A Christian Bound By Rules
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A Christian Bound By Rules
A Christian Bound By Rules
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 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.
Remember that question Paul asked twice in chapter 6.
14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
I know right away your thinking how many times are we going to go over this. Well obviously as many times as it takes us to get it. The reason we don’t get it is because it is much easier to follow rules than it is to live a life led by the Spirit. It is much easier to have something I can gauge my righteousness off of than to accept that i am being made righteous through a deeper relationship with God.
We have a blindness.
Under Law: It is about me keeping rules so I can be righteous in God’s sight.
Under Law: It is about me keeping rules so I can be righteous in God’s sight.
Under Grace: I come to the realization that ALL my righteousness comes as a gift from Christ.
Under Grace: I come to the realization that ALL my righteousness comes as a gift from Christ.
Here's the problem with putting yourself back under the law or having a rules oriented Christianity:
1. Creates a competitive spirit
2. Facilitates a judgmental attitude toward others
3. Encourages people to do the minimum
4. Returns a person to a "works righteousness" mentality
5. Fosters feelings of personal condemnation
6. Diminishes assurance of salvation
7. Robs the Christian of joy
In Chapter 7 Paul begins to deconstruct Rules driven Christianity and to help us understand that we have actually been set free from living as rule followers.
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?
Paul starts out by stating a known fact. You can’t break the law if your dead.
Then he shifts into an Analogy.
2 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.
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.
OK Paul where you going with this. You start into this kind of thing in today’s world and people start getting a little uncomfortable.
But when you set back you can quickly begin to tie the thing Paul has previously said to a deeper understanding of the point Paul is trying to make.
The Application: To understand the Application lets jump back to chapter 6.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Paul established that we Died with Christ.
Romans 7:4a (ESV)
4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ.......,
This ties directly to another letter written by Paul.
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Romans 7:4a-b (ESV)
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,....
Our old husband the Law has died and now we can remarry a new way through Jesus. That new way gives new abilities.
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.
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
This new way leads to Sanctification and ultimately the Reward is eternal Life.
The Old Way on the other hand.
Romans 7:5 NLT
When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.
So we have covered the disadvantages of the old way of life lets take a look at the advantages of this new way of living in Christ.
6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
1. The old way was measured by obeying; the new way is measured by living.
1. The old way was measured by obeying; the new way is measured by living.
2. The old way came with a cloudy understanding; the new way is clearly understood.
2. The old way came with a cloudy understanding; the new way is clearly understood.
15 Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.
16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
3. The old way was concerned with the letter of the law; the new way is concerned with the spirit of the law.
3. The old way was concerned with the letter of the law; the new way is concerned with the spirit of the law.
27 “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’
28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Romans 13:8b–10 (NLT)
8b If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.
9 For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.
4. The old way was motivated by fear; the new way is motivated by love.
4. The old way was motivated by fear; the new way is motivated by love.
5. The old way was weak because of flesh; the new way is powerful because of the Spirit.
5. The old way was weak because of flesh; the new way is powerful because of the Spirit.
3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
6. The old way brought death; the new way brings supernatural life.
6. The old way brought death; the new way brings supernatural life.
6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
7. The old way mankind was a slave to fear; the new way brings brings the Spirit of sonship.
7. The old way mankind was a slave to fear; the new way brings brings the Spirit of sonship.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”