What is Romans 7 all about?

[oldhermit]

Romans 7
By Dr. J.M. Strawn and Glen Rogers (oldhermit)

Part one

I. The Principle of Regulated Behavior, 1-6
“Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brethren (Herein the context is confirmed.), you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now, we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”

A. The context
The first thing we have to recognize is that the context of these six verses is not about marriage. Marriage is not the context of Romans chapter seven. The context of chapter seven concerns the relationship of the Jew's to the Law of Moses. Paul simply uses marriage as a symbol to represent that relationship because the same basic principle that governs the one also governs the other.

Paul speaks of death as the end of one marriage and the beginning of another union, a new union. “If her husband dies,” she is free to marry another. Marriage is the symbol of the arrangement that God had with Israel and as with any marriage, death is the end of that covenant arrangement.
B. Marriage is a revealed symbol of our relationship with God.

As in marriage, there is a direct relation between the span of one's life and one's responsibility to the Law. Bear in mind, Paul is speaking to a select demographic – to “those who know the law.” The life span of marriage is limited to the life span of the spouse and the authority of the husband is limited to temporal existence, “As long as he lives.”

Just as one's marriage to another is limited to human life span, so too, the Jew's commitment to the Law of Moses ended in death. This is certainly true when one died and was assigned to the grave, but this is not talking about that kind of death with respect to this particular relationship. This death occurs in baptism. This death was is liberation from the Law of Moses for the Jew.

1. How then does this apply to marriage?
Marriage is governed by the law of exclusivity so, the issue is exclusivity and change. This means that a change in the marriage relationship is regulated by law. In order for legitimate change to occur in marriage, exclusivity must be maintained. Both death and adultery leads to a change in the marriage relationship. One upholds the principle of exclusivity and the other does not. One is acceptable to the Lord and the other is not. This means then that biblically defined exclusivity must be the governing factor in the marriage covenant.

a. The issue of regulation says that if the woman marries another while her husband lives, she is an adulteress. She has violated the law of marriage. Marriage is a divinely regulated institution therefore, regulation from God determines acceptable parameters for marriage; not the flesh, not time, not society, and not culture.
b. Just as the married woman was bound by the law to her husband so too, Israel was bound her husband – Jehovah, by the Law. (This union was a symbol of still a greater reality. This union had its beginning at Sinai and ended at the cross.)

Death annuls the force of the Law. The Jew died to the Law through the body of Christ so that he might be bound to Christ, not symbolically as under the Law, but in actuality. Baptism was their participation in death and their joining to Christ in a greater covenant relationship.

The purpose of this union was that “we might bear fruit for God.” This is the goal of the marriage covenant.Paul tells the Jews that while under the Law, their sinful passions bore fruit unto death but, having been freed from the Law they were
privileged to no longer serve in the flesh but in the newness of the Spirit. To seek to remain bound to the Law after having been bound to Christ was nothing less than adultery. You can't go back. That union has been severed by reason of death.

C. Regulated behavior is a universal constant.
Marriage is not the only thing the regulation of behavior governs. It applies across the board to all human behavior. Regulation of behavior under the Law can either approve or condemn but it can never save. Regulation of behavior by the Spirit can also condemn or approve but it can also save.

What Paul was trying to get them to understand, and what he is trying to get us to understand is that grace does not eliminate regulation. Even under grace there are still categories of behavior that the Lord calls sin. There is still adultery and adultery is still sin. Paul says we are not to go on sinning under the guise of taking full advantage of the grace of God. God still does not permit or excuse sin. In 6:15, Paul asks the question and then provides the categoric answer, “Shall we sin because we are not
under law but under grace? Absolutely not!” Choosing to continue in sin is not an option in response to grace. We are not
permitted to appeal to the grace of God in order to offset our desire to continue to indulge in whatever sinful practices may appeals to us.

In Christ, the Jew died to the regulations of the Law through the body of Christ by having been “raised from the dead.” He was then free to belong to another for the purpose of bearing fruit unto God; but, this does not mean that he was free from regulation.

Dying to the Law that “oncebound us,” means that Christ had released the Jew from that Law. It is no longer the Law that was to regulate their behavior. From baptism on, it is the Spirit who was to regulate behavior apart from the Law of Moses. Being in the Spirit does not mean that the Jew was free of regulated behavior. He was still accountable to the Law of Christ.

 

[oldhermit]

Part two

II. The Irreducible Dilemma, 7-25
“What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, 'You shall not covet.' But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking a opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? Not at all! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.

So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”

Paul elaborates here on what we are going to call the irreducible dilemma. This dilemma is irreducible because there is nothing you or I can do to reduce it to a point of resolution. The irreducible dilemma is a permanent part of the human condition and it is far beyond the power of man to resolve. Here is how Paul expresses this irreducible dilemma.

A. Here is the irreducible dilemma.
The flesh and the Law exist in a perpetual state of contention and there can be no agreement between the two. The Law of God wants one thing but the flesh wants something very different. Paul says that the flesh and everything that goes with it is “sold
into bondage to sin.”

This contradiction between the spirit and the flesh created a paradox in the mind of Paul. “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” Searching for an explanation Paul admits, “I do not understand.... I am not practicing what I would like,” What he wants to practice is spiritual behavior; “but I am doing the very thing I hate”He is indulging his flesh. Paul's dismay is obvious. He knows that no human solution can be found to resolve this conflict, this contradiction between what he wants to do and what he does.

This is the everyday dilemma that each one of us faces as well. Man is compressed between the word of God and the desire to sin. We cannot perfectly obey the word of God and we cannot perfectly resist the desire to sin. This is the essence of the dilemma.

1. The issue is the struggle of resistance and obedience. These are human efforts in which all of us are lacking. In order to resolve this issue on our own requires the quality of perfection, and none of us have this. If we obey the Law of God perfectly, then the Law cannot hold us accountable or condemn us. However, imperfection in obedience will always results in death.

In verse 9-10 Paul says, “I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me.” If we resist sin perfectly then the Law has no power over us and death cannot touch us. If not, then sin overwhelms us and we die.

In verse 25 Paul says, “So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” Neither the Lord nor the Law are at fault in this dilemma. This is strictly a human dilemma where fault lies in the weakness of the flesh. “I myself… with my flesh” is where the problem lies.

2. In verse 8 we see that the “desire” to do good is not enough. “Wanting” to do good is not strong enough to control the flesh. “But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells me.” Sin has been allowed to become the controlling agent over what we do, and our want and desire to do good are not strong enough to break free from this bondage. We are trapped between the word of God and the desire to sin. While my spirit favors God, my flesh favors the desire to sin.

Because of this war in the inner man, we are incapable of achieving and maintaining any form of legal perfection. Our control over our mind and our behavior is not enough to resolve this irreducible dilemma. Clearly, we need something else.

This dilemma cannot be resolved by merely assimilating the Law of God into our minds. This is not enough. Paul was a man who KNEW the law of God. He knew what God expected from him. He wanted to do good. He wanted to be a slave to God, but still he struggled with sin. No matter how much he wanted it, legal perfection still eluded him.

The answer is to give up the idea of legal perfection. Paul shows that seeking salvation by legal perfection is a dead end. If we have to depend on human efforts to obtain legal perfection in obedience, then we are lost. Legal perfection is a myth. It does not exist. It is an unrealistic and unattainable goal. This is why grace has been supplied to us. Grace fills the gap between our desire to do good and our inability to do it perfectly.

3. Paul depicts sin as an objective reality that acts through us, so much so that sin overrides our desire to do good just as it did for Paul. Paul says in verse 20 that it is sin living in us that does it. The power of absolute control over sin is simply beyond us. We do not obey God perfectly and we do not resist sin perfectly.

Through these words of Paul, we are being warned about the power that sin has over us. This means that we cannot afford to flirt with sin. We cannot afford to take sin lightly or dismiss the influence it has over us. When we do this, it does not take long for us to realize that we are in way over our heads. Under our own power, we are not stronger than sin and we are certainly not stronger than Satan.

4. The idea of sin is amusing to the world and the entire state of Nevada is devoted to the proposition that sin is an attractive, entertaining, and lucrative venture, and they are correct. But to us, sin needs to be understood as something that is frightening,
destructive, and deadly. Remember the admonition of 1:32, “and although they knew the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death.” Sin only has one outcome and there is nothing attractive about that.

The book of Romans teaches us that sin is not just some abstract religious idea. Sin is real, it is concrete, it is an objective
reality; and if we do not wise up to this fact in the Church, sin is going to eat us alive.

Sin's chosen medium of expression is and always has been human behavior. Paul says we are not to allow ourselves to become the victim. We are not permitted to be the instrument through which sin is allowed to function. We have to allow the word of God to establish boundaries for our behavior.

 

[oldhermit]

Part three

B. The problem is that sin hates boundaries, 8-13.

1. Sin hates being controlled in any way. Paul says that sin seeks opportunity through the commandment. The word of God establishes a fundamental principle that sin in general is “utterly sinful.” There is nothing good in it and ultimately, it produces no final satisfaction or happiness.

In verse 18 Paul says, “I know that nothing good dwells in me.” Paul had a mind full of revealed truth yet, he had a mind and a body that still continued to struggle with sin, and in the end Paul says, “Wretched man that I am!” This is a statement wholly reserved for what I think of as the extreme condition. This would seem to reflect a despondent attitude, one of utter hopelessness and helplessness in dealing with sin, and this was Paul's attitude about himself.

As Paul reflects upon his struggle with sin (in this particular instance, covetousness), he comes to the stark revelation of his own wretchedness. Why, because he cannot perfectly fulfill what the law demands regarding covetousness, no matter how hard he tries. As a result, sin came alive in him and the Law condemned him to death. If this is the personal assessment of such a man as the apostle Paul, then how much more so of me?

Why does Paul feel so wretched, because he is caught between two things over which he seems to have no control – the Law of God which he cannot obey perfectly, and the desire to sin which he does not perfectly resist. Paul's dismay is in his own inadequacy and in his own shortcomings to gain control over his own mind and body.

2. The world has its own distorted gospel that elevates the body as the center of the universe. This gospel of the world tells us that we should love our body, protect it, devote ourselves to its every need and desire. We should indulge it, pamper it, satisfy its every ambition. To love your body is to love yourself.

This self-absorbed obsession by the world cares absolutely nothing for eternal reality, self-discipline, or morality. These things mean nothing to the world when they threaten to interfere with satisfying fleshly desires, whatever they may be. This is what Paul calls in verse 24, the body of death. This gospel of the world that seeks the gratification of the body as the highest human principle of life is the gospel of death.

C. So, how do we confront this irreducible dilemma?
Verse seven tells us that the word of God is the instrument of knowledge.
“What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'”

The Law of Moses was a control document that was designed to educate man about sin and restrict how far human behavior was allowed to go, and Paul uses covetousness as an example. Paul chose this example because it was a sin with which he personally struggled.

This sin is self-destructive in so many ways. It can destroy a marriage, it can destroy the fabric of human relations, it can destroy any sense of honor between yourself and others, and it can contaminate rulers and governments when they begin to covet what you own. This was Achin, this was David, this was king Ahab, this was Judas. All of these felt the sting of covetousness and then paid the price for it.

What is it that we are not to covet? “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

This is actually one command, “You shall not covet” but, with a complex of applications. Here is why covetousness is so infectious.Covetousness is wanting for yourself that which rightfully belongs to another. This then grows into a hatred for your brother because he has it and you do not. This then begins to metastasize into evil against your brother. You begin to plan and scheme ways to obtain it by any means necessary, even through swindle, theft, or murder.

God has already commanded, “You shall not steal.” How does one begin to steal, by coveting that which belongs to someone else. He has already commands, “You shall not commit murder.”How does one begin to commit murder, by hating his brother because he has something you want.

D. What is the solution to this irreducible dilemma? 24-25.
No one, on his own, can hope to free himself from this irreducible dilemma. “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Here is a plea of desperation for someone to come to his aid in this debilitating struggle between his mind and his flesh. Paul acknowledges that his flesh is in command of his mind and he feels helpless to gain an advantage. BUT… In the midst of all of this despair and hopelessness there is deliverance from the Lord. “Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord…!”

God sent Jesus into the world to break us out of this irreducible dilemma. If our sin is utterly sinful, then the salvation of the Lord is utterly saving. Now, in spite of all of our failures in our struggle with sin, in spite of all of our shortcomings, all of our weakness, we can now be free of the law of sin and death. This should give us pause to reflect upon certain facts.

1. Without Christ, we are lost.
2. Without Christ, we have no hope of being delivered from this irreducible dilemma.
3. Without Christ, we remain the enemies God.
4. Without Christ, the law of sin and death determines the shape of human life.
5. Without Christ, sin and the law of God would fix our eternal destiny against us, and we would be powerless to overturn it.

Any hope of the mercy of God depends upon the reality of what Christ has done for us. Clearly, our struggle against sin cannot be waged on our own. Like Paul, we are simply too wretched. BUT... as Paul says, “Thanks be to God...!” and then in 8:1-4 he continues with good news. “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, (What could the Law not do? It could not break us free from this irreducible dilemma, BUT...) God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”