SCRIPTURE: ROMANS 7
MEMORY VERSE:
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15)
“Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” (Romans 7::20)
AN ILLUSTRATION FROM MARRIAGE (vs. 1-6)
By law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. If she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress , even though she marries another man.
We also died to the law through the body of Christ. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
STRUGGLING WITH SIN (vs. 7-25)
Law and commandments are both holy, righteous and good. But through the commandment, sin becomes utterly sinful. The law is spiritual but we are unspiritual and sold as a slave to sin. That is why what we want to do, we do not do, but what we hate, we do. Therefore, it is no longer we who do it but it is sin living in us who does it.
When we want to do good, evil is right there with us. Our inner being delights in God’s law but there is another law at work in the members of our body, waging war against the law of our mind and making us prisoners of the law of sin at work within our members. It is only through Jesus Christ our Lord who can rescue us from the body of death. So, in our mind we are slaves to God’s law. But in the sinful nature, slaves to the law of sin.
THOUGHTS:
Paul shows that the law is powerless to save the sinner. He declares that salvation cannot be found by obeying the law. Only Jesus Christ can set us free by our faith in Him.
Paul uses marriage to illustrate our relationship to the law. When a dies, the law of marriage no longer applies. Because we have died with Christ, the law can no longer condemn us. Since we are united with Christ, his Spirit enables us to produce good deeds. We serve God not by obeying a set of rules, but out of renewed hearts and minds that overflow with love for him.
An unbeliever’s life is centered on his own gratification. They have their own self-determination as their source of power. By contrast, a believer who accepts Christ as Savior dies to the old life and begins a new life. God supplies the power for Christian daily living.
God has opened the way to Him through Christ’s sacrifice. We can become his children simply by putting our faith in Him. We do not have to keep rules in order to reach God. We can become more and more like Jesus as we live for him day by day. Let the Holy Spirit turn your eyes away from your own performance and toward Jesus. When you serve Him out of love and gratitude, you are living ‘in the new way by the Spirit”.
Paul learned three lessons in dealing with his old sinful desires:
- Knowledge of law or commandment can do nothing. (v. 9)
- Self-determination by struggling in his own strength does not succeed. (v.15)
- Being a Christian does not stamp out all sin and temptation from his life. (v. 22-25)