“Dead to the Law, Alive to Christ”

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.

HOOK

Opening Illustration: “Still Married?”

Begin with a light, relatable scenario:

“Imagine someone who got legally married… then years later says, ‘I’m still married—but I’ve also started a new marriage relationship on the side.’ We’d all say, ‘That’s not complicated—that’s illegal.’”

“Paul says many Christians are trying to live spiritually married to two different systems at the same time.”

Interactive Question (Raise Hands / Call Out)

“How many of you have ever felt like:

You love Jesus

But still feel crushed by guilt

Or like you’re never doing enough for God?”

(Let the tension sit.)

Transition Statement

Romans 7 tells us why that tension exists—and how God resolved it.

BOOK – Explain

1. The Audience: People Who Know the Law (v.1)

Romans 7:1 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?

Paul says, “I am speaking to those who know the law.”

This includes:

Jewish believers under Mosaic Law

Gentile believers familiar with legal systems

Also to the Judaizers (those who were trying to get new Gentile believers to follow the OT burden of the Law)

Key Principle: Law has authority only while a person is alive.

“Law is powerful—but its power ends at death.”

2. The Illustration: Marriage and Death (vv. 2–3)

Romans 7:2–3 CSB

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.

Paul uses marriage because it’s relational, binding, and serious

It just makes sense to us!

A wife is bound to her husband only while he lives

“Til death do us part”…

Death changes the legal status of the marriage

Important Note: Paul is not teaching about marriage here—he’s illustrating how legal obligation ends with death.

3. The Application: You Died (v.4)

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 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.

“You also died to the law through the body of Christ…”

Key Insight:

The Law didn’t die

You did.

“God didn’t relax His standards—He changed your status.”

Purpose of that death:

“…so that you may belong to ANOTHER—to Him who was raised from the dead.”

4. The Result: New Relationship, New Fruit (vv. 5–6)

Romans 7:5–6 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. 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.

Old life:

Living under the law

Sin stirred up by rules

“Do not touch wet paint”

The flesh is already bad enough by itself, but then it’s so messed up and prideful that it looks at the Law and says…”You won’t tell ME what to do…watch this…”

Those “sinful passions…were working in us”…Fruit that leads to death/destruction

the Law only reveals sin, it does not and cannot defeat it.

New life:

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.

Serving in the new way of the Spirit

Not external pressure, but internal transformation

Dying to the Law, DOES NOT MEAN, there are no rules to live by…

Jesus IS OUR RULE.

“We don’t obey to become alive—we obey because we ARE alive.”

LOOK- What does this look like for us?

Illustration: The Old Boss

Imagine:

You quit a job

A year later your old boss calls and says, “You’re late.”

Your response:

“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.”

Connection:

The Law used to be our boss

But death in Christ ended that authority

Illustration: Christian Guilt Culture

Many believers live like this:

“If I read more, pray harder, serve more… God will be pleased.”

That’s not freedom—that’s religious exhaustion

The Father is ALWAYS pleased with Jesus.

IF you are IN CHRIST, then Our Father is ALWAYS pleased with you, because you are DEAD, and it is CHRIST who lives in us and through us!

He has made us ALIVE IN HIM!!!

Alive to live and grow in Holiness…

Behavior modification will never earn you holiness, but holiness will modify your behavior.

Diagnostic Questions (Let People Reflect)

Ask slowly:

“Do I relate to God more like:

A spouse who loves me?

Or a boss who’s never satisfied?”

“When I fail, do I run to God—or hide from Him?”

TOOK – What Do We Do With This?

1. Stop Trying to Serve Two Masters

You can’t be married to Law and Grace

You can’t live by:

Jesus + performance (trying to impress)

Grace + guilt (living in your past)

“Trying harder” is not the solution—trusting/loving deeper is.

the more you grow to genuinely love Jesus, the more you obey Jesus.

If you don’t obey, you don’t love.

If you love, obedience is the fruit of that love.

2. Shift from Rules to Relationship

Ask:

“What does love for Christ lead me to do?”

NOT: “What’s the minimum I can get away with?”

Practical Step:

This week, replace one “I should” with:

“Because I belong to Jesus, I want to…”

3. Serve in the New Way of the Spirit

Not obligation

Not fear

Not comparison

But Spirit-led obedience

The Spirit produces fruit the Law could only demand.

Closing Illustration: The Marriage That Changed Everything

End where Paul started:

“Christianity isn’t a self-improvement program—it’s a new marriage. And when you died to sin/The Law, you were finally free, with your New Life, to love the One who gives life.”

Big Idea: Freedom in Christ doesn’t come from trying harder or doing in whatever you want—it comes from dying to the old way and living and walking in a new relationship with Jesus.

Prayer

“Lord, help us stop living like widows to grace and slaves to law. Teach us to live as people who belong to Jesus.”