Regarding the Law

As we begin our look at this seventh chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Romans, I want to do so rightly. That is, I want us to understand this great treatise on the place of the Law int he life of the believer in the manner that Paul, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, meant for it to be understood. We don’t wish to be included in those spoken of in 2 Peter 3:16, “which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” Truly, there are many things Paul writes which are indeed hard to understand!

And so, despite the temptation, to simply find some statement made by Paul that supports your own thinking and to lift it out as some sort of proof-text, you must look to its setting and context to ensure you understand what he is saying; after all, even Festus the Governor recognized his great abilities in knowledge!

And, to be sure, there have been many people who simply wade right in to the middle of Paul’s letter and take this portion regarding the Law and strip it out of its greater context, as a sort of proof-text, whether speaking of a verse, or phrase, or perhaps the whole chapter.

But to do so, would be to entirely miss the point of Paul’s argument in this chapter; capturing that context, holding it ever before us in our mind as we study this great chapter is vital to understanding it rightly. The many who simply race in to get their answer regarding the Law and the believer do so at their own peril!

Indeed, I again state with confidence, that this chapter absolutely must be taken and understood within the context of the entirety of its one, continuous argument starting at Romans 5:1 and going on through to the last verse of Romans 8.

You may recall we began looking at this last summer, and if you have missed any of it I would encourage you to see those recordings, they will very much help you comprehend our place now. For, I am certain, once we look at this chapter in the context of the whole first, and only then get to the chapter itself in detail, the many controversies surrounding this chapter will be resolved as a matter of course, and the truth as to what the Holy Spirit through the apostle intends us to understand will be made abundantly clear.

So let us review in summary what we have learned over this past year! Paul characteristically summarized from the very first of this great portion his grand theme, declaring at the outset of Romans 5,

Romans 5:1–2 LSB

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we boast in hope of the glory of God.

And so, as in one continuous theme, Paul immediately began working out the depth and breadth of the fullness and finality of our salvation and justification, which come solely by faith in the finished work of Christ alone, “He who was delivered over on account of our transgressions, and was raised on account of our justification”, as Romans 2:25 declared.

Our complete salvation is certain, and final! And it is based not on our actions but on God’s, Rom 5:10 declaring “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

And then he arrives at Romans 5:12-21, this magnificent section in which he declares the greatest reason and proof for this absolute certainty of our salvation; that as we were in Adam, so now we are in Jesus Christ our Lord, the central argument of his teaching being found in Romans 5:18-19,

Romans 5:18–19 LSB

So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were appointed sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be appointed righteous.

Now, if you follow Paul’s reasoning, his line of thought, you find that chapters 6 and 7 can in a sense be skipped over, that his main line of reasoning about our union with Christ in this last portion of Romans 5:21, reading “so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” can be immediately and directly followed by Romans 8:1-2, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

And so, this helps us realize that chapters 6 and 7 are something of an interruption, a parenthesis within his line of reasoning. They don’t particularly extend the apostle’s argument at the end of chapter 5.

But what we do find, is that many people could, and have already, taken Paul’s great statement at the end of chapter 5 to a wrong conclusion. We find the statement in Romans 5:20-21,

Romans 5:20–21 LSB

Now the Law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So Paul immediately addresses a critical error many people may arrive at when they read that grace abounds over sin. For there are those who read such statements, and effectively declare “ah, now, we are under grace, so we are free to act however we like, we don’t need to be worried about sin anymore!”

It is amazing to me to see a resurgence of this thinking in recent years! You know the type, those who are so enamored with salvation being by grace alone through faith alone and not by works, that they then take this grace and abuse it by turning it into license to live their lives however they wish!

These are the ones who revel in the idea that they may simply say a prayer, raise a hand, and are immediately assured that they are now right with God, that He accepts them and loves them for who they are. What about sin? What about holiness? “Don’t worry,” they say, “there’s no need to concern yourself with that, after all God is love and He loves you, He wants you to just trust Him, you needn’t worry about sinning anymore, that’s all been taken care of!”

I know of no greater threat to the church today, than these people who look at the Bible and say, “we are new testament Christians, the laws and rules were for the old testament, but we follow the God of the new testament, there are no rules here!”

Just hold on a minute, Paul says – if you’re thinking that your salvation means that you are now free to live however you’d like, you just don’t understand what happens in our salvation!

And so he turns aside from his main argument to deal with this supposed license that may so easily entangle a person due to misunderstanding and mis-applying the nature of our salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work of Jesus Christ alone, starting the sixth chapter by asking “What shall we say then?” In other words, this section is directly related to what the apostle had just said at the end of chapter 5!

And so he leads us down two similar lines of thought, first asking in Romans 6:1, “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” He quickly retorts, “May it never be!” “μὴ γένοιτο!” “God forbid!” Such a thing is utterly and completely unthinkable for such a one as has been united with Jesus Christ! Why? Because of the nature of our union with Christ Jesus!

Romans 6:3–4 LSB

Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Our union with Christ Jesus began not in His resurrection, but in his death! And because it begins with His death, there are certain things that are true of us, whether we realize them or not, whether we are aware of them or not, things that are vital for our life here and now as we consider the nature of this over-abounding grace!

And so the me that was died with Christ, and the me that is, in newness of life, is now for the first time able to control my body of sin, sin’s body, my flesh that desires and lusts, “do not let sin reign in your mortal body”, he said in verse 13, and then he says this curious thing in Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

And immediately he asks the question in Romans 6:15 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” And of course, the answer is the same, “May it never be!”

He explains that we were slaves to sin, we presented our members as slaves to impurity, to lawlessness. And just as we once lived as a slave to sin, so now as slaves of obedience and righteousness, we have been made slaves to God! We no longer need do those things which bring only shame and lead to death, but now we have our benefit which leads to sanctification, we are now able to present our members as slaves to righteousness!

And so he brings us to that great conclusion of his argument in Romans 6:23,

Romans 6:23 LSB

For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now we can’t help but to see the parallels between this verse and Romans 5:21, which says “so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Sin reigned in death, the wages of sin is death. Grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The true Christian is not simply free to do whatever we want, but we are free now in Christ Jesus at last to truly please God, we have been freed from sin and impurity and lawlessness leading to shame and death, and have instead been enslaved to obedience and righteousness and God leading to sanctification through our union with Christ Jesus our Lord!

It is therefore completely wrong and does violence to the apostle’s message if we were to take it to mean that he is saying “let us do evil that good may come”, as some had slanderously claimed against him already, according to Romans 3:8, for how can we sin, knowing what we now know regarding our union with Christ Jesus!

But, there is yet another difficulty he must deal with which he has raised in these closing verses of chapter five,

Romans 5:20–21 LSB

Now the Law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You see, not only does Paul raise the issue of sin and grace, but he also has raised the question of the place and purpose of the law. And it is important that we recall what we learned while looking at verse 20, that the Law came in alongside the existing transgression of Adam, joining that which was already there. For we had already read in Romans 5:12-13, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”

To those whose lives centered around the law, who had grown up with the fresh national memory of punishment meted out by God against Israel and Judah in their exiles at the hand of Assyria and Babylon, to suggest that the Law was somehow indifferent, that it was temporary, would be sure to raise objections.

But not only did the apostle Paul not retract his statement regarding the law, in the midst of his discussion in chapter six regarding sin and grace, Paul doubled down on this idea in verse 14, writing,

Romans 6:14 LSB

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

And certainly, even we today have trouble reconciling this statement here with what David declared in Psalm 19:7-10,

Psalm 19:7–10 LSB

The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of Yahweh are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, even more than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

So, how is it that Paul resolves and reconciles all of this for our understanding? With a second parenthesis, this time forgoing the question, because the question is obvious, and just like in his answers to the questions of Sin and grace in verses 3 and 16 of chapter 6, he starts Romans 7 by saying, “or do you not know, brothers”!

Romans 7:1 LSB

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is master over a person as long as he lives?

For, he shall explain to us, the Law, although it did come in by the side as chapter 5 declares, although we are no longer under its dominion but under grace as chapter 6 declares, the Law does have a place and a purpose! It is holy, it is just, it is good! It reveals sin! It drives us ever to Christ Jesus, and in that it is of great benefit to us!

In fact, he takes not only the 25 verses of chapter seven to help us see this, but in many ways he continues the argument by way of a summary up through chapter 8 verse 4!

And how he does so is remarkable in itself, establishing in the first 6 verses the nature of the relationship between the believer and the law, verse 6 declaring,

Romans 7:6 LSB

But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

And yet, lest we get the wrong idea that the Law is evil or wrong, he shows that the problem lies not with the law but with us, in verses 7 through 12, verse 7 asking,

Romans 7:7 LSB

What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! Rather, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law. For I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

And then, questions as to how all of this works out in the life of the believer Paul addresses in the rest of the chapter starting in verse 13 with the question,

Romans 7:13 LSB

Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by working out my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

…and coming to that great final question in verse 24, with its answer in verse 25,

Romans 7:24–25 LSB

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

What is he saying? What is his theme? You could almost put it this way: Just as it is impossible to be justified by the Law as He as established in chapters 1 through 4, so now it is equally impossible to be sanctified by the Law.

It is an exposition of his great statement in Galatians 3 in which he is appalled at the Galatians’ desire to turn back to the law as they sought to be better Christians, “O foolish Galatians, who bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?”, asking

Galatians 3:2–3 LSB

This is the only thing I want to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

We will find in this study, that our ongoing life is as much in Christ Jesus as was our salvation.

Very well then, now we have reminded ourselves of the context necessary to rightly understand this great teaching, if the Lord wills and tarries, next time we will begin learning the details of the relationship of the believer to the Law!

Let us pray!