendom. It is often compared with Ro 7 and taught as referring to constant warfare between the flesh and the spirit, making one a victim of the flesh and helpless to live right, but as we also learned in 6:6-11 that is not correct as Ro 7:16, 18, 22-25 clearly testify (cpGa 5:16, 18, 22-25). Of course V17 does describe anyone who is walking in the flesh, the same as Ro 7 does, but like Ro 7 also, it does not refer to the normal life of a Christian under grace walking in the Spirit (cp Ro 8:1-6). This is the normal Christian life. In Ro 7:14 Paul describes himself as "carnal, sold under sin", and in V23 as being taken captive by sin, clearly referring to his former sinful nature, not his new nature in Christ (cp 2Cor 5:17 with Ga 2:18-20). These scriptures prove that Paul was not carnal, sold under sin after he came to Christ. He lived a victorious, holy life in Christ, and throughout scripture he exhorts Christians to do the same (cp Ro 6:1-2,12-13, 19; 8:12-14; 1Cor 4:16; 11:1; Ga 5:16, 18, 22-25; 6:7-8; Eph 4:21-24; 6:11-18; Php 3:17-18; Col 2:6-7; 3:1-11; He 12:1).
What Paul was describing in Ro 7:7-23 was his pre-conversion experience of sin's power under the law, not his post-conversion experience under grace. He was demonstrating the insufficiency of the law to redeem man apart from grace, not the insufficiency of the gospel of grace (cp V24-25). This is not teaching as so many believe, that even after he was saved, while serving God with his mind, Paul still succumbed to sin. Paul is simply summing up here the central truth of Ro 6: that God through Christ has set believers free from the law of sin and death. How could Paul instruct other Christians against yielding to sin if he could not overcome it himself. All Paul's teaching about God's grace in Christ being more powerful than sin in Ro 5 and 6 is meaningless if he could not overcome sin in Ro 7 while under grace himself (cp Ro 5:15-17, 20-21 and 6:12-14 with 2Cor 10:3-5).
In Ro 6:14 Paul stresses that Christians are not under the law that demands obedience but gives no power to obey; we are under grace which has given us the power, and indeed guarantees us the ultimate triumph (cp Ro 6:14 with Jn 15:5; Ro 5:20-21; 8:35-39; 2Cor 9:8; Ga 5:16-18; Php 4:13; 1Jn 4:4). This is not to say that the believer's old sinful nature is extinct and no longer able to reassert itself. It is not extinct and it will try to reassert itself, but believers no longer have to obey its behests because sin's power over them has been broken. It was broken when they converted to Christianity and were baptized into Christ and into his body, the church (cp Ro 6:3-7, 14; 7:4-6; 8:1-4; 2Cor 5:14-15, 17; Eph 4:17-24; Col 2:8-13; 1Jn 3:6-9; 5:4, 18).
(See comments on all Ro 6 questions, also Ro 3:9, 5:12-14, 7:4, 7:7-23, 8:1-2, 8:3-4; Ga 5:17; Jas 4:5 and 1 Jn 3:6-9 and author's studies Romans 6 - a Study on God's Empowering of Believers through Jesus Christ to Overcome Sin in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 1), The Power of God in Christians to Overcome the Devil, The Doctrine of Grace and Regeneration and Sanctification Defined in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 2), and What being Born Again Means in his book Foundational Truths of the Christian Faith).
It is plainly evident from a study of scripture that what Paul describes in Ro 7 does not portray the normal Christian life but his unregenerate self before he was saved. Christians are no longer captives to sin's power over them. They can, and must, say no to sin, and if they are resolute in their efforts to resist sin's power, no sin is possible. No force at all can change our will if it is yielded to God (cp Ro 6:17-18, 22; 2Cor 10:3-5; Jas 4:6-10; 1Pe 5:6-9; 1Jn 3:6-9; 5:4, 18). See also comments on Ro 5:15; 6:1; 6:3-5; 6:6-11; 6:12-14; 6:15; 6:16; 6:17-20; 6:21-23 and Gal 5:17.
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