Gospel and Spiritual Growth Series by
Pastor
Message #48 –
FREEDOM FROM THE LAW
IN THE DEATH OF CHRIST
This message covered the first five verses of Romans seven. Naturally, it is a continuation of the studies that we have been doing on the sin nature. It is an interesting section for it includes the law of the husband and the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law was designed to control or to put boundaries on the sin nature of the Israelite. The law of the husband is not clearly stated in the Law of Moses though the laws concerning adultery are very clear. There were very strong restrictions implied in the law and that were common in society in the New Testament era and before. Paul assumes that the Roman readers knew certain things as he wrote. When an Israelite was born under the Mosaic Law, he or she was controlled by it throughout their lifetime. This was true of any law in any of the societies of most of early history. Death was the only thing that withdrew a person from the authority of that particular law or laws. This is the treatise of verse one. Paul asks the question in verse one, as he did in 6:3: "Don't you know experientially? Brothers." He addresses them as grace believers who should have an experiential knowledge of the facts and their application. It is clear that these were Jewish grace believers that had experientially known law. They had experience the facts but were not intelligently applying them in relation to their sin nature. The simple statement is: The law is continually lording it over the man over such time, as he happens to be living. It is a simple fact.
Verses 2, 3 (II.) describe the dictates of law concerning a
married woman. Paul here uses a woman
who is married to a man as an illustration.
It is important to note that he deliberately chooses a married woman for
his illustration because a married man would not provide a useful illustration
in that society. The Jews thoroughly
understood that a wife had no right to divorce a man under their law. Only the husband could divorce his wife. He could do so by simply filing a writ of
divorce. In many Middle Eastern
societies the bill of divorcement wasn't even necessary. The simple declaration by the husband saying
that he was divorcing his wife was all that was necessary. There is no "Law of the husband"
noted in the Mosaic Law. Deuteronomy
24:1, 2 addresses the matter of divorce by the husband. "When a man takes a wife, and marries
her and it comes to be that she has not come to find favor in his eyes, because
he had found some matter of nakedness in her:
then let him write her a writ of divorcement [lit. cutting
off], and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she has gone out from his house, she
may go and be for another man (my translation)." Note that the matter of nakedness is not
adultery. In that case, she would have
been stoned. When he married her and saw
her naked and was displeased with some facet of her
nakedness and was not impressed favorably, he could divorce her. He was not permitted to remarry her. A woman had no choice. Once she was married, she could not separate
from the man except by the separation of his death. Adultery was a violation of the Ten
Commandments (#5) (Ex.
Verse four (III.) indicates that we were put to death to the
law by the agency of the body of Christ.
Be reminded that in Christ we are inlawed to Christ (1 Cor.
Verse five (IV.) looks back at the past of every believer
using the imperfect which indicates continuous action in past time. "For when we were continually in the
flesh . . . ." We had no place else
to go. The flesh was the realm of our
existence. ". . . The passions of
sins, which were through the agency of the law were
continually working in our members with the purpose of bearing fruit to the
death. The AV "motions" is an
old English word for "emotions" with the obsolete idea of motion or
movement involving an inward prompting or incitement within; a desire; a
stirring of the soul, an emotion (Oxford English Dictionary). The Greek word is the word
"passions" of the sins.
"Sins" is plural indicating more than one act of sin and in
this context multiple acts of sin produced by the sin nature. The law made it clear that certain activities
were acts of lawlessness that Scripture identifies as sins. The fruit produced by the sin nature involves
death, both spiritual death and the Second Death without divine
intervention. As grace believers, we
possess liberty in Christ (
A pastor-teacher that is a sheep shepherding,
DKS
#48 -- Gospel and Spiritual Growth
Valley –
Romans 7:1-5
Proposition: To examine Paul's analogy of the law and its relationship to the sin nature in the first part of Romans 7. This demonstrates the fact that the sin nature doesn't need to have total control of the life of the saint.
Introduction
A. The Reason for the Mosaic Law
B. The Reign of the Mosaic Law
C. The Restrictions Concerning the Law of Marriage
D. The Results of Death and the Law
TRANS: Those
who lived under the Mosaic law understood that it had
authority over their lives throughout their lifetime. This was true of any of the laws in the
I. THE DOMINATION OF THE LAW THROUGHOUT ONE'S
LIFETIME -- A CONTINUOUS RULE BY THE LAW OVER THOSE UNDER IT -- THE
PRESENTATION OF A QUESTION BASED ON THE EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE ROMAN
BELIEVERS -- Romans 7:1
A. The Ignorance of Roman Brothers Questioned
1. Are You Lacking Experiential Knowledge -- cf. 6:3
2. An Ongoing Ignorance Questioned -- pres. act.
B. The Identification of the Recipients of the Question
1. Paul
Is Speaking = Verbalizing -- pres. act.
2. To the Ones Who Are Experientially Knowing -- pres. act. part.
3. A Quality of Law
C. The Impact of the Mosaic Law Over a Man Under It
1. The
Law Is Lording It Over -- pres. act.
2. The Specific Man Living Under the Law
3. The Lifetime of a Man Under the Law
TRANS: Paul now introduces the law of marriage. When a woman is married to a man, it is a lifetime commitment. The death of the man invalidates the law of the husband for the husband has died and she may remarry.
II. THE
DICTATES OF THE LAW CONCERNING A MARRIED WOMAN -- A CONTROLLED RELATIONSHIP BY
THE LAW IN MARRIAGE -- THE PERSCRIPTIONS OF THE LAW CONCERNING MARRIAGE AND
REMARRRIAGE -- Romans 7:2, 3
A. The Attention Is Directed Toward a Married Woman
B. The Association with a Husband in Marriage -- Vs. 2
1. She Is Married to a Husband
2. The Husband Is Alive -- pres. act. part.
3. She Is in a State of
C. The Authority of the Law of the Husband Ends with His Death
1. The Possibility of the Death of Her Husband
2. The Provision for Release from the Law of the Husband
D. The Application of the Law and Remarriage -- Vs. 3
1. Remarriage While the Husband Lives
a. The Husband Was Alive
b. The Woman Remarries -- comes to be (2nd aor. mid. subj.) to a different man
c. The Woman Is Identified as an Adulteress
2. Remarriage When the Husband Dies
a. The Husband Happens to Die
b. The Woman Is Free from the Law
c. The Woman Remarries a Different Man
d. The Woman Is Not an Adulteress
TRANS: Paul's analogy says that the Mosaic Law died when Christ died. As a result, the grace believer has the potential to bear a new kind of fruit to God because he or she is no longer married to the lifetime requirements of the law. The law was designed for the sin nature and in Christ we participate in His death to the sin nature and to the law.
III. THE
DEATH TO THE MOSAIC LAW THROUGH THE BODY OF CHRIST -- A CONSEQUENTIAL RELEASE
FROM THE LAW BY THE CHRISTIAN'S ROLE IN THE BODY OF CHRIST -- Romans 7:4
A. The Actuality -- You Were Put to Death to the Law
1. 1st Aorist Passive Indicative
2. The Law = Mosaic Law
B. The Agency = Through the Body of Christ
C. The Aim = That You Might Become Married to a Different Husband
D. The Arranger = The One Raised Out From Among Dead Ones
E. The Anticipation = The Potential to Bear Fruit to the Father
1. The Bearing of Fruit -- 1st aorist active subjunctive
2. To the God = the Father
TRANS: Before one is saved there is no way that he or she can control the sin nature and its use of one's body. There is an inherent susceptibility that produces a kind of fruit that is uniquely that of the sin nature. This fruit leads to permanent separation from God.
IV. THE
DISASTER OF BEING IN THE SIN NATURE BEFORE SALVATION -- A CONDITION IN WHICH
THE FLESH USED THE PERSON'S BODY PARTS -- THE PRODUCTION OF FRUIT TO THE DEATH
-- Romans 7:5
A. The Continuation of Our Past Existence in the Flesh -- imperfect active indicative
B. The Passions of the Acts of Sin in Activity
C. The Identification of Sins by the Law
D. The Operation of the Passions of the Sins of the Flesh
E. the Location of the Passions in Our Members
F. The Intention to Bear Fruit to the Death -- 1st aorist active indicative
TRANS: The law was designed to control the sin nature. Through the law one knows what sin is. When one is born under the law, it is a lifetime circumstance. Only through the work of Christ does the believer have freedom from the sin nature and so from that which was designed to control the sin nature, the law.
Conclusion
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D.
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