The Law and The Christian Pt. 1

Intro

One of the strangest stories from Church history, and there are a lot of them, is the story of Pope Formosus and what was called “The Cadaver Synod”.

In January of the year 897, Pope Formosus was put on trial mostly for political corruption.

But this trial had one thing very, very wrong with it.

Formosus was pope for five years when he died of a stroke.

And it was this feature that made Formosus’ trial such a scandal.

He had already been dead for seven months when he took the stand to face his charges.

Formosus successor and rival, Pope Steven VI, ordered that Formosus body be exhumed to face trial for political corruption.

So Formosus body was dug up from his grave, dressed up in papal robes, and then sat up in a throne for a trial that Pope Steven seemed to take very seriously.

Formosus was found guilty, then his body was thrown in the Tiber River.

Aside from the absurdity of Pope Steven yelling at and accusing a corpse of crimes. One of the most ironic parts to this whole story is that Formosus name literally means “handsome” in latin.

Now many who watched this unfold in front of them were shocked and disgusted by the spectacle.

They knew it was ridiculous. We know it to be ridiculous for the same reason.

We know that once someone is dead, they are no longer condemned by the civil law, regardless of their guilt or innocence.

This like what we see in verse 4 of our passage this morning, Romans 7.

Romans 7:4 (ESV)

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ.

The law that is being referred to here is the law that God gave through Moses at Mount Sinai, what we often call the “Mosaic law,” or the “old testament law.”

Tension

But if we have died to the law, what does this mean for the Law itself?

Is it bad? Is it Good? And how do we interact with it as Christians?

This is actually one of the most controversial topics in the evangelical church nowadays.

There are all sorts of different opinions on how God’s law applies to Christians and the world, if it does at all.

On one hand you have people who believe that the Old Testament law has nothing to do with believers. We can ignore it.

On the other hand you have others, less prominent or numerous but a few do exist, who think we should take the entirety of the old testament law and drop it right on our own context.

Many more fall somewhere in the middle, though many do not really know why.

And I will tell you that this is a topic that is very relevant to how we proclaim the Gospel, and how we live as people who have received salvation through faith.

So how are we to approach the Mosaic, or Old Testament law as Christians?

The Apostle Paul lays out a part of the answer to this question in our passage this morning Romans chapter 7.

We are going to focus on one particular function of the law this morning.

We will talk about the other functions of the law when we explore Romans 13 later on in our series.

Romans 7

Exposition

Review Context

Paul has just been teaching the Romans in chapter 6 that the free gift of Salvation through faith is not a license to sin with impunity.

In fact he says, that through saving faith, we have been given a real, spiritual union to Christ.

And because of that union, through Christ’s death on the cross, we have died to the power of sin and it’s mastery over us.

We are no longer enslaved to sin, we have died to it.

But we have not only died to the power of sin, we have also died to the law.

We see this in v. 1-3 of our passage this morning.

Only as Long as He Lives (v. 1-3)

Romans 7:1–3 ESV

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

Paul’s Audience

Now we do need to be reminded of who Paul is writing to here.

There are some theological traditions who believe that whole sections of the book of Romans are written specifically to Jewish believers.

I’m inclined to disagree with that. When he says here, “for I am speaking to those who know the law.” Paul is not speaking to Jewish believers only.

While he does use the Jews as an example in several passages, at no point does he say, “this teaching is for the Jews, this is for the gentiles.” The teaching is broadly applicable to all believers.

The entirety of the book of Romans is addressed “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.” in Chapter 1 verse 7.

And in regards to this teaching about the law, we see in Romans 3:19 that it is not only the Jews that are under the law, but that the whole world is accountable to God’s moral law. We’re going to revisit that point in a moment.

Binding Only the Living

But here in verse 1 of our passage Paul says, “that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.”

This is much like the story I told about poor Pope Handsome.

The trial his corpse was subject to was ridiculous because he was dead.

Now Paul did not begin his ministry as a youth pastor, so he gives a classier example in verses 2-3 of our passage.

Romans 7:2–3 ESV

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

It takes a man and a woman to form a marriage covenant.

And if the husband dies, that death releases the wife from the law of marriage.

And because of that, she is free to marry another man without committing adultery.

The death has released her from that law.

This is why in our traditional marriage vows, the vow that the husband and the wife make to each other is “till death do us part.”

Paul goes on in verses 4-6 to explain his analogy.

Dead to the Law (v. 4-6)

Romans 7:4–6 ESV

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

The Law Has Not Died

Now I want you to note a distinction between Paul’s analogy of the husband and wife, and his explanation. And I believe this is key so that we don’t misunderstand what is being said here.

In the analogy: the husband dies, and because of the death of her husband, the wife is free to marry another man.

There are some when they study this passage who take the analogy and make that the foundation of their interpretation.

They interpret it as meaning, we believers are the wife and our husband (the law) has died, freeing us to marry another (Christ).

And with the law being dead, it is no longer active, and thus it is irrelevant for anyone, especially believers.

We Have Died

But in Paul’s explanation, that is not what he says.

In his explanation, and throughout the entirety of the chapter, and the whole book, it is not the law that dies, but it is we who die.

It is not a one-to-one analogy, if the wife had died, the analogy would fall apart, dead people tend not to get married.

Paul is simply using the analogy to demonstrate what he says in v. 1 , “that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.”

As we saw in chapter 6, through our union with Christ, we die to sin.

Here we see that through the same spiritual union with Christ, it is we who have died to the law.

If it is we who die, we are dead to the law, and are therefore no longer under it, but it is still alive, it is still active.

Nowhere in the scriptures do we see the law dying.

The Law Condemns

In fact, as I’ve already mentioned, everyone both Jew and Gentile is held accountable to the law. As Romans 3:19 tells us:

Romans 3:19 (ESV)

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

The whole world is held accountable for their sin, by the standard of the law.

If we have not received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, we are still under the law.

And this is the worst part: we are not merely in danger of breaking God’s law, we all are already guilty of breaking it.

As Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

We are not in danger of being condemned, we are all already condemned because we have all already broken God’s law in our sin.

The only way to be free from the condemning power of the law is to die to it.

And we die to it through our union with Christ and his death on the cross.

Bearing Fruit for God

In verses 4-6 we see that our death to the law sets us free to actually bear fruit for God.

This is because before we died to sin and the law through faith in Jesus Christ, our sinful passions are awakened, aroused by the law, to bear fruit for death. Which is what sin always leads to.

So often when people are confronted with the law of God, they pursue its polar opposite out of sheer rebellion.

We can especially see this today in our society’s views on all sorts of morality, but sexuality in particular.

This is what our sinful natures do when they are exposed to God’s law.

It leads to rebellion and greater sin, resulting in greater judgment.

Bearing the fruit of death.

But through faith in Christ we are given union with him, and in his death on the cross, we have died to sin and the law.

By dying to sin, our sinful natures no longer enslave us.

By dying to the law, it no longer condemns us.

We are therefore free, able to bear fruit for God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Goodness of the Law (v. 7-11)

But if the law condemns us, doesn’t that make it an enemy? Is the law something bad, a curse in and of itself.

Many evangelical Christians do treat God’s law like this.

I’ll tell you, that growing up I heard many preachers and bible teachers talk about the law of God this way.

What troubled me was how I just couldn’t find the law spoken of like that in the scriptures.

Take Psalm 19 for example. It’s this incredible, beautiful celebration of God’s creation and his word. The second half says this:

Psalm 19:7–11 (ESV)

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

This is specifically about the law of God.

Another passage to consider is Psalm 119.

The longest Psalm, and the longest chapter in the entire Bible, is all about the goodness of God’s law.

Some people try to solve this problem by drawing a very sharp distinction between Old and New Testaments. Teaching that the law was good but it isn’t for us anymore.

But Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-19

Matthew 5:17–19 ESV

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

This was not for just the Jews in his time, but this was for those in the kingdom of heaven. That includes you and me.

So what does Paul say about the law?

In this very chapter, Paul says in v. 12

Romans 7:12 ESV

So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

And in 1 Timothy 1:8, he says

1 Timothy 1:8 (ESV)

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully (or rightly)

Well we see one of these right uses of the law when we look back at v. 7 of our passage.

What is Sin?

But before we look at v. 7, I want you to think about this question: What is sin?

Yes it’s the evil that you and I do, think, and say.

But who says what sin is? How do we know what is good and what is evil?

In our day and age, and the society we live in, we as Christians need an answer for that question.

Without the law of God, we are left without an objective, transcendent standard of good and evil.

Without the law of God we don’t know what sin is.

And if we don’t know what sin is, how can we call people to repentance and faith?

If the Gospel is, “God has a wonderful plan for your life.” Then the law of God doesn’t have anything to do with salvation.

But if the Gospel is that Christ died for our sins, and we can receive his salvation through repentance from our sin and faith in him. Then we better know what sin is.

And this is the use of the law that Paul demonstrates in v. 7

And He quotes directly from the 10 commandments.

Romans 7:7 ESV

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

The law shows us our sin.

Use of the Law 1. The Mirror

John Calvin described this use of the law as being like a mirror.

Just like when we look in a mirror we see our pimples, our wrinkles, our blemishes. For me I see weirdly long rogue eyebrow hairs. When we look at the law of God, it shows us our sin.

Look at, Romans 7:7 again, “Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.””

Without the law of God, we are left without an objective, transcendent standard of good and evil.

The law of God is a mirror. And this mirror shows us the perfect moral standard we cannot live up to.

And this mirror causes a different reaction in different people.

Pride

Some people see the mirror of God’s law and they react with pride.

This pride always results in self righteousness. And this can manifest itself in a couple of ways.

Some people look at God’s law and they think, “Im doing pretty well, compared to that guy over there, I am keeping these well.”

The Pharisees, and the rich young ruler in Mark 10 were like this.

Some other people see that by God’s standards they are evil, and they double down on it.

They pursue evil all the more because, “who does God think he is to tell me I’m wrong.

This is how sin is awakened by the law as we saw in v. 5, and Paul gives a further demonstration of how the law awakens sin in vv. 8-11.

Romans 7:8–11 ESV

But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

Ultimately those who are under the law and respond to it in pride are headed for death.

Repentance

But then there are others who when they see the mirror of the law of God, they feel convicted of their sin, and respond in repentance.

The mirror of the law of God shows them their sin and their need for a saviour.

When someone looks into the mirror of the Law of God and recognizes the reality of their sin for the first time, this is what leads to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

It’s this recognition of one’s sin that leads to salvation through faith!

What makes the difference? What makes one type of person respond in pride, and another type of person respond in repentance?

The difference is the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says in John 16:8 that when the Holy Spirit comes, “he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:”

It is the Holy Spirit that brings people to repentance when they are confronted with the mirror of the law of God.

And it is at that moment of repentance and faith that we are given union with Christ by the Spirit, and with Christ we die to both sin and the law.

At that moment we are no longer under the law’s condemnation.

As Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

The War Within (v. 13-20)

But as we’ve seen many times in our study of Romans, we still deal with sin as Christians.

Even though we have died to sin and died to the law, and are no longer condemned, we still struggle with sin in our lives.

In verses 13-20 we see that even Paul had this struggle, this war inside of him.

Romans 7:13–23 ESV

Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

Now there is some debate as to whether Paul is speaking about believers or unbelievers here.

I would land on the side that this passage is about believers since unbelievers aren’t really concerned with obedience to God. Paul is even using himself (a believer) as the example.

One interpretation that several people have put forward is that verses 13-23 is Paul showing us hypothetically what trying to be obedient to God without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit is like.

It’s a constant battle, having the desire to do right but never being able to carry it out.

I like this interpretation because it sets us up perfectly for Paul’s teaching about Life in the Spirit in chapter 8.

Without the power of the Holy Spirit we would be powerless to battle sin within our flesh.

Application

Who Will Deliver Me? (v. 24-25)

Paul demonstrates this powerlessness in vv. 24-25 by crying out,

Romans 7:24–25 ESV

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

Even after we get saved, we still struggle with sin. Sin still dwells is in our flesh until it dies as well.

This is why it is so wonderful that we can keep going back to Jesus, confessing our sin that the Holy Spirit shows us in the mirror of the law, and recieving forgiveness.

One of my favourite passages of the Bible is 1 John 1:9

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

When we were sinners, the law condemned us.

But as people who have died to the law through Christ, we can look in the mirror and draw nearer to Christ for forgiveness.

Through Christ we are no longer condemned.

Conclusion

This is something that gives me so much peace when I think about how wretched, how sinful I am.

That I am no longer condemned, I have died to the law.

And that I can always confess my sins and go to Christ for forgiveness.

This is what I want to leave you with this morning.

That if you are in Christ you can rest in the assurance that your sins will not be brought against you.

That no matter what you did in your past, whatever evil you did, whatever hurt you caused, if you have received salvation through repentance and faith, you are no longer condemned.

When you wonder if God will ever accept you, you can rest assured that your sin has been atoned for, and you have died to sin and the law.

For a charge to be brought against you, would be like bringing charges against a corpse.

You can rest in the assurance that through Christ, we have been fully justified, dead to sin, dead to the law.

For those of you who have not received salvation through faith in Christ, don’t you want that assurance?