“But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.” Romans 7:6
The law is holy. But the law kills. How? By pointing out what we’re in the continual process of repressing in our hearts and minds. Life is either Christ-centered or self-centered. The principle of sin is autocratic. The principle of life is God-centered through faith in Christ. In sin, we were living by the principle of self. We were autocrats, believing we were the center of the universe and that our glory/happiness was the highest good of all. But now we’ve been delivered and our lives are theocratic – that is, Christ-centered and controlled.
In Romans 1, lest we forget, we learned that we were dead in our sin due to the fact that we’d exchanged the truth about God for the lie of autocracy. Therefore, we had become futile in our thinking and our hearts were darkened. The reason for this is simple: when we start from the premise of self, we live at odds with reality since this is God’s world – His creation, not ours. The law, is used to condemn sin. We wouldn’t know what it is to covet unless the law says, “thou shall not covet.” Sin, the principle of pretending to be God, kills us. We’re dead spiritually until the new birth in faith. This is why Romans 4 parks for a moment in the driveway of Abraham, the father of us all. He believed that the Lord could bring life to Sarah’s barren womb and call into existence the things that do not exist.
What does that have to do with us? The new life! The new birth! That’s what Paul is talking about in Romans. When we hit Romans 6 and 7 this is the process we should be alert to. The law is our schoolmaster meant to bring us to Christ. The law proves to us that we’re fallen. But Abraham was saved by faith and so are we. Romans 8 is considered the great and soaring chapter of Romans but it makes no sense unless we carefully consider what’s said before it – especially chapter 7.
In Christ alone we’re dead to the law. Unless we’re in Christ, relying on grace alone, we’re attempting to justify ourselves, to declare ourselves righteous in contradiction to God. We’re either in Adam, or in Christ. These are the only two races of man that God recognizes. But now, in Christ, we are righteous through faith, not works of the law.
Does this mean we can continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul has answered that in the most emphatic way possible. By no means! For him to denounce the thought any more, he’d have to reach through the page and smack you in the face. It’s unthinkable. Instead, there’s new life in us because the old life of the flesh was utterly corrupt. Total depravity is man’s most hated doctrine, not predestination. But Paul doesn’t mince words. We were dead in our sin, according to the principle of Adam. Now, through faith, we’re alive in Christ. We’re no longer in the flesh, but alive in Christ. That’s the point to come in Romans 8. The law is powerless to defeat the comprehensive corruption of the fleshly nature. We’re always trying to do things for ourselves. Self salvation (self-soteriology) is our default setting, but due to the flesh, it’s impossible.
For example, before prohibition America had very little alcoholism. Very few women drank. But the flesh, aroused by the law against alcohol, rebelled. The law is powerless to change the heart of sinners. Today, despite a thousand laws, America is shot-through with drug and alcohol addiction. Trying to stop sin with law is like trying to catch a tsunami in a bucket. The dead man isn’t going to beat sin with his dead heart, his depraved heart, his fleshly heart, because he’s still operating according to the self-righteous/self-centered principle of life.
The point of these critical chapters is to alert us. Having been dead in sin, but now alive to Christ, we need to understand the mystery of the gospel. This mystery includes us right now because we’re joined to Christ. That’s an amazing thing to read, I know. But the truth is that we’re a riddle even to ourselves because selfishness has damaged our ability to see truth. This is why later in Romans 12 Paul tells us that we’re to continue to “test” things by the renewal of our minds, which comes from the continual process of conformity to the standard of teaching found in Scripture.
So, we’re dead to the law. We’re now to live in the new life of faith.
Does that mean our battle with sin is over? No. Does that mean the law is useless to us? No. You see, the law of God is holy and righteous and can/should be used to alert us. Notice what the reasoning of Romans 6 and 7 focuses on. Look at it. Do you see what’s not there? Focus on other people. There’s no emphasis on either a set of rules nor whether or not anyone else is doing what you think they should. Paul is tearing up the obstructions of self-law before he goes on to Romans 8. The old way of seeing things is gone now, Christian. The new life is one of joy and peace in Christ. The new life is that there’s no more fear of the penalty, power and presence of sin…yes, but there’s self-examination before the Lord. He’s our master. He’s my master. He’s your master. And we aren’t to look for flaws in the servant of another!
We will all begin our journey in Christ by reliance upon Him alone. The truth is that “no man may boast.” Much church unity is lost because we forget this powerful and simple fact. We are all given the Spirit of God through faith! What a truth. This grace that has saved us, is it not now the great fact of our lives? And if so, isn’t it the great fact of the lives of others too? How then should we look upon one another except in expectant joy and love? Should we look for signs of failure or growth? How is it that we were brought to life? In faith? Not by works of the law! We’re now to understand that self-control means neither prohibition nor abstinence, but the careful and faith-filled mastery of the old Adamic nature. How is this done? Through our union with Christ in a “death like his.” The old man is crucified with Him and this is the power of our battle against sin – our sanctification. It’s played out as we learn more and more to be conformed in our hearts to the truth about God. It’s played out as we understand the Kingdom of Heaven in our hearts.
Such is the mystery of our salvation. We’re in this together as the body of Christ. Your battle and mine with the old nature is real and we’re to be humbled by it. It should cause us to lean on Him, not our plans, rules, and so on. Has some Christian offended you? I’m sure you’ve offended someone else too. We aren’t to look at the new life with the old eyes, but with the child-like eyes of faith. If we look at ourselves and others through the eyes of the law we’ll figure that no one is saved. Depression and fear will take hold then. But God is able to make His people stand! And stand they will! Romans 7 is a glorious chapter because it levels us. It details a truth that we’re all experiencing, which is the battle with the old nature.
So, we serve in the new life of the Spirit. We all serve because God’s elect are free to serve. There’s no doubt in the grammar. The redeemed absolutely will serve Him. Ah…but look…be warned and at the same time be nourished by the great truth here. At best we’re unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10). It’s madness, therefore, to judge others in light of the flesh. God’s servants will serve Him regardless of what we think of their walk. We must keep our eyes on Him and look, not for flaws in our brothers and sisters, but glorious fruits of faith.
Donald Grey Barnhouse tells us this:
“There was a scholar who went through seminary and was ordained. He seldom preached, never went to prayer meeting, and absented himself from church services for many weeks at a time. He spent his days in his library and indulged in habits which were considered unchristian and intemperate. He lived this way for more than twenty years. I asked, ‘What is your opinion of such a minister?’ My companions agreed that he was no credit to the Christian ministry.
“I then turned the talk to study helps, and after several books had been mentioned I inquired which they thought was the best concordance. They were unanimous in preferring Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, with its Hebrew and Greek lexicons and comparative word lists, and regarded it as their most valuable tool. It saved them hundred of hours of work, and was a blessing to thousands of ministers and Bible students. When they had finished, I remarked, ‘That man whom you said was no credit to the Christian ministry was James Strong, author of this concordance which you all find so valuable.’ My friends saw the point – the Lord assigns many kinds of work to His servants, just as He has assigned different functions to different parts of the body.”
Beloved, Romans 7 isn’t concerned with salvation but with the new life. Its theme is the deliverance from the old way, not salvation from its penalty. Salvation was the theme of chapters 3-5. Now we’re talking about that great mystery, that inestimable joy, which is Christian living – that is, sanctification. The life of faith is the life of sanctification. Oh, that we would all see this. If sin is like a dam, Barnhouse said, we aren’t to be concerned with seepage through interstices, but with the great pressure of the dammed-up lake, and how to keep it from bursting forth.
We should thank God for Romans 7 because it delivers us from the foolishness of living by a system of human effort.
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