"I've Got a New Partner"

Romans 7:1-13

English Standard Version (Chapter 7)

1 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?

2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies (represents the law) she is released from the law of marriage.

3 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.

4 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.

5 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.

6 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.

7 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.”

8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.

10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.

11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

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

13 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.

“The Trickle of Sin Becomes a Torrent”

300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon The Trickle of Sin Becomes a Torrent (Jeremiah 13:23; Matthew 12:43–45; Luke 11:24–26)

John Wesley, when dining once with a friend of his who had greatly helped him in the district, saw him after dinner rise from the table and get just a little brandy and water. Mr. Wesley said to him, “My friend, what is that?”

“I am very much troubled with indigestion,” he answered, “but I only take a tablespoonful of brandy in a little water.”

“Well,” said Mr. Wesley, “that is certainly very little; but, my friend, you will want two tablespoonfuls before long to do for you what you think that one does. And then you will want four, and then you will want eight, and unless you give it up, I fear that you will become a drunkard and disgrace the cause of God.” After Mr. Wesley was dead, that man still lived a drunkard; he had lost his reputation, disgraced the people with whom he had been connected, and brought untold sorrow on himself.

Now, as it is with that one particular sin, so it is with every other. If a sin comes to your house the first time alone, it will come the next time with seven other devils more wicked than itself, and those seven will very soon bring seven each, and you will have a legion of devils; and when you get one legion, it is highly probable that another legion will come into the barracks of your heart and stop there.

The beginning of sin is like the letting out of water. Just a little drop trickles through the wall of the dike. Then it becomes a tiny rivulet that a child’s hand can stop, then it increases to a stream, and soon the dike begins to heave and break and crack; and by and by it is broken down, and a torrent rushes over town and village and carries away multitudes of men with it. Beware! That evil habit is a dreadful thing; he who yields to an evil habit is preparing himself for the bottomless pit.

The Sermon in a Sentence

The Old Testament law didn’t save man from his sin—it only revealed his sins. Christ came to save man and to reinstate him. He is the way to the Father—John 14:6. Several times He said, “Ye have read … but I say unto you.” The Old Testament law was an eye for an eye. Christ said, “turn the cheek,” “love your enemies.”

The Comparison

1. Control—v. 1. The Jewish law controls man as long as he lives. See Gal. 3:23–25. Faith removes our connection to the law.

2. Comparison—vv. 2–3

a) Sacredness of marriage—v. 2. The wife is bound to the husband. Only if the husband dies is she free to remarry.

b) Sin—v. 3. The sinner is bound to the law, but Christ died to replace the law. Now we are free to follow Him.

In the previous section Paul used the practice of slavery to illustrate by way of analogy that living under grace, far from encouraging wickedness, actually places a person under obligation to righteousness. Here he turns to the institution of marriage to illustrate a related truth. As a woman whose husband has died is free to marry another, so also are believers, since they have died to the law, free to belong to Christ. Verse 1 states a basic principle with which all would agree, that is, legal claims are binding upon a person only during that person’s lifetime. In this context Paul spoke of “law” in terms of its fundamental character rather than as a reference to the Mosaic legislation. People were under the jurisdiction of law only so long as they lived. Law regulated the activities of the living, not the dead. Paul, in an aside, reminded his readers that he was writing to those who knew the law. They were acquainted with the basic precepts of legal jurisdiction. They understood what law was all about.Having established the principle that death rendered law inoperative, Paul went on to illustrate how the principle applied in the case of a marriage relationship (v. 2). A married woman was bound by law to her husband while he was alive (cf. 1 Cor 7:39). However, if her husband should die, she was released from the law of marriage (Goodspeed has, “The marriage law no longer applies to her”). If she married again while her husband was still alive, she would be designated an adulteress (cf. Luke 16:18); but if her husband died, she was free from the bond of that marriage and could take another husband without becoming an adulteress.

Paul uses the analogy of marriage to illustrate our freedom from the law. If a married woman remarries, whether or not she is an adulteress depends on whether here husband is still alive. Marrying a widow is completely legal because her obligation to the first contract ended with her husband’s death.

1. Dead—v. 4. “My Christian brothers, that is the way it is with you. You were under the power of the Jewish Law, but now you are dead to it because you are joined to another. You are joined to Christ who was raised from the dead. This is so we may be what God wants us to be. Our lives are to give fruit for Him”—NLT.

The relevance of the principle is made clear in v. 4 and following. Law is the husband to which the believer was at one time married. But a death has occurred. The believer has died to the law. The analogy, however, is not exact. In the previous paragraph it was the husband who had died. Here it was the “wife” (the believer) who was separated from her first spouse (the law) by her own death. The important point is that the marriage relationship had been broken by the death of one of its participants. The death of the believer took place when by faith that person became identified with the crucified Christ (cf. 6:3–7). Christ’s death to and for sin becomes our death to sin (cf. Gal 2:19–20).

The purpose of this death is that we might belong to another husband—to the one who was raised from the dead. The one in whom we died becomes the very one in whom we find our new life. Our Savior becomes our new “husband.” And this, in turn, is in order that we may bear fruit to God. If Paul intended us to carry on the analogy of marriage, “bear[ing] fruit” would refer to offspring. Probably a more general idea was in mind (Phillips has “be productive for”).

2. Desires—v. 5. While in sin, we followed its desires—John 8:34.

Once again Paul drew a comparison. Verse 5 describes the preconversion days of the believers at Rome when they were “controlled by the sinful nature.” Verse 6 moves ahead to the time when they were no longer in bondage to the law. By basic inclination people are controlled by their lower nature. Apart from this fundamental insight into human nature it is impossible to understand the evil that has plagued the human race. History is simply the story of humanity gone wrong. Although made in the image of God, we inherit the propensity for wickedness determined by the fateful choice of the first human. We are fallen creatures in dire need of hope from without. Every scheme people propose for individual and social change is undermined by their own inclination for personal advantage. Prior to coming to Christ the sinful cravings of our lower nature were aroused by the law (cf. 7:7b) and were at work on a continuing basis in our bodies. Law not only reveals sin (cf. 7:7), but it also excites it to action. By nature rebels oppose restrictions. When placed under law, people instinctively find themselves at odds with the lawgiver and act accordingly. The response of their sinful passions is to rebel against authority. Opposition to God inevitably ends in death.

3. Deliverance—v. 6. We are no longer under the law when we are born again—John 3:1–8.

Verse 6 completes the comparison. By dying to that which was once in control, the believer is now released from the law and freed to serve in a new way. Formerly we were in bondage to written regulations. Law was our old master. But now we are set free to serve our new master in a new way, in the Spirit. The shift from law to Spirit is a shift from legalism to true spirituality. How unfortunate that so many believers continue to understand their Christian experience within an ethical framework determined by law. To serve in the Spirit is to live the resurrected life, to claim our rightful place in Christ. Dead to sin and freed to live for righteousness, we now live lives that bear fruit for God.

The Commandments

1. The power—v. 7. The law revealed sin. God’s law is perfect—Ps. 19:7; in Christ we are cleansed from all sin.

Importantly, just because the law instigated our sinful passions doesn’t mean something is wrong with the law. It is like a mirror; it shows us what’s wrong, but it’s not designed to fix it. The law, then, is also like a speed limit sign that reads, “Speed Limit 55,” which may or may not slow us down. Nevertheless, that sign validates the police officer who pulls us over when we’re driving 80. Without the sign, he would have no authority to stop us. With the sign, our sin is revealed, and we’re without excuse.

2. Perception—vv. 8–9. “The Jewish Law made me to know how much I was sinning. It showed me I had a desire for all kind of things. For without the Law, sin is dead. I was once alive. That was when I did not know what the Law said I had to do. Then I found that I had broken the Law. I knew I was a sinner. Death was mine because of the Law”—NLT.

It was the law that brought home to Paul the reality of sin. For instance, had the law not said, “Do not covet” (Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21), Paul would never have known what coveting really was. Law defines sin. Apart from law sin exists but cannot be designated as “sin.” Without restriction there is nothing to break. Law provides the opportunity for sin’s nefarious activity. Sin seizes the opportunity and arouses within a person through the commandment all manner of evil desire. The point is often made that only after a rule is put in place do people want to do whatever it forbids. What Paul was saying, however, goes beyond the psychological observation that stolen fruits are the sweetest. From a human perspective law is mistakenly viewed as a restriction that in turn causes resentment and gives rise to rebellion. Paul may have had the Genesis account of Adam’s first sin in mind. Apart from law sin is dead in the sense that undefined, it technically does not exist (cf. 4:15). No matter how swift and straight the arrow, without a target there can be no bull’s-eye.

3. The problem—vv. 10–11. Only Christ could promise and give life—Acts 4:12; John 14:6.

Paul addresses the problem of legalism here. Legalism expects a set of rules to keep us from sinning. But the more we try to meet God’s standard by ourselves, the worse we become. Without the commandment, we were breaking God’s laws. But once the commandment was revealed, sin sprang up.

Paul’s teaching that we were at one time bound by the law that aroused sinful passions and led to death (vv. 4–6) quite naturally raises the question of whether the law is so hopelessly intertwined with the activities of sin as to be sinful itself. What are we to conclude from all this? “Is the law sin?” Once again (see 6:2, 15) the answer is, “Certainly not!” That is not a step that logic can take. Law is not sinful because through law we came to understand what sin really is. Paul used his own experience throughout this section to illustrate the general experience of all people and especially, in the latter part of the chapter, the experience of the believer. He was not providing us with his own spiritual autobiography as much as he was illustrating a general condition of all by using the first-person singular as a rhetorical device. It was the law that brought home to Paul the reality of sin. For instance, had the law not said, “Do not covet” (Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21), Paul would never have known what coveting really was. Law defines sin. Apart from law sin exists but cannot be designated as “sin.” Without restriction there is nothing to break. Law provides the opportunity for sin’s nefarious activity. Sin seizes the opportunity and arouses within a person through the commandment all manner of evil desire. The point is often made that only after a rule is put in place do people want to do whatever it forbids. What Paul was saying, however, goes beyond the psychological observation that stolen fruits are the sweetest. From a human perspective law is mistakenly viewed as a restriction that in turn causes resentment and gives rise to rebellion. Paul may have had the Genesis account of Adam’s first sin in mind. Apart from law sin is dead in the sense that undefined, it technically does not exist (cf. 4:15). No matter how swift and straight the arrow, without a target there can be no bull’s-eye.

The Consequences

1. Holy commandments—v. 12. The Scriptures are given for our reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness—2 Tim. 3:16. The Jewish ceremonial laws were for a limited time.

2. Helpless commandments—v. 13. The law was not wrong—it just gave man a picture of his sin and its consequences.

This verse is the definitive answer to the question raised in v. 7, “Is the Law itself a sinful thing?” (Weymouth). No, the law is holy. The commandment is “holy, righteous and good.”88 Since the law is God’s law, it must of necessity reflect the nature of God. The law of a holy God must be consistent with his holy nature (Isa 6:3). A righteous God decrees commandments that are righteous. They are fair and make no unreasonable demands. The law is “good” because it intends the very best for people. In this entire discussion Paul was not depreciating law as such. His point had been that law has been used by sin as an unwilling accomplice to bring about death. Yet another question arises: How could that which is good bring death? In the previous paragraph Paul said that the commandment (law) was the occasion (v. 9) and the instrument (v. 11) of his death. But does this not involve a contradiction in terms? The good belongs by definition to a different category from death. Paul rejected the implication by pointing out that it was sin, not law, that brought about death. Law was simply the instrument used by sin to accomplish its purpose. But in so doing, sin exposed its own true character as sin. It demonstrated how unspeakably sinful it really is by using that which is good to bring about death.

Man is not saved by good works, nor by keeping any law, but by grace—Eph. 2:8–9. The Rich Young Ruler kept the law, but he did not have eternal life—Mark 10:17–22. Jesus said to Nicodemus (a religious man), “Ye must be born again”—John 3:3. Self-righteousness will not suffice; we must come to God His way.