I have been writing for a long time concerning what the Apostle has said concerning the Torah as being spiritual because it was given by God to the Jews. Paul addresses the issue because Christian Jews were living under the law. The problem is not the Law, but is for those who attempt to live under the Law as Christians.
From Matthew 5:17 we find Jesus’ words, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.” Believers are made Righteous and are not required to observe the Law. “For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not in line with the truth. For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.” Romans 10:2-4 NET2.
“Now before faith came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners until the coming faith would be revealed. Thus the law had become our guardian until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.” Galatians 3:23-26.
“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. 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. 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.” Romans 7:4-6.
Romans 7:14-25 is difficult for many to understand because most often these verses are removed from the context in which Paul writes. We must include at least Chapters 5-8. Failing to do so will place a curtain around vv 14-25.
In verses 7-11 Paul explains the Law’s inability to function because of the power of sin. In fact, Paul writes, “But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. For apart from the law, sin is dead. And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment, sin became alive and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died.”
Continuing in vv. 14-25 the Apostle declares how hopeless his situation was before becoming a Follower of Christ. And in vv 5-6, we find, “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. 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.” In vv 13-14 Paul refers to life without the Spirit as being death, “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. For we know that the law is spiritual—but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.” He then poses the question in vv. 24-25 that is answered in Chapter 8, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 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.” As a good Jew, Paul knew what was right, but without the Holy Spirit living within his body he served the law of sin and not the Spirit. Before he was carnal and sold into sin, “For we know that the law is spiritual—but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.” 7:14.
Here we must recall Romans 6:8-11, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Can I hear an ‘AMEN’ to this?
Please read Chapter 8, but Romans 8:1-4 states, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Jesus is Lord!!
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