Romans

Romans Chapter 7

• Romans 7:1 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?
• 2 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.
• 3 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.
• 4 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.

This is so hard for some of us to grasp. We are dead to the law the same as a woman is free to remarry if her husband is dead. She is no longer bound by her husband and is free to remarry. She was bound by him while he was alive but now she is free to be married to another.

Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the law when He died. When He was raised from the dead, He became a new and living way to all who would believe. The requirement to receive this is first to believe and then to be willing to turn from sin.

We are under a new way and the old law cannot condemn us if we are trusting in Jesus to take away our sins. This new way does not condone sin but gives us power over sin.

• Romans 7:5 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.

In the flesh or in other words not walking in the spirit, we are in sin. The law of God condemns sin in the flesh and we are guilty before God, lost and on our way to hell. There is no hope for salvation once we have broken just one law of God except for a little thing called faith. Not just faith in faith but faith in the deliverer God sent to save us from sin. This deliverer is God's Son, Jesus Christ.

• Romans 7:6 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.

The letter of the law will kill us, but through Christ we are delivered from that bondage of sin and death. Now we have a new way and we can serve God in the newness of the spirit. However, the old nature is not always defeated when we first believe. This is what Paul is explaining. We are no longer under the old law that condemns us but under a new and living way. Yet under this new living way, we must learn to walk in the spirit or sin will be able to come back in and defile us.

• Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.  
• 8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
• 9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

The law is good and holy and it shows us that all have sinned and have come short of God. There was no way to save ourselves from the condemnation of the law that said, we have sinned. There was no way out of this mess before Jesus came along and paid the penalty for our sin and also fulfilled the legal requirements of the law to take away sin. When we hear of what the law requires, we become guilty because we all have sinned by breaking the law in at least one point.

• Romans 7:10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
• 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
• 12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
• 13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
• 14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

All have sinned and have broken the law. We all were hopeless and on our way to hell without God.

• Romans 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

Before one learns to walk in the spirit and overcome the flesh, we might want to do right but we have no power to do right. Before Christ came, we had no power over sin. We couldn't help but sin once we came to the age of accountability. 

• Romans 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
• 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

This is speaking not just of the unbeliever but even Christians who have not yet overcome the flesh but are still carnal. Any one that has ever walked very long upon the earth can easily see that not all Christians are walking in the spirit and are obedient to the word of God. Why is this? Are we not all saved by grace and covered by His blood?

Well, we are supposed to be saved by His grace and covered by His blood but God never once removed our free will to choose and we still have the power to choose to yield to the spirit of God or choose to ignore Him and go our own way.

This may be why John Wesley believed in what we call the second blessing or sanctification. Staying on constant contact with God by prayer and the study of the written word He provided for us, reminds us that we have been cleansed from sin. Christ has provided for us in every way by giving us the Holy Spirit to abide with us but we are weak in the flesh and must be reminded of it.

Our faith is renewed every time we worship God and find out more about Him through the study of His word.. Its not that we are trying to earn salvation, we are already saved but we are saved by faith, so it's our faith in God that needs to be renewed to keep away unbelief. The first journey back under sin is unbelief.

It's not that we keeping seeking God to become more saved. We seek God so renew our faith. It is we that need reminders. God never forgets us. In the book of Acts we see that that apostles constantly prayed together and were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. They were baptized in the Holy Spirit initially, but were in constant contact with the Lord through prayer. This strengthened their faith and reminded them that they were cleansed of sin. No one has to return to sin after they are saved.

The Holy Spirit is given to those that obey God and believe in His power to save them from sin. We need fellowship with God daily to remind us of these gifts and promises. The will give us reassurance.

Of course, God needs no reminder. It's like a marriage. If a couple is married but do not live together and see each other, they will become married in name only. We don't want that. We need fellowship with the one who saved us from sin. Prayer and the study of the word, singing to the Lord and singing about the Lord renews the spirit within us daily. The Holy Spirit becomes our guide, our teacher and will convict us if we start to return to sin.

The Holy Spirit also is given to us for power to witness. After we are saved we are to be baptized and completely immersed in the Holy Spirit. This is what our private time with the Lord is for;  to renew ourselves and to begin to seek God for His direction and calling so that we can fulfill our part in bringing others to the Lord. Never should we doubt our salvation and become so inward in our walk that we never get past the first step when we first came to Christ.

Sometimes when we are young in the Lord we can begin to doubt our salvation and fail to move out of that state of mind in order to reach out beyond ourselves and be concerned with the souls of others. Sometimes too much negative preaching will cause this. Some may be always repenting and never exercise faith in what we already have received of the Lord. Overly sensitive people will take negative messages beyond what they were meant to be for. That is to save those that are still lost and without the Lord. 

As a child I was always going to the altar and repenting as a result of hearing strong preaching. One lady came to me in church once and asked me what I had to repent of. I stopped to think: I do not know what I was repenting of. I was just a kid. On other hand overly positive preaching that never warns against real sin, will make us careless and not take God's word seriously. A balance is needed that we don't add to or take away from God's word.

We need to be built up in our faith toward the Lord through His word but also to move past ourselves and into the call of God in our life whatever that calling is. I sometimes wonder if Romans chapter 7 is a picture of someone struggling to overcome self and our weakness in the flesh, whether it is actual sin or lack of faith in our own salvation where we think we have sinned but have not. 

While we know that we are made free from the law the moment we believe, we still have problems in the flesh. That is why God sent the Holy Spirit as our helper to lead us in a life that is truly free from the law but is a life that walks in the spirit and obedience to the word. The word being the written form of all Christ taught and His apostles in the New Testament.

Paul makes it abundantly clear at all times that we are not to return to sin and expect to be saved or justified. There are always temptations, weaknesses and trials along the way. Jesus said to watch and pray:

• Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Praying and staying in contact with God, strengthens our faith and reminds us of whom our source of power and victory is. Once we overcome self and are full of reasurrance and faith, we will be walking in joy, peace and it is much easier to love God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves.

• Luke 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

There are two things that hinder us as believers:

1. One is to try to add to the gospel by going back under the law and trying to justify ourselves by keeping the law.
2. Another is to allow the sin we were saved from at our new birth to return and cause us to walk in the flesh rather than in the spirit. Unbelief in our initial salvation can cause us to return to sin. That is why fellowship with the Lord though prayer and fellowship with other believers strengthens our faith so that this doesn't happen and we can move on.

It's like we start to work for a company and take their training program but never move beyond that stage. We keep attending training classes and never do the work we are trained to do.  Of course in that case they would fire us eventually. I don't think God does that but He does want us to move beyond the place where we repent of sins and start walking with Him in faith, love and joy in the spirit so that others might come to this good way of salvation.

• Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
• 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
• 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
• 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
• 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
• 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
• 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
• 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Paul is not saying that he as a believer is serving God with his mind and yet sinning in the flesh at the same time. He is saying that it is possible to be in that state. Chapter 8 describes how a believer who once was walking in the flesh can overcome and walk in the spirit but the first thing we must do to to remind ourselves that we have been saved from sin. We must remind ourselves what Jesus did to free us from sin. We must remember His death on the cross, His suffering and the price He paid to forgive, deliver and free us from sin. Remembering this helps us to see that sin is something we do not want in our lives. Victory over sin is something we must continually rely on Him to do within us and we cannot do this alone by our own willpower.

This chapter really should not be studied without chapter 8 which follows it. In verse 1 of chapter 8 we see the there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. It does not say there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus but to those who are in Christ Jesus and walk in the spirit. We are dead to the law and free to walk in the spirit.

We know for sure that a sinner that has never come to Christ fits the description in chapter 7 but we must realize that Paul here is speaking to believers who are carnal. These believed in Christ and had forgiveness of sin but they still were walking in the flesh.

We see many Christians who have not gotten victory over the flesh but still live just like those around them except they name the name of Christ.

What causes this is similar to the parable of the seed. Some seed fell by the wayside and didn't even have time to take root until the fowls came along and devoured them. The seed was the word. Some received the word but the cares of this life choked it. Some fell away in times of persecution. Some fell on good ground.

I see the good ground are those that allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify them and cleanse them from the things of this world. We are saved when we repent of sin and come to Christ but then we must trust the Lord to take the love of this world out of us so that we can be completely filled with God's spirit and walk in the spirit instead of walking in the flesh.

We need to be filled with the spirit every day not just rely on the past when the Holy Spirit first came into our lives. This is a daily walk that we need to walk.

The whole word of God is written so that we can see what it is like to overcome sin and walk in the newness of life in the spirit. We do not have to keep stumbling along like Paul describes in chapter 7. Yet we are not to measure ourselves by the law and constantly keep trying to go back under the law. Many false doctrines get started by picking up the old law and putting people back under what Christ has delivered us from.

In the previous chapters in Romans however, we see that Paul clearly was not condoning sin in the life of a believer. He says the opposite. We must not accept ourselves as sinners but neither should we try to go back under the law and measure ourselves by that law.

With our eyes now on the prize before us and by allowing the Holy Spirit to do His perfect work within us, we can walk in His spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. We read more about this in chapter 8.

I believe Paul writes chapter 7 and 8 to show us that although we have become believers, we still can yield to sin if we choose to. We still can go back under sin and bondage if we do not continually walk in the spirit and seek those things God gives us to overcome the flesh.

One thing that will help is to remember what Jesus did with our sins. He died for our sins, His blood cleanses us from sin and we are cleansed by the washing of the water of the word. The word cleanses. Yet we have the power to choose all the days of our lives. We must choose to yield to the spirit of God and not do our own thing.

If we do not see the fruits of the spirit in our lives mentioned in Galatians:

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Then it is something we need to seek God for and not be satisfied living in the flesh. Chapter 8 gets even better. DC