Released by Death

Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives... Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God... But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

How death to the law frees the believer to be joined to Christ and bear fruit to God.

The Verdict on All Humanity

"The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18). His righteous judgment rightly rests upon those who practice such things. The hedonist who openly walks in rebellion against God will die for his unrighteousness; the works of the flesh are evident, as Galatians 5 describes.

But it isn't only the hedonist. In chapter 2 we saw that humanity is inexcusable, "whoever you are that judges." It's easy for those from a religious background—Islam, Buddhism, or one of the cults that knock on our doors—to look at the world through the lens of self-righteousness and conclude that everyone else is justly going to hell. The moralist will not escape God's judgment. Though he may not openly practice the hedonist's sins, he is guilty in his impenitence, "storing up for himself wrath for the day of wrath" (Romans 2:5).

That is not a pretty picture. If you want to see what wrath looks like, read the book of Revelation, or the flood of Genesis 6, or the destruction of Sodom in Genesis 19, or the fall of Jericho in Joshua 7. These are glimpses of the wrath of God. We should never want that wrath to come upon anyone.

Every Category Falls Short

What about the truly religious—those of the seed of Abraham, the friend of God? Though confident in themselves, "a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness," they dishonor God by breaking the law. So we reach the conclusion of Romans 3: "All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. There is none righteous, no, not one."

In those first three chapters, Paul zeroes in on three segments of humanity—the hedonist who loves his sin openly, the moralist who condemns the hedonist while taking pleasure in the very same things, and the self-righteous religious person. Every one of the seven billion-plus people on earth falls into one of these. In fact, most of humanity falls into the self-righteous religious category; it's the minority who walk in open, public practice of sin. And Paul shows that we are all guilty and worthy of judgment.

The standard is not your neighbor's righteousness. We can always find someone we're better than—"I'm better than Hitler," "I'm not as bad as Dahmer." The standard is the righteousness of God. It's as if God's standard were the Hawaiian Islands, and you took a running start off the Oceanside Pier to see how far you could jump. Some create a bigger splash than others, but no one reaches it by their own strength. "By the law comes the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20).

The White Backdrop of the Law

When I was buying an engagement ring for my wife, the diamond dealer showed me stones on a black piece of velvet. They looked beautiful. But then he set them on a piece of white paper, and suddenly they weren't quite as white as they had appeared—you could see the yellow. The law is that white backdrop. Set against the black backdrop of humanity, we look really good. But put us against Christ as the backdrop, and everything is different. That is the desperate plight of all humanity.

But Now—The Gospel of Grace

Thankfully the story doesn't end there. We were dead in trespasses and sins, lost, headed toward a frightful judgment. Then comes Romans 3:21: "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed... through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe... being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Grace means that God did what we could never do. It's right to sing, "Oh the wonder of it all." We are justified freely by His grace, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, and we are rescued from the wrath of Romans 1:18 and 2:5. "He demonstrates His love towards us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Ephesians 2 says this justification is something only God could accomplish, and in the ages to come He will keep revealing the riches of His grace. It will take all eternity to comprehend it; we don't even scratch the surface here.

Positionally Righteous, Yet Still Falling Short

Here is the problem: having been made positionally righteous and seated in Christ in heavenly places, we still think, speak, and act unrighteously. Can I get an "Amen"? Every honest Christian confesses this is our experience.

Some godly people insist Christians do not sin, citing 1 John 3:9—"one who is born of God does not sin." But the Greek there is present active indicative; it means to perpetually practice sin. Christians do not live their whole lives walking in sin. Yet in the same letter, John says, "If you say that you have no sin, you're a liar." If "Christians do not sin" were true, I'm not a Christian, because I fall short of God's glory regularly. Ask my wife. God gives us a spouse partly as a sanctifying tool—if you fight against it, you'll have an unpleasant marriage.

The Temptation to Presume on Grace

Because we have received such grace, the temptation is to think it's okay to keep walking in sin as saints. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Romans 5:20)—so why not continue and receive more grace? Paul answers: "May it never be." God has taken us from those things. He wants us to represent Him well as ambassadors of Christ.

In Romans 6 Paul reminded us we have died to sin, that we should no longer live in it. Our old nature was crucified with Christ. Through the new birth, symbolized in baptism, we are free from sin, no longer under its dominion, no longer under the judgment of God's law—we're under grace. But that release raises huge questions, which Paul addressed: "Shall we sin because we're no longer under the law?" If I have diplomatic immunity, can I speed through life doing whatever I want? May it never be. We are ambassadors of a righteous King and a righteous kingdom. As Jesus said, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid." The perpetual practice of sin hides that light.

Returning to the Law: A Covenant Relationship

In Romans 7 Paul returns to where he left off in 6:14. The second half of chapter 6 was something of a digression—Paul was known for them, sometimes lasting chapters, because first-century culture was oral-driven. Paul dictated his letters to a scribe, and the difference between him and us is that Paul always comes back to his main point.

Read 6:14 right into 7:1: "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace. Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?" The law is a covenant relationship. Notice Paul says parenthetically, "I speak to those who know the law"—specifically his Jewish readers. In Exodus 19 the descendants of Abraham covenanted with God three times, saying, "All that You have said we will do, and be obedient," sealed with blood and sacrifice. Just as a marriage covenant is entered by vow before witnesses, Israel entered covenant with God before all the heavenly hosts.

Yet all of us, created in His image and imprinted with His conscience, are in a sense under the law of God—maybe not the Mosaic Law, but the law of God. So this applies to us Gentiles too. This is the third time in this section Paul says, "Do you not know?"—implying we should grasp this. In verses 1–12 the word "law" or "commandment" appears eighteen times; it's the theme of the section.

Released Only by Death

A covenant made by vows before witnesses and sealed with sacrifice is binding. It can be broken—the transgressor breaks covenant—but you can't simply be released from it. Imagine telling a judge, "I just decided your law about driving 65 doesn't apply to me." After he laughs, he'll throw the book at you. So how can anyone be released from abiding under the law? Not that we have no duty to follow it, but that its judgment and penalty no longer hang over us, because we're in Christ.

"The law has dominion over a man as long as he lives." Simply put, the law only has jurisdiction over you while you're alive. If you find a dead body trespassing on your property, you can't take him to court—he's dead. So if he dies, the law no longer has dominion.

Paul illustrates this with marriage, a cross-culturally recognized institution because God established it in the Garden: "For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband." If she marries another while her husband lives, she's an adulteress; but if he dies, she's free. Every culture comprehends this.

Married to Another

"Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God." Notice "my brethren." Paul hadn't used that word since Romans 1:13, because he'd been dealing with the entrance of sinners into salvation. Now, speaking to those within the body of Christ, he uses it again.

We were married to the law—covenanted with it. How do we get out and be married to another while maintaining righteousness? Someone has to die. It can't be the law, because the law is holy, just, and good. The law is Mr. Perfect. He cooks, cleans, fixes the car, keeps the towels perfectly straight and the cans labels turned just right—and he requires perfection. "How come you didn't put that can in the cupboard the right way?" Mr. Perfect is really hard to live with. And Jesus said in Matthew 5:18 that not one jot or tittle will pass from the law until all is fulfilled. So the law isn't going to die.

We die. "As many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death" (Romans 6:3). Born of the Spirit, buried with Him in baptism into death, raised to walk in newness of life, our old man crucified with Him. In Christ we die to the law we were married to, and He takes the full punishment of God's law upon Himself.

Why? "So that we may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead." We rise with Jesus and are now covenanted to Him. Although the Bible never commands us to recite a "sinner's prayer," when we "confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus" (Romans 10), the witness of the Holy Spirit seals a covenant relationship with Him. He, too, is Mr. Perfect—but He is also gracious.

What It Means to Bear Fruit

All of this is "so that we should bear fruit to God." What does that mean? Romans 6:22 speaks of the fruit of holiness. Galatians 5:22–23 lists the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, self-control. Ephesians 5:9 speaks of the fruit in goodness and righteousness. Hebrews 12:11 speaks of the fruit of righteousness produced by the Lord's chastening—"whom the Lord loves He chastens." Hebrews 13:15 speaks of the fruit of praise. Jesus says in John 15:16 that true disciples bear fruit that remains, and in Matthew 7:20 that fruit glorifies Him.

There are hindrances to fruit bearing. In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13), the cares of this world and a shallow reception of God's word choke fruit. James warns against only letting the Word penetrate skin deep—looking in the mirror and walking away, forgetting what kind of person you are. The birds that snatch the seed picture the enemy, who hinders fruit through temptation and buffeting. But we're told to resist him: "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you, and the enemy will flee."

Fruit to Death While in the Flesh

"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" (Romans 7:5). Our members are any faculty under our control—mind and body. Though the New King James renders it past tense, the Greek is the imperfect: "while we were in the flesh." The implication is that you can still walk in the flesh now. That's why the exhortation comes in Romans 8: "Do not walk after the flesh, but walk after the Spirit." In Christ we have the ability to do that, because the Spirit of God indwells us—something we did not have when married to the law. "We are the temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 3, 6).

The law inflames the indwelling passions of sin. Recall "Adam's bomb"—through one man sin entered the world. There is sin resident in this corrupted body, with desires against God. Think of potential energy: a bucket of gasoline sitting still is inert, but it carries potential energy waiting to be released. Indwelling sin has potential energy, and the law is like the igniter. The sign says, "Wet paint, don't touch"—and what do we want to do? "Whatever you do, don't touch that button." The law inflames the passion, turning that potential energy into the kinetic energy of sinful action.

James 1:14–15 explains it: "Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires... then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when fully grown, brings forth death." But remember the context—"my brethren." For believers justified by Jesus, whose hope of eternal life is certain, this is not the second death. It is the death that comes in a believer's life—the death of witness, of joy, of the fruit of the Spirit—when we walk in the flesh.

Eternally Secure in Christ, Not in Sin

The question naturally arises: what about eternal security? Can a person keep walking in sin and be okay? Yes and no. As 1 John 3:9 says, one born of God does not perpetually practice sin. If you're a Christian walking in sin, you will sense the convicting work of the Spirit. But if you meet someone who attends or even serves at church and says, "I have no conviction of sin—the Bible says I shouldn't be living with my girlfriend and sleeping around, but I see no problem with it," preach the gospel to them. They need it.

I do believe we are eternally secure in Christ as we abide in Him—His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. But we are eternally secure in Him, not eternally secure in sin. There is a difference.

But Now—Delivered to Serve in the Spirit

"But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter" (Romans 7:6). We love the "buts" of the Bible. We who were married to the law have been set free by death in Christ. Set free from the control of sin and from the judgment of God's law, we now walk in the newness of the Spirit. "Whom the Son sets free is free indeed."

The next question is, "Is the law sin?"—if we must die to it, is something wrong with it? I intended to reach that this week, but I ran out of time. Next week we come to: "The good things that I want to do, I don't do; the bad things I don't want to do, I practice. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" This was not theoretical for Paul; it was a real turmoil in his Christian life. We want to get to "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus," but we have to go through this next section first. I encourage you to read ahead.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for Your word. Thank You that it is true that whom You set free is free indeed. Help us to walk in that freedom in a way that brings glory to You and honors You. We thank You that You're doing a work in us, Your church, and that You want to work through us, that we would bring glory to You. So enable us by Your Spirit to walk in things that honor You, things that ultimately bring great joy and satisfaction to us. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.