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Opening Prayer
Father God, we gather here each week in the hope that we might learn more of your word and more about Your Son our Lord Jesus. Tonight we study the matter of our becoming united with Christ, in the battle to overcome our sinful nature. Be with those of our group who cannot be here tonight, we ask that you would share our blessing with them. Bless us now and give us understanding as we undertake this study. In Jesus name we pray AMEN
In this study, Paul makes reference to the law, the Torah, contained in the first five books of the bible, the books of Moses, or the Pentateuch as they are known, are much more than just the law. or a set of moral and religious obligations and civil laws The books of the Pentateuch introduce Bible readers to God's divine purposes and plan, and explain how sin entered the world. In the Pentateuch we also see God's response to sin, his relationship with mankind, and we gain insight into the character and nature of God.
Romans 7:1-5….Believers are United with Christ
1 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.
Discussion
Instead of seeking God’s will for our lives through his law, we tend to look for ways to justify our thoughts, our words, and our deeds by reframing God’s law in matters of morality, ethical behavior, and justice. We use the law in ways that are turned to our purposes.
Paul is here speaking to the Jewish leaders who know the law as given by Moses. He rightly states that the law cannot be applied after one is deceased, but is applied to those who are under the law. Paul uses the example of the married woman to illustrate what he means by how the law is applied.
Paul explains that those who believe that Jesus Christ justifies us before God by our faith, are alive to Christ. And being justified by our faith, we have died to sin with the death of Christ. And now we belong to Christ. Now instead of the law arousing our sinful passions, we develop a righteous nature to bear fruit for our God. Now because we are dead to sin we no longer seek to bend the law to our desire. We are no longer dependent upon the law to cite our boundaries or to keep us holy. We belong to Christ, who has set us free from the need to have the law as the gauge for our sin. Jesus came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. The Holy Spirit leads us in righteousness, Jesus Christ is our righteousness. He has become our law. We are spirit lead.
Q.1 What do you feel Paul meant when he said the Law is only over us while we live?
Q.2 How is it that we "died to the Law.” what does Paul mean? Galatians 2: 19-21
Q.3 Give an example of how a law can arouse sinful passions.
Q.4 Do you feel Paul is saying we are no longer bound by the Law? Why / why not?
Romans 7:6- 13…. The believers struggle
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. 7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Let it not be said! But I did not know sin except through the law. For also I did not know lust except the law said, You shall not lust.
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, worked in me all kinds of lust. For apart from law sin was dead. 9 For I was alive without the law once. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to life, was found to be death to me. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 So indeed the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. 13 Then has that which is good become death to me? Let it not be! But sin, that it might appear to be sin, working death in me by that which is good; in order that sin might become exceedingly sinful by the commandment.
Discussion
Often it seems as if sin is simply the violation of any of God's laws, including the Ten Commandments. Paul, however, puts this in perspective in Romans 3:20, when he says, "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin."
God wanted us to recognize our sins. Even those who have not murdered or committed adultery will find themselves convicted of lying, or of worshipping false idols like wealth or power ahead of God. Tragically, sin in any amount will distance us from God.
"Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear," says Isaiah 59:1-2….We must resist the temptation to act as if we are righteous, especially by leaning on our good works. That too is sin. 1 John 1:8-10. We cannot be righteous on our own, “No one is righteous, no not one,” It must come through Jesus.
The good news in all of this is that, once we recognize ourselves as sinners, we need only to repent and embrace Jesus to be forgiven. Jesus can forgive us because he died and rose again three days later in victory over sin and death. The Apostle Paul refers to this process of recognizing sin and being responsible for it as "godly sorrow."
"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death," Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11.
Q.1 How do these verses compare with what you've been told about obeying the law
Q.2 Do you feel Paul is saying the Law brought about sin? Why / why not?
Q.3 Can you grasp the idea that one can recognize their sin through the law?
Q.4 Are there conscious acts of sin that we do, and yet do not recognize them as sin?
Q.5 Have you had times in your life when you have felt what Paul is describing?
Romans7:14-25… The conflict of two natures
Paul is clear that the Holy Spirit has transformed us, renewing our inner selves so that we have a true desire to please God. Nevertheless, our truest intentions still will sometimes fail us as we forget that we are in Christ and go back to our old self serving ways. Thus, there is no one who is perfect in biblical Christianity except Jesus. Before we are glorified, we will not attain a sinless nature.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do, I know not. For what I desire, that I do not do; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If then I do that which I do not desire, I consent to the law that it is good. 17 But now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I do not find. 19 For I do not do the good that I desire; but the evil which I do not will, that I do. 20 But if I do what I do not desire, it is no more I working it out, but sin dwelling in me. 21 I find then a law: when I will to do the right, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the Law of God according to 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 being 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
Discussion
This ongoing struggle tells us something very important—even in our sanctification, we cannot rescue ourselves, even through our obedience. God’s law, the same law for which He gives us a true love in our regeneration, can serve as a guide to right and wrong, but it cannot guarantee that we will do the good. If the Spirit has done a work in our hearts, we can cry out to the Lord with the psalmist, “Oh how I love your law!” (Ps. 119:96-106), but even our most faithful keeping of the commandments will not rescue us from the ongoing presence and influence of sin.
Only Jesus Christ can save us. Though we cooperate with Him in our sanctification, It is He alone who will provide the final deliverance from sin’s corruption. As we grow in holiness, we will hate sin more and more, but we will also see just how sinful we remain. Keeping the law—though it is good and right to obey—is not going to get us out of the struggle with sin or give us the victory over it. It is Christ who sanctifies us by His Spirit. Making new rules for ourselves is not going to help us, but neither will treating the existing law as if it were irrelevant. Jesus must rescue us or we will not be rescued, and while He grants us strength to defeat sin by His Spirit in the present, our rescue will not be fully and finally achieved until we are in glory. Until then, our truest selves will love God’s law, but we will at times serve the flesh. (Gal 5:16-18 )We will need the law—working in concert with the Spirit—to convict us when this happens, that we might be pointed to Christ Jesus as our only hope of finally reaching our true sanctification.
Q.1 Do you feel that Paul is speaking here for the benefit of those justified or unjustified?
Q.2 Was Paul admitting he couldn't avoid sinning? Why / why not?
Q.3 How is it that sin can still live in someone who is dead to sin, who belongs to Jesus?
Q.4 What are some examples of “what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do?”
Q.5 Can you identify such matters in your life which relate to these verses?
Q.6 How does someone serve the “law of sin”?
Scripture References
Galatians 2:19-21 "For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
Isaiah 59:1-2. "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear."
1 John 1:8-10. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives"
2 Corinthians 7:10-11. "See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter."
Psalm 119:96-106 To all perfection I see a limit, but your commands are boundless. 97 Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. 98 Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. 100 I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. 101 I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. 102 I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. 105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. 106 I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.
Colossians 3:1-5atians If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Be mindful of things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ our Life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness (which is idolatry),
Galatiians 5:16-26 I say, then, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do.18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
Meditation
As a Christian we still in a sense, are of the flesh, however, Jesus Christ through his Spirit has transformed who we are at the core of our being so that we now rejoice in His law. However we still experience our own personal sin nature. That will not leave us until we become glorified. We will have the desire to please God and the fleshly desire to sin—but only the desire to please Him can properly describe who we truly are in Christ. There will always be times when we give in to our old sin nature and sin against the Lord, but if we are alive to Christ, our true, renewed nature will ultimately prevail.
Still our minds, emotions, bodies, wants, needs, and desires are tainted by our flesh, and as such we are still sinners. God has yet to perfect us through His Son Our Lord Jesus. And God does not eliminate our flaws fully until He glorifies us. The battle between the new self and what remains of the old is real and fierce, and we will have no final victory before our deaths. But in Christ, we will ultimately win this battle.
Freedom from sin does not mean we will be perfect before God . That Moment is reserved for our arrival on day one to our Heavenly home. Because we have been justified in Christ—declared righteous in Him alone. That day we will be glorified. So as we struggle to live free of sin in this life, and the Holy Spirit conforms us to Christ, we strive to live in accord with the Holy Spirit’s leading and yet we are still susceptible to our old nature, and freedom from its presence is not yet complete. We are not yet complete, Sometimes we slip and the sin nature has it's way, but in Christ Jesus our Lord, we will win this battle.
We have a role to play in these matters, freedom from sin is not on automatic pilot. We will (if we are serious about desiring our salvation), cooperate with the Spirit to grow daily in holiness and please God in our daily life. But lest we boast, our good works have no part in attaining the righteousness we need for our salvation. Nevertheless, in the end, sanctification is a work that Christ by His Spirit (our promised helper), initiates, sustains, and brings to completion. The struggle will go on.
There are ways to fight sin. Paul says the way to grow in strength against sin is to properly seek Jesus and identify with his help how it is that we are so bent on sinning. Our relationship with Christ should grow while starving our desires for sin. We starve our desires for sin by identifying what our sins are. Although sin is sometimes so subtle as to even become attractive to us, but we are to continue in repenting, and searching out our sinful nature, thereby building resistance.
We feed our relationship with Christ by studying the Bible, filling our minds with biblical truth from scripture, by a planned study of the bible, regular and dedicated church attendance, ceaseless prayer and supplication, and spending time searching out God. Discover what it is that God purposes for your life.
It is when we sincerely begin to focus on Christ and what He can do in our life to help us rid ourselves of our sinful ways, and understanding what those ways are that we find hope, but the success of our struggle will still come only from what Christ can do in our lives. Without Christ we are quite simply and unequivocally lost. Only He can rescue us from sin, and it is to Him alone that we are to look for our transformation from a sinful nature to a nature that is at war with sin, struggling to gain our sanctification. Amen.
This study of the agony of Romans 7 is a prerequisite for the study of our next session, the ecstasy of Romans chapter 8.
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