Studies in Romans

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SUMMARY OF CONTENTS:OPENING REMARKS: 1:1-17BAD NEWS : Universality of sin and its condemnation 1:18 - 3:20GOOD NEWS : A gospel that changes our relationship to God 3:21- 5:21HOW TO GROW AS A CHRISTIAN : 6:1- 8-39

Sanctification 6:1-23 Union with Christ and its implications The Place of the Law 7:1-25 Freedom from the Law 7:1-6 The sinner’s relation to God’s law 7:7-13 The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

Life in the Spirit 8:1-39A SHORT DETOUR : Questions concerning Israel 9:1-11:36HOW A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO LIVE : 12:1-15:13

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Studies in RomansThe Place of the Law

Part1Chap. 7v1-25

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How to grow as a Christian: 6:1- 8-39

The epistle to the Romans answers the question, 'What is a Christian?', over and over again. Or better, it provides a number of different answers which together bring out the richness of the gospel of grace. In Chap 6 we find that the Christian is no longer under the dominion of sin. In chap 7 Paul makes the same claim with regard to the law. The Christian has a relationship to the law that is quite different from what existed prior to his conversion.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25Freedom from the Law 7:1-6

1. A New Relationship

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How to grow as a Christian: 6:1- 8-39

The thrust of v1-6 is that the Christian enjoys freedom from bondage to the law. That is, freedom from the law viewed as a code of obedience, as a means of securing salvation.

The law once appeared as demanding a tyrant as sin had been. It said, 'do these things and live' . But man, by nature, is incapable of keeping the law.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25Freedom from the Law 7:1-62. Freedom from Bondage

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In order to show the Christian how his new-found freedom from the law comes about, Paul uses the analogy of marriage. Now a decisive change in a marriage relationship occurs a partner dies.

As long as a woman is united to her husband she is not free to marry another. To do so would be to commit adultery, but with the death of her partnerthe situation is radically altered. The marriage bond is dissolved and the woman is free to marry again and to develop another relationship.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25Freedom from the Law 7:1-6 A Marriage illustration

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Paul uses this picture to illustrate how the Christian’s relationship to the law has altered. Death has severed him from the tyranny of law in his life. Paul is not Suggesting that this comes aboutbecause the law has died.

Paul very deliberately alters his illustration so thatit is the woman who dies and not her husband.

Law?

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25Freedom from the Law 7:1-63. Does the Law Die?

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Paul has already shown in chap 6 that the Christian shares a common history with Jesus. As a result, the Christian has entered into Christ's death - the persons we once were died upon the cross. If I have died in Christ to the tyranny of the law I am now free to form a new relationship.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25Freedom from the Law 7:1-64. How can a dead person form a new relationship?

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The death we died in Christ's death dissolved the relationship we formerly had to the law. And since we are united to Christ not only in his death, but also to his resurrection life, a new life of union with him can now begin. Our disastrous first marriage to the law is ended. Our relationship to the law as a means of gaining God's approval has been severed, and a new relationship to Christ in the realm of grace has begun.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25Freedom from the Law 7:1-65. A Dissolved Relationship.

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When we were confronted by the prohibitions of the law, all our natural inclinations of personality and appetite were aroused into rebellious activity. In response, all the law could do was place us under sentence of death. The law seemed to act like a cold and arbitrary tyrant, at one moment apparently inciting us to sin and the next pointing an accusing finger and pronouncing the penalty of death - eternal separation from God.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25Freedom from the Law 7:1-66. The Law Arouses Sin and ... Pronounces Death.

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But death alters relationships and as a result of the death of 'the persons we used to be' upon the cross, we have died to that relationship to the law.

We have been discharged from the law's dominion and curse. We have been set free to serve God in newness of spirit.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25Freedom from the Law 7:1-67. Set Free to Serve God in Newness of Spirit.

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Paul guards against such any misunderstanding that the law is harmful in v7-13. He defends the law’s integrity and explains its nature. The Christian's relationship to the law can only be understood as we grasp that he is a citizen of two worlds. He is in Christ, but he is also in the flesh. Because this is the case, he has to live out his new life in the environment of the old sinful order. This results in a spiritual struggle. In chap 6 this struggle took place in relation to the dominion of sin. In chap 7 it is seen in the context of the law operating in, and influencing, the Christian's life.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The Sinner’s Relation to God’s Law 7:7-131. The Christian is a Citizen of Two Worlds

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In v7-13 Paul draws lessons from his past. The verb tenses that Paul uses leads us to this conclusion. Three important issues are discussed.

First, the law has a capacity to reveal sin. We do not become aware of the power of sin in our lives until the law says, 'Thou shalt not'.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The Sinner’s Relation to God’s Law 7:7-132. The Law Identifies Sin

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In Paul's experience, sin seemed to be dead, or at least hibernating. He was not aware of its dark influence until the law put up its hand and said, 'Stop! This is forbidden’.

It was at this point that the powerful giant of sin was seen in all its powercf. 7-8... We all share in Paul’s experience, do we not?

Don’t even

think of parking

here!

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The Sinner’s Relation to God’s Law 7:7-133. Paul’s Experience of the Law Matches his Readers.

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When the law tells us that something is forbidden, we covet the forbidden thing all the more. We find ourselves drawn to step over the boundary. Sin presses the law into its service. Paul describes this as 'seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment'. And so when the law says, 'Thou shalt not...', Sin says, 'That gives me an idea. I will now stir up a desire for that forbidden thing'. In this way sin takes advantage of the commandment. Cf also 1Cor 15:56 'the strength of sin is the law'. Sin has laid its evil hands on God's holy law and pressed it into its service.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The Sinner’s Relation to God’s Law 7:7-13

4. Sin Takes Advantage of the Commandment.

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Law is viewed as a harbinger of death, although this was not the law's original function. Cf. v9... Paul seems to be referring to his 'bar mitzvah' [lit. 'son of commandment'] when at the age of 12 a Jewish boy is held morally responsible. Paul says, ‘There was a time in my past history when life became very complicated for me’, when 'sin sprang to life'. He is not suggesting that before this time he was innocent or sinless. But immediately he began to take his responsibilities towards God's commandments seriously, he experienced the reaction of sin.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The Sinner’s Relation to God’s Law 7:7-135. The Law is Cast in the Role of a Destroyer.

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The law brings disruption that leads to death through the instrumentality of deception cf. v10-11. The story of the Fall seems to be in Paul's thinking at this point.

God published the law in the Garden of Eden. It promised life. Sin and Satan used the law, of all things, to deceive. What the law forbade awakened a desire to disobey. So that the law, that promised life, led to death.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The Sinner’s Relation to God’s Law 7:7-13

6. Sin can Use the Commandment as a Weapon.

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Lest we have any lingering suspicions about the law, Paul points out that the law remains holy and righteous and good.

In the final analysis it is not the law that brings death but sin. And so the serious character of sin now becomes apparent, for in order to expose the sinner it makes use of something that in itself is perfect, namely God's holy law.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The Sinner’s Relation to God’s Law 7:7-137. The Law Remains Holy, Righteous and Good

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We might feel that sin has triumphed by turning God's law into a kind of double agent.

But God turns the tables on sin. He makes his law a triple agent. Sin makes use of God's good law to work evil in us. As it does so, we begin to see the ugliness of our sin and its utter repulsiveness, and that, in turn, persuades us of our need of a Saviour. Cf Gal 3.24 where Paul tells us that,

“The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ”.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The Sinner’s Relation to God’s Law 7:7-138. God Turns the Law into a Triple Agent.

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