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Romans 7Parkview University Fall 2015So far, Paul has addressed three issues left over from the discussion begun at 5:20“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased,grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace alsomight reign through righteousness leading to eternal life throughJesus Christ our Lord.”What’s the relationship between law and grace?:Should we not go on sinning so that grace might increase? (6:1)Should we not go on sinning because we are under grace instead of the law? (6:15)How can the law be good if it brings about death? (chapter 7)Verses 7:1-6 are not the beginning of a new section, but rather the continuation of the previous one. In these verses Paul resumes an idea he left off in 6:14, hence the use of the word “or” in 7:1. What is the role death plays in regards to the law? Paul will use marriage as a practical example to illustrate his point. Paul jumps to this illustration because most of his readers would be aware of how marriage is treated in the law. We’re bound in marriage until death releases us just as we are bound to the law until death parts us. If someone is married and they join themselves to someone else then they are technically committing adultery. However, this is not true if the spouse has died.So if your spouse dies and you remarry then it is simply classified as remarriage (7:3). This same idea works in verse 4 – dying to the law through redemption, legally allows you to belong to another. So dying in Christ has important consequences regarding our status under the law. So our death has freed us from the law. This is not physical death but death to the law – the result is that we are free to live without legal obligation. We no longer can bear the fruit of death. Is the law sinful? While “no” there is obviously a link between law and sin. That link is in how it allows us to see or perceive sin:If the law is a lens through which we can honestly evaluate our behavior, we then realize that the law is not the problem. Sin is the problem. It’s always been there, we just didn’t understand how pervasive sin was in our lives until the coming of the law. But beyond what the law does sin has another aspect to it. Temptation is magnified whenever we are told not to do something. So the law magnifies our sin and once this happens it brings in another undesired effect: it magnifies our desire to sin, making it irresistible. In vs 8 Paul makes sin a person that is the author of temptation, taking advantage of the law’s magnification of sin to call our attention to every opportunity to sin. So the law doesn’t produce sin, but it heightens our awareness of sin which increases our desire to act sinfully. When this work of the law completes it leads ultimately to death. Through this process sin becomes alive – “sin deceives us into thinking that forbidden things are some kind of undiscovered treat.” Sin deceives us and then eats us alive when we turn to chase after it. So the law is not sinful but rather the sin that was always latent in us causes all the problems. Paul finishes this section by saying the law is holy, righteous and good.Paul now leaps into a deeper discussion from 7:11 – what is the role of sin in the believer’s life? Is Paul in these verses talking about his life in his pre-Christ days or is this a struggle that Paul has today as a believer? What is Paul’s framework and understanding of the problem?Remember 7:12 – the Law is:HolyRighteousGoodThen, logically, why does it bring about death? How can that be good?Paul makes a distinction in 7:13 between the law and sin. Sin is what creates death – sin is the culprit, not the law. The law simply reveals that sin is inescapable.Step 1: So now in our section, Paul makes a distinction between the flesh of our mortal bodies, and the inner person or soul that resides within the flesh. We’re not making a duality here. Rather Paul contrasts the law being spiritual with himself being fleshly. So we end up doing things that we hate. (7:15)Step 2: Paul now shifts his argument away from sin as an exterior force to sin as something actually living in us. Paul makes a metaphorical distinction between the inner person and the outer flesh. The flesh will eventually die but, for now, it is where sin lives. (vs 18) Good does not live in our flesh – critical to understanding this passage.No good living in me – Paul is referring to his flesh, the part that will die.So if there is good in him it lives somewhere else other than his flesh. Thus these two parts are locked in battle (cp 8:10 – the outer person is dead because of sin, but the Spirit has made our inner person alive and the Spirit dwells there.) This concept of body and soul was very common in the first century and it continues in usage to this day. This is why part of our final redemption includes new, redeemed bodies. Our inner person may be reborn but our flesh is beyond saving. This is Paul’s message whether it makes sense to our present day understanding of our bodies or not. So Paul’s struggle with sin is a natural consequence of the sin dwelling in his flesh. This truth does not free us from responsibility but helps recognize that we have an ongoing struggle even as Christians. Our flesh will always seek to regain control of that inner person even though it has no right to do so nor the power to do so. So before we are redeemed, we are the walking dead. We are completely – in our inner and outer person – spiritually dead and enslaved to sin. Sin, through Adam, affects every part of God’s creation, including our physical bodies. But now with the gift of God through Jesus Christ, we are made alive through Christ’s death and resurrection – or at least one part is. The other part is waiting for final redemption! (cp Rom 8:23)So far Paul’s explanation has focused on the inner person. For the rest of chapter 7 and through chapter 8, Paul focuses on what’s to be done with the outer person – the flesh in which sin continues to live as we await the redemption of that outer person when Christ returns. (Runge) So the inner person died at the Fall in Genesis 3, and yet it is what has been made alive and redeemed by faith through grace. The inner person has been redeemed and set free from having to obey the desires of the flesh/sin. However, until that day of redemption we will still war with the effects of sin in our world and in our fallen bodies.So as believers we are to follow Jesus’ example – living in the flesh but refusing to give into its desires. This is only possible when we walk in the Spirit (Gal 6:16) So, just as we studied last week, in Romans 6:12-13, we are to no longer offer ourselves to sin, but to God. Even though we have been set free from the power of sin, we are still tempted by it. (Runge)Paul summarizes in 7:21-23 the lessons from this exposition on our existence as partially redeemed beings. Our inner person is complete, but the outer person awaits the future glory. We need to be rescued from this sinful flesh (7:24) and that is what Jesus death and resurrection accomplished, even thought the final redemption is not completely fulfilled. ................
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