Lessons From Romans – Lesson 9
The law was a big thing for the Jews. They did not keep it. A few times they put some heart into actually keeping it. The generation that went into the land with Joshua put some real effort into it.
Solomon led a revival when they completed the temple. It was very short lived. But God was pleased and His presence filled the temple.
The boy king had a passion for the law.
2Ki_22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
2Ch_35:18 And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
2Ch_35:19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.
Josiah led them to put some effort into keeping the law.
The praying king Hezekiah led a revival. He even invited the northern kingdom, very few from the north responded but a very large number in the south did.
The greatest revival they had was in Nehemiah and Ezra’s day. They would read the law and find something that the law said they should do and the people just went out and did it with joy.
You will find several individual Jews that loved God’s law. I mean love it as in keeping it. Ruth, Boaz, some of the good kings of the south.
God always did have a remnant. God always had a Jerimiah or an Isiah or an Elijah or a Caleb. He always had a few individuals who loved God’s law as in keeping God’s law. To be clear no one ever could keep all the law. That is impossible, that is why we need a savior.
I am talking about keeping the law as in really trying to keep it from the heart. And God always had a few that were genuinely serious about it and did it from the heart.
But overall thru the centuries they really did not do well at all in keeping the law. And if you remember in Ezekiel’s day the Jews would go to temple on the Sabbath and go thru the motions and do the right things that day and then walk out and the rest of the week worship false gods on every high hill and in the groves.
But even when they were doing that they were still proud of the law. Being God’s chosen people and being given God’s law became a proud part of their culture. A part of what some of them call their Jewishness.
They would take verses and write them on pieces of paper and put them in a special box and nail it on the door post of their house.
The law was a big deal for the Jews. Paul has been showing that salvation is by faith. It is by grace and that grace must stand alone. Because if you add anything to grace then it is no more grace.
Grace is the undeserved, unmerited, unearned favor of God. As soon as you try to add anything to it, then it is of debt and no longer of grace.
Paul has proved that justification before God was by faith without deeds of the law. He showed that Abraham was saved before the law was given and before he was circumcised and Paul has showed that David was saved also by faith after the law was given.
Salvation has always been by faith.
So the question that a Jew might have would be what advantage was there then in having been given the law and Paul answered that.
Another question they would have is, since we are saved by grace thru faith without works of the law then how much of those laws are we still somehow under?
That is a fair question; a good question. Yes we are saved by faith but do we still need to build booths once a year and go sit in them?
So now Paul is going to deal with this issue and he is going to show that they are now released from the Law
Object lessons and illustrations are good tools that can illuminate truth and help you to see things more clearly.
Paul starts off chapter 7 with an illustration to help them see that they are released from the law and he uses an illustration from the law.
Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Marriage is till death do you part. Jesus clearly taught that there is no marriage in Heaven. So as soon as the husband dies the woman is released from that law. She is free to marry again if she wants to.
This same principal applies to getting saved and the law.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
When you get saved you are now dead to the law. Just like the widow and how her husband has no rule over her because he is now dead. In like manner the law is dead to us just like the husband to the widow. The law now has no power now to condemn you to hell.
We are released from the law like the wife is released when her husband dies.
You are now freed from the law because you are now joined to Christ who went to the cross and paid for all sin and who fulfilled all the law.
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Before salvation we were dead in trespasses and sins. We had no spiritual nature. We only had the fleshly sin nature and sin always brings forth nothing good. Sin brings forth fruit unto death and not just death of the body but I am talking eternal death in hell.
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Before salvation a man could serve by trying to obey all the rules and work his way to heaven that way which of course is impossible. A man who lived before Christ came could like Abraham and David get saved by faith and be delivered from the condemnation of hell.
And for those who did that the Holy Spirit did not come and indwell the believer. That did not happen until after Christ ascended.
But now that Christ has come it is different. Upon salvation the Holy Spirit comes and indwells the believer and He now guides and convicts and speaks in that still small voice.
Now we are freed from the law. We are now dead to the law. And now we are not to serve God in the oldness of the letter of the law.
So no more having to build booths once a year and sit in them. No more having to kill a Passover lamb every year. No more do we serve by bringing a trespass offering or a peace offering. No more do we serve by wearing special clothing or with dietary restrictions.
I have actually seen a pastor teach that we are not to eat ham. He just did not get it. We are freed from all of that.
We are dead to all of that ceremonial law. All of that was just types and pictures and foreshadowing of the Jesus to come. We have been freed from all of that. We are not to try to serve God with any of that.
The primary focus of this section of scripture is that we are dead to the law as in the law has zero power to condemn us to hell. But it is also true that we are released from all of the ceremonial law. Praise the Lord!
But notice it does say that we are still to serve. And we are told how.
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit,
We are to serve under the leading of the Holy Spirit. God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. These 3 are one. The Holy Spirit will never lead you into sin.
The Holy Spirit will never lead you to break any of God’s moral law. For example He will never lead you to steal or lie or cheat on your spouse or kill anyone.
All of God’s moral law is good and right and just. We are not under the law as in being condemned to hell by the law.
And we are freed from serving in the oldness of the letter of the law. Freed from all of the rules and feasts and offerings and all of that.
But that does not mean that we should thumb our noses at God’s moral law and revel in sin. That is not serving in the newness of the Spirit.
Paul is now going to address the issue of the Law and Sin
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Rom 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
Concupiscence is the tendency to sin.
Rom 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Rom 7:10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
Rom 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Paul is basically saying that the wages of sin is death. And it is because of God’s moral law that we know what sin is. And when we break God’s law we sin and are condemned to death.
Rom 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
The problem is with man. The problem is not with God’s law. It is holy and just and good.
The law reveals sin.
Rom 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Do not read the next few verses too fast. It is straight forward and clear if you slow down.
Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Paul is talking about our human sin nature. And how we cannot totally control it.
We do not sin because of a lack of education. We do not sin because we have not developed enough self-discipline or anything else. We sin because that is our nature. We are all born sinners.
You can learn everything that you are not to do and you can mentally acknowledge that as being good and right. And you can go out and try really hard to do all the do’s and not do all of the don’ts but no one will totally succeed at that.
Sooner or later you will mess up and do what you hate.
Rom 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
And when you mess up, if you are honest, you like Paul will admit it and you will admit that the law is good. The just law is not the problem. The problem is the sin nature that dwells in all of us.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
When Paul says that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing he is talking about our sin nature. And after salvation we still have to carry that sin nature with us.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
The sin nature never goes away. We have the new spiritual nature after we get saved. But it never destroys or completely drives off the old sin nature.
One day our sin nature will be put off because no sin is allowed to enter Heaven. But until then we will have this battle inside of us. And every day and every decision is a choice. When we chose to do good that wicked sin nature is still with us.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Everyone who is saved now has 2 natures inside of them. And they battle.
Now that Paul has established this he asks a very important question.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
If you are like me, you will dislike your old sin nature and you get tired of it rearing its ugly head.
Paul asks who shall deliver me from this old sin nature. And Paul then gives the answer.
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Jesus is the answer. We can chose to serve God according to His moral law and Jesus will help us. His Spirit will give us the strength we need to do that. Jesus taught that all of the law and the prophets can be summed up as Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
And Jesus can and will help us do that. Our part is to deny our sin fleshly nature and lean on Him and ask for His help to do right and live in a way that glorifies and pleases Him.
This topic does not end with verse 25. It continues in chapter 8.
The condemnation in verse 1 is talking about being condemned. Everyone who is in Christ Jesus will never be condemned to hell. Never. You need to take verse 1 and 2 together.
Some take verse 1 and look at it alone and they interpret it wrong.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
If any man has not the Sprit he is none of His. He is not saved. If you are saved then you have the spirit and Jesus has made you free from the law of sin and death. Verse 2 starts with the word For. And that attaches verse 2 to verse 1.
Verse 2 makes it clear that when verse 1 talks about after the flesh, it is talking about a lost man. And when verse 1 says after the Spirit it is talking about a saved man.
Verse 1 is not talking about having to walk after the Spirit as in not messing up and if you do then you can be condemned. Some falsely teach that you can lose your salvation and be condemned.
The 2 verses together teach that once saved you have the Spirit and saved people are in Christ Jesus and being in Christ has made you free from the law of sin and death. So you will never be condemned to hell.
I have also had Christians miss use verse 1 and try to teach license to sin. They teach that I can do whatever I want and will never be chastised because there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Verse 1 is talking about never going to hell. It is talking about being condemned it is not talking about chastisement and it is not talking about suffering the natural consequences of sin in this life.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Watch it real close. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. In us means saved people. And it says might be. Not forced to be.
Who walk not after the flesh is talking about a lost man.
But after the Spirit is all those who are saved.
So those who are saved have the Spirit indwelling them. Their sins are paid for. They are delivered from the law of sin and death.
They can now serve in the newness of the Spirit. And the Spirit will always lead us to do right.
The saved man has a choice. He can chose to serve God and do right. The grace of God is available to help.
The law could never do that. The law was weak through the flesh.
Jesus Christ was the only solution. Jesus delivers from the law of sin and death and Jesus empowers us thru His Spirit so we can live for Him and do right.