Unit 2: Faith Triumphs, Law Fails
Key Verse:
Romans 7:6 NLT
6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now, we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
Prelude:
Romans 6:4 NLT
4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
. This week’s lesson in Chapter 7 of Romans is an illustration of an argument that Paul has been making since Chapter 2. Paul has made two key points clearly. First, “All have sinned have fallen short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:12). Paul has built his argument to include both Jews and Gentiles. Secondly, he has argued that, for both Jews and Gentiles, God has provided righteousness through His Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:8-11).
Now that Paul has demonstrated to his audience their formerly shared unrighteousness, as well as the righteousness they now share through Christ, he encourages them to live holy. Furthermore, he argues and will argue that they have the power (the Holy Spirit) and the freedom to decide for God. They no longer are under an obligation to follow their sinful nature. Paul uses the illustration of marriage according to Jewish custom to make his point clear.
The Lesson
Romans 7:1 NLT
1 Now, dear brothers and sisters[a]—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living?
Just a reminder. Paul is writing primarily to Jewish Christians in Rome. His secondary audience is Gentiles, Romans who have become Christian converts. Why? It is important to Paul that he helps all of the Christians in Rome to come to a place of understanding concerning their unity in the faith so as to quash the dissension between them. They are now brothers and sisters in Christ.
Writing to Jews, he reminds them of contractual law. Contractual law of any kind only applies when the parties involved in the contract are alive. The exception exists in the case of a will, where, at the time of death, the will of the deceased is enforced so as to execute the last wishes of the deceased. Among the many purposes that the law of Moses served, the establishment of the civic law of Israel was integral in their establishment as a nation.
Romans 7:2 NLT
2 For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her.
One of the few commonalities that every culture shares is the rite of marriage. Every culture recognizes the spiritual sanctity and the legal gravity that accompanies the marriage ritual. Though the customs may vary, every culture honors the marriage bond. By invoking the custom of marriage as an example, Paul provides an example that all Jews can recognize. A woman is bound to her husband for as long as he lives. But, when he dies, the woman is no longer bound to him. Give me a minute.
Romans 7:3 NLT
3 So, while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.
Matthew 19:8 NLT
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended.
Malachi 2:16 NLT
16 “For I hate divorce!”[c] says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,[d]” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”
In ancient Israel, according to the law, divorce occurred at the purview of the husband. If he was dissatisfied with his wife, he could request a writ of divorce and absolve the relationship. However, for the woman, the issue was not so cut and dried. In the case of divorce, if she remarried, she was considered to have committed adultery. In essence, though she was no longer married to her first husband, she was associated with him by marriage for as long as he was alive.
Let me make note of the fact that divorce was permitted under the law, but it was never God’s will. Also, in ancient Israel, the stigma of divorce did not abide with the man as it did with the woman. The stain on her reputation was indelible. Allow me to make a couple of final points. First, while it is clear from Scripture that divorce was not intended by God, it is also clear that in the case of divorce, God bore no ill will toward the woman. In fact, in the Book of Malachi, God holds the husbands responsible for divorce and accuses them of cruelty to their wives in the case of divorce. Jesus confirms this by noting that divorce was allowed because of the hardness of the hearts of the men who submitted these ‘writs of divorce’. Wives were to be loved and cherished by their husbands, not crushed or abandoned by them. Peter seems to align with this concept when he admonishes husbands to ‘honor their wives … so that their prayers would not be hindered’. Secondly, Paul is not giving us inspired instruction in regard to marriage and divorce in this passage in Romans. He’s teaching about the diminishing power of sin in the life of the believer. This is not a treatise on divorce. We will do that some other time.
2 Peter 3:7 NLT
7 In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.
______________________________________
Romans 7:4 NLT
4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.
Paul now returns to his primary topic: our permanent separation from sin and the power therein. In the same way that a woman in ancient Israel could not be separated from association to her husband, except by the death of the husband, we could not be separated from sin, except by death. Through our death in Christ, we are no longer bound to sin. Rather, we are free to live for God and to exemplify that life to others as Christ’s servants.
Romans 7:5 NLT
5 When we were controlled by our old nature,[b] sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.
In the same way that a divorced woman was indelibly associated with her first husband, before Christ, we were indelibly associated with sin. From birth, we were held captive to sin. Sin has taken residence in our old nature and controls our thoughts and actions. In fact, the law condemns us by revealing to us the depth of our evil desires and our powerlessness to overcome them.
Romans 7:6 NLT
6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
But when we accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, we died to sin. That death separated us from the power and penalty of sin… permanently. Eternally. That separation is as final for the believer as it was for the woman whose husband had died. That woman was free from any perceived legal association with her now-deceased husband.. Beloved, in the same way, we are now free from any legal association with sin. In that it is contractual, it is eternal before God, the Judge of all creation. That’s really good news, Beloved!
Romans 7:7 NLT
7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”
Beloved, be reminded that the Law of Moses was given by God at Mount Sinai. The law originated with God. The law is holy and just. The law cannot be sinful. Rather, the law is the standard by which all men are judged. The law serves as a mirror to reveal to us our sins. The law stands between us and Heaven and justly declares us unrighteous by our own will or our own acts of self-righteousness.
Romans 7:8-10 NLT
8 But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. 9 At one time, I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, 10 and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead.
Before we became aware of the law, we were still guilty of sin, we just weren’t aware of how wretchedly evil sin was. Then, even when we were exposed to the letter of the law, we set about trying to justify ourselves by creating various caveats to the law that justified our behavior while condemning the behavior of others. Rather than admit our covetousness, we justified our lusts and desires while condemning the shortcomings of our neighbors. Paul personalized this epithet with a damning revelation: by the power of the law, ”...sin came to life, and I died.” The law revealed God’s standard. We all fall short. We are all worthy of death.
Romans 7:11-12 NLT
11 Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. 12 But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.
Paul closes by commending the law for exposing our sins. Remember, Paul is writing to Jews. His argument has not been to denigrate the law but to expose the real purpose of the law. It is God’s standard, revealed to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles. Sent from Heaven to reveal all unrighteousness of mankind, leaving us without hope. Beloved, the law could never save. But it reveals to us, our need for a Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord.
Selah,
wb
Romans 1:16-17 NLT
16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.[g] 17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
No comments:
Post a Comment