An Illustration From Marriage
1Do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to men who know the law--that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? 2For example, 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. 3So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
4So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5For when we were controlled by the sinful nature,[1] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Back in chapter 5, Paul gave us consequences of justification by faith: peace and
hope. Then in chapter 6, he gave us another consequence of justification by faith:
holiness, or sanctification. And now in chapter 7, he’ll give us another: freedom.
These 6 verses of chapter 7 are Paul’s way of concluding a point that he actually
began in chapter 6, that antinomianism is wrong. In the first part of chapter 6,
Paul used water baptism as an illustration of our having died with Christ and
having been raised to new life in union with Him. Then in the second part of
chapter 6, Paul used slavery as an illustration of the same principle — that
believers have died to sin and are free to obey God; we have a new master! And
now Paul offers a third and final illustration to this same principle. First,
v1 is Paul’s principle; v2-3 is Paul’s illustration of that principle; and v4-6
is Paul’s explanation to his audience, so they can apply the principle. Let’s
notice several points in these verses:-
V1 – Men who know the law. The law has authority over a man only while he lives.
Paul’s principle is this: you are under the law as long as you live. This is bad
news for all those presently alive, because all living humans have transgressed
the law, which Paul here tells us that we are under. Now back in Romans 6:14, Paul
said that “you are not under law, but under grace.” Then in v15 on to the end of
chapter 6, he explains what he doesn’t mean by that statement. We looked at that
last time. Now, finally, Paul is telling us what he does mean by that statement,
and that’s that all those living are under the law. But once we die, united with
Christ, we are under grace. That’s the teaching of Christ! If you lose your life,
you will find it. If you die to self, you will live. Paul is saying if you have
died with Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and also by faith, then you’re
under grace and not law. I have died and no longer live; but the live I live I
live by the Spirit of Him Who lives within me. And Paul provides next an
illustration of that.
V2-3 – An example from marriage. Paul, in this seemingly simple example of
marriage, gives extremely complex ideas that have baffled many. We are just as
morally bound by the law as a bride is legally tied to her husband. And Paul
gets confusing here, because his example is of the man dying and the woman being
free. Then in v4, we see that it’s as if the woman has died. Paul does this for
a couple of reasons. There are certain things that are not parallel between a
human marriage and union with Christ, and he’s got to bring that out; first, Christ
has actually died for us, and we’ve died in Him, as we’ve been united to him. So
there are some differences between that and earthly marriages. Second, women don’t
die and then get remarried. So, therefore, he has to alter this illustration in
order for it to make sense. Third, Paul is not talking about every possible case
that he can bring up with regard to marriage. Simply put, dying to sin and being
free to obey God is like having a new husband after your previous marriage was
severed by [your] death.
V4a – Death to the law means now belonging to Christ. Now for the meat of our text
tonight. Paul offers this simple statement as an explanation of justification by
faith. You died to law, you are now united to Christ, and you now serve in the
newness of the Holy Spirit. Let’s expound on that simple statement:
Trust is no longer in the law, but in Christ. If the law is permanent, as long we
live, then we, as believers, need to understand that we’ve stopped trusting in the
law, in our own works; we’ve stopped trying to commend ourselves to God, to
purchase reconciliation or persuade God into forgiveness, to make ourselves
acceptable to Him; instead we’ve looked to Christ, thrown ourselves at His mercy,
and sought forgiveness from Him and in Him. We who have believed have died to the
law; our old husband (sin) is no longer our master; we have actually died to our
husband, and we are released from the law that bound us to him or it. No only are
we released from the law and from sin, we are united and bound to a new husband,
a new master, Christ the Lord.
Christ’s death, and our death in Him brought us into a new freedom whereby we were
freed from the condemnation of the law, which would have been on us until death
did us part. But because we died in our union with Christ, and because He died in
our place, the power of that law, the jurisdiction of that law has been broken.
And we are as free as a wife whose husband has died to be united to another. And,
in fact, we are freer than that, because in the very act of being freed from the
old husband, we have been at that very moment joined to a new husband. A new
relationship exists, and now the relationship that we had to the law before is
entirely changed. Are you free in your marriage with your spouse? With Christ?
-
V4b – Why did you die to the law? To bear fruit to God. Paul contrasts law and
grace, with a double contrast in mind. We are not under the law. What does that
mean? Sometimes Paul points to this reality in terms of the progress of redemptive
history, the progress from old covenant to new covenant; we are no longer under
the Mosaic code, because Jesus Christ has offered up the final and perfect
sacrifice. And so the burdensome aspects of the old Mosaic code are no longer
upon us. We have been freed from that. But at other times, Paul speaks in terms
of the law as the covenant of works. The Law of Moses was not given as a different
way of salvation. Yet there were (and are) those who understood it to be such.
They had misunderstood the function of the law. But there’s more. Because of the
covenant of works with Adam, we are all obligated to perfect obedience, complete
obedience, and all of us have failed under that arrangement. And yet we have an
instinctive desire to try and right that relationship with God. But we attempt to
right that relationship in the wrong way. We attempt to earn ourselves back into
relationship, but the relationship has already been violated, and the law has
already been violated. So what does it mean to be free from the law? It doesn’t
mean to be free from rule. When Paul says, “Not under law,” he is pointing to a
different ground of our acceptance by God. We are accepted through Christ. We are
accepted by God’s grace. We are justified freely by His blood, not through the law.
If we have been freed through the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ from attempting
to cause ourselves to be accepted by God and to condition God’s grace by our
actions, then suddenly our relationship with the law changes. Suddenly the law is
sweet and is not burdensome, because it is an expression of love to a Heavenly
Father who has redeemed us freely. That’s why the preface of the Ten Commandments
is so important. “I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage. Now, therefore, you shall have no other gods before
Me.” It’s not, “Keep these Commandments, and I’ll think about bringing you out of
Egypt.” It’s, “I’ve already brought you out of Egypt. Now, keep My Commandments.”
That’s being brought out from under the law and granted the blessings of the
covenant of grace. It leads to a different view of the law. It gives us motivation
to keep it. And that’s why we have been freed: to obey, to glorify God by
obedience.
Furthermore, the fulfillment of the law is love. But the law combined with our
flesh, or our sin natures, brings the fruit of death. Being freed from the law
is actually being freed from our sin natures so that, rather than being condemned
in the flesh to perform sinful acts, we are free to bear the fruit of the Spirit
in living for Christ. We are no longer controlled by the flesh when we are
justified in Christ. We are slaves to Christ.
What does Paul say in Ephesians 2:10? Look at the context of Ephesians 2:1-15a.
Do you see the parallels with what we’ve been discussing here and last time in
Romans?
“1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used
to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom
of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of
us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful
nature[or our flesh] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we
were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God,
who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in
transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with
Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order
that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,
expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have
been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called
"uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in
the body by the hands of men)— 12remember that at that time you were separate
from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants
of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ
Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of
Christ. 14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed
the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by abolishing in his flesh the law
with its commandments and regulations.”
-
V5a – Controlled by the sinful nature, the flesh = sinful passions. Paul just
offers another analogy. When we were under the law and mastered by sin, our deeds
only led to death. Notice that we were controlled by the sinful nature. Remember,
we are controlled! Our master is either sin or Christ.
Why must we die to the Law? V5 gives the answer. Until we are united to Christ in
His death, and rise with Him to newness of life, we don’t have the Spirit of God
and are merely “flesh.” We have only a fallen, sinful human nature without the
transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And what does the Law become
when it meets this “flesh,” or this fallen, unredeemed human nature? It becomes,
in the power of sin, an actual instrument in defeating its own demands. The Law
(which is good) becomes a partner with our self-deifying, insubordinate, sinful
nature to bring about the very things that the Law condemns, and to hinder the
very thing that the Law commands, namely love. Sin took God’s “holy, just and
good” law (Romans 7:12) and made it an instrument of fruit unto death. The reason
this happens is that the essence of sin—or the essence of the flesh—is
self-deification. We prefer being our own god. We do not like to be told what to
do. We are not just lawbreakers; we are law-haters. We love autonomy and hate
submission. We are sinners by nature ever since the fall; we prefer our own
wisdom to God’s.
-
V5b-6 – Dying to sin = release from the law for service in (under) the Spirit,
not under the law. Paul says it again: the law can’t help you keep the law. But
the Spirit enables the keeping of the law. Paul wants to emphasize the work of
the Spirit in the new covenant. Paul is contrasting law and gospel here. There
are two different ways of relating. We are free from the law as a covenant of
works, as a way of being accepted by God; and we are now walking in the newness
of the Spirit, having been freely accepted through grace by faith in Christ, by
the blood of Jesus. And in that sense, we are free from the law.
Many people today think they can commend themselves to God by their goodness,
by their works. And for them, the apostle Paul has some bad news, which hopefully
will lead to some good news for them. The bad news is that if you want to commend
yourself to God by the law, all you have to do is do it perfectly. Show up on
judgment day, having kept the law perfectly, having done everything that God
commands, and having done nothing that He has forbidden, and you’re in. Anybody
want to line up in that line? There are a lot of people, including us, who have
tried to go down the road of law and realized it won’t work. By the grace of God,
we’ve realized it. And we turn back, realizing that we can’t commend ourselves to
God that way. That’s called repentance, and when we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ,
we find Him to be a cover for and cleansing of our sins. And we find freedom from
the burden of the law.
This freedom of obedience, service, and fruit-bearing comes from the inside out by
the Spirit, not from the outside in by the law—that’s the point of verse 6: “But
now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that
we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written
code.” Why did we die to the law? Why are we released from the law? Why are we
not under the law? So that we may sin all the more? No! So that we may “serve”
—death to the law makes servants, not sinners. If we are justified by faith, we
are united to Christ by faith. We are married to Him. He is the satisfying love
of our lives. And we bring forth fruit as a result of fellowship with Him. Or
to put it another way, if we are justified by faith, we are inhabited by the
Spirit of Christ and He is not neutral or passive. He is at work in us to create
a newness of mind and heart that serves and, above all, loves.
Consider 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim
anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent
as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter
kills, but the Spirit gives life.” So here we have a parallel to Romans 7:6, where
it says that we “serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the
written code.” Paul makes it clear in 2 Corinthians that he is talking about the
new covenant. Jeremiah 31:31-34 tells us that the decisive thing about the law in
the new covenant will no longer be that it is a demand from outside, but it will
be a desire from inside. Ezekiel 11:19-20; 36:26-27 God will put His Spirit in us
to ensure, or guarantee, the result. God planned the inadequacy of the old
covenant with a view to the great superiority of the new covenant in Christ—so
that Christ would get greater glory. The old covenant was designed to lead us to
faith in Christ through His Spirit. The result is the new covenant, but more than
that: Hebrews 13:20 Underneath our lives is the massive foundation of the blood of
Christ—the “blood of the eternal covenant.” May we cherish our lives as God’s:
eternally blood-bought.
Paul is absolutely passionate that we Christians be known by our Christ-like,
Christ-exalting love—love for each other, our neighbors, our enemies, the
unreached peoples of the world, the weak, and the suffering. Paul does not want
us devoting ourselves to maximizing our material ease and our physical comforts
or our religious reputation, but he desires us to be doing as much good for others
as we can. And because that love is his passion for us, he is equally passionate
that we be dead to the law. The reason is absolutely amazing. The reason is that
the law, which itself can be summed up in love, becomes the instrument of
defeating love when the sin nature of man joins with it. The law winds up
defeating the very thing it demands. So when we die to the law, we are in essence
dying to our sin natures, which in a sense corrupted the law. Having died to sin
(or to law, or to the sin nature), we are free to live. As Christ fulfilled the
law through obedience (ie, love), so we who live do so by the Spirit in love.
Romans 13:8 “He who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:10
“Love is the fulfillment of the law.”
So the key to living the Christian life—the key to bearing fruit for God—the key
to a Christ-exalting life of love and sacrifice—is to die to the law and be joined
not to a list of rules, but to a Person, to the risen Christ. The pathway to love
is the path of a personal, Spirit-dependent, all-satisfying relationship with the
risen Christ, not the resolve to keep the commandments. The law is not the goal of
history; Christ is the goal of history. The law is not the goal of your life;
Christ is the goal of your life. Christ did not come into history to lead us to
the law; the law came into history to lead us to Christ. The law is not the goal
of Christ; Christ is the goal of the law. To die is gain, and to live is Christ.
First of all, in v3, in the midst of an illustration he speaks of our being free
from the law. In v4, Paul says that the believer has died to the law. In v5, he
says that the law arouses sinful passions. And then in v6 he says that we have to
be released from the law in order to walk in newness of life. Now you can imagine
in the cavalcade of statements about the law there are some who think that Paul is
denigrating the law, and there are others who just think the law has nothing to do
with the Christian life. We’ll discuss Paul’s response to these thoughts next time.
Struggling With Sin
7What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."[2] 8But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. 9Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. 13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[3] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Paul has been building up to an explanation of the law’s place since chapter 3
when he first mentioned that the law couldn’t save us. Chapters 3-8 give us a
comprehensive view of the law and its role. It can’t save us (Chapters 3-5). It
can’t make us holy (Chapter 6). We saw last time that the law can’t condemn us
if we’re in Christ (v1-6). Today we’ll see that the law can convict us of sin
(v7-13), but it can’t deliver us from sin (v14-25). Next time we’ll see that the
law is fulfilled by the power of the indwelling Spirit (Chapter 8:1-4). By the
end of chapter 5, Paul was in trouble with some of his listeners because of what
he says about grace, because he says it justifies the ungodly and he seems to open
the door to license and lawlessness. And he was in trouble because of what he says
about the law, because he seems to say that keeping the law it is not necessary
for justification and that the law even joins hands with sin to defeat its own
demands. So in chapter 6 (6:1-7:6) Paul defended grace. And in chapter 7 (7:7-25)
he will defend law. Our text tonight can be broken into 2 sections. V7-13 answer
the following question: If the law can’t save us or sanctify us, what good is it?
This passage teaches us that the law is good because it can convict us by
revealing sin (v7), arousing sin (v8), devastating the sinner (v9-11), and
reflecting the sinfulness of sin (v12-13). In v7-13, Paul looks back on his
pre-conversion experience when he was under conviction of his sin. But in v13-25,
he speaks as a maturing Christian still wrestling with sin. Remember also, Paul
previewed all this in chapter 3. Notice:
-
V7 – Knowing sin through the law. Paul has made it clear that he is not against
the law. Because the language that Paul has used to get people’s trust away from
the law has made it possible for them to think that Paul believes the law to be
worthless for the Christian, or even worse, evil, Paul wants to make sure his
audience understands that the law is a good thing. His audience wonders, “What
good is the law? If we’re saved and made holy by our union with Christ, what place
does the law have? Why did God go to such extremes to give such a complex law?”
And we might be asking, “Why do we need to have a correct view or understanding
of the law? We know that it does not save us, so what’s the big deal about it?”
First, the answer for us is this: we need to have proper understanding of the law
to avoid the 2 extremes within Christianity—legalism and antinomianism. The
biblical realism of Romans 7 is meant to save us from moral pride on one side and
immoral, irreverent hopelessness on the other side. A proper view of the law will
keep us in the proper place, not legalistic or prideful and not hopeless in our
behavior. 1 John 5:1-3.
Paul is saying in v7-11 that we don’t understand the Bible’s teaching on the law
until the law’s fullness has humbled us. The only person who can understand the
law is the one who has been humbled by it. Paul gives an example of the inherent
righteousness and goodness of the law when he says that it was the law that taught
him the sinfulness of sin. Paul is not saying that no one knows right from wrong
without a copy of the Ten Commandments in their homes. Paul has already argued
that everybody knows right and wrong. God has written on men’s hearts the works
of the law so that they know right and wrong. It is ingrained; it is put on their
consciousness by the finger of God. So Paul is not denying that there is a
universal sense of right and wrong. But what he is saying is this: That the law,
when it registers with people, when it comes into play, shows them the inwardness
of sin, their sinful nature, the magnitude and depravity of themselves.
Notice that Paul uses the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet,” as his example.
All of the other commandments have physical outworkings except this one. Of course,
Christ pointed to the strict inward authority of the law, but there is clear,
explicit physical outworking of the commandments, except this one. There is no way
to externally covet; it is a matter of the heart. And Paul is confirming Christ’s
teaching when he gets to the tenth commandment and suddenly realizes that there is
a lot more to those first nine commandments than just merely refraining from doing
what they say point blank on the surface. There are a lot of ways to break those
first nine commandments without ever going through the physical action of
committing murder or adultery or stealing or lying. Paul is saying that coveting
taught him that the law was inward, and that righteousness was inward, and suddenly
he realized that he had never kept the law.
-
V8a – Sin produced evil desires. Though Paul learned in v7 the inwardness of the
law from the law, even when he realized that it was inward and pervasive in his
experience, even when he realized that coveting was wrong, we see in v8, that he
didn’t stop doing it. In fact, even though he was convicted of sin, knowing it was
wrong, he not only continued to do it, but he did it more and more heinously than
ever before. Just knowing the standard of God didn’t do him any good. In fact, it
made the situation worse. The mere knowledge of the law was no barrier to his sin.
Indeed apart from grace, it produced in him more and more sin. Sin takes God’s
good and holy law and produces in us evil desires. God’s law is the standard of
right and wrong; our desires are not the standard. Until the law hits home, our
desires, produced by the sin nature, are our law. Until the law visits intimately,
“want to” = “ought to” and “desire” = “deserve.”
-
V8b-9 – Apart from the law, sin is dead; I was alive until the law came, then I
died, because sin sprang to life. Paul doesn’t mean he was spiritually alive
before the law became clear to him; he means he was doing fine. He was content
with his self-righteous life. But then when he was exposed to the convicting power
of the law, he died in the sense that everything he hoped in was shattered. He lost
his sense of security and self-satisfaction. He was devastated when he saw the real
extent of God’s law and recognized that his own sinfulness made it impossible for
him to save himself. Paul reiterates that sin killed him when the law convicted
him. Picture Paul saying, “I once thought of myself as a holy person, but when the
fullness of the law hit home, I died under its condemnation. I thought I was a
righteous man, and then suddenly I realized just how great were the demands of the
law, and I died under the weight of its condemnation.” Without the reality of the
law hitting home, we will not be convicted by our sin. The law awakens sin within
us and magnifies it before us; we cannot escape our sinfulness through the law,
because sin grows by the law. We are still sinful apart from the law, but we don’t
know it as sinful.
-
V10-13 – The law, intended to bring life, brought death. Why? Because of sin.
Nevertheless, the law is holy, and it accomplished its purpose: to reveal sin
as utterly sinful. In v10, Paul says that the law was given to bring life, to
show mankind how to live before the holy and righteous Creator God of the universe;
it was not given to kill. But because of sin, it didn’t bring life; it only
brought death. So, ironically, in v11, Paul says that sin used the law in order
to bring mankind under the law’s condemnation, death.
If a person is convicted for murder and given the death penalty, do you blame the
law for convicting him? No! Paul is saying in v12-13 that we must not blame God
or His law for our sinful state of condemnation under the law, for the law is
simply a reflection of His character. V12 confirms that the law is “holy,
righteous, and good.” God’s character is holy, righteous and good. First the law
is holy in the sense that it reflects the magnificent purity of the character of
God. God’s character produced the law. Isaiah 6:3 “God is holy, holy, holy. He is
the Lord God Almighty.” The law is holy, because it is a reflection of His
character. Second, the law is just, or righteous. The law of God never makes
unfair demands on people. It is equitable, never unjust. Third, the law is good.
It is designed with our welfare in mind, beneficent in its outlook and aim. Paul
has already said that in v10: “Its purpose was to bring life, not death.” The
purpose of the law was good for us, yet it was weakened by our sinful nature.
So Paul asks in v13, “Did that which is good become my downfall and bring death
to me? Did the law fail? Is the law to blame for my sin?” By no means! Of course
not! God forbid! No. Galatians 3:21 “Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises
of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then
righteousness would certainly have come by the law.” The law could not produce
righteousness. Nevertheless, Paul concludes that the law still accomplished its
purpose: it reveals the truth of our sinful state so that we might turn to Christ
for justification by faith. The law doesn’t kill; sin kills. The law shows us that
sin is utterly sinful, because it uses something good and holy, the law, to kill,
to produce more sin. Don’t boil a baby goat in its mother’s milk. A mother’s milk
is good; it is for life. And so it’s doubly sinful to use it for death.
Let’s summarize: In Romans 7:7-13, Paul affirms the goodness of the law, so that
we will not blame it for our condemnation. Sin, taking advantage of the law, is
to blame for our condemnation. As an example, Paul selected a commandment that
relates solely to a person’s motivation. Coveting isn’t an external act; it’s
something that happens internally. Paul was saying, “When I realized that the
law of God had to do not just with my acts but with my attitudes (which is just
what Christ taught), I realized that all my self-righteous actions were worthless
because I was filled with vile desires.” That’s sincere and true conviction of
sin. Many people have only a superficial conviction of sin. They might admit to
being sinners, but it doesn’t affect them. They aren’t hurt by their sinful
behavior. Sin is dead to them in the sense that it doesn’t overwhelm them. Only
when the law of God floods our hearts and shows us what sin really is will we be
pierced to the heart. The very sinfulness of sin is seen by the fact that it uses
something so good, the law of God, as a weapon against us. God shows His
sovereignty in overruling sin and using it for good. Because of sin’s taking hold
of the law, the sinner must be freed from the law—freed from the law’s
condemnation, and the sinner must be freed from bondage to sin itself. And these
freedoms cannot come from the law, because the law condemns on account of sin.
Christ alone grants freedom from sin and the condemnation of the law. He has
fulfilled the law and paid its price for those who having faith in Him.
-
V14-19 – The law is good; I am not. Believers have conflicting desires, as the
battle between the spirit-filled nature and the sin nature rages. First, we know
that Paul is a mature Christian; he speaks in the present tense in v13-25 and
looks back to the past in v7-12. Second, we know that he is a mature Christian
because of his estimation of the law. He calls the law spiritual and good. He has
come to view the law like God views the law. Finally we see that he is a mature
Christian because of his description of his relationship to the law. He agrees
with the law and serves the law in his mind.
So Paul is mature, but he struggles. He says in v14, “I am unspiritual, sold as a
slave to sin.” Paul is not saying, “I am fleshly and immature;” rather he is
saying that he still has a human nature—a sin nature. He is saying, “You need to
know two things about me: (from chapter 6) I have died to sin, and I have been
raised to newness in Christ, but (in chapter 7) I still have a sinful nature.”
Paul acknowledges that he is not entirely sanctified, not completely perfected,
not without sin. He still struggles with sin. He doesn’t want us to think that we
are perfected upon believing or shortly thereafter. It is a lifelong struggle.
Only the Christian is more than “flesh.” Only the one who believes on Christ is
born again and has a new nature and is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Before that
happens to us we are merely “flesh,” merely human. “That which is born of the
flesh is flesh,” Jesus said in John 3:6. Only when we are born again can we say,
“I am more than flesh. I now have the Holy Spirit. I now have a new nature.”
Paul is complaining in verse 15, first, that his actions are not in accord with
the new heart, new mind, and new spirit that God gave him. We have all died to
sin in Christ. We have all been raised to newness of life. And Paul is saying here
that his actions are not always consistent with his being a new creation. They
don’t mesh with it. That is why he can say, “I don’t understand it. It doesn’t
make sense.” He is saying that some of these deeds he does are sinful deeds and
they are out of accord with what he desires to do. He has a conflict within him
of which he doesn’t grasp the workings. The things that he wants to do and the
things that he doesn’t want to do don’t necessarily reflect themselves in what
he ends up doing or not doing. That’s because of the dual natures in believers.
Once the Spirit indwells a human, there is conflict, spiritual battle ongoing.
Paul shows us evidence of his being a new man in Christ by his desire to do what
is right. But he is showing us that he has a sinful nature, because he doesn’t
always do the right things, which he wants to do.
In v16, he indicates that his conscience actually bears witness to the fact that
the law is good, by reminding him of the difference between what he knows that he
ought to do and what he wants to do on the one hand, and on the other hand, what
he actually ends up doing. In other words, Paul says, “Every time I don’t do what
I know that I ought to do and what I want to do, I am being reminded again that
God’s law is good, and I am the problem.”
V17 and 20 are often used to suggest that we no longer sin. The text says, “It is
no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.” Now Paul is not trying
to get himself off the hook. He is not making excuses here. It is not that someone
has come to him and said, “Paul you have sinned,” and he said, “No, the devil made
me do it.” He is not saying, “That wasn’t me; that was the old man still in me,”
as if there was this autonomous being within him creating a split personality.
That is not what Paul is saying. Why does he say it like that if that’s not what
he means? First, he is asserting the new creation, having already said that every
believer is a new creation, raised to newness of life in Jesus Christ. He is
confirming that the sin which is still in him is not the product of that new
creation. When you look at a believer in sin, you need to realize that sin doesn’t
come from the work of the Holy Spirit. Yet he expresses that there continues to
be a sinful nature in him. He does go on sinning. And the presence of that new
man does not mean that he does not sin. Third and finally, he explains that sin
is the continuing product of the sinful nature. That nature no longer represents
his master. It once was, but he is now free from that. His new master is the
Spirit-filled nature, and so any sin is rebellion to the new master.
Paul here in v18, again, mentions his still sinful nature and his inability to do
good deeds, those deeds which he wants to do. Augustine in The Confessions, says,
“Lord, the good in me, You wrought. The rest is my fault.” That is how he sums up
his whole life, and that is what Paul is saying here. He is affirming that nothing
good dwells in him. But again, he is not characterizing his whole self; the new
creation is good, but that came from God, not from “in him.” He says that there is
nothing good in him, that is, in his flesh. There is nothing good in the sin
nature of man. And so Paul doesn’t say, well, there is no good in me in the inner
man, because he knows that God in His grace has wrought good in him by the
indwelling Holy Spirit. In v19, Paul says that we exhibit our lack of goodness
in two ways: sins of omission and commission. We can’t keep the law, though we
love it; we do things contrary to it, though we shouldn’t.
-
V20-23 – The sin nature at work in me. Paul is going back to what he said in v17
and elaborating on it. What is he adding? Two things: First, the very fact of the
presence of sin in his life is proof that there are two principles at work in the
believer. His new self, the new master, is the product of God, of union with Christ
by grace. It is characterized by the Spirit and the love of the law of God. But on
the other hand, the flesh, the sinful nature, is characterized by sin and actions
contrary to the law of God. Second, notice how Paul refers to sin here. It is like
an alien force. Sin doesn’t make sense; it doesn’t go with the new creation, and
it is not produced by the new creation that God has wrought in us through Jesus
Christ and by the Holy Spirit. Paul goes on to elaborate on this in v21-23.
-
V24-25a – What a wretched man am I! Who will conquer my sin nature, my flesh?
Praise God for Christ! Because of his feelings of bondage to sin, he cries out
in misery. The believer can never ever be complacent about sin. Paul is miserable,
because he doesn’t just want forgiveness; he wants to be rid of sin permanently.
And he knows Christ will do it! The believer wants to live in a state free not
only from the domination of sin, but from the presence of sin. The struggle is
this: We know what we ought to do, but we are not doing it. How can the law help
us with that?
Paul interestingly calls his body a “body of death.” Some have taken this to show
that Paul denies the importance of the physical and holds only to the importance
of the spiritual. But, as we know, that is not what Paul means. Paul is expressing
that the body leads to death because of sin. The body, the sin nature, has brought
death to mankind. Sin has its hold on the body, and only Christ can change that.
Looking ahead in Romans 8:10, “the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is
alive because of Christ.” And then 8:23: “We groan within ourselves, having the
Spirit, but waiting for the redemption of our bodies.” It’s as good as done, but
yet to be realized in time. And so we groan. And we cry out.
Picture Paul visiting the legalistic Jews’ office and saying, “Please help me with
this. I’m frustrated. I know what I ought to do, but I can’t do it. I know what
I shouldn’t do, but I seem to end up doing it anyway.” And they answer, “Well,
Paul, just obey the law.” Paul says, “No, I don’t think you understand. That is
my problem. I know what the law says, and I am not doing it. In fact, I’m doing
those things I shouldn’t be doing.” So Paul is effectively illustrating his whole
point, saying, “The law can’t be the answer. It can’t help me.” And in v25, he
says, “Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” In other words, the
answer to Paul’s salvation and his assurance of salvation is not the law, not
law keeping; it is God’s grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul, even in
reminding us of the ongoing struggle of the believer with sin, is also reminding
us again that salvation has to be by grace. And assurance of salvation has to be
by grace as well. Our law keeping will never measure up to what we, as believers,
know the law demands.
-
V25b – So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful
nature a slave to the law of sin. Paul offers a sobering conclusion: The new
creation, wrought by God, the new, Spirit-filled nature is freed from bondage
to sin and serves as a voluntary slave to God’s law, to Christ Himself; but the
old nature, the sin nature, though defeated is still present and even still slave
to sin. And as long as we inhabit a fallen world, those two natures will battle
within us. And the battle is real. Temporary defeat is possible, and it better
be disappointing. However, in the long-run, victory is certain for the believer.
Paul here is indicating something very important for us: The battle between the
Spirit and sin does not cease at conversion, it begins at conversion. The first
time believers begin to battle against sin is when the Holy Spirit has united them
to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. And so we should expect this to be an ongoing
aspect of reality, because the problem in this fallen world is us. We are the
problem. The problem is not out there. It’s not something that somebody did to us;
it’s not the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Our hearts are the problems.
We have met the enemy, and he is us. (You’ve probably heard of the evil trinity:
Satan, the world, and the flesh). And, therefore, there is a colossal struggle
between the force of the spirit of life in our heart, and the remaining sin which
is us. And this is so important for us to grasp. We’re not perfected at conversion;
we’re beginning a journey. Christian growth in grace is characterized not by
perfection, but by a steady growth in holiness. Augustine said, “The church is not
a place where the perfect dwell, but rather, a hospital where sick sinners get
well [once they are granted life].” And that is what Paul is pointing us to here
when he reminds us that believers still sin.
Don’t be uncertain regarding the outcome. It’s effectively already done. God
cannot fail. The Spirit reigns unfailing in the hearts of believers. But only
when all creation is made new will the glorification of ourselves be complete.
Until then, sanctification will have to do. We are being transformed. For that
transformation to be complete, the old self, the sin nature must be destroyed.
It has already been defeated, but it lingers, and more than that on occasion,
until the final day. One of the things that believers struggle with is the
question, “How could God have done such an amazing work in me, and I still sin?
How can it be that I, a new creation, find myself trapped, feeling as if I will
never be able to break out of the patterns and habits of sin? Do you ever wonder
whether you’re really a Christian, given some particular sin that you struggle
with? I have… And then God took that sin away after some time and prayer and
struggle. Continuing in sin is not necessarily a sign that you are not a
Christian. The test should be: Do you love the law? Do you hate your failure?
Do you cry out for forgiveness? Do you long for the day of perfection to come?
Notice also Paul’s emphasis on the mind. The difference between mind and sinful
nature is easy to explain. The mind is the new creation here, not merely the brain
or spirit. The sinful nature is the old creation, not merely the body. The mind
represents the new self; and the sin nature, or the flesh, or the body, represents
the old self. The flesh is not the opposite of the mind, but the opposite of the
renewed mind. And the flesh can also be the opposite of the body when the body is
being presented to God as an instrument of righteousness. But extending this
further, we can say that Christianity today has lost focus on loving God with the
mind, the brain. It certainly focuses on loving God with the heart and strength
and soul. Scripture puts amazing demands on our minds. True, we believe the simple
message of the Gospel like children, but we go on to maturity through life-long
study and mental-wrestling with the truths of God. By asking and answering tough
questions, rather than avoiding certain issues for comfort’s sake, we prevent our
minds from becoming weak and lazy. If we fail to exercise our minds Biblically,
then we cut ourselves off from great blessing.
Have you seen the bumper sticker, “I’m not perfect, just forgiven.” That’s merely
one of many half truths that unfortunately characterizes the Christian world
today. It is true that we are not perfect, and though it is true that we are
forgiven, that is not all that is true for us. Conclusion: Believers still sin,
sure, but they hate it. Believers can never be complacent in sin. And the very
fact that God is doing a work of growth in grace in us makes it impossible for us
to be complacent and sort of shrug off sin. The believer is serious about sin and
hates it. And that’s a mark of the change that God has worked in our lives. Paul
here characterizes his heart and life as love to God, love for the law, and a
desire to serve the law of God. If you sneak ahead and look at Romans 8:1-4,
you’ll see an example of the victories yet to come. For the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. In fact,
that victory is so great that in Romans 8:37, Paul can say, “We are more than
conquerors through Jesus Christ.” There are victories in the Christian life. The
continuation of sin in our experience is not the whole story.
Believers long to keep the law of God. We desire righteousness and godly living.
Believers don’t look to the law to bring about transformation in accordance to the
law; we look to Jesus Christ, to grace, to the work of the Holy Spirit. But what
do we desire to be conformed to? The image of God. And what does the law reflect?
The image of God. And so true believers long to be conformed to the law and to
keep it. And the sign that believers struggle with this is not a sign of spiritual
deadness; it’s a sign of spiritual life. If you were spiritually dead, do you
think that sin or Satan would be prompting you to be miserable in sin and to
war against it? But if you were spiritually alive, don’t you think the Holy
Spirit would be conducting an aggressive, offensive campaign against that sin?
And that sin would be counter-attacking all along the way? The very fact that
you’re struggling is a sign of grace. Only a live man can struggle. Dead men just
lie there, there’s no struggle. When you have peace in sin, and peace with sin,
you’ve got death. But the Holy Spirit won’t let His people have peace in sin. He
wars against sin, and, therefore, the normal state of the Christian life is one
of struggle. We must struggle to become what we are. We are repeatedly told, “You
are a new creation.” So we strive to live like it. Coram Deo.
Footnotes
- 7:5 Or the flesh; also in verse 25
- 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21
- 7:18 Or my flesh
Bible text from
Gospelcom.net. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by
International Bible Society.