Romans 7:1-6

Romans 7:1–6 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. 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.

Four biblical affirmations of a transformed life

Verse 1-3 - The transformed person honors and submits to the authority of law.

In verse 1, Paul reminds us that he is writing to fellow believers - brothers and sisters in Christ - you and me. He wanted the reader to know that the law applied to their life. As long as they were alive, they had a responsibility to it.

What law was Paul talking about? I read three commentaries this week. One of them said Paul was pointing them to the Mosiac Law. Two of them said that Paul was referring to general law that was known to every man.

something the congregation can relate…

In order to determine the mostly correct answer, let’s consider the context. Paul wrote to the Roman Christians. Rome is a 3 1/2 flight over the Mediterranean Sea from Jerusalem. Nobody from the temple was flying to Rome. If you prefer to drive, it’s just over 2500 miles and would take 44 hours. The google maps route would take 167 days to walk. I don’t think anybody from Rome stopped by the three Jewish festivals.

Based on other passages, it is likely there were Jewish Christians in Rome that fellowshipped with Gentile Christians. I suspect the church in Rome was ethnically diverse.

What law was Paul talking about? I think Paul was addressing every law that would be familiar to every believer until the end of time. A transformed believer has a responsibility to honor and submit to the law.

Look at verse 1. The law is binding on a person… Binding is to have authority over.

Look at verses 2-3. The illustration that Paul gives was the culture of the day. Men initiated marriage. Think back to Abraham sent one of his key men to find a wife for Isaac. Men could initiate a divorce. The only two ways for a woman to be released from the marriage law was if her husband divorced her or he died. If she did not honor and submit to the law, she was designated a cheater and that often ended in death.

When we don’t like the law, the way the law was created, the person in charge, or all the circumstances surrounding the law, it is the responsibility of a transformed person to rise above the occasion. When we honor and submit to the authority of laws, we honor and submit to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 4 - The transformed person is married to grace through the blood of Jesus Christ.

The context of this passage is that we are married to rules, married to grace, or some combination of both. Remember from last week, grace is not a license to sin, repent, repeat. It is a privilege provided by the blood of Jesus Christ.

When we are married to rules, we will always cling to rules. When we chase rules, we will only be content with rules. When we broadcast rules, we will primarily be known as a rule former.

Verse 5 - The transformed person rejects the stirrings of our old life.

Verse 5 records four characteristics of a believer’s old life (MacArthur NT Commentary Romans 1-8, page 362)

First, the believer’s old life operated in the flesh. Paul specifically uses flesh in Romans 8, Galatians 5 and Ephesians 2 as morally and ethically evil. Unbelievers can only operate in the sinful depravity of fallen mankind.

Second, the believer’s old life was characterized by sinful passions, the impulses to think and to do evil.

Third, the believer’s old life was aroused by the Law. In general, laws stir up a reaction in every person. I think most response to a law fall into one of three categories. 1) I’m going to obey the law, because it’s a law. 2) Let’s see how far I can push that law before there is some sort of consequence. 3) Laws were made to be broken. I don’t care. I’m not doing it.

As the Law of God declares what is wrong, it stirs up evil in the unbeliever because his rebellious nature makes him want to do the very thing he knows is forbidden.

Fourth, the believer’s old life was bearing the fruit of death.

Verse 6 - The transformed person dispenses obvious fruit.

If we are released to serve, our life should be a grace-filled, gospel-minded fruit dispenser. Meaning, your serving points to Jesus, talks about Jesus and calls for a commitment to Jesus.