<p>7:14&nbsp;<i>For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal</i>- But &ldquo;in Christ&rdquo; he was not carnal (1 Cor. 3:1 s.w.). Again he has in mind states, positions, spheres. &ldquo;Carnal&rdquo; is literally &lsquo;fleshly&rsquo;. He points up the contrast between the flesh and Spirit. We cannot get into the &lsquo;Spirit&rsquo; sphere by obeying the Law, even though the Law is &ldquo;spiritual&rdquo;, given by and of the Holy Spirit. The way to get into the sphere or status of the Spirit isn&rsquo;t by obedience to a spiritual Law, because we keep failing to be obedient. We enter the sphere of the Spirit by baptism into Christ, &ldquo;the Lord the Spirit&rdquo; (2 Cor. 3:18 RV). He is &ldquo;the Spirit&rdquo; in that He embodies the Spirit of God- and therefore this is His title in Rom. 8:26. And Romans 8 will argue further that it is by our acceptance of our new status by grace, believing that we really are &ldquo;in Christ&rdquo; and justified by God&rsquo;s grace, that the Spirit will work in our lives; so that we are indeed in the Spirit and not in the flesh.&nbsp;</p>
<p><i>Sold unto sin</i>- As if he was a slave to the &ldquo;sin&rdquo; master. This is how the word is used in Mt. 18:25 and many times in its LXX usage. Yet in chapter 6 he has exalted that in Christ, we died to the power of sin (6:2) and are not under sin (6:18,22). So what does Paul mean? He may mean that he&nbsp;<i>had been</i>&nbsp;sold under sin; maybe using a literary rhetorical device which is relevant to the unredeemed Jews rather than himself personally; maybe he is at this point totally identified with Israel and is personifying Israel under the Law without Christ; or is it that he is admitting his personal failure to walk the talk he has outlined so eloquently in chapter 6; or is he recognizing that although we have changed status and masters with our real self, the inward man who delights in God&rsquo;s law (7:22), we are still human and that human side of us still sins? My own suggestion is that Paul is here quoting a phrase from Rabbinic writings, although it would seem that the source has been lost to us. This would be in keeping with his style throughout Romans 1-8. He would then be using the Jewish writings themselves to demonstrate the misery of the human position without Christ; and this would fit in with the way at times in Romans 7:7-25 he appears to be consciously personifying Israel.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>