OUR RELATIONSHIP TO LAW
(ROMANS 7)
INTRODUCTION
A. Review previous lessons up to chapter seven.
a. whole world needs gospel because the world stands condemned
b. gospel is about God making a person righteous apart from law
c. faith in God’s Son justifies & brings peace & hope
d. we are either connected to Adam or Christ
e. a Christian does not live in sin, not because he is under law, for he is not, but because of his union with Jesus’ death, his release from sin master & loyalty to his new master Christ
B. In the 7th chapter Paul is going to show his readers that the Christian’s victory over sin is due to his release from law. And, to counter any critic who wants to accuse Paul of being against God’s law, he will show the futility of trying to win over sin by law. As a result,
a. some claimed his approach to law undermines law
b. some say he is encouraging sin
C. Those who insist in making the gospel & the epistles into a law like Moses’ law, need to hear what Paul has to say in this chapter.
I. RELEASED FROM LAW
A. Law governs the living – illustrated with the law of marriage (Rom.7:1-3).
a. law binds woman to her husband as long as there is life
b. death releases the woman from the marriage law that bound her
c. divorce is not under discussion in these passages
B. Paul’s application of the marriage principle (Rom.7:4-6).
a. to serve God acceptably we have to be released from our marriage to law (those who insist we are under law are spiritual adulteresses)
b. the problem with being bound to law is that it demanded flawlessness
a. Mr. Law as a husband was so perfect that he brought to light our imperfections
b. it is a miserable relationship (trying hard to satisfy Mr. law, but couldn’t – pain & guilt)
c. the legalist mistakenly thinks his goodness can satisfy law
d. the legalist is disrespecting the Law’s demands by offering his imperfect performance. Those of faith respect the Law’s holy demands & lets them
stand as they are & offers Christ' righteousness for the Law's demands.
c. released by death when we united with Christ’s death - freed us from law (people have to die to the law arrangement system in order to be married to Christ)
d. our loving service, though flawed, is acceptable to new husband – we serve in “the newness of the spirit”/”new life of the Spirit”
C. In order to serve God acceptably, a person must be freed from sin & law that gives life to sin.
II. ANSWERING OBJECTIONS
A. Since Paul has said that a person must be free from sin to please God & in order to be free from sin a person must also be free from law too, some would accuse him of teaching that God’s law is evil & the problem.
B. (Rom.7:7-14) Here Paul addresses that charge. He shows that the problem was not God’s law, but man’s failure to live up to its high demands. Those who have a law mentality will wrongly assume that Paul & true gospel preachers are against God’s law. This is not true. We know the importance of God's law.
a. law is not sin, it identifies sin (v7)
b. sin is personified as being an entity so strong that it uses law, which is “holy & just & good,” to reign over its victims (v8-12; 1Cor.15:56)
c. it is not the law, but sin that kills us (v13)
C. (Rom.7:15-25) Paul shows his own struggle to keep law while he was living in a law-righteousness arrangement and the futility of trying to measure up to its high demands.
a. a sincere morally good man is pictured here, but relying on his ability to keep law for his righteousness
b. he is outside of Christ
c. “flesh” - his own efforts to keep commands
d. wants to do what the law requires, but sin somehow wins out
e. he is left dealing with a mountain of guilt & knowing that sin owns him – “sold under sin…into captivity”
f. he is miserable & in his wretchedness wants help - deliverance from his “body of death”
D. (Rom.7:25) Freedom from sin’s misery comes by turning to Christ.
a. Jesus frees us from “the law of sin & death”
b. freed by “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom.8:1,2)
CONCLUSION
What we have learned in this lesson is that Sin is so powerful that it takes something good from God & uses it to slay us & reign over us. Try as we might, we will never live up to the law’s demands; our efforts are futile & bring us only guilt & pain. The only way to win over sin & lovingly serve God in our flawed condition, is to be freed from a law arrangement. By uniting with Jesus’ death we are set free & sin no longer condemns us.