“Free From the Law”

Introduction

Romans 7 continues Paul’s answer to the QUESTION in (6:15)

Romans 6:15 CSB

15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not!

The answer in (6:16-23) is that our ACTIONS determine our MASTER, so choose who you serve, and what you wish to receive: The “…wages of sin”—you receive what you deserve, DEATH; or “…the gift of God” (GRACE), “…eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 7 continues Paul’s answer focusing on the believer’s relationship to the Law!

A couple of OBSERVATIONS to help our understanding of this passage:

FIRST: There are THREE SECTIONS in this chapter (in fact, your Bible may have three headings)…

“Free from the Law” - (7:1-6)

“Sin’s Use of the Law” - (7:7-13)

“The Problem of Sin in Us” - (7:14-25)

SECOND: In this chapter…

“I” is used 30 times

“me” is used 12 times

“my/myself” is used 5 times

Total personal pronoun usage: 47 times!

“Romans 7 is the picture of a defeated Christian who is dominated by self!”

Got a ‘me-myself-and I’ problem!

THIRD: The uses of KEY WORDS:

Chapter 6, the key word is “SIN” - appears 17 times!

Chapter 7, the key word is “LAW/COMMANDMENT” - appears 23/7 times respectively (30 times total)!

Chapter 8, the key word is “SPIRIT/HOLY SPIRIT” - appears 22 times!

FOURTH: Notice Paul’s PATTERN of teaching…

In the first six verses of Chapter 6, Paul demonstrates our “Death to Sin!”

In the first six verses of Chapter 7, Paul demonstrates our “Death to the Law!”

Paul is definitely following a thought-pattern, demonstrating our VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ!

READ TEXT:

Romans 7:1–6 CSB

1 Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and sisters, don’t you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives? 2 For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. 3 So then, if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress. 4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.

There are TWO MAIN THOUGHTS, picked up by the word/phrase, “…brothers and sisters” - (vv.1, 4)

I. The REASON We Are NOT UNDER the LAW! - (7:1-3)

Unfortunately, the suggestion that we are “not under law” is FRIGHTENING to some folks!

Some folks love RULES! - Somebody gets out of line, make a rule! Kids disobey, make another rule! Somebody’s tempted to move with the music (usually the wrong kind), make a rule!

Now, is there anything wrong with the Law? - NO! (More next week…”

There are certain things we believe about the Law that are WRONG!

NAMELY, that the LAW keeps sin in check! NOT!

There are more laws in America than anywhere! There are more than 30,000 statutes enacted by Congress since 1789 in the United States! That doesn’t even begin to cover all the regulatory rules!

America must be the most GOD-FEARING, RIGHTEOUS place to live in the world! Right?

Christians today are STILL trying to re-establish the Law—(spiritual pharisees)!

Their interpretation of the Law become STANDARDS that are BINDING!

While their objectives are admirable (the desire to keep sin in check), it simply doesn’t work!

As we will learn next week, sin is aroused by the Law!

1 Timothy 1:7–11 CSB

7 They want to be teachers of the law, although they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are insisting on. 8 But we know that the law is good, provided one uses it legitimately. 9 We know that the law is not meant for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and irreverent, for those who kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral and males who have sex with males, for slave traders, liars, perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which was entrusted to me.

Why are we not under “Law?”

A. The LEGAL PRINCIPLE - (v.1)

The legal authority—“…the law rules over” is limited to our lifetime!

John Stott writes…

The Message of Romans a. The Legal Principle (1)

The one thing which invalidates it is death. Death brings release from all contractual obligations involving the dead person. If death supervenes, relationships established and protected by law are ipso facto terminated. So law is for life; death annuls it.

In Jesus Christ, we have died to the Law’s authority over us!

Romans 8:3–4 CSB

3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

B. The DOMESTIC ILLUSTRATION - (vv.2-3)

Paul is NOT teaching on marriage, but is using marriage as an illustration of our relationship to the Law!

1. The ILLUSTRATION - (v.2)

(v.2) - “…a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives.”

From δέδεται νόμῳ - lit. ‘bound by law’ and is a strong word!

1 Corinthians 7:27 CSB

27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

I realize that some are not comfortable with such strong language, but that is how the Bible defines and/or describes marriage! You are bound—you are in willful bondage!

And it is not to perpetuate the “ball and chain” jokes about marriage, but rather, it’s about your promise, and the honor of marriage! You made a VOW to ‘forsake all others and be faithful until death!’

One of my deep regrets as a pastor is not calling out married men who were acting inappropriately (flirting) with other women!

When you said, “I do!” You gave up the right to flirt with other women—you are NOT free to behave in such a manner!

It is frequently used of being “bound with chains!”

Acts 12:6 CSB

6 When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.

Acts 21:33 CSB

33 Then the commander approached, took him into custody, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.

2. The IMPLICATIONS - (v.3)

There are TWO:

(v.3a) - “…if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress.”

This is NOT COMPLICATED! If your husband is still alive, you are NOT allowed to marry another!

(v.3b) - “…But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress.”

1 Corinthians 7:39 CSB

39 A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants—only in the Lord.

The death of the husband FREES her from the Law of marriage! The bondage is severed!

When you apply all of this to what Jesus has done for us, we learn a MARVELOUS TRUTH: YOU ARE SET FREE FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW!

Galatians 3:13–14 CSB

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. 14 The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Christian teachers who try to impose LAW on believers (hello Seventh Day Adventists) are flat wrong (more when we get to Romans 14)!

II. The RESULTS of BEING FREE From the LAW! - (7:4-6)

All of these results are because of (v.4a) - “…you were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ”

Colossians 1:21–22 CSB

21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—

1 Peter 2:24 CSB

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

There are FOUR RESULTS:

A. A New FREEDOM - (v.4a)

Romans 7:4 CSB

4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ…

You are no longer bound by the law because you “…were put to death”!

B. A New COMMITMENT - (v.4b)

Romans 7:4 CSB

4 …so that you may belong to another…

You are not free to SIN—to lead a lawless life, but to marry another—to be bound to a new authority (Christ) - (cf. 8:2)!

C. A New LIFESTYLE - (vv.4c-5)

“Why have we been married to Christ?” - (v.4c)

Romans 7:4 CSB

4 …You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Romans 6:22 CSB

22 But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life!

CONTRASTED to our old self—or to the believer attempting to be justified by Christ AND the Law!

Romans 7:5 CSB

5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for death.

We shall see next week that the Law arouses sinful passions!

D. A New MOTIVATION - (v.6)

Romans 7:6 CSB

6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.

The “newness” - from καινότητι, used twice in Romans (6:4b and 7:6) is not chronological, but rather a ‘newness’ that comes from being a “new creation!”

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

It is serving God, not out of DUTY or under COMPULSION, but out of DESIRE prompted by LOVE!