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Matthew Timothy Short
Huh?
Date Joined Apr 2002
Total Posts : 635
| Posted 2/24/2003 12:29 AM (GMT -6) |   | David Guzik Study Guide for Romans Chapter 7
Romans 7 - The Weakness of the Law Exposed
A. Dead to the Law
1. (1-3) The law has authority only over the living
a. In 6:14, Paul told us that sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace; after the discussion in 6:15-23 regarding practical implications of this, he now will explain more fully how it is that we are no longer under the dominion of the law
b. In verse one, the Greek has ‘know the’, before ‘law’; Paul is speaking of the Mosaic law of course, but also of the broader principle of law in itself - something both Jew and Gentile would know
c. Paul makes the point that death severs all obligations and contracts; a wife is no longer bound to her husband if he should die, because death has annulled that contract
2. (4) Our death with Jesus has set us free from the law
a. In 6:3-8, Paul carefully explained that we have died with Christ, and we have risen with Him as well, although Paul there only spoke of our death to sin; now he explains that we died to the law as well
i. Some might argue, "yes, we are saved by grace, but we must live by law if we are to be pleasing to God." But Paul makes it plain that believers are dead to the law as far as it represents a principle of living or right standing before God
ii. "Believers are through with the law. It is not for them an option as a way of salvation. They do not seek to be right with God by obeying some form of law, as the adherents of almost all religions have done." (Morris)
b. However, we have not been freed from the law so that we may live unto ourselves; we have been freed so that we can be "married" to Jesus, so that we can bear fruit to God
3. (5) The problem with the law
a. Under the law, we did not bear fruit to God; instead we bore fruit to death - because the law aroused the passions of sins within us
b. Paul will explain this problem of the law more fully in 7:7-14; but now we see his point that we only come fully to the place of bearing fruit for God when we have been freed from the law
4. (6) Delivered from the law
a. The theme of 7:1-5 is summarized: because we died with Christ at Calvary, we are dead to the law and delivered from its dominion over us as a principle of justification or of sanctification
b. However, this freedom is given not so that we may stop serving God; but so that we can serve Him all the better, under the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter
c. What a shame it is that many legalists are more devoted in their service to God than are those who serve out of the newness of the Spirit; it is wrong when fear motivates us more than love
B. Our problem with God's perfect law
1. (7a) Paul asks: is the law (equal to) sin?
a. If we follow his train of thought we can understand how someone could infer this, Paul has insisted that we must die to the law if we will bear fruit to God. Someone must think, "surely there is something wrong with the law!"
2. (7b) No, the law is good because it reveals sin to us
a. The law is like an x-ray machine; it reveals plainly what might have always been there, but hidden before; and you can't blame an x-ray for what it exposes
b. The law sets the "speed limit" so we know if we are going too fast; we might never know that we are sinning in many areas (such as covetousness) if the law did not spell this out to us specifically
3. (8) It is sin that corrupts the commandment (law)
a. The warning "don't do that" may become a call to action because of our sinful, rebellious hearts
i. Augustine's example: "There was a pear tree near our vineyard, laden with fruit. One stormy night we rascally youths set out to rob it and carry our spoils away. We took off a huge load of pears - not to feast upon ourselves, but to throw them to the pigs, though we ate just enough to have the pleasure of forbidden fruit. They were nice pears, but it was not the pears that my wretched soul coveted, for I had plenty better at home. I picked them simply in order to become a thief. The only feast I got was a feast of iniquity, and that I enjoyed to the full. What was it that I loved in the theft? Was it the pleasure of acting against the law? The desire to steal was awakened simply by the prohibition of stealing."
ii. Did the Prohibition Act stop drinking? No, in many ways it made drinking more attractive to people
iii. Once God draws a boundary for us, we are immediately enticed to cross that boundary - which is no fault of God or His boundary, but of our sinful hearts
b. The weakness of the law isn't in the law - it is in us
i. "The word opportunity in the original is a military term meaning a base of operations. Prohibition furnishes a springboard from which sin is all too ready to take off." (Harrison)
ii. A waterfront hotel in Florida was concerned that people would try to fish from the balconies, so they put up signs that said "NO FISHING FROM THE BALCONY." They had constant problems with people fishing from the balconies, with lines and sinker weights breaking windows and bothering people in rooms below. They finally solved the problem by simply taking down the signs - and no one thought to fish from the balconies!
c. This shows how great the evil of sin is; it can take something good and holy like the law and twist it to promote evil
i. Sin warps love into lust; an honest desire to provide into greed; and law into a promoter of sin
4. (9) Paul's state of innocence before he knew the law
a. Children can be innocent before they know or understand what law requires; this is what Paul refers to when he says I was alive once without the law
i. "He is not alive with the life that the New Testament writers so often speak about. He is alive in the sense that he has never been put to death as a result of confrontation with the law." (Morris)
i. "He was quite secure amid all his sin and sinfulness. He lived in the sense that the deathblow had not yet killed him. He sat secure in the house of his ignorance like a man living on a volcano and thought that all was well." (Lenski)
b. But when we do know the law, the law shows us our guilt and it excites our rebellion; bringing forth more sin and death
5. (10-11) Sin corrupts the law and defeats its purpose of giving life; once law is corrupted by sin, it brings death
a. Sin does this by deception; because it falsely promises satisfaction; sin falsely claims an adequate excuse; and sin falsely promises an escape from punishment
b. Notice that it isn't the law that deceives us, but it is sin, which uses the law as an occasion for rebellion
c. That is why Jesus said "you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free" - free from the deceptions of sin
d. Sin, when followed, leads to death - not life; one of Satan's deceptions is to get us to think of sin as something good that a mean God wants to deprive us of
6. (12) Conclusion: the law, in itself is holy, just and good; the problem must lie in us, not the law
a. We must die to sin and we must die to the law, but Paul has adequately answered the question "are sin and law in the same basket?" - no!
b. But sin has corrupted law, so that we must die to both
C. The character of the law
1. (13) The law exposes and magnifies sin
a. If sin can use something good like the law to its own advantage to promote evil, how evil sin is!
b. Sin "becomes more sinful" in light of the law
i. "Instead of being a dynamo that gives us power to overcome, the Law is a magnet that draws out of us all kinds of sin and corruption." (Wiersbe)
2. (14) The spiritual law cannot restrain a carnal man
a. Carnal in 1 Corinthians 3:1 describes a Christian who is defeated by sin - they walk in the flesh
b. Paul is in the bondage of sin and the law can't help him out
i. Paul is like a man in jail; the law will only help him if he is innocent; but we know that we are guilty under the law
c. Even though Paul says that he is carnal, it doesn't mean that he is not a Christian; even his awareness of his carnality is evidence that God has done a work in him
i. Luther on, but I am carnal, sold under sin: "That is the proof of the spiritual and wise man. He knows that he is carnal, and he is displeased with himself; indeed, he hates himself and praises the Law of God, which he recognizes because he is spiritual. But the proof of a foolish carnal man is this, that he regards himself as spiritual and is pleased with himself."
D. The struggle of obedience in our own strength
1. (15-19) Paul describes the feelings of helplessness
a. His problem isn't desire - he wants to do what is right; his problem isn't knowledge - he knows what the right thing is; his problem is lack of power - how to perform what is good I do not find - because the law gives no power
i. Law says: "Here are the rules and you had better keep them," but it imparts no power to us for the keeping of the law
b. Wuest on, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me: "To be saved from sin, a man must at the same time own it and disown it; it is this practical paradox which is reflected in this verse . . . A true saint may say it in a moment of passion, but a sinner had better not make it a principle."
i. A Christian must own up to his sin (if it isn't voluntarily chosen; it isn't sin) yet realize that the impulse to sin does not come from who we really are in Jesus Christ
2. (20-23) The battle between two selves
a. Anyone who has tried to do good is aware of this struggle; we never know how hard it is to stop something until we try
i. "No man knows how bad he is until he has tried to be good" (C.S. Lewis)
b. Paul knows that his real inward man has a delight in the law of God; Paul knows which of the "two selves" fighting inside of him is the real Paul
i. Was Paul a Christian when experiencing this? In a sense this is an irrelevant question, for this is the struggle of anyone who tries to obey God in their own strength, something that a Christian can do, and something that a non-Christian can only do
ii. Morris quoting Griffith Thomas: "The one point of the passages is that it describes a man who is trying to be good and holy by his own efforts and is beaten back every time by the power of indwelling sin; it thus refers to anyone, regenerate or unregenerate."
c. Are there really "two selves" within Paul? Which is the real Paul?
i. The old man is not the real Paul; the old man is dead
ii. The flesh is not the real Paul; the flesh is destined to pass away and be resurrected
iii. The new man is the real Paul; now Paul's challenge is to live like God has made him
d. Sin is able to war within Paul and win because there is no power within himself (other than himself) to stop it
E. The victory found in Jesus Christ
1. (24) Paul's desperation and perspective
a. Wretched is more literally, "wretched through the exhaustion of hard labor." Paul is completely worn out and wretched because of his unsuccessful efforts to live pleasing to God under the principle of Law.
i. "It is worth bearing in mind that the great saints through the ages do not commonly say, 'How good I am!' Rather, they are apt to bewail their sinfulness." (Morris)
ii. Legalism always brings a person face to face with their own wretchedness, and if they continue in legalism, they will react in one of two ways. Either they will deny their wretchedness and become self-righteous Pharisees, or they will despair because of their wretchedness and give up on following after God
b. Paul is desperate for deliverance; we must come to the same place of desperation if we are to find it
i. Your desire must go beyond a vague hope to be better; you must cry out with the same desperation Paul did
c. His perspective finally turns to something (actually, someone) outside of himself
i. He has referred to himself some 40 times since verse 13; in the pit of Paul's unsuccessful struggle against sin, he is entirely self-focused and self-obsessed - the place of any believer living under law, who looks to self and personal performance rather than looking first to Jesus Christ
ii. He has given up on himself, and is now asking who shall deliver me? Not "how shall I deliver myself?"
iii. There is a lot of discussion about 12-step programs among Christians, and whether or not those principles are really rooted in the Bible. But the principle of looking for help outside of yourself is absolutely Biblical.
d. When Paul describes this body of death, some commentators see a reference to an ancient king who tormented his living captives by shackling them to decomposing corpses
i. Others see a reference to sin in general, such as Murray: "Body has been taken to means mass and body of death, the whole mass of sin. Hence what Paul longs to be delivered from is sin in all its aspects and consequences."
ii. "By the body of death he means the whole mass of sin, or those ingredients of which the whole man is composed; except that in him there remained only relics, by the captive bonds of which he was held." (Calvin)
2. (25) Paul looks to Christ
a. He acknowledges the state of struggle, but thanks God for the victory in Christ
i. Paul doesn't pretend that looking to Christ takes away the struggle - Jesus works through us, not instead of us, in the battle against sin
b. There is victory in Christ! Jesus didn't come and die just to give us more or better rules, but to live out victory through those who believe
c. The message of the gospel is that there is victory over sin, hate, death, etc. - as we surrender out lives to Christ and let Him live out victory through us
d. Calvin on verse 25: "A short epilogue, in which he teaches us, that the faithful never reach the goal of righteousness as long as they dwell in the flesh, but that they are running their course, until they put off the body."
3. Paul has demonstrated four things we must take to heart
a. The inadequacy of knowledge (the law as a professor)
b. The inadequacy of resolution (the law as a coach)
c. The inadequacy of diagnosis (the law as a doctor)
d. The complete adequacy of Jesus Christ (Christ as Savior); chapter 8 expounds on this glorious theme
God is Love,
Tim
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