Death under the Law
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17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Verse 17
“But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ...” As we sought to be justified in Christ - how did we seek justification in Christ? Faith in Christ
If faith brings us justification then the law doesn’t and so the suspicion and objection of Christ rejecting Jews was that Jewish Christians were found to be “sinners” in the same sense that the gentiles are
It is the idea that because the Jew’s had the law they could fulfill the law and thus be righteous and not “sinners” unlike the Gentiles - So when Christ believing Jews see their justification is by faith and not the law, they are label as “sinners” like the gentiles
So is Christ a servant or a minister of sin because his followers are not under the law? Paul says certainly not!
The Jews under the law think that they are justified by it and so Christ deprives others of righteousness, but their mistake is that their think they can claim any measurement of holiness for themselves out side of Christ
Verse 18
If Paul rebuilds what he tore down - Paul preached the restoration of righteousness by faith in Christ and tore down righteousness by fulfilling the law
I prove myself to be a transgressor - If Paul built up the law as a means to be righteous then it would only reveal his own sin and be condemned under the law
If we look at Romans 4:13-16 we see that the law brings wrath and faith is the only guarantee
13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
The law brings wrath? why is faith the only way to guaranteed the promise to Abraham’s offspring?
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
We clearly see the inability of humanity to fulfill the Law, but the basis of justification has always been faith as we see in Romans 4
20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
It was counted to him is cited from Genesis 15:1-6
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Verse 19
We die to the law in the sense that by the law we see our own sin and that reveals our need for Christ
The law brings us no salvation but this rejection of the law as a means of salvation does not mean that we now live to sin, but that we “Live to God”
We have the freedom to to live a life devoted to God, that please God, without depending on our own actions for justification
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
So we have been freed from the bondage of our sinful nature through the gift of God by his renewing of our hearts and now out of our new nature can be obedient from our heart
19 We love because he first loved us.
Verse 20
I have been crucified with Christ - Our sinful nature has died on the Cross with Christ
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Our old self being our old sinful nature - body of sin being the rule and dominion of sin in our lives - we are no longer in bondage to sin
But it doesn’t end there, we are also born again, being raised to life in a spiritual sense, but also looking forward to the resurrection of our bodies that we share in Christ
It is no longer I who live - Instead of Paul’s own interests and goals directing his life, it is “Christ who lives in me” that empowers and guides Paul in life
and the life i now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God - the flesh is often and correctly interpreted as the depravity of sinful nature, however here it is simply meant that the life we live in our current physical bodies is lived out by faith in Christ
Who loved me and gave himself for me - This expresses the power of faith, that this faith rests upon the loving works of Christ, but this love is a personal love for us individually - again I repeat 1 John 4:19
19 We love because he first loved us.
The love of Christ lead him to unite us with him
Verse 21
I do not nullify the grace of God - Paul clearly sees that grace is needed for justification and not through works of the law - but not only does old testament scripture support this view, but even if righteousness was through the law then no would be able to be saved because we all have broken the law
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good. 2 God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
For if righteousness was through the law, then Christ died for no purpose - I’m going to use a portion of commentary from my esv study bible on this portion of the verse
“If righteousness was through the law, then Christ’s death would have been pointless for, people could earn their own justification by their obedience. But, in fact this is something they can never do. This highlights the depth of the human problem: it can not be remedied by the God-given law. Sin is so serious that only substitutionary, atoning death of God’s Son can deal with the problem. God’s grace in the gospel must therefore be humbly and thankfully accepted as the only way of salvation “
This shows us the necessity of Christ in all that he has done and accomplished for salvation
