Romans 7:1-6 (Wednesday Evening Bible Study)

Romans 7:1-7

• If Jesus were to ask you why you should be allowed into Heaven. What would say? Would you tell Jesus about all the good things you’ve done? Would you tell him about how often you go to church or how much money you give? Would you talk to him about how terrible some people you’ve known are and how much better you are? Or would you say  I don’t deserve it but  I love you
• Would you rather live under law or grace?
• How you answered the first question really answers the second. If we point to all the good things we’ve done, if we point to why we deserve to go to heaven, then we are choosing to live under the law. If instead we freely admit our sins and how we don’t deserve to be admitted to heaven, but then point to our faith in the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins we are choosing to live under grace.
• What might make the law attractive as a way of salvation? There is something I can do,  I am not depending  on anyone else. That’s the American way. Pull yourself up by your own boot strap. We can take pride and even boast  in what  we have done.
• What is the problem of keeping the law? Since we never keep manmade laws perfectly and are rarely punished for it many think God will be the same way. Some think God will let them off on the minor infractions. But that is not how it  works. The only way to be saved under law is to keep it perfectly. If you break one  part of it  you are guilty for all of  it
• For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10) lawbreakers are sinners
• Context:
  • We ended last week on these words:
    • Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.   That gift is Jesus Christ and being  saved by grace thru faith in Him
  • Sally was married to Bill for many years. Then one evening Bill had a heart attack and died. Several years latter Sally remarried a man named Jack. Jack was different than Bill in many ways. Bill didn’t like to eat breakfast (he just grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out the door) while Jack liked to start his day with a big country breakfast. Bill didn’t care if the house was kept clean, but Jack wanted the house to be neat and tidy. After Jack and Sally had been married for a year, Jack was beginning to get aggravated. He came down the stairs hoping to find things different but the house was messy and as he went into the kitchen hoping to smell bacon and eggs cooking on the stove, he only found a cup of cold coffee. When Jack voiced his dissatisfaction with the situation Sally said “well that’s the way Bill liked things.” Jack said “Sally, Bill is dead. You are my wife now. You have to stop living like you are still married to Bill.”
    • Paul makes a similar comment to us about the law.
• Romans 7:1
• Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and sisters, don’t you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives?
  • Who are the brothers Paul is speaking to?
    • Christians, either Jew or Gentile…the law doesn’t have to be the law of Moses either; it could be whatever law you are trying to keep to make yourself acceptable to God
  • In what way does the law have authority over someone?
    • We see this as the way we relate to God…our concern each day is to keep from breaking this law. The primary motivation becomes to escape the penalty
  • Does it make sense the law cannot impact a dead person?
  • Now Paul gives us an example
• Romans 7:2-3
• 2 For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. 3 So then, if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress.
  • Note: Paul is using this example to illustrate so death sets one free from the law
  • Is a widow free to marry again?
    • There is no law violated because her husband is dead.  Note the Greek word  Paul uses for marriage is “under husband” … he may have used this because he has been talking about being “Under law” & “Under Grace”
• Romans 7:4
• 4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.
  • When did we die to the law?  And How?
    • Romans 6:2-3 We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We are connected to Jesus death
  • The death of our old self…death to sin…this is also our death to law…How?
    • Because Jesus took the penalty of the law for sin.
  • Do we have power to do this?
    • The grammar in the Greek indicates the change within us was not something we could do on our own, from our own inner strength…It is a work of the God
  • What kind of Law is in mind here?
    • This would be more than the law of Moses…I am not a Jew I have never been under the law of Moses.  So it is any kind of law that applies to any  person
    • Being connected to Jesus death and resurrection changes our relationship to the law…objectively and subjectively. The law no longer controls our concept of our relationship to God and to salvation. We are no longer trying to earn acceptance of God measured by the law. 
  • So the law is like the husband that what?
    • Dies…and the new marriage is to who? Christ
• Romans 7:5
• 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for death.
  • What does it mean to be in the flesh?
    • This means to be governed by our bodily desires in such a way that they are the center of our lives
  • How does the law arouse sinful passions?  
  • When we are told we can’t do something isn’t there something in us that wants to rebel…
  • What fruit did this bring into our lives?
    • Death
• Romans 7:6
• 6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.
  • How do we get free from what bound us?
    • By dying!  Not physically but dying to the old self- 
  • How does this change the way we serve?
    • The way of the Spirit…We move from “have to” to “want to” from “got to” to “get to”…We serve from a grateful heart and love. We are now willing slaves who voluntarily attach ourselves to Christ because what He has done for us.
• TAKE AWAY
  • To break from sin, our old self and the law we must be connected to Christ’s death and new life
  • Is it possible to put myself under law again?
    • Just go back to trying to earn your salvation
  • Is freedom of the law, freedom from obeying?
    • No we must still obey God’s commands…but  it is freedom from a negative, legalistic attitude toward obedience… earning  our salvation