Sermons
We Are Now Married to Christ
Series: The Message of Romans7The Message of Romans
We Are Now Married to Christ
Rom. 7:1-8:1
Introduction:
1. Baptized believers are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We cannot let sin reign in our mortal bodies, even though we are not under law but under grace. We have died with Christ, and we have been raised to walk in newness of life as part of God’s new creation.
2. We have been freed from sin and enslaved to God. Sanctification and eternal life are the results. All of this is made possible by the power of God through what He has done in Christ Jesus our Lord.
3. Chapters 6, 7, 8 of Romans give attention to the relationship of believers to the law of God.
a. Chapter 6 says, “We are dead to sin, but alive in Christ Jesus.” So we cannot go on sinning,
but we must live as instruments of righteousness to God.
b. Chapter 7 continues to speak of the relationship of believers to the law of God.
4. Reading of Rom. 7:1-6.
Discussion:
I. Our relationship to the law is like that of a woman whose husband has died and she has married another man (1-6).
A. This is NOT a passage about marriage, but about release from law.
B. The law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives (1-3).
1. A married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living. But when he dies,
she is released from that law. “ . . . for as long as you both shall live?”
2. If her husband dies, she is free. Even though she is joined (married) to another man,
she is NOT an adulteress.
C. “You were made to die to the law, so that you might be joined to another.”
1. When we died with Christ we died to the law.
2. But then we were joined to another, Him who was raised from the dead.
3. Bearing fruit for God is the result.
D. So now we serve in newness of the spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
1. This is NOT talking about a contrast between the O.T. and the N.T.
2. It is NOT talking about just keeping some vague spirit of the law vs. keeping the letter
of the law.
3. It is NOT saying that we are free to disobey.
4. This IS talking about serving God, but not serving Him under the cloud of
condemnation.
5. Ezekiel speaks of God putting a new spirit within His people (11:19-20; 36:25-27;
37:14).
a. We are under obligation to obey God because we are His creation.
b. Forgiven, we have a new motivation. Having been forgiven by His grace we now
obey, not just out of obligation, but motivated by love and thanksgiving for what
He has done for us. This should lead to even greater obedience (cf. Heb. 2:1-3a;
10:28-29). Being motivated by love and thanksgiving does not mean that we are
privileged to disobey.
c. Those who stubbornly insist on disobedience will be condemned!
II. What about the law then? (7-13).
A. Paul begins this paragraph with a rhetorical question? Is the law sin? May it never be!
(cf. 6:1, 15).
B. Paul returns to reasoning about the purpose of the law.
1. In 3:19-20 he has indicated that the law speaks “so that every mouth may be closed
and all the world may become accountable to God;because by works of law no flesh
will be justified in His sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.”
2. 7:7b says, “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.”
3. Gal. 3:19a says, “It (the law) was added because of transgressions.” Verse 21 adds,
“The Scripture has shut up everyone under sin.”
4. The law reveals what sin is and then condemns the violator.
C. Some become confused in verses 8ff.
1. “Sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every
kind.”
2. It is NOT that somehow the prohibition motivated me to covet. As if prohibiting it
made me want to do it just because it was prohibited.
3. The law revealed coveting. It was there all along. I just did not see it until it was
revealed by the law. Cf. to dust in the air revealed by the sunbeam.
4. The instruction could have resulted in life for me had I been doing right, but alas it
revealed that I was a violator and deserved death.
5. “I was once alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin became
alive and I died,” said Paul. What does he mean? Without the law there was no
condemnation. But with the revelation of the law sin was realized. Condemnation and
death were the result.
6. Was the law the cause of my death? No! My sin caused my death. The law simply
revealed the utter sinfulness of sin.
III. The struggle we face (7:14-25).
A. I take this to be the struggle that we all face with sin.
1. Paul faced it personally.
2. I believe he faced this struggle as a Christian.
a. It is the Christian that hates sin.
b. It is the Christian who desires to do right.
c. It is the Christian who concurs with the law of God.
3. While he struggles personally his struggle is representative of the struggle that we all
face.
4. It may seem unusual for him to say, “I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which
dwells in me” (v. 20). He is NOT excusing his responsibility as if to say, “It was that evil
flesh that did it. Not me.” While he is not under the bondage of condemnation as a
Christian, yet sin still has its influence. So, there is a tension created because of the
“attractiveness” of sin. He wants to do right, but struggles.
B. In verse 24 he says, “Wretched (“talaiporos,” i.e., toil-worn) man that I am! Who will set
me free from the body of this death?”
1. Be careful here not to conclude that the body (the flesh) is inherently evil.
2. The contrast between “flesh” and “spirit” is going to be elaborated on in chapter 8.
3. It will speak of the mind set on the flesh vs. the mind set on the spirit. Cf. the deeds of
the flesh vs. the deeds of the spirit in Gal. 5:16ff. The contrast is not between our
physical body and our inner spirit, but between sinfulbehaviors (associated with the
flesh) and righteous behaviors (associated with the spirit). Cf. Matt. 26:40: “The spirit
is willing but the flesh is weak.”
C. The answer is in verse 25. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Yes, God
provides for the way through the struggle. I did not say “the way out” but “the way
through.” We would like to have no struggle. Eph. 6:10ff acknowledges the struggle and
focuses on the power of God to get through it.
D. Rom. 8:1 provides us hope.
IV. In Christ there is no condemnation (8:1). More on this in the next lesson.
Conclusion:
1. We cannot continue in sin. We are dead to sin. The Christian may sin on occasion, but it is not his way of life. Moses Lard said, “I obey, not so perfectly, to be sure, as never to break the law at all; but the broad characteristic fact of my life is, that I obey the law” (Commentary on Romans, p. 244).
2. We have been joined to (married) to Christ that we might bear fruit for God.
3. We serve in newness of the spirit.
4. But we struggle with our fleshly desires. Later, Paul will say, “we are putting to death the deeds of the body” (Rom 8:13). It is an on-going struggle.
5. And yet, there is no condemnation for those in (married to) Christ. Why? Because there is forgiveness.
6. 1 Jn. 1:7 says, “If we walk in the Light as He Himself is the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Verse 9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
