Romans 7.1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 21, 25
1
...the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives
4 ...you also died to the law through the body of Christ,
that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order
that we might bear fruit for God
6...by dying to what once bound us, we have been released
from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old
way of the written code
7 ...I would not have known what sin was had it not been
for the law.
8 ...For apart from the law, sin was dead
9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the
commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to
bring life actually brought death.
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the
commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy,
righteous and good.
13 ...[sin] used what is good to bring about my death, so
that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
21 ...Although I want to do good, evil is right there
with me.
25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ
our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my
sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. – St. Paul
When we read Romans 7 we need to keep things in perspective.
St. Paul was trying to help his readers (in Rome) understand the difficulty of
trying to figure out sin and the power of sin that is found in the Law. Paul
made several statements that explain the Law, and sin’s power within it. I’ve
picked these out of the chapter as bullet points only because we might lose
them by not seeing the forest for the trees.
I think Paul was trying to explain why, if we have the
Law, why there is such sin. They struggled with that. The problem is not the
Law, but our perception and prosecution of the Law. Why, if the Law was so
good, is there such sin? Because the Law was meant to guide us to grace.
The Law is stern and unmoving; grace is friendly and
forgiving. The Law is impossible, friendship is easy. In order to have friendship
with God, we must do so on His terms – OR – do it according to some Law. The
Law is impossible for fallen creatures to keep – friendship makes allowances
for our fallenness.
It is self-evident that the Law was never intended to
take us to God – only Jesus Christ was. Sin takes sinful opportunity with
rules; grace and friendship bring about mutuality and possibility. The Law is
complicated; grace is simple.
Who will save us from the complications of Law? Only Jesus Christ and relationship with
Him. We can choose performance and production, and will only ever come up
short-handed and empty. Or we can choose the freedom of grace and experience
the exponential friendship of God for eternity.
Father God, embrace me in grace so I can walk humbly with
You and avoid the messiness of rules; they’re easy to spot but so hard to keep.
Help me to be Your friend. Thank You for the alternative to the Law – Your goodness
and grace forever – Amen!
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