Romans 7:22

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
For	γὰρ gar	G1063	properly · conjunction
delight	συνήδομαι sunēdomai	G4913	to rejoice in with oneself · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 1st person singular
law	νόμῳ nomō	G3551	law (through the idea of prescriptive usage) · noun — dative singular masculine
God	θεοῦ theou	G2316	figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title
after	κατὰ kata	G2596	(prepositionally) down (in place or time) · preposition
the	ἄνθρωπον, anthrōpon	G444	from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι)) · noun — accusative singular masculine
inward	ἔσω esō	G2080	inside (as preposition or adjective) · adverb
man	ἄνθρωπος ánthrōpos	G444	from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psalms 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
Psalms 119:35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
Psalms 119:47-48 And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.
Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
Hebrews 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and…
Psalms 119:97-104 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 7:14–end

Here is a description of the conflict between grace and corruption in the heart, between the law of God and the law of sin. And it is applicable two ways: - 1. To the struggles that are in a convinced soul, but yet unregenerate, in the person of whom it is supposed, by some, that Paul speaks. 2. To the struggles that are in a renewed sanctified soul, but yet in a state of imperfection; as other apprehend. And a great controversy there is of which of these we are to understand the apostle here. So far does the evil prevail here, when he speaks of one sold under sin, doing it, not performing that which is good, that it seems difficult to apply it to the regenerate, who are described to walk no…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 7:22

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man--"from the bottom of my heart." The word here rendered "delight" is indeed stronger than "consent" in Rom 7:16; but both express a state of mind and heart to which the unregenerate man is a stranger.

Adam Clarke on Romans 7:22

I delight in the law of God after the inward man - Every Jew, and every unregenerate man, who receives the Old Testament as a revelation from God, must acknowledge the great purity, excellence and utility of its maxims, etc., though he will ever find that without the grace of our Lord Jesus he can never act according to those heavenly maxims; and without the mercy of God, can never be redeemed from the curse entailed upon him for his past transgressions. To say that the inward man means the regenerate part of the soul, is supportable by no argument. Ὁ εσω ανθρωπος, and ὁ εντος ανθρωπος, especially the latter, are expressions frequently in use among the purest Greek ethic writers, to signif…

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John Gill on Romans 7:22

For I delight in the law of God,.... This an unregenerate man cannot do; he does not like its commands, they are disagreeable to his corrupt nature; and as it is a threatening, cursing, damning law, it can never be delighted in by him: the moralist, the Pharisee, who obeys it externally, do not love it, nor delight in it; he obeys it not from love to its precepts, but from fear of its threatenings; from a desire of popular esteem, and from low, mercenary, selfish views, in order to gain the applause of men, and favour of God: only a regenerate man delights in the law of God; which he does, as it is fulfilled by Christ, who has answered all the demands of it: and as it is in the hands of Chri…

The Church Fathers

The "inmost self" is the mind.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

He means, for I knew even before this what was good, but when I find it set down in writing, I praise it.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on Romans 13

Here Paul is describing the common lot of man. For the ordinary person can see in his mind what ought to be done but cannot achieve it. But the man who has believed in Christ with his mind can achieve it with the help of the Holy Spirit. Such a person is therefore called "spiritual."
— Diodorus of Tarsus, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Sanctification — Involves more than a mere moral reformation of character, brought about by the power of the truth: it is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing the whole nature more and more under the influences of…
Sin — Is “any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God” (1 John 3:4; Rom. 4:15), in the inward state and habit of the soul, as well as in the outward conduct of the life, whether by…
Conscience · 20:12; — 20:12;
Good And Evil · Subjective conflict between — Subjective conflict between
Justification · 23:6; — 23:6;
Law Of God, The · Saints: Delight in — Saints: Delight in
New Birth, The · Described as: The inward man — Described as: The inward man
Spirit · General references — General references
Stoicism · .That the “law of the mind” is at war with the “law of the members,” — .That the “law of the mind” is at war with the “law of the members,”
Zeal, Religious · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Romans 7:22

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 7:14–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 7:22

Adam Clarke on Romans 7:22

John Gill on Romans 7:22

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Romans 7:22

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 7:14–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 7:22

Adam Clarke on Romans 7:22

John Gill on Romans 7:22

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Romans 7:21-23

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Romans 7:22