[Linux4christians] Sunday - Romans 7

Sat Nov 19 21:04:12 EST 2011

    Sunday

      Romans 7

The Believer's Relationship to the Law

7:1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those 
who know the law), that the law is lord over a person as long as he lives?

7:2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he 
lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the 
marriage.

7:3 So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, 
she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free 
from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an 
adulteress.

7:4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the 
body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who 
was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.

7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the 
law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

7:6 But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to 
what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit 
and not under the old written code.

7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I 
would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not 
have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else 
if the law had not said, "/*Do not covet*/."

7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced 
in me all kinds of wrong desires. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

7:9 And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the 
commandment sin became alive 7:10 and I died. So I found that the very 
commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!

7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived 
me and through it I died.

7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, 
and good.

7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! 
But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me 
through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become 
utterly sinful.

7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual -- but I am unspiritual, sold 
into slavery to sin.

7:15 For I don't understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want 
-- instead, I do what I hate.

7:16 But if I do what I don't want, I agree that the law is good.

7:17 But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.

7:18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For 
I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.

7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want!

7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin 
that lives in me.

7:21 So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present 
with me.

7:22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being.

7:23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law 
of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.

7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself 
serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

      Prayer

Lord, Your grace separates us from the deadly consequence of sin, yet 
You call us to a higher-standard -- that of who we have become because 
of Whose we have become. May I honor Your grace with a life focused on 
You and not on my worldly flesh.

      Summary & Commentary

Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden all of Creation, most-relevant to 
this study -- humankind -- dwells apart from relationship with the Lord 
God. All is doomed to an imperfect and meaningless death, together with 
the "prince of the earth", Satan. This is because nothing imperfect may 
enter Heaven and the presence of the perfectly-holy Lord God, because 
all imperfection is sin, and because everything apart from the Lord is 
worthless.

The law did not create sin, it defined it more-clearly and it made its 
commission an unavoidably- volitional rather than a somewhat 
non-volitional act, as well as a volitional act that is intentionally- 
rebellious because it breaches the clear boundaries set by the Lord God.

Paul explained that the Law sets boundaries in our temporary earthly 
existence; he used the example of a married person who is -- according 
to the law - not allowed to abandon their spouse and to marry another 
while that spouse is alive, for they were bonded together for life.

He then noted that our salvation sets us free from the bond we have to 
sin so that we may become the family of Christ in emotional, 
intellectual, physical, and spiritual harmony.

[Note: It was not Paul's intent to teach in any comprehensive way the 
Biblical approach to marriage, divorce, and remarriage here any more 
than Jesus was teaching about fishing or gardening when He used those as 
teaching illustrations. He did not intend to teach that only a woman is 
bound by that law, nor did he intend that one abandoned by a spouse who 
remarries is bound to remain single. He was simply using an available 
illustration -- and as is true of all such illustrations when 
extrapolated too-far apart from the intended purpose -- it fails.]

Paul continued to teach that because sin no longer controls us [in an 
eternal sense] the Law is no longer necessary to convict us of sin to 
preserve us for salvation; however, our temporary bodies remain enslaved 
to sin and the Law becomes a tool of the Holy Spirit to convict us of 
that sin so that we may partner with the Holy Spirit to press it away.

      Interaction

        Consider

The Lord God brought clarity to the ancient and primitive Israelites, 
and to us, so that we may plainly know when we are doing that which 
offends Him.

        Discuss

What are some specific ways that the Law is used by the Holy Spirit to 
help us to discern when our temporary physical bodies are drifting into 
in, such as cheating, coveting, gossip, hatred, idolatry, jealousy, 
lying, stealing, etc?

        Reflect

The law made it impossible for any to pretend that the boundary between 
good and evil and right and wrong could not be readily known.

        Share

When have you been confronted with the challenge of worldly temptation 
and found the answer to where you must draw the line in the clear 
teaching of the law?

      Faith in Action

        Prayer:

Ask the Holy Spirit to reminded you of the Lord God's Law "You shall not 
..." in some area where you are drifting into sin.

        Action:

Today I will ask a fellow believer to pray in-agreement with me as I 
press-away that fleshly desire in this world which is leading me away 
from righteousness as the law defines it.

        Be Specific ______________________________________________________

    Monday's text will be:

      Romans 8

-- 

Draw nearer to the Lord and He will bless you,
Have an http://Ultrafidian.com Day!
David M. Colburn, DMin. MaCo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Savannah-Statesboro needs a Bible College/Seminary!
Personal Site: http://bibleseven.com
Bible Resources: http://bible.org
Teacher's Verse: John 7:16
I don't google I SEARCH! Yippy.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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