In the Flesh

We now turn to verses 5 and 6 of this seventh chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Romans, and find the central point of this entire chapter, this entire interruption to his exposition regarding the fullness and finality of salvation by faith alone, in the finished work of Christ alone.

In the same way as a wife is released from being under the authority of her husband through death, even so are we who are in Christ Jesus, we who “were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ”, released from under the rule and authority of the law. We could not be joined to Christ as a bride to her husband until that had been accomplished, and so in that we die once and then comes judgement, we were organically united in Christ Jesus in His death and in His burial and in His resurrection, being thereby released as it were from our first husband, the law.

But in that great, selfsame transaction, we were likewise then “joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead”. We were not brought out and left on our own, but we have been betrothed to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, enjoying the great benefits conferred upon our new husband by His Father.

And even that has occurred “in order that we might bear fruit for God.” Our new Husband has sanctified us, having cleansed we who are His bride “by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless.” (Eph 5:26-27)

Why?

Why would the Lord of glory do such a thing?

Surely, there is a certain finality and permanency to all of this, such that it boggles the mind when you ponder it for very long!

Certainly, it supports the one-sided view of salvation, as a thing which is accomplished by God alone, and can be done only by Him!

But are there not good men, good women today? Are there no righteous men today, as there were before Christ? Men like Zechariah the priest, of the division of Abijah, and Elizabeth his wife from the daughters of Aaron, who were both declared to be “righteous in the sight of God” in Luke 1?

Didn’t God give the Law so that man could be righteous in His sight?

Don’t we have to do something in order to be saved?

But when Christ was deeply grieved to the point of death, and prayed in Matthew 26:39, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will”, there was no answer. There was no other way; we must die to the law through our union with Christ Jesus, so that we may then be joined to Him as a wife to her husband, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

Even though we took great time in understanding that 4th verse in our study, even that verse pales in comparison to the importance of these two verses here before us today. And looking forward, from verse 7 onward, we see that Paul there is in a sense resolving objections to this principle he is laying out before us here in verses 5 and 6.

Even worse, to rush ahead to the question of who he is speaking of in the last verses of the chapter without adequately understanding these verses here first is to miss the point entirely, and will cause us great confusion and wrong-headed thinking.

And so, we realize that everything from verses 1 through 4 point forward to these 2 verses, and then afterward everything points back to these verses.

In other words, we ought to then realize that verses 5 and 6 are truly the central point of the entire chapter.

Romans 7:5–6 LSB

For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 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.

There is a very wrong and misguided thinking, even infecting otherwise good, Bible-believing churches and ministers, to view sin as some sort of disease or infection, a temporary malady which may eventually be cured in order to rid mankind of this hindrance once and forever, and then onward we shall simply be able to take hold of our world and make it good. In a sense, if they even think of it in biblical terms, they suggest that the whole of mankind will take up the task of John the Baptist in making all things ready for us to simply enter into eternity, having conquered the thing which, for a time, held us back from reaching our true potential.

But Paul, still speaking to believers, his “brothers” in the sense of being likewise united in Christ through faith, and likewise the offspring of God, says in effect here in these verses, “no, that can’t be, if you think that, you do not understand either salvation or sanctification!”

As we begin looking at the text in earnest, it is vitally important that we understand with the utmost clarity what he means when he uses the term “in the flesh”, for he will use that term repeatedly throughout this seventh chapter and also the eighth chapter, and even into the ninth.

First, we must start with the most obvious: Paul is not talking about all flesh, the whole of mankind – “all flesh is as grass”, Isaiah recorded. But that concept clearly does not apply here, Paul is only talking to those he considers “brothers” here in verses 5 and 6; not referring to gender, but to all who are in Christ Jesus, recall that he has unusually reminded us twice in these verses, first in verse 1, “Or do you not know, brothers, for I am speaking to those who know the law”, and again in verse 4, “so, my brothers, you also were made to die to the law....” So, we begin by understanding that he is not talking about the whole of mankind.

Next, we must realize that by saying “in the flesh”, Paul does not refer to simply living and breathing, a physical life, as he had obviously meant in Galatians 2:20, where he had said, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” In this phrase in Galatians, Paul is most clearly referring to the bodily life of the believer, which cannot be the case in Romans 7:5, where he wrote, “we were in the flesh”. We must exclude that definition, he’s including himself here in the past tense. “I was, but I no longer am”, in the flesh. He’s not writing this from the grave! So once again, such an interpretation falls on its face, when held up to scrutiny.

No, to build a proper understanding of what he means here in Romans 7 by “in the flesh”, we need only look at the context of the verse. He is casting “in the flesh” as being opposed to that in newness of the Spirit. We can confirm this by looking forward to Romans 8:4, talking about we “...who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” We read on in Romans 8:7-9 “because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

In other words, to be in the flesh, is the antithesis, it is opposed, to being “in the Spirit.” To live “in the flesh”, is to live life still married to, and under the authority of, the law. It is life outside of our union to Christ Jesus, unable to serve in newness of the Spirit.

And everyone in the entire world, begins and lives their life in this way: “the sinful passions, which [are] aroused by the Law, [are] at work in our members to bear fruit for death.” Surely, as these things are former for those who are in Christ, they are the present reality for all who are outside of Christ Jesus.

This is the root of mankind’s problem. It is not that we are ill, or have some malady which we can eventually overcome, but that outside of Christ Jesus we are “in the flesh”, and under the Law.

Do we all commit murders? Do we all do heinous, abhorrent things that sicken us? No! In fact, quite the opposite! Some people even have the appearance of being good and wholesome. But all are “in the flesh”, all are under the Law. We are all dominated by sin, whose strength, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, “is the Law.”

Now, let’s go back in our minds to the principle statement of the apostle has been addressing in this chapter, 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.

You will recall, that this statement first brought in the objection regarding sin – should we continue to sin, that grace may abound. And of course, the apostle spent the whole of chapter 6 detailing for us why such a thought is so very abhorrent.

But he also introduced for us the question about the law – the law “came in”, by the side, so that the transgression would increase. And now here in Romans 7:5 he is addressing that in detail, expounding on his statements there.

All men and women, of every age, have had certain things which we have passions and desires for; things we enjoy, affections which have been given to us by God, such as a man desiring to marry a woman who loves him, an enjoyment of good food, a delight in the company of friends, and so on.

But in the Fall, sin has corrupted those desires, those things given to us by God have turned sinful, they become twisted; rather than our affections being controlled and used in the righteousness of God, used as God designed them for His glory, they are instead perverted.

But they are not simply twisted about, but these twisted affections are also then emboldened and empowered by the Law. Look again at Romans 7:5;

Romans 7:5 LSB

For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

Recall, for a moment, that this is present-tense for all who are outside of Christ Jesus.

It’s not that the Law creates them and generates those sinful passion, no! Such a thing is surely a wrong way to think about it, for the Law itself is “holy and righteous and good”, far be it for me to think that the Law has generated these sinful passions!

But these twisted and corrupted affections, are fanned to the flame of passion, through the Law.

Consider your children… if you set a jar on a countertop, they may never consider it, they may never notice it. Or, they may notice it, and look at it. But if you took that same jar and hold it up to them, saying “do not get into this”, you may be certain that before the week is done, they will have done precisely that. The same jar with the same contents was used in both cases; in both cases, the intent was that the children not get into it. But in the second case, the child is informed and given a command to not get into the jar. And the mere fact that was forbidden, that they knew it was forbidden, has increased the desire on the part of the child.

In the same way, the Law draws our attention to that which it prohibits. Where once we looked at another person’s things with mere desire, we now hear afresh “thou shalt not covet”, and so can think of nothing other that the thing the other person has, that I could have that thing as well. The law takes the small flame of desire and provides fuel to it, that it burns brighter and consumes all in its path, much in the way that gas and oxygen rush to a pilot light to produce a raging inferno.

And remember, we’re not just talking about the Law of Moses here, but that larger law of God, that encompasses the Law of Moses, but includes those things of the Law that Gentiles naturally do. In other words, even things which are right and moral.

Law, then doesn’t produce something new, it simply magnifies and enlarges that which was already present, already there.

When the Law encounters sin, it serves not to create sin, but to increase it. So it takes the sinful passions already present within a person, and arouses them, bringing them to a point where they consume a person, and then those sinful passions so aroused are energized by the law, brought to effect that we would do and work those deeds of iniquity within our members – not just our hands and feet, but our faculties; our intellect, our emotions – they work together to “bear fruit for death.”

In other words, what Paul is explaining to us, is just how unable a person “in the flesh” is to overcome that sorry estate on our own. For we are all born “in the flesh”, and as long as we remain in the flesh, we likewise remain under the rule and the dominion of the law, even as we are under the rule and the dominion of sin. And because we are in the flesh and under the dominion of the law, our sinful desires and passions move within us, they are active and restless, rather than subdued and at rest; and rather than producing life, we can then only produce death on account of these aroused desires.

And not only this, but we read in verse 6 that those in the flesh are constrained by the Law; it possesses us, it hold us captive under its rule and authority for as long as we remain in the flesh.

That’s the doctrine! That every person who is outside of Christ is bound and certain to produce only death. This is why a person can never escape from this wretched and incurable condition by himself, this is why we cannot eventually overcome the malady of sin, to make ourselves progressively better and more moral, to solve the problems of crime and criminals by making such things unthinkable, this is why we cannot simply correct a so-called “systemic problem” and set things aright. For in such attempts, we cannot change the heart, we cannot re-shape the desires, we cannot fundamentally change man.

For all who are in Adam are “appointed sinners”, set down in the realm and under the rule of sin, made sinners. And coming alongside that twisting and warping by sin of what is good and righteous, the Law has empowered and enlarged our transgression, exciting our sinful passions such that rather than being controlled by and heeding to God, we instead rush headlong into sin, being utterly helpless in their grip.

Our sinful passions, what the Authorized calls the “motions of sins”, the propensities and inclinations of a person who is “in the flesh”, those sinful passions use our members, our faculties - our emotions, our thinking, our reasoning within ourselves – as instruments to their own end, a person in the flesh is unable to escape the real and certain consequence of death.

The very condition of man is revealed to be something that he cannot save himself! No amount of morality, no amount of goodness, no amount of progress is able to save a person who is in this realm of sin and law and death.

Further, there is no hope for release by the law, which will last until heaven and earth pass away.

Let me read from our Statement of Faith here, regarding Man’s need of the new birth, I think it will help:

We believe that, owing to universal depravity and death in sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again; that no degree of reformation however great, or culture however attractive, no baptism or other ordinance however administrated, no religion however sincere, can help the sinner to take even one step toward heaven;

But, for those who are now in Christ Jesus, the story doesn’t stop here! We who have been saved by faith do not remain under a law which, far from being able to save us, has only served to provide further condemnation to us on account of its empowering of sin! We have these two wonderful, powerful words we can look at and rejoice in, revelling in the great grandeur and majesty and reality of “but now!”

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.

What man’s progress could not do, God in an instant accomplished the whole and complete salvation of those who are His. It is by this, and by this alone, that the description of life in Romans 7:5 turns from a description of what is, into a description of what once was. The present tense of "we are in the flesh”, to the past tense of “we were in the flesh”.

It changes the present tense “we are in the flesh, the sinful passions which are aroused by the Law, are at work in our members to bear fruit for death”, to Romans 7:5 “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.”

You cannot be saved if this is not true of you, and if you are saved it is true of you in its entirety. It is true of every real Christian.

We who are in Christ Jesus have been released from the Law, we have been delivered from that husband which so bound us up and energized our sin so as to produce death within us.

This is why it is so important that we rightly understand that we were in a sense married to the law as our first husband – under his authority and held in his grip, that we had to die to be removed from a clear and certain end.

We don’t like to talk about sin these days; our culture abhors such talk, they decry it, they don’t want to listen to it, they desire to silence those who do speak of it. They likewise desire to know nothing about the law. “Don’t tell me what to do,” they say. “Don’t tell me my thing is wrong, don’t put those words in front of me,” they cry out.

And when they do speak of sin, it is only described as a societal illness or malady to be overcome.

But that’s far from what Holy Scripture teaches us. “The sinful passions” are already inside us, and even our own understanding of morality, let alone any teaching regarding morality, much less the laws of our land, and even further our understanding of the Law of God. serve to energize those sinful passions.

In other words, there is no possibility in ourselves to avoid bearing “fruit for death.” We need, we require, a Savior, a God who provides salvation, for we are completely, entirely unable to do save ourselves.

Let me read the last part of that same paragraph in our statement of faith, continuing where I left off:

but a new nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word is absolutely essential to salvation.

Thanks be to God, He did provide salvation from our sins in the finished work of Jesus Christ!

Let us Pray!