Connected to Jesus; freed from the law of sin and death once for all! Freedom can reign!
Romans 7:1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
The law has dominion over a man as long as he lives! It is what makes all men stand guilty before our holy God.
Romans 7:2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.
These verses are not put in this passage to teach about marriage between man and woman. It is an allegory being used to teach the relationship between God and man and how connection to God is restored. However, God’s heart about marriage is revealed. From Genesis forward, God’s idea has always been 1 man with 1 woman for life. However if the husband dies the woman is free to marry another; there is practical application to find freedom from the dominion of the law in this teaching.
Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another; to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
Like it takes a death to end the union of a husband and wife it will take a death to end the dominion with the law. The law remains… it is man that must die to self and the law so there is freedom to come under the dominion of another. At faith in Jesus Christ you have become dead to the law. Your connection to Christ is like the connection to the bride to her groom. This connection is so great that will bear fruit unto God.
Romans 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
When the law had dominion in our lives, sinful passions were aroused by the law; it worked in us and caused us to bear fruit unto death. However, now that we are in union with Christ there is the newness of the Spirit we can serve God by. The dominion now belongs to our God. We died to what we were help by so we are free to follow the leading of the Spirit of God.
Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.
Paul begins his testimony of how he found complete victory over sin. Apart from law sin was dead. When the law come it identified sin and made guilt be assigned. Sin taking opportunity, by the commandment of the law, stirred up all manner of evil desires The law is holy and the law is not sin; however the law gives sin strength.
Romans 7:9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.
Paul was alive without the law; but when the commandment came, sin revived and Paul died. While the law can not bring the sin nature back to life in can give the actions of sin strength.
Romans 7:12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
The law is holy, it is just, and it is good. It was not a problem with the law. The problem is man had a sin nature and the law gives sin strength. Sin through the commandment becomes exceedingly sinful.
Romans 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
When Paul came back under the law he seen himself as carnal and found himself sold under sin. Striving to do what was right he ended up doing what he did not want to do and not doing what he wanted.
Romans 7:16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
The law is holy and good but it has no redeeming power in and of itself. If I come back under the law I find myself living in a carnal manner and not having the wherewithal to perform what I will to do. Have I died to sin once for all? Yes, but there is no reckoning myself dead indeed to sin and the law.
Romans 7:19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
Paul begins to find the answers. He understands it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. That which I died to I have given it credence to. There is a perfect work God has done a completed work in our spirit and a progressive work God continues to do in our soul. However there is a waiting for the final redemption of our body.
Romans 7:21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 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.
There is two laws. Remember Romans 3:27 comparing the law of Moses and the law of faith. When we come back to looking at our performance to make us right with God we have left the law of faith. The struggle is on; can the struggle come to an end? Yes, indeed it can!
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.
Paul came to the end of himself… O wretched man that I am! We can’t do it but Jesus Christ can and did do if for us. Praise God with the soul Paul was learning to serve the law of faith (God). However with his flesh (carnality) the law of sin (law of Moses).
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Right now there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus!
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
The great news, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death! Praise the Lord being a slave of righteousness trumps the law of sin and death. The struggle can cease because of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus reigns.
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