Dead To The Law/Alive In Christ

Have you ever been in a relationship with someone that no matter how hard you tried, it was impossible to please them?  Whether that untenable relationship was a personal one or a work relationship under an overly demanding manager, it was deflating and damaging to your self worth.  It slowly caused you to die a little more day by day.  In Romans 7:1-12, Paul tells us that our relationship with God’s Law is one that is impossible for us to satisfy.  And because of our sinful nature the Law only triggers us to sin more, leading us to death.  But in Jesus, we have grace and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which leads us into obedience to God and to new life.  My prayer is that we would cherish God’s grace that freed us from sin and the condemnation of the Law.  In Jesus, we have freedom and new life.  Let us never return to the legalism that puts us and others in bondage all over again. Amen.  

Do you not know, brothers and sisters —for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.  (Romans 7:1-3) Paul made the point that the death of one of the parties in a contract brings an end to those contractual obligations.  He used the example of the marriage contract which is ended upon the death of a spouse.  A husband’s death frees his spouse to remarry.  That is an act that would be against the law if the husband were still alive. 

So, my brothers and sisters, 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. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, 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.  (Romans 7:4-6) Paul applied the principle that he has just explained (death ends a contractual obligation) to our relationship with God’s Law.  We are no longer bound to the Law because in Jesus, we are dead to the Law.  And we have entered into a new contractual (covenant) relationship with Christ.  Our purpose in this new relationship is to “bear fruit” for God.  We serve God under the new contract (covenant) with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and as a result we bear fruit for God.  In contrast, the Law (“written code”) aroused in us a desire to sin, and sin caused us to bear fruit that leads to death.  

What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. (Roman’s 7::7-12) Paul made it clear that the Law was not sinful! It is holy and good. We are the problem! Because of our fleshly and fallen nature, the Law just made us aware of our sin and in turn it acted almost like an invitation to us to sin. It is often the case that when we become aware of something that is forbidden to us, that we want it more. Paul used an example of the law against covetousness. The Law made him aware of and awakened within him the desire to engage in every kind of coveting. He said that before he knew the Law, he didn’t know that he was sinning. In effect, he was dead to sin. He only came alive to (aware of and enticed by) sin when he learned of the Law. Sin takes advantage of our awareness of the Law and entices us to engage in sin, leading us into death and away from eternal life.

It has been said that the Law is like an X-Ray machine, it reveals what is hidden in us.  The Law exposed our sins so that we became aware of our sinful nature.   As a result, we also became aware of our inability to to break out of the bondage that sin had us in.  Jesus told us that although He didn’t come to abolish the Law, He came to set us free from our bondage to the sin that the Law exposed in us.  

You can’t hold yourself or others to a standard of perfectly keeping the Law.  That’s a spirit of legalism.  You are saved only by God’s gift of grace through your faith in Jesus.  Only In Jesus, are you dead to the condemnation of failing to keep the Law and freed from the bondage of sin… Now go live like it!

Blessings, Rev. Glenn

For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. ~ Romans 6:14