Romans 7:1-6 – “Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?  For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.  Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.  Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.  For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.  But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”

Why do you pay your debts when they come due?  Aside from not paying your debts being a form of stealing and the moral concern that raises, ultimately, if you don’t pay, then creditors can make all sorts of problems for you, right?

I’m not going to go into what all the “law” means today, because Paul is presuming the reader to understand, and I am presuming you to understand the “law” – at least as a standard of moral conduct.  Sufficed to say that it would include things that most people would attribute to morality like, do not steal, do not lie, don’t commit adultery, etc.  Paul uses the latter example of adultery to illustrate a crucial point about the law – that the power of the law ends with a person’s death.  Let me give you a modern day example:  If you owe a credit card company money and you don’t pay them, they can report you to the credit agencies ruining your credit score, they can send your amounts into collections to harass you, etc.  They can create all sorts of problems for you while you’re alive.  However, if you owe a debt and you die, the credit card company can’t do anything to you.  Could they send you to collections?  Yes, but what good would that do?  Could they call you asking for payment?  They’d have to speak REALLY loud!  They can still go through the motions, but the power they had over you is gone.

God gave us a good law in the Ten Commandments and Old Testament, that we should have followed.  The law gave us a glimpse into the righteousness of God.  The problem is that the law could only show us how far short each of us fell from what God required of us.  Thus the law proved only a means of condemnation for us and assured us of the righteous judgment of God.  The law could never save us, it was never meant to.

This series through Romans is called “Reconnecting with the Gospel” for a reason.  I have seen many professing Christians fall away from their faith because the gospel of Jesus Christ never takes root in their heart – it was merely something to be “believed” once and now that time has passed.  The gospel never bridges the gap between the actions of Jesus and your personal identity as a “believer”.  Now what I want you to see is that when you say you believe the gospel, that you are entrusting your salvation unto Christ through His death, burial, and resurrection.  You are identifying yourself with Him.  His death was your death.  His life is your life.  Now when we talk about identifying with the death of Jesus in the gospel, what are the implications of that for a Christian?  All of the power that the law had over you, to condemn and punish you, was borne by Jesus.  He paid our debt for everything we had done and everything we will do in full.  There is nothing left of the law that needs to be satisfied.  Having been satisfifed in full, it holds no power over us for whom Christ died.

Does this mean that we are no longer bound to the law or that we should ignore it?  Not at all. What it does mean is that we no longer have to fear the judgment of God under the law, and we have been given the fullness of the law in Jesus Christ.  No longer are we to model ourselves after the righteousness alluded to through the law, we have the Righteous One, Jesus Christ to follow.  Christ explains this in His sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 17, 21-48.  I won’t put all of that here, but in verse 17 he says “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”.  In verses 21-48 he goes on to explain the depth of the law that extended beyond mere outward action, but was a matter of obedience from the heart.  None of us could ever meet that standard of righteousness, but in Christ as a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), we can.

So if you are burdened by your sin, you are burdened in your pursuit of righteousness through works, these words of Jesus are for you:  Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”   The fear of judgment died with Christ, it has been replaced by joy in salvation in the law of Christ – Love the Lord your God, Jesus Christ, with all of your heart, soul, and mind, and love others as yourselves.  You will not be alone, but the Spirit of Christ in you will be with you always.

Grace be with you,

Adam