Eternity Daily Bible Study: No. 529 Romans 1-8 - A Righteousness That Is By Faith Verses: Romans 7:1-6 Topic: We Have Died To The Law Date: 25th October 2005 Romans 7:1-6 MKJV Or are you ignorant, brothers; for I speak to those who know the Law; that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? (2) For the married woman was bound by law to the living husband. But if the husband is dead, she is set free from the law of her husband. (3) So then if, while her husband lives, she is married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress by becoming another man's wife. (4) So, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ so that you should be married to Another, even to Him raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit to God. (5) For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin worked in our members through the law to bring forth fruit to death. (6) But now we having been set free from the Law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter. Just as the law of marriage is revoked by death so that the wife is free, so too are Christians freed from the Jewish law by the death of Christ. [Some people interpret this to imply that marriage is for life and still exists “spiritually” after a divorce has been finalized. But Paul is not really writing about marriage or divorce here – he is primarily writing about Christians no longer being bound by the Jewish Law – and simply uses one aspect of marriage as an illustration. When Paul actually discusses divorce he says that a believer is “not bound” if an unbelieving spouse leaves - thus asserting that marriage was to be honored but was not permanently binding (1 Corinthians 7:15).] The point that Paul wants to drive home is that we are “dead to the Law”: So, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ (v.4) But now we having been set free from the Law, having died to that in which we were held, (v.6) and later on in Galatians: Galatians 2:19 HCSB For through the law I have died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; To do this Paul uses the example of a woman under the authority of her husband just as the Jews were under the authority of the Law. The Old Testament often refers to Israel as being married to God. (Isaiah 54:5 Jeremiah 3:20). Paul argues that a woman under the authority of her husband cannot “be joined to another” without being called an adulteress. When Israel worshiped idols and went away from her “husband” it was called “spiritual adultery” (see Ezekiel chapter 20). Paul then goes on to say that the woman is blameless once her husband has passed away. When Christ died on the cross the Old Covenant was finished and lost its power and the Temple curtain was torn in two. Now, just as a widow is free to marry another, so too are Christians freed from the Law so we may serve in the Spirit. The Law has no more authority over the Christian than it would over a dead person – and that is none at all! We are freed from the entire Jewish Law, all of it, including the Ten Commandments and Sabbath-keeping (Colossians 2:8-23). But as we will see that does not mean that we are lawless! We serve in the newness of the Spirit who is holy! (As we go through Romans chapters 7 & 8 this will unfold). Christians are no longer under a set of Jewish rules laid down by Moses in order to instruct a tribal people as they became a nation. They were good rules, righteous laws and even holy precepts, but they are not the laws of the Christian life. The Christian life is not about conformity to a written code, even a very good written code. If rules could have saved us and made us good, then God would have sent a rule-book, not His beloved Son. Paul makes this point at some length in the book of Galatians: Galatians 2:16-21 MKJV (16) knowing that a man is not justified by works of the Law, but through faith in Jesus Christ; even we believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith in Christ, and not by works of the Law. For all flesh will not be justified by works of law. (17) But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we also were found to be sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Let it not be said! (18) For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I confirm myself as a transgressor. (19) For through the Law I died to the law, that I might live to God. (20) I have been crucified with Christ, and I live; yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And that life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith toward the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself on my behalf. (21) I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness is through law, then Christ died without cause. a) No flesh is justified by the works of the Law.(v16) b) To rebuild the Law is to transgress. (v.18) c) We have died to the Law (v.19) d) If righteousness could come through the Law then Christ died for nothing. (v.21) The dynamic power of the Christian life is not our own human will working hard to observe a written code. We are too weak for that and it simply does not work. In fact we have died to that manner of being religious. Its over, it failed, it ended on the cross, and we are not to go back to human effort and rule-keeping in order to please God. In fact when the Galatians did try to go back to human willpower and rule-keeping Paul called them “foolish” and “bewitched”: Galatians 3:1-5 MKJV O foolish Galatians, who bewitched you not to obey the truth, to whom before your eyes Jesus Christ was written among you crucified? (2) This only I would learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing of faith? (3) Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, do you now perfect yourself in the flesh? (4) Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it is even in vain? (5) Then He supplying the Spirit to you and working powerful works in you, is it by works of the law, or by hearing of faith? The Law cannot perfect the Christian! “For the law made nothing perfect” (Hebrews 7:19) and was even unable to perfect the most ardent worshipers (Hebrews 10:1) - because the Law is external and legal and cannot work to inwardly transform the human heart. The Christian is not changed by law but rather is transformed by grace, which is received by faith, and this is made possible by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and this grace is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 MKJV (17) And the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (18) But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord Spirit. We have died to the Law, so that we might live in the Spirit! Blessings, John Edmiston (johned@aibi.ph) REFER OTHERS: If this devotional is a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving this daily bible study. 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