Transcript

There is a true story about a woman who married a tyrant. He didn’t like the way she kept the house. He didn’t like the way she did the laundry. He didn’t like the way she ironed his clothes. He didn’t like the way she dressed.

He didn’t like the way she conducted herself in public. He constantly criticized her for everything. Early on in their marriage, he even handed her a list of 25 rules for her to follow. And she hated it.

You can imagine how frustrating it was for her to have to constantly check her list to see if she was pleasing him, and to stay in his good graces. She usually failed and each time got a stern reprimand from him. He made her feel miserable and small.

Then one day, this man suddenly died. The woman then soon fell in love with and married a wonderful, caring Christian man. They loved each other very deeply. The marriage was filled with kindness and sincere care for one another.

And she practically broke her neck to please him. She would make his favorite desserts and do other special things for him out of the blue, just to surprise him and make him happy.

One day, she ran across that old list from her first husband in an old storage box. As she read it, her old feelings of anger and inferiority returned.

But then she suddenly burst out laughing. As she checked the list, she realized that she was now doing all that was on the list for her new husband and more. And she was doing all this with joy because of his love for her and because she loved him so dearly.

Our liberty in Christ and God’s grace and love incline the heart to live a life pleasing to Him, and it also enables us to live for Him.

It motivates us to go above and beyond for the Lord, because of all He has done for us at the Cross and what He continually does for us in His abiding care.

Romans 7:1-3:

“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

“So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.”

In Romans 6, Paul explained that we have been freed from sin and are dead to sin, and we have the power to no longer be slaves of sin because of our union with Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection.

But Paul then warned us that we can still be slaves of sin if we yield to it.

In chapter 7, Paul now moves to explain that we are no longer under the Law but under grace and that we died to the Law because of our union with Christ (7:1-6).

He then warns us, however, that we can still become slaves to our flesh if we try to put ourselves under the Law (7:7-25).

Paul begins in verse 1, “Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?”

The first six verses of Romans 7 connect with Romans 6:14, where Paul wrote, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

As Paul’s logical argument progresses, he transitions from the issue of sin to the issue of the law. He had explained our death to sin in Christ, and now he explains our death to the law. And he explains this in the form of an illustration of a wife married to a husband.

But first, writing to both Gentiles and Jews in the Roman church, Paul refers to the law in general, the principle of law, when he wrote, “for I speak to them that know the law.”

Paul explains that those who are familiar with legal matters and the fundamental principles of law know that the law has nothing to say to a man when he has died.

And the law, any law, whether it be Greek, Roman, or Jewish law, has dominion, or authority and rule, over a man only while he is alive. Death breaks the law’s power.

The duration of the law’s dominion and jurisdiction is as long as one is alive. Death releases a man from the law he was to abide by and obey in life. The law has dominion over men until death ends its authority or ends their relationship to it.

And then Paul gives an illustration of this fact, “For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.”

Speaking of the law regarding marriage, marriage is a binding legal relationship.

And the marriage covenant is a permanent, lifelong union. As it is stated and repeated in the vows, it is “till death do us part.” A married woman is bound to her husband and the husband to the wife as long as they both shall live.

However, death breaks the marriage covenant. A woman is bound by the marriage law to her husband as long as he lives. But if he dies, she is released from that law.

Marriage laws are binding only as long as both the husband and the wife are alive, and thus this illustrates that “the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth.”

A woman is bound to her husband by the marriage law and the law’s dominion as long as he lives. But if he dies, she is released from that law and released from being bound to that husband.

Paul’s point here is not to teach about divorce, but to illustrate the law’s dominion over a marriage and how death breaks that dominion and authority of the law.

Paul is giving an analogy in dealing with law and grace. And the example describes the dissolution of a relationship by death, thus making possible a new relationship. And Paul uses this to illustrate that we “are not under the law, but under grace.”

Paul reinforced his argument by stating, “So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress…”

Paul stated that if a wife marries another man while her “husband” is still living and they are still married, not having been legally divorced, it is adultery. Paul is showing that the law had authority over the living, and polygamy was forbidden by Roman law.

But again, Paul adds that death breaks the law’s power, “but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.”

To be joined in marriage to another man after her husband has died is perfectly legal and acceptable, and she is not an adulteress in any way.

A wife is bound to her husband by the law while he lives, but his death frees her from that law, and she is then free to marry someone else.

Romans 7:4-6:

“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

“For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

“But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”

A doctor once told a man: You might have a phobia of marriage. Do you think you have any symptoms? The man thought for a minute and responded: “Hmmm. Can’t say I do.” The doctor replied: Yes, that’s the main one.

After giving an illustration about marriage, Paul then explained the point of it, and he told the Roman brethren that “ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ.”

This statement is made in light of the context of our spiritual baptism and identification with Christ in Romans 6, being joined to His death, burial, and resurrection, so that in the sight of God, we died with Him, were buried with Him, and were raised with Him.

In Romans 6, Paul taught of our death to sin in Christ. Now he explains that our death with Christ was also a death to the law.

In Romans 6, Paul wrote of the dominion of SIN, but through Christ, a believer “is dead to sin,” and “freed from sin,” that we should live unto God (6:2,6-8).

In Romans 7, Paul teaches of the dominion of the LAW, and that through Christ, we are likewise dead to the law, and freed from it, that we should live unto God.

The point of the marriage illustration is that just as death breaks the marriage law, so the death of the believer with Christ breaks the dominion of the Mosaic law over him.

Paul showed that a death must take place to break the law’s dominion and authority over us, before one is free to be joined to Christ.

And he stated that we died to the law “by the body of Christ,” This is not a reference to the church, the Body of Christ. Rather, it means we died to the law through Christ Who suffered and died on our behalf, Who gave up His body in death at the Cross.

Speaking of the body of Christ and the Cross, Hebrews 10:10 says, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Through the Cross and our identification with Christ’s death, believers have died both to sin and to the law. We are dead to the law. And because our relationship to the law has died, we are free now to enter a new relationship.

As Paul put it, we died to the law, “that ye should to be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”

We are not joined to the law, we are dead to the law, and freed from it. Continuing the thought of his illustration, under grace, when we believe, we are now “married,” or spiritually joined and united “to Him Who is raised from the dead,” meaning Christ, of course. Salvation involves a complete change in relationship and allegiance.

And we have been joined to Christ eternally, and our allegiance and devotion are to Him. One relationship, or the law, was broken by death, the death of the Cross, and a new relationship has been formed, with the risen Savior under grace.

And since we are under grace and not under the law, we should not put ourselves back under the bondage of the law and legalism in any form. We are to go forward in grace. Christ and His grace are to have dominion and authority over us now, not the law.

We live by our union and relationship with the Lord, out of gratitude for His goodness and kindness and all He has done for us by grace today. Our relationship with God is a relationship based in love, not law.

Being “married” to Christ in this verse is not teaching that we are the Bride of Christ. The marriage supper of the Lamb and the Bride of Christ are popular subjects in Christendom. The Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ are often seen as synonymous.

According to Revelation 21, however, the Bride of Christ is a city, the New Jerusalem. What that means is that the Bride is the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem. And the new Jerusalem is the eternal home of believing Israel from God’s prophetic program.

One way you see that clearly is that the gates of the city are inscribed with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. We are the Body of Christ, not the Bride of the Lamb. And the hope and eternal home for us, the Body of Christ, is heaven above and not the earth.

Paul’s point in saying we are married to Christ is not to teach we are the Bride of Christ.

Rather, it is to show in this context that like a wife is freed from the law which bound her to her husband when he died, so that she can now marry another, we have been freed from the law through Christ’s death, and we are now free to be joined to Another, to the risen and living Christ in a personal relationship with Him by grace.

And since we have died with Christ, the law now has no dominion and authority over us. We have died to the law as a rule of life. And we are now to live by grace in our relationship with Christ.

But Paul shows that we are not free from the law so we can live unto ourselves. We are freed and we have a purpose under grace, “that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” This can be done as we live by grace and in the power of the Spirit.

And of this fruit, Paul wrote a few verses earlier in chapter 6, “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness…” Living by grace, not the law, is what brings forth the fruit of holiness in our lives today.

Paul next wrote here in verse 7, “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.”

When Paul wrote here, “For when we were in the flesh,” this refers to a person outside of Christ, unsaved, and in their sins.

“In the flesh” refers to the condition of a person who is under the total control of the flesh or the old, sin nature. “In the flesh” describes a person in which the Holy Spirit is absent who is controlled by their fallen nature.

As Paul wrote of the Roman believers in Romans 8:9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you…” Believers are “in the Spirit,” while unbelievers are “in the flesh.”

While we are in the Spirit in the sight of God, we still have the flesh, and it manifests its presence in us. But the Spirit gives us power over the flesh as we yield to Him.

But for one who is “in the flesh,” the unsaved are ruled exclusively by the flesh and “the motions of sins,” which refers to sinful passions and impulses that bring motion, movement, and action.

And these motions and passions “were by the law,” Paul says, or they were awakened and stirred to activity by the law.

It is not that the law originated and caused them, but that by naming, pointing them out, and forbidding them, it stirred up the strong desire to do them! In declaring what is wrong, the law awakens sinful passions in the unbeliever because his old, sinful nature desires to rebel, and it leads him to do the very things he knows are forbidden.

The law shines the light on sin and reveals what we should not do. And in shining the light on sin, it stirs one’s rebellious nature into action.

Years ago, one of the first high-rise hotels to open in Galveston, Texas, sat directly above the Gulf-so close to the water, in fact, the staff worried that people would want to drop their fishing lines into the water from the guest-room balconies.

First-story glass windows, high winds, and large lead sinkers were certain to be a bad combination, so the management placed a sign in each room facing the ocean: “Absolutely no fishing from the balcony.”

What happened? People fished from the balcony. Guests in the first-story restaurant dined to the frequent smack of the lead weights against the plate-glass windows. Sometimes the glass literally cracked.

Finally, the people managing the hotel realized their error and made a wise decision: They removed all the signs in the guest rooms. And no one ever fished from the balconies again.

And Paul said that outside of Christ, these sinful passions, “did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” Sin works in the unbeliever. It is not passive.

And as it works, when its passions and temptations are yielded to, it produces poisonous fruit that results in death.

The consequence of the indulgence of those sinful motions is fatal, leading to eternal death for the unbeliever. As Paul wrote in chapter 6, verse 21, “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.”

Paul shows here that when one puts themselves under the law and tries to live by it, this does not bear “fruit unto God,” as he wrote of our purpose in verse 4. Instead, it bears “fruit unto death.”

The reason for this again is that the law awakens the passions of sin within us. And the wages of sin is death. Paul goes on to explain this problem of trying to live by the law more fully as we go along in Romans 7.

Paul then turns from how it was in the past in the flesh, to how it is now after we have been saved, “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”

Believers are no longer in bondage to the law; we are delivered and set free from it. The believer is not under the law and is not subject to it.

Having died with Christ, we have died to the law in which we were formerly “held” captive and in bondage, the law. We are delivered from the law, and we are free from its curse, its demands, its condemnation, and its dominion. Grace has dominion over us now.

And that “wherein we WERE held” is meant to remind us that since we have been delivered from the law, we should not go back and allow ourselves to be held down, restrained, held fast, hindered, and held back by the law any longer.

We are to glory in our freedom in Christ, and we are to take a stand for our deliverance from the law and live and serve by grace.

The purpose of our deliverance and freedom from the law is not freedom to sin, but a freedom to do what is right and righteous. And it is about the freedom to serve, as Paul says, “that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”

In Romans 6, in light of our spiritual baptism and union with Christ and our death to sin we are called to “walk in newness of life.”

In Romans 7, in light of our union with Christ and our death to the law, we are called to “serve in newness of spirit.”

And in contrast to the law, which kindles sinful passions in us, newness of life brought about by the Holy Spirit and God’s grace produces fruit unto God, true spirituality, power over sin, and holiness.

And we serve God as redeemed people. We now have new life in and by the Spirit. And we have been set free to live a new life and serve in the newness of the Spirit by grace, not in the old way and “the oldness of the letter” of the law.

It’s not about adherence to the external, strict commandment of the law today, but serving and living for God through an internal transformation and strength by the Spirit.

Our service is motivated not by fear, but by love and grace; it is a service, not of bondage, but of freedom and gratitude.

The oldness of the letter thundered its commands, “Thou shalt, “ and “Thou shalt not.” But grace and the newness of spirit instruct us to yield ourselves unto God, and allow Him to work in and through our lives.

Some have the mistaken idea that “Yes, we are saved by grace, but we must live by law to please God.” Here in Romans 7, Paul makes it plain that believers are dead to the law and dead to it as a rule of life and way of life. And to be freed from sin in our daily life, we must be freed from servitude to the Law and trying to live by it.

We please God today by living in our freedom from the law and by the grace of God in the newness and power of the Spirit.

To some, grace is license and the cause of sin, and the law is the solution for it. But to Paul, it was the opposite: legalism is what inflames sin, while grace alone is what overcomes it. To be free from the mastery of sin, the believer must be freed from the law and live by the power and provisions of grace.

Wayne Barber wrote this,

“I believe Paul, in Romans 7, is vividly portraying for us the frustration of trying to go back and live under law.

“For years, I did not realize it, but not only was I living as if I was under the law, but I’m sure that I also put others under it through my preaching.

“I was miserable so much of the time and could not understand why. I was also critical of those who did not live up to my convictions. For example, we were convicted that TV had become an obsession for our whole family, and so we gave it up for over a year. I can still remember how proud I felt when I heard others who watched what I wouldn’t watch.

“How spiritually superior I sometimes felt. You see, living under the law makes you quick to judge anyone but yourself.

“Living under the law doesn’t necessarily mean that you are under the Law of Moses, the Ten Commandments, but you can be bound by the law of the denomination you belong to, or the law that you impose on yourself.

“Living under the law doesn’t mean that you are not determined or self-disciplined. It means that you measure your spirituality by these things, and if they are not done, then you think you have failed to win the love and favor of God in your life. We must understand the difference between living ‘under law’ and living ‘under grace.’”

As we serve and live in the newness of the Spirit by grace, we will find the joy of a deeper relationship with the Lord that is not just based on externals, and we will discover the power to live a God-honoring life.