Freed From the Law

Romans 7:1–4 NKJV

1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 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.

We are still dealing with that bold, shocking, statement in Rom 5:20

Romans 5:20 NKJV

20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,

A statement like this infuriate the legalist. Yet it is at the heart of the gospel of grace. However, if we preach this gospel we will be slandered for it. They will say that it is a damnable doctrine. They will say that we give licence to sin. We will be misunderstood. Paul was slandered for this position.

Romans 3:8 NKJV

8 And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.

Why does this gospel of grace offend the legalist and the moralist? Because if it is true then it makes all their efforts towards righteousness and holy living futile. Many people have spent their lives striving to please God through strict living, even inflicting bodily pain on themselves in order to please God and be acceptable to Him. But this gospel of grace makes their whole life’s efforts vanity a total waste. Not only that but this gospel would elevate a vile wretch to a place of acceptance with God even if they had spent their whole life fulfilling the lust of their flesh. It means that a criminal who has dedicated his life to evil pursuits can at the moment of his execution can by faith accept this grace and on that very day be accepted by a holy God into paradise. What a scandalist teaching this is.

The criticism of this gospel which is raise is that if my righteousness and thus my acceptance with God is not earned through a moral life and adherence to laws but rather through faith by grace, then it will encouraged sinfulness and lawlessness.

Paul answer is laid out in a logical argument through the next 3 chapters.

What have we found in chap 6?

1. We are united with Christ through baptism into his death so that we have died in Christ for our sins the penalty of the law is satisfied and we have been raised to walk in newness of life.

2. We have been set free from slavery to our old mater of sin and we have yielded to be slaves to our new master God.

And now as we come to chapter 7 we find that we have set free from the Law and have been married to Christ

Released from the Dominion of the Law

Romans 7:1 NKJV

1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?

Once again Paul uses this term “Dominion” which means to exercise influence upon or to have power over.

It is similar to the term reign that he used in 5:21

Romans 5:21 NKJV

21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We then see the term dominion used in 6:9

Romans 6:9–10 NKJV

9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Death no longer has dominion or power over Christ what is the power that death can have over us?

1 Corinthians 15:56 NKJV

56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

Sin is what gives death power or dominion over someone. So if Christ did not sin then why did death ever have dominion over Him. It is because our sin was imputed to him and sin being empowered by the law had power over Christ on the cross, but through the death that he died unto sin once for all. The demand of the Law being satisfied sin’s atoned for death no longer has dominion over Christ. Therefore because of my union with Christ in baptism sin no longer has dominion over me either and death has lost its sting.

Which is exactly what Paul says in verse 14

Romans 6:14 NKJV

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

So this is so important in understanding this whole argument as we continue into Rom 7. What does Paul mean when he says sin shall not have dominion over you? He does not mean that we don’t sin. What does he mean? The key is in the second part of the verse “for you are not under the law but under grace.” We have just seen in 1 cor that strength of sin is the law and the power that sin holds over us by the law in death. So if I’m no longer under the law then sin has lost its power of death over me. I am no longer under the condemnation of sin so sin does not have dominion over me and death has indeed lost its sting.

So in ch 7 Paul begins to tell us how it is that the law no longer has dominion over the elect. and he does this through an analogy of marriage.

Romans 7:2–3 NKJV

2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.

This analogy is given in order to explain the connection between death and release from the law. But in out case it is us that has died in Christ

Romans 7:4 NKJV

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.

United With Christ in Marriage

So this is the second part that so often gets overlooked.

In our review of chapter 6 we saw that we were united in the death of Christ and we died to sin. Just as Christ died once and for all so we died once and for all in Christ for our sins.

So that we can live in the likeness of His resurrection walking in newness of life

We have been freed from the master of sin so that we can be made slaves of Christ

And in 7 we have been release from the law through death that we might be married to Christ

Never is salvation only one sided. Never does one become united in the death of Christ without also being united in His resurrection. Never is someone set free from sin which also becoming a slave to God. And never does someone die to the law without being joined to Christ in marriage. God does not begin projects that He does not complete.

The purpose of being released from the Law is that we might be joined to Christ and the reason for this union is...

That We may Bear Fruit to God

We touch on this idea of fruit last week because we found it in

Romans 6:21–22 NKJV

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.

The word holiness here means sanctification or purification. See for Paul justification and sanctification are inseparable. just like being united in death and in resurrection or being set free from sin and becoming a slave to God or being released from the law and being married to Christ. Both justification and sanctification are the grace of God received by faith. And this is Paul’s answer to the idea of continuing in sin because we are not under the law but under grace. Because fruit unto sanctification is the absolute result of being justified by faith.