Our
Life Before Christ
(As
God Was Drawing Us To Him)
Romans
7:7-25
Romans
7:7-25, "What shall we say then?
Is the law sin? Certainly
not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin
except through the law. For
I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said,
'You shall not covet.' But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment,
produced in me all manner of evil desire.
For apart from the law sin was dead.
I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
deceived me, and by it killed me.
Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy
and just and good. Has
then what is good become death to me?
Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing
death in me through what is good, so that sin might become
exceedingly sinful.
For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin.
For what I am doing, I do not understand.
For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but
what I hate, that I do. If,
then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that
it is good. But now, it is no longer
I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing
good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not
find. For the good
that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that
I practice. Now if
I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with
me, the one who wills to do good.
For I delight in the law of God according to the inward
man. 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.
O wretched man that I am!
Who will deliver me from this body of death?
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."
In Romans 7:7-25 Paul is obviously
taking a step back, to the point just before a person makes
that active commitment to Christ, asking Jesus into his or
her life. In Romans 6 he showed us ourselves as believers,
already having taken that step.
He showed us how that 'Old Man', the sin nature in
us was made inoperative. He showed how we as believers were set free
in Christ, no longer slaves to sin, having crossed that spiritual
Red Sea. Now Egypt, sin is no longer our
evil task master. That
was in Romans 6. Now
in Romans 7:1-6 we see how Paul shows us that we are no longer
under the Old Covenant death penalty of the law, that marriage
covenant was broken by our death in Christ. The original husband, the law, didn't die, but
we died in Christ. Now
when we accept Christ into our life, asking Jesus to save
us and come into our lives, Jesus Christ becomes our new husband
(or as Revelation 19 points out, our husband-to-be).
Harpers Bible Commentary also brings out about Romans
7:1-6 that it is the penalty of God's
law we're freed from under grace.
It states, "All seems clear: the woman is the Christian
set free by the death of Christ from the law's condemnation." Some pastors and denominations do not make this
clear leading many to believe that the law of God for them
is done away. These groups that teach in this manner are what
I would call the "grace oriented churches and denominations"
that are on the far left of the interpretative norm.
They often neglect to properly teach that John defined
sin as the transgression of the law, and that throughout the
New Testament believers in Jesus are admonished, yea, commanded
not to sin. So if we're free from the law's penalty and
espoused (in the ancient Hebrew sense) to Jesus, Yeshua, how
does the law of God figure into our Christian or Messianic
Jewish walk with the Lord?
First we must realize that the whole purpose for God's
Law has now taken a radical shift from the old covenant, the
old marriage agreement to the new covenant.
Under the old covenant:
1.
The
law of God was the law of the land, both a civil and religious
law combined.
2.
It
had a system of physical rewards and punishments for obedience
and disobedience (see Leviticus 26, whole chapter).
3.
The
Old Covenant agreement had no promise of eternal life attached
to it for obedience and only offered death for major infractions.
4.
That
great law, God's law, was indeed a spiritual mirror, but the
people were left to try to obey it all on their own-with no
help from God.
The New
Covenant is different (no matter which version of God's law
your Christian conscience leads you to accept, whether the
Old Testament law of God or New Testament law of Christ).
It is quite simple.
1.
God
promises to write his law upon our hearts and in our minds
(cf. Jeremiah 31:31-33; Hebrews 8:6-13), by the indwelling
Holy Spirit-Jesus and the Father dwelling within us (cf. John
14&16).
2.
God
promises eternal life for those who enter into this covenant
agreement and live a life led by the Holy Spirit of God.
Part I, The Mirror
So, upon
accepting Jesus Christ into our lives, that old marriage covenant
no longer applies, is made null and void because we died in
Christ (cf. Romans 7:1-6).
Now we will see that the law takes on a radical
shift in purpose. This
will be interesting. Romans
7:7-13, "What shall we say then?
Is the law sin? Certainly
not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin
except through the law. For
I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said,
'You shall not covet.' But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment,
produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the
commandment came, sin revived and I died.
And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found
to bring death. For
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and
by it killed me. Therefore
the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Has then what is good become death to me?
Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing
death in me through what is good, so that sin through the
commandment might become exceedingly sinful."
First
of all Paul is showing here in verses 7-13 of Romans 7 that
the law-God's law-is a spiritual mirror.
It shows us where the dirt is in our lives.
James uses the same analogy in James 1:22-25, which
states, "But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving
yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not
a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets
what kind of man he was. But
he who looks into the perfect law of liberty [i.e. God's law]
and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer
of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."
So a shift
has taken place in the purpose of the law of God-the whole
law, both the one found in the Old Testament, and the New
Testament law of God, called by some the law of Christ.
In verses 7-13 above, we see that the law is the prime
revealer of sin, it defines sin. James showed us the same thing. As Harpers goes on to say, "The law magnifies sin (Rom. 5:20).Yet the law in fact play[s] a role
in relation to sin: It identifies sin and makes it known.even
in sin's use of it, the law remains God's instrument.
The end result fits into God's purpose for the law,
namely to disclose the true nature of sin and show how "incomparably
sinful" it really is." In the Old Covenant, people were
told, 'Here's the mirror.
Now go and clean yourself up.
In the New Covenant, God is in effect saying, "Here's
the mirror (law of God), and now here's the precious water
of my Spirit which I am providing you.
Now use the water and mirror to clean yourself up.
I will be inside of you, indwelling you, writing my
laws into your minds and upon your hearts" (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-33;
Hebrews 8:6-13; John 14:15-23; James 1:22-25).
We find this whole picture of what the new covenant
is all about symbolized by the brazen wash basin described
in Exodus 30:17-21, Exodus 38:8 and 40:30-32. Let's look at these verses. Exodus 30:17-21, "Then the Lord spoke to Moses,
saying, 'You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base
also of bronze, for washing.
You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting
and the altar. And
you shall put water in it, for Aaron and his sons shall wash
their hands and feet in water from it.
When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when
they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering
made by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, lest
they die. So they shall
wash their hands and their feet, lest they die.
And it shall be a statute forever to them-to him and
his descendants throughout their generations."
Now let's see a special feature this brazen laver had,
which makes it a perfect picture of the new covenant.
Exodus 38:8, "He made the laver of bronze and its base
of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the
serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle
of meeting." The inside of this laver, as well as the whole
thing was made of polished bronze
looking glasses, bronze mirrors! Water was placed
in it so that when a priest looked into the still water he
could clearly see himself.
But in the old covenant, God never provided his Holy
Spirit to the entire nation. In Moses day, besides himself and Aaron, there
were only 70 others that received the Holy Spirit. So picture the poor Israelites, provided with
the polished mirror of God's law, and told to wash up. When you've been working on your car, playing
mechanic, and come in after fixing it, all greasy, what do
you do? You go to the sink. The mirror will show you where the dirt is on
your face. Right? Of course. If
you just try to rub the dirt off, the grease and grime, what
happens? It merely
becomes more deeply imbedded in your skin.
Right? You must turn on the water and scrub the dirt
off with soap and water, or else it's not coming off. Throughout the Bible, both water and oil have
been used to symbolize God's Holy Spirit.
So that's the purpose of the law, it's a mirror, an
inanimate object. It
only reveals where the dirt is.
Just looking in a mirror alone, all by itself doesn't
clean you up. The mirror
prompts a person to turn on the water and go for the soap. Some of the grace oriented churches say the
law actually makes you bad.
I would have to disagree.
It is merely a revealer of sin, showing a person how
really bad they are without Christ in them, showing their
need for Christ. The
law drives a person to Christ, the water source.
Water is an amazing thing, with mysterious purifying
qualities when it's running, like say in a brook. It carries away dirt, germs and impurities like
nothing else. The Old
Testament shows, and science proves it out, that a dead rodent
can fall into a very large pool of water, and the water remains
pure. So are we getting
the Biblical picture of what God's law is? It's not evil. It's just a spiritual mirror, and for that matter,
it's the mirror image (in print) of God's very character. But by itself, it's next to useless. Now let's take another look at Romans 7:8-11,
to see what else is being shown here.
Part II, The Progression
Romans
7:8-11, "What shall we say then?
Is the law sin? Certainly
not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin
except through the law. For
I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said
'You shall not covet.' But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment,
produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the
commandment came, sin revived and I died.
And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found
to bring death. For
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and
by it killed me."
In these passages a progression is shown, the progressive steps a person
takes as God the Father draws a person to Jesus. First, we see a person without the law, i.e.
without any spiritual understanding of God's Word, in ignorant
bliss. This is shown in the last part of verse 8 through the first part of verse 9, "For apart
from the law sin was dead.
I was alive once without the law."
Then as God starts drawing a person
to Christ that person starts to investigate God's Word, he
or she starts to understand it.
He starts to see himself in the light of God's spiritual
mirror, as God sees him, as a spiritual mess.
What's the reaction? Verse
9b-11, ".but when the commandment came, sin revived and I
died. And the commandment, which was to bring life,
I found to bring death. For
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and
by it killed me." Reading God's law and the Word of
God, before a person is born-again, indwelt by the Holy Spirit-can
have this effect. It
is often the first step God takes in drawing a person to Jesus
Christ. Even Paul before
his actual conversion on the road to Damascus was intimately acquainted with God's law.
And he must have had huge struggles within himself
as he saw sin revealed and found himself helpless to overcome
what he saw. So we
see a progression is being shown here, clear as day, of a
person who had no real knowledge of God's law, the Bible or
God for that matter. And
then God starts drawing that person into a knowledge of how
much he needs God, and how sinful he or she is, sold into
slavery of sin, but helpless to do anything about it.
At that point, a person is ready to call on the Lord,
asking Jesus, Yeshua to come into his or her life.
It is the law of God, God's spiritual mirror, which
shows a person who is being drawn to Jesus by the Father,
just how sinful and a slave of sin he or she is. This person, who is going through this progression
shown in Romans 7:7-14 is being shown that he has a very real
need of Jesus. He or
she is becoming aware of God's standards. The person seeing himself or herself in the
mirror of God's Word and law is still not born-again. What happens next?
Part III, The Struggle
Romans
7:14-25, "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am
carnal, sold under sin."-Paul
could only be saying this about himself before his conversion,
using his pre-conversion struggle with sin as an example to
explain the struggle most, if not all new-believers go through
just prior to them accepting Christ into their lives, calling
upon the Lord to save them.
Many Bible scholars feel that it is inconceivable that
Paul in his present state as the apostle to the Gentiles,
and exuding the attributes of Romans 6 and 8 in his life,
would continue to be "carnal, sold under sin."-"For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice;
but what I hate, that I do.
If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with
the law that it is good. But
now, it is no longer I who perform it, but sin that dwells
in me."-Remember that sin nature described
in the Romans 6 study, which is made inoperative when one
accepts Christ into his or her life?
This is what Paul is describing, the person who is becoming a new believer in Christ sees
within himself this sin nature he or she is helpless to do
anything about. Let's continue-"For
I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells;
for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is
good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do;
but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer
I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the
one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to
the inward man. 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. O
wretched man that I am! Who
will deliver me from this death?."-At this point, Paul is showing how
the new believer, not yet fully indwelt by the Holy Spirit
is crying out in frustration.
This person (Paul may have actually been showing his
own struggle as an example) starts to see himself in light
of God's Word and law, and wanting to be a child of God, a
huge struggle ensues. What
we see here, for the most part, is the struggle of a person
who is being drawn to Christ and what that struggle is like.
They may be reading the Bible, listening to good sermons
on a Christian radio-coming to see themselves as they truly
are in the spiritual mirror of God's Word and law-and then
trying to measure up all on their own (just like ancient Israel
tried and failed miserably).
The people who find themselves in this category could
even be sitting in a church listening to sermons.
All these people in this category have not yet made
a commitment to Christ-they have not asked Jesus into their
lives, called out to him for salvation, to be saved. And boy what a struggle it is, trying to overcome
sin on your own. Now
we're going to look at another way of interpreting Romans
7:14-25, which also applies to the believers life, just as
much as we have seen it applies to the life of a person being
drawn by the Father to Jesus via the workings of the Holy
Spirit.
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