7:14 the law is spiritual. A further description of the law, in addition to v. 12. Far from repudiating the law (3:31), Paul declares that it sets forth the standard to which life governed by the Spirit should conform. By contrast, he calls himself “of the flesh” because he cannot fully reach this standard. As a moral ruin, now under reconstruction, he displays the marks of what he has been as a result of Adam as well as of what he will be as a result of Christ.

sold under sin. While not the whole truth about him (v. 25), Paul recognizes that from the viewpoint of God’s holy law, this is the truth about his bodily existence and behavior (Christian though he is) and he proceeds to explain it.