Introduction
This is now our sixteenth week on Paul’s letter to the Romans. And Paul has so much to say about our salvation that we need to keep going back over what he has said to keep track of it all.
And his letter began with the bad news that we’re all sinners who are justly liable to God’s condemnation and wrath. So do you remember what he said in chapter 3 to sum up everything he had said before in chapters 1 and 2? He said that there is no difference…. That is to say, there is no difference between Jew and Gentile because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of being like God. So, we’re all sinners and we’re all justly liable to God’s condemnation and wrath. Jews who have the law are guilty sinners because they don’t keep the law. Gentiles who don’t have the law are guilty sinners because they don’t worship God or give thanks to him even though God has made himself known to them plainly by the things he has made.
So, we’re all guilty sinners, who deserve to be condemned by God. But the good news is that we are justified freely — forgiven and accepted — by God’s grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ has redeemed us or he has freed us from God’s condemnation and curse by his life and death and resurrection for us and for our salvation. And because of what Christ has done for sinners, we are justified so that God forgives us and he regards us as right in his sight and worthy of eternal life.
And how do we receive this justification? What do we have to do in order to be justified? Well, Paul made clear that we receive it, not by trying to keep the law, but by trusting in Christ. We are justified through faith in Christ and not by any other means.
And in chapter 4, Paul made clear that this has always been the way that God has justified sinners, because this is how God justified Abraham way back in the book of Genesis. Abraham believed God’s promise about the coming Saviour and he was justified. And David spoke about this as well. And since we’re justified through faith and not by keeping the law, then justification is for both Jews and Gentiles. It’s for Jews who have the law, but who have not kept the law; and it’s for Gentiles who don’t have the law, but who are still sinners.
And since we’re justified through faith in the Saviour, we have peace with God and we rejoice in the hope that one day we’ll be perfectly restored to the way we were always meant to be and we’ll reflect God’s glory for ever. And we need not fear the wrath of God because we’ve been reconciled to God through faith in his Son.
And Paul then went on to compare and contrast Adam and the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam — who was the head of the human race and who therefore represented all of us in the Garden of Eden — disobeyed God in the beginning. And because of Adam’s first sin, sin and death came into the world so that we all sin and we all die. But whereas Adam disobeyed God, the Lord Jesus Christ obeyed God perfectly, even to the point of giving up his life on the cross in obedience to God. And the result of his perfect obedience is righteousness and life for all who believe. By nature we’re united to Adam in condemnation and death. But by grace, and through faith, we’re united to Christ in righteousness and life.
That was in chapter 5. In chapter 6, Paul dealt with a couple of questions. Here’s the first one: If it’s true that God will graciously forgive us for our sins, shall we go on sinning? If God will forgive us anyway, what’s to stop us from doing evil? And the second question is similar to the first, because the second question is this: If it’s true that we’re now under grace so that the law can’t condemn us, then shall we keep on sinning? If God will not condemn us, what’s to stop us from breaking God’s law?
And Paul responded to both questions by making clear the great change that has taken place in our relationship to sin now that we believe in the Saviour. Before we believed, sin was our master and it used to boss us around and make us do evil. We were slaves to sin and to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness. But when we first believed in Christ, it’s as if we died with him, because our old life of sin died when we first believed in the Saviour. And when we first believed in Christ, it’s as if we were raised with him, because we were raised with Christ to live a new life of obedience and righteousness. And so, sin is no longer our master. We’re no longer slaves to sin, but we’re now slaves to God and to obedience and to righteousness. And so, instead of offering ourselves to sin, we should offer ourselves to God to be an instrument of righteousness in his hand, so that with his help we will do what is right and good.
Verse 1
If Paul was writing in chapter 6 about the change in our relationship to sin now that we believe, he’s writing in chapter 7 about the change in our relationship to the law now that we believe.
He begins chapter 7 by describing his readers as men and women who know the law and who therefore already know what he’s about to say to them. Since the majority of his readers in Rome were Gentiles, it’s not altogether clear why Paul says they know the law. If they were Jewish converts, then, of course, they would know the law, because Jewish converts to Christianity were brought up with the law. But perhaps his Gentiles readers were once what are known as God-fearers. That is, perhaps they were once Gentiles who used to worship the God of the Jews before they were converted to faith in Christ. In that case, they were familiar with the Old Testament law.
In any case, Paul assumes they’re already familiar with the law and they therefore know that the law has authority over a person only as long as he lives. So long as you’re alive, you have to keep the law. But once you’re dead, then your obligation to keep the law dies with you. And that’s obvious, isn’t it? How can you keep the law if you’re dead?
Verses 2 and 3
But then Paul uses an illustration from marriage to explain the point he’s making and the significance of this principle that the law has authority over a person only as long as he lives.
So, think of a married woman and how she’s bound to her husband as long as he’s alive. She is bound to her husband because the law commands it. She’s not to divorce him and she’s not to leave him. She’s required by the law to remain married to her husband. And when Paul refers to the law here, he’s thinking of God’s law in the Old Testament.
But we still think this way in the church, don’t we? I’m going to be conducting a wedding on Saturday. And during the service, I’ll ask the bride and groom to promise that they will be loving, faithful and dutiful to one another until God shall separate them by death. And after the rings are exchanged, I will say to them:
By this sign you take each other, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish, till death do you part.
The promises they make and the declaration I announce are about remaining together always. Sticking together through good times and bad. They are bound together in marriage.
However, the promise they make before God and to one another applies only until God shall separate them by death. So, every marriage will come to an end and it comes to an end once one of the couple dies. Until one of them dies, they’re to remain together. But when one of them dies, then they are no longer bound to one another.
And that’s what Paul is writing about in verses 2 and 3: ‘[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 of marriage.’ And since she’s released from the law of marriage which requires her to remain with her husband so long as he’s alive, then she’s free, if he dies, to marry another man. If her husband was alive and she left him for another man, then she would be guilty of adultery. But if her first husband dies, she’s free to marry again.
That’s the illustration to make clear the principle that the law has authority over a person only as long as he lives. Or to put it another way, our relationship to the law changes once a death has occurred.
Verse 4
And in verse 4, Paul takes that principle about the law and that illustration from marriage and he applies them to the Christian life.
But it’s a wee bit tricky, because the illustration and the application don’t quite match up. In the illustration, the first husband dies, freeing the woman from the obligation of the law which bound her to him. And so, she’s able to marry another man. But in the application in verse 4, Paul says we died to the law so we might belong to the Lord Jesus. So, in the illustration, the first husband dies and the woman is free to marry another husband. But in the application, we are the ones who die and so we’re free to belong to Christ instead of to the law. The details don’t quite match up.
But perhaps it becomes easier to sort out when we think about what I’ve already said which is that our relationship to the law changes once a death has occurred. Let me say that again so that it’s clear: our relationship to the law changes once a death has occurred. And a death has occurred in the Christian life. Paul says in verse 4 that you died through the body of Christ. So, when you first believed, you died with Christ. That is to say, your old life of sin died when you first believed in Christ. And not only did your old life of sin die when you first believed in Christ, but when you first believed in Christ your relationship to the law also died.
Now, maybe you’re thinking that you’re not a Jew and you were never obligated to keep God’s Old Testament laws about what to eat and what to wear and what you could touch and what you could not touch and so on. But if that’s what you’re thinking, then you’re only thinking about the ceremonial law, which is only one part of the Old Testament law. And the main part of the Old Testament law, which is binding on all of us, is what is known as the moral law. So, think of the Ten Commandments. We’re all required to obey the Ten Commandments.
However, when we first believed in the Saviour, our relationship to God’s moral law died and we’re free to belong to him who was raised from the dead. In other words, we’re now free to belong to Christ the Saviour.
So, Paul is saying that when we first believed, we died with Christ and our relationship to the moral law also died. Its authority over us died when we first believed.
And now we belong to Christ. And because we belong to him, we’re able to bear fruit to God. Do you see that at the end of verse 4? He means that our new life with Christ will produce all kinds of good qualities and deeds in us. Think of the fruit of the Spirit: love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. Or think of the good deeds we can do for the glory of God. Because we now belong by faith to the Risen Saviour, we’re able to live a life of obedience to God. Paul is really saying in another way what he already said back in chapter 6: when we first believed, we died to sin and we were raised with Christ to live a new life of loving obedience to God.
But what does Paul mean when he says that we died to the law? Or what does it mean to say that our relationship to the law died when we first believed in Christ. He really means two things. One is that its authority or its power to condemn us has died. When we read the Commandments, we realise that we’re guilty sinners, because we’ve broken every one of them in thought or in word or in deed. We can break them by our outward actions and we can break them by our inner thoughts and inclinations. And so, the law condemns us. It condemns us as guilty sinners who have broken God’s law.
But thanks be to God for Jesus Christ the Saviour, because whoever trusts in Christ the Saviour, who took the blame for us when he died on the cross, receives forgiveness and peace with God. The law might condemn us, but there’s now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because the Lord Jesus has freed us from the law’s condemnation by being condemned in our place. Thanks be to God for the Saviour!
And so, think of it in this way. Imagine a woman who is trapped in an unhappy marriage. She’s married to a man who turned out to be a monster. Before they were married, he seemed kind and generous. But once they were married, he quickly became a bully and he made all kinds of demands on her and he was never happy with anything she did and he was also criticising her and complaining about her and demanding more and more and more from her. And so, she’s trapped inside an unhappy marriage.
But then, her husband died. And after he died, another man entered her life and he was everything her first husband was not. He was kind and generous and good and grateful. And he loved her. And soon they were married. And what a difference, because instead of living with a man who only condemned her, she was now living with a man who loved her and who cherished her and who brought out the best in her. Instead of being stifled, she flourished.
And so it is with every sinner who feels the burden of the law and its condemning power. We try to do what it says, but we never do it right and its standards are always too high for us to attain. But then, when we turn to Christ with faith, we are set free from the law’s condemnation and we find a Saviour who loves us and who cherishes us and who enables us to flourish and to do well and to do good and who forgives us when we fail.
And so, when we first believed, we died to the law and we now belong to Christ. And belonging to Christ is wonderful.
But we’re freed from the law in another sense. And this becomes clear in what Paul will go on to say in verses 5 and 6. And so, let’s turn to those verses now.
Verses 5 and 6
And in these two verses Paul is doing what he has done before, because he contrasts what we once were with what we are now. What we once were before we believed in the Saviour and what we are now, now that we believe. He describes what we once were in verse 5 and he describes what we are now in verse 6.
So, ‘when we were controlled by the sinful nature’. I’ll stop there to say that the NIV’s translation of verse 5 is not great, because what Paul actually says is ‘when we were in the flesh’. And Paul uses the word ‘flesh’ in different ways, but he’s using it here to refer to our life outside of Christ, which is characterised by sin and death. This is what life is like for the descendants of Adam who don’t yet believe in the Saviour. It’s a life of sin and misery. Or we might think of it as a kingdom. And it’s a kingdom where sin and death reigns. Or we can think it of it as an age. You know, we talk about the stone age and the middle ages and so on. Well, when Paul refers to the flesh, he’s often referring to the old age of sin and death.
And so, Paul is asking us to remember what our life was like before we belonged to Christ and while we were still part of that old age and that old kingdom of sin and death. What was life like? Well, what he says is really very interesting. He says in verse 5 that at that time God’s law actually aroused our sinful passions so that we bore fruit for death. So, God’s law says to us: You shall not do this. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false testimony. You shall not covet. It tells us what we must not do. It forbids.
However, says Paul, when we still belonged to Adam, when we still belonged to the old age, when we still belonged to the old kingdom of sin and death, those commandments actually had the opposite effect on us than they should have had. They were meant to restrain our inclination to sin. However, they had the opposite effect, because they provoked us to sin. Some people see a sign saying, ‘Do not flick this switch’. And some people see that sign that they immediately want to flick the switch to see what will happen or to demonstrate their freedom. And God’s law says to us: don’t do this and don’t do that. And when we were in the flesh, we would hear a command from God and something inside us made us want to disobey him. And that way leads to death.
On the other hand, now that we believe in the Saviour, we died to what once bound us. And Paul is referring there to the law. When we were in the flesh, the law bound us in the sense that it not only condemned us but it also aroused our sinful passions. But we’ve now been released from the law. And what’s the result? We’ve been released from the law so that we might serve God in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
As a written code, the law tells us what to do and what not to do. Do this. Don’t do this. As a written code, it tells us what to do. But it can’t help us to do what we’re supposed to do. It can’t lift a finger to help us. The law contains words on the page which command us but which cannot help us. But now that we belong to Christ, through faith in his name, he gives us the help we need to serve God and to do what God commands. He gives us the help we need by giving us his Spirit. He gives the Holy Spirit to his believing people to enable us to say ‘no’ to the sinful desires inside us and to resist whatever temptations come from outside us and he enables us to do God’s will more and more.
And so, Paul is really contrasting life in the flesh and life in the Spirit. Before we believed, we belonged to Adam and to the old age and the old kingdom of sin and death. And that life was a life in the flesh and it was a life of sin and death. But now that we believe, we belong to Christ and to the new age and the new kingdom. And it’s a life in the Spirit, because we have the Spirit to help us and to guide us and to enable us to do God’s will.
Conclusion
And so, this is why we must all believe in the Saviour. Until you believe, you’re stuck in the old age of sin and death. And you can read God’s law a thousand times, a million times, and you can try to keep it. But you won’t be able to keep it, because its standards are always too high and it will never help you. It will only condemn you. But if you believe in the Saviour, then you’re set free from the law’s condemnation, because in Christ we are forgiven. And if you believe in the Saviour, then he’ll give you his Spirit to enable you to flourish and to do what is good and right and pleasing to God.
And if you’re already a believer, then rejoice, because God has set you free from the law to belong to Christ. And belonging to Christ is wonderful, because he’s kind and generous and forgiving and he gives us his Spirit to help us to live the life we were always meant to live, which is a life of loving obedience to God.
Sermons and Stuff 