Romans 7:1-4
Through New Testament Eyes
As Christians we have all come to realize that once we have reborn by God's sovereign grace and united to Christ through faith that from our perspective everything changes. It is as if a bright light has been turned on and we now see everything very differently, far richer, far more marvelous than before. It is what Paul describes in 1 Cor. 2:
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE SHOULD INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:12-16).
Paul says that we now have the "mind of Christ" in that we now see things that we never saw before. There is another realm, another world we never truly knew whether or not it really existed. We saw the physical, material world and we thought that that is all there is. But now our eyes have been opened through faith to see a spiritual world that lies behind and even directs the powers of the this age.
We see through "new eyes," and the world around us has taken on new meaning that we would have never even guessed before. That is why Paul says that we:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:3-5).
What does it mean to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ? It means that everything that we now contemplate must be filtered through the glorious prism of Christ. Nothing is to come to us that is not first transformed in Jesus Christ. Whatever we think about must be seen in the glorious light of Christ.
It is this absolutely crucial distinction of the Christian mind that is often neglected when Christians attempt to understand many of Paul's statements about the Law of Moses.
For instance, Paul has told us in Rom. 3:19-20 that all who are "under the law" stand condemned by God because "by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin."
In Rom. 4:13-15 Paul says we have received the promised inheritance "not through the Law" but through faith. For if the we inherited it through the law, then the promise would have been made void because the Law brings about God's wrath.
In Rom. 5:20 Paul says that the law came in so that the transgression would increase and in 6:14 he tells us that we are not "under law" but "under grace."
In our chapter this morning, Paul's language about the Law of Moses intensifies. Like sin in chap. 6, Paul now tells us that we have been made to "die to the law" in v. 4 and that we have been freed or "released from the law" in v. 6 so that whereas under the law we bore fruit unto death, now that we have been freed from the law we are enable to bear fruit unto God. In v. 5 our sinful passions were aroused by the law as if the law turned on a power switch in our lives to produce greater sin and rebellion to God. In fact, in vv. 7-11 Paul goes so far as to say that the law only made our lives worse before God until it ultimately deceived us and in the end put us to death.
Now, we must ask, how can Paul speak this way about the Law of Moses which was given to him by God on Mt. Sinai? Isn't the Law the perfect reflection of God's nature and character? Wouldn't we all agree with Paul in v. 12 that the law of God is "holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good"? But how can Paul speak so crudely about the same law that King David once referred to as a "delight" and as "sweeter than honey in my mouth" (Ps. 119)?
Because Paul is not looking at the law with the same old eyes of David and all the other OT saints. Paul is looking at the law with "new testament eyes." He is looking at the law now that it's temporary glory has been surpassed by the infinite and eternal glory of Jesus Christ or as Paul says in 2 Cor. 3:
If the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, 8 how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. 10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory (2 Cor. 3:7-11).
Or as the author of Hebrews declares:
Holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. 2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. 3 For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 5 Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; 6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are (Heb. 3:1-6).
Jesus Christ has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises . . . . When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear (Heb. 8:6, 13).
It is with these "new testament eyes" then that Paul now considers the ministry of the Law of Moses in the life of Israel AND how that ministry, as glorious as it once was, has now been surpassed in the infinitely more glorious ministry of Christ so that what the law could not do, weakened through our sinful flesh, Jesus Christ has done for us by his merciful grace (cf. 8:1-4).
So as Paul speaks about the law of Moses in chap. 7, don't think of Paul speaking about the law as if he is describing something vulgar or repugnant as if beneath him, rather consider Paul's language as being used to describe the Mosaic Law, which was once as beautiful as the innumerable, brilliant stars on a dark night but now with the rising of a noon day Sun, it has now been eclipsed by the exceeding radiance of the glory of Jesus Christ.
It is with this in mind that we now turn to v. 1 of chap. 7 where Paul reminds his readers of a very general teaching that they all would have been familiar with: that death forever severs one's bondage to the law. It was the belief of the Jews that one is freed in death from their obligation to fulfill the commandments of Torah, the Law of Moses. Paul made the point in passing in 6:14-15 that through our participation in the death of Christ that we are no longer "under the law" but now he takes up that rather controversial declaration that even while we are still alive we are no longer "under the law" and explains exactly what he means.
Paul illustrates his statement with an analogy of the marriage relationship in vv. 2-3. Under the laws of Moses (cf. Deut. 25:1-4) a married woman is bound to her own husband so that if she adds another husband while her husband is still living she is considered an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is no longer bound to him under the law and she is free to marry again without being an adulteress.
[ASIDE] Now, before we deal with Paul's analogy we need to quickly clear away a common misuse of this passage. Some people push this text beyond Paul's intention here to argue that any remarriage on any other basis other than the death of one's spouse is adulterous. But it is clear from the context that that issue is entirely irrelevant to the point Paul is making. Paul is not giving an instruction about remarriage but rather he is citing a very simplified example that anyone would readily agree with in order to make a further point in vv. 4-6. Notice that Paul nowhere even mentions divorce in the passage. He simply refers to a woman who is married and then chooses to marry "another" man while her husband is still alive -- and in that occasion, the new relationship would be adulteress.
So then what is Paul's point in this analogy? While the husband is alive the wife is still under the direct authority of the law. But once the husband dies, the law no longer applies to her and therefore she is free from the law's binding authority and will not be condemned if she chooses to marry again. Death severs the former relationship to the law and enables a new relationship to another.
It is at this point, that Paul now arrives at his main point: in the same way, death has severed your bondage to the law and has freed you to marry another. Like the woman, death has brought an end to the binding authority of the law of Moses in your life so that you have died to the law. But what does Paul mean when he says that we have "died to the law"?
At this point, some well-meaning believers try to limit Paul's language to some degree. There are usually two limitations:
1. Some will say that what we have died to is merely the condemnation of the law and not to the commandments themselves. We are no longer "under the law" in the sense that we are no longer condemned by the law. But the law remains in force as a direct authority for obedience.
2. Others will argue that Paul is saying that we have been released from some misunderstanding or perversion of the law. Either, some have added their own traditions to the law and we have been freed from those traditions. Or, some have misused the law as a means of salvation and we have been freed from that misuse of the law.
The last option can be ruled out immediately. Paul is not limiting our not being under the law to simply a misunderstanding or misuse of the law. Clearly in vv. 1-3, Paul speaks of the law as being a legitimate authority in our lives while we are still alive. Nowhere is Paul suggesting that he is referring to something that is illegitimate. The law is in fact to be obeyed while we are still alive.
Also, and more importantly, if the problem that we had "under the law" was simply a misunderstanding or misuse of the law, then why did God go to such an extreme or take such a drastic step as sending his own Son to release us from the enslavement of the law (cf. Gal. 4:4-5)? Paul pictures our bondage to the law as being so oppressive that it actually takes death to sever us from its rule.
So what about the first option? It is certainly true that our not being under the law includes the condemning power of the law (cf. vv. 5-6, 7-12; 8:1). But it is equally clear that Paul is not limiting our release from the law to merely its condemning power.
The whole purpose of Romans 3-8 has been to show us that the law can neither remove the guilt of sin nor can it remove the power of sin from our lives (cf. 8:3). Rather, than removing the power of sin, or even at the very least curbing it, the law both awakens and exposes our sin (7:7) AND even arouses and intensifies the power of sin in our lives (Rom. 5:20; 7:5).
The Jews thought of the law as the great bulwark against sin. If we just gave our lives over to the law then we would not sin against God. But Paul argues that the law actually had just the opposite affect upon us. The law was overpowered by our sin and used as an instrument to produce more sin (vv. 5, 8) and it actually made the problem worse than it was without the law (vv. 9-11, 13).
Paul views the law in v. 4 as a powerful instrument that belongs to the "old age," the "old man" that we once were in Adam, to which those outside of Christ are bound. In chap. 6, Paul says that we have died to sin so that we might live for God and so in chap. 7 Paul now says that you have been put to death to the law in order that you might be joined to Christ. You have been transferred from that old realm where sin, the law, death, and condemnation ruled to the new realm were righteousness, Christ, life, and justification now rule in their place. Therefore, both the direct authority and the condemning power of the law has been broken in our lives that we might now be joined to another, Jesus Christ.
Paul makes a very similar statement in Gal. 2:
“For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God. 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me (Gal. 2:19-20).
Now notice that Paul does not say that you have been released from the law so that you are now free, willy-nilly, to just go about your life any old way you choose. You have died to one but you have been joined to another. You have been released from under a burdensome yoke that has caused you to be weary and heavy-laden so that you might now come and find rest in Him who is gentle and humble in heart and who will give you rest for your souls.
But how has your old relationship to the law been severed? Paul says that the instrument God used to break your chains of bondage was the "body of Christ" (v. 4). It was at Calvary that Jesus Christ was crucified in your place because of your rebellion to the law of God. Because of your disobedience, you were under the curse of God (Gal. 3:10) but Christ came to redeem you from the curse of the Law by becoming the curse for you (Gal. 3:13). As Paul says in Col. 2:
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Col. 2:13-14).
And the purpose for which you have been put to death to the law is so that you might be joined to another, Christ.
But here is the good news: Unlike the first relationship you had to the law, this new relationship will never end. Why?
Because the one to whom you have been joined has already passed through death and has been raised from the dead, NEVER TO DIE AGAIN (cf. 6:9-10).
So why has all this happened to you? So that you might NOW bear fruit for God! You have been made to die to the law, which according to v. 5 only produced fruit unto death. Now you have been joined to Christ so that you are enabled by God's grace to bear the fruit of holiness and good works in obedience to Christ to the glory of God. Instead of good works being the basis of your old relationship based upon the law, good works are now the fruit or offspring of your new union with Jesus Christ.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10).
Amen!
-SDG-
