Dive into Chapter 7 of Romans with us as we explore the profound notion of being dead to the law through the body of Christ. We dissect Paul’s symbolic language and examine how our understanding of sin and salvation transforms our relationship with God. This episode unravels the psychological and spiritual burden of following the law without embracing the full essence of Christ’s atoning work.
00:00:05 Dead to the Law through the Body of Christ
SPEAKER 01 :
So we’re in this remarkable chapter, chapter 7 of Romans, where Paul is talking about being dead to the law. He’s not talking about lawlessness, as we saw from chapter 6 of Romans, but dead to the law for a certain reason. And he says in verse 4, Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ Jesus. that you may be married to another. Now, this is highly symbolic language, of course, but let’s see what it’s trying to say. We’ve already covered some of it, but by review, I want to go through it again. Notice that he’s talking about being dead to something that is more than something on two tables of stone, like the law of God that God delivered to Moses. He’s talking about the law in the mind. It’s the same law, but it’s in the mind, not simply outwardly written on two tables of stone. That law speaks into our brain. And rather, that law speaks in our brain. And what is that law? The consciousness of right and wrong, the awareness of guilt and shame and fear in relation to God, because we have suppressed him and we have ignored him and we have disobeyed him and walked away from him. And all of this is in the consciousness of the mind, even to those who don’t believe it. because the fact is that law is working unconsciously in every human being. And so we are in a state of discomfort about all of this. And if we become Christians and do not fully understand the work of Jesus Christ, then that law will be accentuated all the more, and we shall feel all the more guilty. The tragedy of becoming a Christian without Christ is the worst tragedy of all psychologically and spiritually. You can’t become a Christian without Christ, without understanding the atoning work of Christ. If you don’t know that Christ has taken your sins and has brought you into fellowship with the Father, then your Christianity is worse than a curse. I’m not exaggerating when I say that. People who arrive at the Christian faith or to membership in a Christian church but have not understood the gospel are truly tragic people. They have experienced religious neurosis, and they are endlessly worried about guilt and trying to please God by their own actions, and they are constantly trying to get God’s favor by what they do. It’s a torment of the soul, let me tell you. So when it says that we are dead to the law, that’s one of the ways of speaking the good news of the gospel, that the condemnation that the law brings to the mind has ended because Christ took the judgment that belongs to us upon himself. so that by faith in him we can reckon and agree that we are no longer under the judgment and condemnation of the law. We are dead to it. It doesn’t mean to say we don’t feel guilt anymore, but we have the countering force of faith that says, no, you may accuse me, but I will not accept your accusation because Christ is my judgment and my righteousness. Do you see how this works then? So now then, Paul says, therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ. through the body of Christ. You do not become dead to the law by sort of slowly squeezing to death every last vestige of sin and temptation so that you don’t feel it anymore. You don’t become dead to the law by a discipline or a meditation or endless studies of Scripture that enables you to overcome every feeling and every lust and every desire so that the law can no longer condemn you for sin because you don’t have have any anymore. No, that is not how you become dead to the law. You become dead to the law, as it says here, through the body of Christ, which means that Christ’s body and humanity is counted as yours, and he took the judgment for it at the cross so that you constantly appeal to your conscience by faith in Jesus Christ. You say, no, I will not let you condemn me that way, because Jesus is my righteousness. Jesus is my judgment. Yes, I know I’m a sinner, and I have failed, and I repent of it, but I thank God that there is no condemnation. This is how we speak faith into us. These words are not mere religious tripe. They are the words of life. We have become dead to the law through the body of Christ. And then it says that you may be married to another. Well, that’s highly symbolic language. Strange and odd. It’s something we can’t think of in terms that we are familiar with today. But really what it’s saying is the reason we’re having so much trouble as Christians is that we’re married to the wrong person. If you’re married to the law… then the law will never stop judging you. It will never stop condemning you. It will never stop causing you to feel ashamed. It will never stop causing you to feel afraid of God. But when we are married by faith to Christ, there is no judgment. There is no condemnation. We are drawn closer and closer to him in a bond. It’s important that Paul uses this figure of speech, marriage, because it’s very intimate, isn’t it? Marriage is the most intimate relationship of all on earth, apart from, I suppose, the intimate relationship of faith in Jesus. So when we think about our faith in Jesus, we want to think about a very close, personal, warm, encouraging, supporting, loving, giving relationship with him. Because that’s what marriage is all about, isn’t it? And so we are married to another. There are many, many Christians who have sought to overcome a sin in order to be a Christian, but have stopped there. They don’t think of overcoming this in order to be married to that. They don’t think of breaking free from the bondage to the law and being identified as a sinner. in order to be identified as a bride of Jesus Christ. But we are the brides of Christ. I don’t care about your masculinity at this moment. Let me tell you this. Before God, as somebody said it, I think it was C.S. Lewis, before God, before Jesus, all men are women. And That is to say, the relationship that we have with Christ becomes so tender that our masculinity experiences not only a renewed masculinity, but also a tenderness and a beauty that has a certain femininity to it as well. Take that one to home with you. And so we can see here that there is a beauty in our relationship with Christ. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, now here you have it, to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit for God. Wow, I think Paul is mixing metaphors here, which is not a thing you’re supposed to do in language, but he’s talking about marriage, then he’s talking about bearing fruit like a tree. But the beauty of it is this. that there is no fruitage in being married to the law. If you are a legalist and devoted to law-keeping in order to get your assurance from salvation, you are stuck in the mud. You will not produce fruit. You will not grow in joy. You will not grow in tenderness and love towards other people. because you’ll be so constantly concentrating on how you’re doing in relation to the law. If you’re married to the law, you’re married to a mirror, a mirror of yourself, and all you will see is yourself walking about. How am I doing? What do people think about me? What does God think about me? What do I think about myself? But if you are married to Christ, you are not looking into a mirror. You are looking at the Savior. You are looking at the Lord, and you are happier with fellowship with Him. You can talk to Him any time of the day. You can get comfort from Him. You can get assurance. You can get boldness and strength from Him. This is what the Christian life, being married to the Lord, is all about, and it bears fruit. It doesn’t bear the fruit of the law. The law isn’t a living thing that bears fruit, but fellowship with Christ is a living thing which bears fruit. And we find ourselves more merciful, more kind, less selfish, less self-indulgent, more sensitive towards other people and their needs. It’s a beautiful thing. Now comes the surprise of verse 5. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. Now let me tell you something. I have not in all my Christian life of 60-odd years never heard a sermon on this verse. I have never heard any preacher tell me that the law, which incites and excites sin. But that is precisely what Paul is telling you here. What you hear is sermons on the Ten Commandments that are supposed to make you more holy, sermons on the Ten Commandments that give you details on how to live the righteous life. But Paul is telling us something completely opposite here. He says, when we were in the flesh, that is, when we lived our normal, ordinary life as if there were no message of Christ about his atonement for us, then all the law did was to arouse the arouse sin. Let me read it again. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. Now Paul is talking something very radical here. He is almost rewriting history, though it isn’t his idea. It’s a reality that’s found in the Old Testament, but many don’t have missed it. The truth is that the law was never given to make people righteous. Christ alone is our righteousness. The law was given to reveal sin. Well, of course, it says that in chapter 3 of Romans, verse 20. Let’s remind ourselves of it. Here it is. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified that is declared innocent in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of righteousness. No, no, not righteousness. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Let me read verse 19. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. You know, you look at the law and you’re suddenly shocked and you draw in a breath and you put your hand to your mouth. Every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. That’s what the law does. It makes you guilty. It declares you guilty before God. And therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be declared innocent in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Now, that’s one dynamic of the law. It reveals your sin. But nobody talks about verse 5 of chapter 7 of Romans, where the law not only gives us a knowledge of sin, but actually arouses our passions for sin. Why? How? Because when you feel guilty you feel afraid of God. And when you feel afraid of God, you push him out of your mind and keep him at bay. And when you do that, you become lonely in your soul because your soul is isolated. And when your soul is isolated and lonely, that is a terrifying experience. And so you run to comfort, but not from God because the law is constantly hammering at your brain. So you keep pushing God away, and the only comfort left is more sin. That is how the law incites sin. You want to be free from that. You want to enjoy the freedom of knowing that Christ is your life and righteousness. Thanks for listening, everyone. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
Dive into Chapter 7 of Romans with us as we explore the profound notion of being dead to the law through the body of Christ. We dissect Paul’s symbolic language and examine how our understanding of sin and salvation transforms our relationship with God. This episode unravels the psychological and spiritual burden of following the law without embracing the full essence of Christ’s atoning work.
