The Law of Sin and Death

Review

Promise

Romans 5:19 “19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

Theme

Romans 5:20–21 “20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

4 Questions

Romans 6 — Excuses for Sin

Romans 6:1–3 “1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”

Romans 6:12–13 “12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

Romans 6:15–16 “15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”

Romans 6:21–23 “21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 7 — The relationship and purpose of the law with sin.

Romans 7:7 “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.””

Romans 7:11–12 “11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.”

Romans 7:13 “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.”

Romans 7:18–20 “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. 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.”

Why is this Study Important?

It helps us to lay a foundation for our understanding about sin and our new life in Christ.

Paul first dealt with questions regarding our excuses to allow sin to remain.

There are always temptations to compromise with ‘our’ personal sins.

So Paul deals with the reasons of sinning because we are under grace and sinning because there is no law over us now.

Why does he do this?

He wants us to see that the law is good in identifying sin.

And that it is sin that uses the opportunities it has to try to kill us.

Does this make the Law bad in bringing this sin to light?

No the law is is holy, just and good...

Sin is exceedingly sinful in that it can even use the law to excite more sin.

How does it do this?

We fight against sin in our hearts, whether lusts, evil thoughts, bitterness, cursing, .... any sin that has gripped us.

Yet as we lose this battle, we grow weary and stop seeking to really kill the sin. We make peace with it if isn’t ‘too bad’, too obvious, too visible.

Paul wants us the to see the evil of this position, both in the reality that we must never compromise with sin, and the reality that sin will never agree to compromise with us. I is exceedingly evil.

A rotten spot on a piece of fruit.

A dead body in a spring of water.

It defiles the water as a whole as long as it remains.

We are able to clean and clear the spring if we are ready to remove the sin completely.

Paul’s Conclusion on our relationship with Sin

Saved or Lost?

Why is this important to know?

If the conclusion of Romans 7 is for the lost only, we can take a deep breath and brush it away. These uncomfortable truths are not for us.

If it is for the redeemed, we are are in a bigger battle than most of us realize and desperately need help!

What evidence do we see, what verses? (The evidence is very clear when we see that Paul is starting this section in Romans 5 and going through Romans 8.)

Romans 5:1 “1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

Romans 5:10–11 “10 For if when 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. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

Romans 5:19 “19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

Romans 6:1–2 “1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

Romans 6:4–7 “4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.”

Romans 6:17–18 “17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

Romans 7:4 “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.”

Romans 7:6 “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.”

What other verses help us to see this same battle?

Matthew 26:41 “41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.””

1 Corinthians 9:27 “27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”

1 Corinthians 6:12 “12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

Romans 8:13 “13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Colossians 3:5 “5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

2 Timothy 2:22 “22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

1 Peter 2:11 “11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,”

Paul’s Conclusion

Romans 7:21 “21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.”

I find then…

This is the conclusion of all… The testing and debate is over. Here is Paul’s Spirit lead conclusion.

The Principle of Sin is a Law:

Law

NKJV does better than some of the ‘technical’ translations. It is all the same root word. (nomos)

Nomos is used 197 times and is alway used to speak of a law.

It can be used for different laws, 1) the law of God for the 10 commandments 2) The law of sin that Paul is defining here and 3) The law of Life in Christ. 3 differing laws.

What is this Law?

It is not a moral code of law like the ten commandments. There is no moral code of sin that commands us from the outside of our body.

The is similar to a natural law like gravity.

No one had to codify gravity for it to work. It is something that is so constant, so unchangeable that we call it a natural law.

There are way to work around it, but it still exists at all times and places of our normal lives.

So too, the spiritual law of sin is in action at all times and all places during our normal lives.

We go to sleep and think thoughts that aren’t good. Sometimes glorifying ourselves, sometimes hating others, sometimes lust for things we don’t have.

We go to church can gossip with others, complain, and even blame God with our words. Our minds drift during prayer, We complain in our minds about the singing of another person, too load, too hard a song, too off key, too....

We go shopping and distrust God provision over the price of the food, we critic the dress of others, their make up, their clothes...

We look for entertainment and enjoy entertainment that has sin in it. The takes us away from God, that wastes our time.

This is not a natural law, but a spiritual law.

Not necessarily good just because I call it a Spiritual law. This is fact is an exceedingly sinful law that rules over us.

It exists in the moral plan before God. It is the consequence of having been born from the descendant of Adam.

This law is from the inside of Me!

How can we know and fight something that is inside of us?

Especially something that is such a raging tide of blackness and despair?

It isn’t a small area of our bodies that we can cut off, but it fills us.

A Law that never rests.

It isn’t a meek law suggesting a better way,

but like gravity it is irresistible to escape from that can even use the Law of God to excite sinful passions.

that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. (It is there even at our best moments.)

Pride in our accomplishments

Trust in our own strength and wisdom.

A call from the flesh to yielding to known sin, even as I fight against it. Just leave a little… remember it fondly longingly, image other outcomes....

Why is this important?

We have two Kingdoms in our hearts and two laws given by those Kings. We must be careful that only one of them wins. We must never give the ‘evil’ of sin a chance to gain the upper hand.

We must know the extent of this second Kingdom and how to weaken and destroy it if we would live a life for God.

Application Questions

Do we ever seek to know the sins that plague us, or do we like to acknowledge and just go on. Never truly getting to the roots of the sin.

What does our pet sins promise us? Does it deliver on the promise?