By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at verses 14-23 of chapter 6.
1.1.1. In that
study, Paul continued the exhortation he began by telling us to apply
practically in our lives the fact that we died with Christ and raised up with
him and that as a result we do not have to sin and that sin no longer should
have any mastery over us.
1.1.2. Paul again
asked the rhetorical question that he asked at the outset of this chapter of
whether or not we who are Christians can continue to live in sin. He again emphatically answered the question
with a resounding, “No!”
1.1.3. Paul also
began to speak of slavery and how that everyone is a slave of something as he
mentioned the fact that a person becomes a slave of whatever he submits himself
to, whether to sin which results in further lawlessness, or to God which
results in godliness and sanctification.
Everyone is either a slave of sin and Satan or he is a slave of God and
righteousness.
1.1.4. Paul told us
that the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
1.2.
In this study, we are going to look at verses 1-13 of
chapter 7.
1.2.1. In our study
of the book of Romans, we saw in the first four chapters how that Paul made a
case for the sinfulness of man and man’s inability to save himself on the basis
of his own good works and deeds. He also
explained how that salvation had been provided for mankind however it was on
the basis of faith in Jesus Christ and His work on Calvary’s cross, not our own
good works, and then that Jesus Christ becomes the believer’s righteousness
making him acceptable and accepted by God.
In chapter 5, we looked at the incredible and wonderful results of our
justification (made just as if we had never sinned) by Jesus Christ. In Chapter 6 we saw explained the believer’s
identification with Christ in His death and resurrection and how that being new
creatures in Christ believer’s must by their very nature cease to live lives of
sin and walk in newness of life as new creatures in Christ. In chapter 8, Paul will begin to teach about
the glorious and victorious life of the believer when he is filled with and led
by the Holy Spirit. However, first we
are going to look at chapter 7. In
chapter 7, Paul teaches about how that men, redeemed and unredeemed alike, are
unable in their own flesh and by their own will power to meet the righteousness
of God and please God.
1.2.2. Through the law no man could ever be acceptable to God
or accepted by God, but now having come to Christ man can never have victory
over sin and do the works God would have him to do by trying to keep the law in
the power of his own flesh and will power.
It is a futile attempt for the flesh to try to fulfill the law of
God. Man in his flesh may agree with the
law and see its spirituality, righteousness and importance however the flesh
cannot give him the ability to keep that law or please God.
1.2.3. Chapter 7 and chapter 8 are opposites and describe two
different kinds of living, living under the power and dominion of the flesh vs living under the power and dominion of the Holy Spirit,
walking in defeat vs walking victorious. The righteous requirement of the Law is
fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit
1.2.4. Concerning Gal. 3:1-5, where Paul confronts the
Galatians for foolishly teaching that a Christian had to keep the Law in
addition to having faith in Christ in order to be saved and then admonishes
them in verse three of the foolishness of having begun by the Spirit to now be
trying to perfect themselves by the flesh, Warren Wierbe
alludes to Romans 7 and 8 in his Galatian’s
commentary, “Christians today need the truth of v. 3, for many feel
that the same Spirit who saved them is not able to keep them or help them live
for Christ. They have the idea that salvation is by grace through faith, but
that living the Christian life depends on their own strength. How wrong this
is! Romans 7 teaches clearly that believers cannot do anything of themselves to
please God; Rom. 8 teaches that the Spirit continues the work of grace and
fulfills the demands of the Law in us.”
1.2.5. Concerning the believer experiencing the Romans 7
experience, Watchman Nee wrote, “Because of such self-deceit the
Spirit of God must lead him over the most shameful path in order to make him
know his flesh and attain God's view. God allows that soul to fall, to weaken,
and even to sin, that he may understand whether or not any good resides in the
flesh. This usually happens to the one
who thinks he is progressing spiritually. The Lord tries him in order that he
may know himself. Often the Lord so reveals His holiness to such a one that the
believer cannot but judge his flesh as defiled.
Sometimes He permits Satan to attack him so that, out of his suffering,
he may perceive himself. It is
altogether a most difficult lesson, and is not learned within a day or
night. Only after many years does one
gradually come to realize how untrustworthy is his flesh. There is uncleanness even in his best
effort. God consequently lets him
experience Romans 7 deeply until he is ready to acknowledge with Paul: I know
that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh" (v.18). How hard to learn to say this genuinely! If it were not for countless experiences of
painful defeat the believer would continue to trust himself and consider
himself able. Those hundreds and
thousands of defeats bring him to concede that all self-righteousness is
totally undependable, that no good abides in his flesh.”
2. VS 7:1 - “7:1 Or do you not know, brethren
(for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction
over a person as long as he lives?” - Paul asks
the question of whether or not the Roman Christians understood the fact that
according to their law that the law had jurisdiction over a person as long as
he lived?
2.1.
There are two primary ways men have approached
interpretation of chapter 7 of the book of Romans:
2.1.1. Some have
taught that Paul is primarily speaking of the working of the Law in the life of
a non-believer in bringing him to salvation.
2.1.2. Others have
taught that the chapter is primarily speaking of the use of the Law in the life
of a believer in bringing him to the end of himself and a walk in the power of
the Holy Spirit.
2.2.
I primarily hold to the second view because of the
problems with viewing chapter 7 the other way, however I can see how that the
Law is also used in a non-believers life before coming to Christ to show him
his sinfulness, unworthiness and need of a Savior. Plus, all throughout chapter 7, Paul speaks
of himself in the present tense, referencing his present failures.
2.3.
From my perspective then, in chapter 7 of Romans, Paul
begins to talk about the struggle that he is having as a Christian in walking
in obedience to the Lord and His will.
In chapter 5, Paul talked about justification and its results in a
Christians life. In chapter 6, Paul
talked about the believer’s assured victory over sin, as he discussed the believer’s identification with Christ in
His death, burial, and resurrection.
Now, in chapter 7, Paul begins to discuss the struggle that he had in
his life in trying to live the Christian life before he realized his identification
with Christ and then began walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. In chapter 8, Paul will begin to talk about
the believer’s victorious walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.
2.4.
In beginning chapter 7, Paul first seeks to make a
point about the law, that it is a God ordained institution that is appointed
over a person as long as he is alive. In
our day, we know that there are no dead men who appear in court for driving
over the speed limit, drunk driving, etc.
The law has no jurisdiction over dead people, it only regulates the
lives of the living.
2.5.
When we as Christians realize that we have been freed
from the Law and its demands over us, this knowledge ought to cause us to do
what Paul said in the later part of chapter 6 that true believers would do, and
that is, “serve God from the heart.”
When we realize the load of sin that Christ took upon Himself at
Calvary, just because of His love for us, we ought to and we will serve Him far
above and beyond what one would do who simply tried to live according to the
external demands of the Law upon his life.
3. VS
7:2-3 - “2 For the married
woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband
dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. 3 So then if, while
her husband is living, she is joined to another man, she shall be called an
adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is
not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.” - Paul uses the relationship of being bound in
marriage as an illustration of how the law only binds a person while he is
alive
3.1.
To illustrate his point about the law only having
jurisdiction over a person while he is living, Paul uses a case in point about
law concerning marriage and divorce. He says
that a woman who is married is bound in the institution of marriage to her
husband until her husband dies. He says
that if she marries another while her husband is alive that she is an ‘adulteress,’
but if her husband dies she is ‘free from the law’ and thus is free to
marry another legally, and shall not be an adulteress.
3.2.
We must realize as we read these words in this chapter
concerning marriage, that Paul was not trying to make a statement and define
the terms of a divorce that is acceptable in Biblical terms. That is not his point, so if we try to make
any points to that effect from silence in his argument concerning marriage, we
will make a big mistake. He was simply trying
to use marriage as an illustration in order to prove his point that the Law
only has jurisdiction over a person as long as he is living.
4. VS 7:4 - “4 Therefore, my brethren, you
also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be
joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear
fruit for God.” - Paul tells
us that just as a person is no longer bound to the law after he dies that if a
person is now a Christian that since he has as a result died to the law he is
now supposed to be joined to another as one who is alive from the dead
4.1.
In the same way, or therefore, Paul says that they ‘were
made to die to the Law through the body of Christ,’ and the reason was that
they ‘might be joined to another to Him who was raised from the dead.’ Paul says in this verse that all believers have
been caused to die to the Law by their identification with Christ. When we received Christ into our life, we
died to sin, self, the world, and the devil, and, we also died ‘to the Law.’ Therefore, the law is no longer to exert its
demands over us. We are now to walk in
the power of the Holy Spirit, what Paul refers to in other places as, “the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”
4.2.
The tense of this phrase ‘made to die’
emphasizes the fact that we are not to try to crucify ourselves, but rather
realize that at the moment of salvation our old self was caused by God to be
put to death. We have already died and
been raised up with Christ. Therefore,
because a believer has been put to death through his identification with
Christ, the Law no longer has jurisdiction over him. Believers in Christ are not under the Law any
longer.
4.3.
Believers are not under the legal imposition of laws
demanding their being kept in order to please God.
4.4.
God never intended the Law to be used as a means of
being justified and made righteous in the sight of God. The Law is holy, righteous and good as Paul
says later in this chapter, however it is only good as long as it does what it
is supposed to do which is to be a standard to show us right from wrong. It does this for us and it is a source of
condemnation for us when we fall short of its demands, however it has no power
or ability to change our lives in the slightest, it can only condemn us. Paul writes in 1 Tim. that the Law wasn’t
even designed for God’s people to live by or provide a means of obtaining
righteousness, but rather it was really designed just to reveal sin, “8 But
we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact
that law is not made for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious,
for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill
their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and
kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound
teaching, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I
have been entrusted.”
4.5.
Paul says in the last clause of this verse that the
reason that the believer was made to die to the Law and be joined to Christ was
in order for him to ‘bear fruit for God.’ There is no fruit that is pleasing to God for
those who are seeking to justify themselves before God based upon their works
of the Law. The only way a person can
bear the fruit that is pleasing to God is if God changes his nature which is
corrupt and places a right spirit within him.
Then, when the believer’s nature has been changed, he will do what the
last section of chapter 6 talked about, ‘serve God from the heart.’ He will serve God because he wants to serve
Him not because he has to serve Him.
4.6.
Jon Courson tells the follow
story that illustrates the difference between serving God under the Law vs serving Him from the heart because you want to serve
Him, “As a sixteen-year old, washing the family car was one of my Saturday
chores. The Law was laid down, and I
followed it: I squirted some water on
our green Buick Skylark, flung a towel over it a couple times and went on my
way. But that all changed when I thought
I fell in love with a girl named Stephanie.
You see, because Dad gave me permission one weekend to use the Skylark
to take Stephanie out to dinner, I washed it, dried it, waxed it, buffed it,
shined the chrome, polished the hubcaps, vacuumed the interior, and washed the
windows. I transformed the Skylark into
a thing of beauty. Why? Because of love- for while the Law made me
wash the car, Love made me do the rest.”
4.7.
Before we began chapter 6, we saw that Paul was
concerned that people would think that if a Christian was now in a relationship
with God based upon grace, that as a result this would cause him to sin even
more and without restraint. However,
when a person comes to know Christ in his life, then he dies to the old life
and begins to walk in the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, and he begins to bear
much fruit for God, much more than the Jew could bear trying to live according
to the Law.
4.8.
We Christians must come to realize that God redeemed
us in order that we might bring forth fruit unto Him. The theologian Charles Hodge once wrote, “As
far as we are concerned, redemption is in order to [produce] holiness. We are delivered from the law, that we may be
united to Christ; and we are united to
Christ, that we may bring forth fruit unto God....As deliverance from the
penalty of the law is in order to [produce] holiness, it is vain to expect that
deliverance, except with a view to the end for which it is granted.”
4.9.
Besides this, Jesus warned us in John 15 that if we
who claim to be His people aren’t abiding in Him and thus bearing fruit that we
will be cast into the fiery furnace of hell one day if we don’t repent and
begin to abide in Him.
5. VS 7:5 - “5 For while we were in the
flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the
members of our body to bear fruit for death.” -
Paul tells us that when we were living apart from Christ in the sinful
passions of the flesh which were being aroused by the law that the members of our body were bearing fruit for
death
5.1.
In this verse, Paul reminds his readers of that time
before they were Christians, by using the phrase ‘while we were in the flesh.’ Before they came to Christ they were filled
with ‘sinful passions,’ and these sinful desires ‘were aroused by the
Law.’ When the Law told them that
they were not supposed to do something, that became the very thing that they
wanted to do. This is the case with us
people sometimes. When we see a law
forbidding something, that just makes us want to break that Law.
5.2.
The Law gives no one the power to obey it or to have a
changed life, it just shows us the good deeds that we ought to be doing.
5.3.
These pre-salvation sinful passions which Paul is
referring to here can constitute many things, literally anything that is
outside of God’s will for a Christian’s life.
5.4.
The sinful passions mentioned by Paul, ‘were at
work in the members of,’ our body.
As we mentioned in chapter 6, again we can use the term ‘members’
used by Paul to refer to any limb, organ, or body part.
5.5.
All those who were of the reign of Adam were in a
reign of death, and thus Paul says here that the sinful passions in our lives
before we came to know Christ brought for ‘fruit for death.’
6. VS 7:6 - “6 But now we have been released
from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in
newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” - Paul tells us that now we Christians have
died to that which we were bound so that we might be able to serve God now in
the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter
6.1.
In this verse, Paul now talks with his readers about
their lives since becoming a Christian.
They have now been ‘released from the Law’ since they have died
to it in their identification with Christ in His death, burial and
resurrection. In their pre-salvation
state the Law brought them bondage since all it could induce in them was the
desire to sin and then bring them condemnation.
6.2.
Now that a person has received Christ into his life he
will ‘serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.’ There is a higher standard by which a
Christian is accountable than a non-Christian.
A non-Christian Jew only served God according to the ‘letter of the
Law,’ or with external obedience, however a Christian now has a new heart,
mind, will, spirit, etc, and now the Holy Spirit dwelling within Him moves him
with the love of Christ, and he obeys the higher law of love to God.
7. VS 7:7 - “7 What shall we say then? Is the
Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin
except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law
had not said, “You shall not covet.”” -
Paul asks the rhetorical question of whether or not the Law itself is
sin
7.1.
Paul asks his readers the rhetorical question in this
verse as to whether the problem lies with the Law, as he says, ‘Is the Law
sin?’ Paul answers his own question
with that same statement which he made in Rom. 6:1, and which contains his most
complete abhorrent negation which the KJV again translates, “God forbid!”
7.2.
Quite the opposite of being sin itself, the Law was
given for the very purpose of revealing sin, for it is God’s standard given to
us for righteousness. To show that this
is the case, Paul uses the specific example regarding the sin of
covetousness. Paul would not have become
aware of the sinfulness of having strong desire (coveting) for that which is
wrong if he had not read it in the Law, and the Law brought him conviction of
sin concerning his coveting of that which was wrong.
8. VS 7:8 - “8 But sin, taking opportunity
through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from
the Law sin is dead.” - Paul tells
us that the Law produced in him coveting of every kind
8.1.
The problem was not with the Law, the problem was with
Paul, it was ‘sin’ working within him.
Sin and its workings within Paul’s heart, which also worked through the
commandment of the Law forbidding covetousness, produced covetousness regarding
everything sinful act that one might be able to imagine.
8.2.
Paul writes that ‘apart from the Law sin is dead,’
which means that apart from the Law of God sin is not working within a person’s
life to produce evil desire and every work of the fleshly nature. Sin is not non-existent, but to a degree it
is dormant in a person’s life until the Law of God begins to do the work for
which God designed it in bringing conviction of sin. Paul had written in the latter part of
chapter 1 and in chapter 2 about how that the Law worked within the heart of
every Gentile, and that therefore they were without excuse for their sin if
they were to die without a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
9. VS 7:9 - “9 And I was once alive apart
from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died;” - Paul tells us that when the commandment became
alive that he died
9.1.
As I mentioned on verse 1 concerning this whole
chapter, there are two ways in which this next section of scripture from this
verse to the end of the chapter have been interpreted, and both have
problems. Both ways have plausibility,
and we can see truth revealed in either interpretation.
9.2.
Some say that in this verse Paul was talking about his
days as a Pharisee before coming to salvation through Christ. They say then that he is saying that there
was a point in time when he was living his life and God had not brought
conviction of his sins by using the Law.
Then, finally the Law did its work of bringing conviction by pointing
out to him where he had fallen short.
The Law was then used by God to bring about his death to self by causing
sin to come alive, and at that point he became converted to Christianity.
9.2.1. The problems
with this view as I see it are first that Paul would be speaking of himself
before coming to Christ as being ‘alive,’ however in his letters Paul
always refers to himself in his pre-Christian experience as being “dead in
trespasses and sin.”
9.2.2. The second
problem with this is that of the historical account of Paul’s conversion
doesn’t seem to match this kind of a salvation experience. Paul was breathing threats and had murder in
his heart as he was going to jail and persecute Christians in Damascus, and the
last thing on his heart was his own failures and inability to keep God’s
Law. Jesus caught him completely off
guard when He appeared to him.
9.3.
The second way to interpret this passage is that Paul
is talking about his Christian experience in its early beginning stages. He had come ‘alive’ to faith in Christ
and was trying to walk with Christ as best as he could, however one day the Law
convicted him of his inability in and of himself to keep the commandments, and
this caused him to realize that he had to die to his self and let Christ live
through his life. In this way of looking
at this passage, we can see how that the Lord uses His Law in the life of a Christian
to bring him to the end of himself.
9.3.1. This then is
the problem with this view for some people because they cannot see how that God
can use His Law in the life of a Christian.
However, because God does in fact still use the law in the life of a Christian
this interpretation of this section seems the most feasible to me.
10.
VS 7:10 - “10
and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death
for me;” - Paul tells us here that the
commandment which was to result in life instead resulted in death for him
10.1.
God’s Law would produce life in people if they were
able to obey its demands, the problem is that we are a fallen race and are
therefore not able to keep the commandments of the Law in our own strength and
will-power.
10.2.
One person has written that the Law does not show us
how good we ought to be, instead it shows us how good we cannot be.
10.3.
The problem then is not with the Law however, it is
with us because we cannot keep the Law.
Therefore, the Law is used by God in our life in order to show us that
we cannot keep it, and that therefore in order to live righteously and please
God with our lives we must learn to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to
God in Christ Jesus.
10.4.
We Christians ought to let the Law do the work in our lives
that God intended it to do, namely, put us to death. We ought to begin to moment by moment reckon
ourselves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. We ought to realize that in and of ourselves
we have absolutely no power to obey God’s Law.
We are incapable from the start.
We ought to just give up and let the Lord live His life in and through
our life. We ought to become broken
before the Lord and realize that we are absolutely corrupt and without hope
apart from Christ.
10.5.
It is our own belief that somehow deep down there is
some good in us and that we can somehow do God’s will in our own strength that
will keep us from abiding in Christ and living in the victory He provides for
us. It is our relying upon our own
wisdom and preconceptions of what we think that the Lord wants us to do that
will hinder us. Its relying upon
formulas, traditions, culture and philosophies that keeps us in bondage. We need to just come to Christ and hope in
Him for all of our strength and needs.
He must be our all!
11.
VS 7:11 - “11
for sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through
it killed me.” - Paul tells
us that sin took opportunity through the commandments to deceive him and
through the commandments killed him
11.1.
Man’s problem is not with the Law, the problem is ‘sin’
in our lives. Sin indwells all people
since the fall of Adam, and therefore ‘sin’ uses the Law in the lives of
people and they are therefore caused to commit even more sin.
11.2.
Sin is deceitful, and when it controls our life we
don’t even realize that we are being controlled by it. We are being deceived, so we don’t even
understand why we are doing many of the things that we do in our life.
11.3.
Paul says that as a result of his own sin and the Law
revealing his sinfulness, he came to die to self and live to God, and thus have
that victory over sin which he was promised.
12.
VS 7:12 - “12
So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” - Paul tells us that the commandments of God
are holy, righteous, and good
12.1.
As I mentioned earlier in our study, the Law itself is
‘holy and righteous and good.’
There is nothing that is wrong with the Law. The problem with this world is us and our
sin.
12.2.
One person has said that now in our day and time with
there having been such an emphasis in the church about the love of God, that a
person’s commitment to Christ is more easily seen by his appreciation of God’s
Law than of His love. The Psalmist
delighted in God’s Law and made it His meditation day and night. His statutes, commandments, and precepts were
all a delight to him.
12.3.
Jon Courson writes, “Philosopher,
social critic, and writer for the London Daily Observer, G.K. Chesterton was
addressed by a woman who wrote a letter asking him to write a series of
articles explaining what was wrong with the world. The following day, Chesterton penned this
classic reply: ‘Madam, I will tell you
what is wrong with the world in two words:
I am’. What’s wrong with the
world? I am. Not a politcal
problem, or an economic situation, the real reason for the problems of the
world is you and me personally. And what
is responsible for the problems within us?
Sin. Sin in us causes problems to
come pouring out from us, which affects the world around us. Sin is the problem. Sin is the issue. In our culture, people don’t want to talk
about sin. When he was nearing the end
of his illustrious career, Dr. Karl Meninger, the
brilliant psychiatrist and prolific author, wrote one final book in which he
appraised the psychiatric health of the nation.
In this book, entitled, Whatever
Happened to Sin?, he concluded that the problem with our culture is that we
have forgotten the word ‘sin’. We call
people ‘disfunctional’, or ‘victims’, but Meninger maintained the real issue is just plain sin. Norman Vincent Peale may extol the power of
positive thinking, but the Apostle Paul declares it to be no match for the
destructiveness of sin. Thus, because
Paul tackles the root issue head-on, I find Norman Vincent Peale appalling, but
the Apostle Paul very appealing.”
13.
VS 7:13 - “13
Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never
be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting
my death through that which is good, that through the commandment sin might
become utterly sinful.” - Paul asks
rhetorically whether or not something good such as the Law could become a
source of death for him, and he resoundingly answers, “No!”, it was his sin
that caused the problem
13.1.
In this verse, Paul asks the question of how that that
the Law which is ‘good’ could then become a source of his death? In other words did God’s holy Word kill? Again, Paul uses that phrase that
communicates the strongest denial of that to be stated, ‘May it never be!’
(“God forbid!” in the KJV). It
was not the Law that caused the death, it was what the Law revealed, Paul’s
sin. The commandments of God’s Word
caused the sin in Paul’s life to become ‘utterly’ (completely or
absolutely) sinful.
14.
CONCLUSIONS:
14.1.
As we consider this study and how we ought to apply it
to our life, lets first of all affirm that in and of ourselves and in the power
of our flesh that there is no way that we shall ever be able to even come close
to pleasing or being accepted by God.
We’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.
14.2.
Lets be committed to appropriating our identification
with Christ which we studied about in chapter 6 and moment by moment begin to
reckon or count it as true that we have died with Christ and been raised up to
walk in newness of life in Him.
14.3.
Lets realize the great need we have by being
completely dependent upon the Holy Spirit working within our hearts and minds
to produce any fruit in our lives for God.