74) Before belonging to Christ

Romans 7:5 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.

Here in verse 5 Paul reminds his brothers of their prior condition of living in the flesh before they had faith in Christ. Before dying to the law, the sinful passions of Paul and his Jewish brothers were aroused by the law. Since the law was powerless to subdue the passions of the sinful nature, these sinful passions bore fruit for death. The fruit was sin and the wages of sin is death. Paul was explaining to his fellow Jews that the Law was a ministry of death that could not save anyone, and in fact condemned them to death. Verse 5 is the condition of a Jew under Law before his condition in verse 4 of being in Christ.

Focus on Christ #74