The Law and the Believer
Notes
Transcript
Today we are continuing our study in Romans, picking up in Romans 7.
As we get into this chapter we need to keep in mind the context of what the Holy Spirit has been communicating through Paul.
After showing that all mankind is condemned before God by sin, and that God in his grace has freely offered salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, Paul has been addressing believers.
Beginning in chapter 5, he has been showing the great gifts that God has given to us:
Peace with God
Standing in Grace
Hope in the Glory of God
Knowledge that God uses suffering to produce:
Perseverance
character
hope
Reigning in Life vs being reigned over by sin and death
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
Paul then expands on this topic of reigning in life in chapters 6 & 7. How do we reign in life?
It comes back to God abundant provision of grace and righteousness.
Paul asks and answer two questions in chapter six to help us understand how reigning in life is possible.
Shall we continue sinning so grace increases?
Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?
Both of which he answers with, “By no means!”
He gave knowledge and actions we need to have because we are not to continue sinning.
Then, he used the analogy of slavery to help us understand that when we sin, we are placing ourselves back into bondage to sin.
Now, in chapter 7, Paul is going to help us understand another form of bondage that we too often are tempted to place ourselves under: the Bondage to Law.
Law and the Believer - Romans 7
Law and the Believer - Romans 7
Before we read and work our way through the chapter, I want to address something about this chapter.
There has been a lot of ink spilled over this chapter, specifically regarding verses 13-23. When reading through this section, there are two major opinions:
Paul is writing about himself as a believer struggling with sin
Paul is writing representatively about how there was a struggle with law before his salvation
I know I personally have seen both sides of this issue, and have wavered in previous years between the two.
Where I currently stand is this: it is applicable in both scenarios. Law always works the same way, whether in the life of an unbeliever, or in the life of a believer. So, today, whether you are here as a believer, or as one who has not yet come to believe in Jesus, this passage is equally applicable. Anytime we try to approach God by following law, or rules, we will find ourselves further estranged from him.
Let’s get into the chapter and see how this works.
Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?
For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.
So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
The Analogy
The Analogy
Paul begins by using this analogy of marriage.
So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.
But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
The Believer’s relation to the Law
The Believer’s relation to the Law
What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
Law shows what Sin is
Law shows what Sin is
But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.
Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
Law is a Catalyst for Sin
Law is a Catalyst for Sin
cat•a•lyst \ˈka-tə-ləst\ noun
1902
1: a substance that enables a chemical reaction to proceed at a usually faster rate or under different conditions (as at a lower temperature) than otherwise possible
2: an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action
The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
law intended to bring life
Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.
but became a minister of death
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
Law is Good
Law is Good
Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
Law makes Sin Detestable
Law makes Sin Detestable
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into bondage to sin.
So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.
I am fleshly
I am fleshly
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
My dilemma
My dilemma
As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
My Battle with Sin
My Battle with Sin
For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
My Cry of Desperation
My Cry of Desperation
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
The Rescuer
The Rescuer
What about me?
What about me?