Here we are unpacking the 5th question in our “Death to Life” Series Rm. 7:13, Did that which is good then bring death to me?
The 3 points of focus are
1-The Law is not able to save
2-Two Opposing Wills
3-A Plan to move Forward
1-The Law in not able to save
(Romans 7:13-14 & 18)
Romans 7:18, points out in the 2nd sentence, that in looking at the law, while it opens a persons eyes up to the truth, it does not give them the ability to live out those truths.
A man’s works of the law are not able to save him.
The standard of righteousness from the law is absolute perfection which no one has done nor can they do after they are saved. Even if one did a better job than everyone else it would not be good enough to save a person. The reality of seeking salvation through keeping the law is that most all people would clearly come up short, but even those really so called good people are not good enough. To seek salvation in our works is a futile reality.
Paul simply in his deductive reasoning of thinking through how to be saved concludes that legally by his own efforts it is impossible. He comes to a point that he clearly declares he can not save himself. He needs someone to save him. He is broken and has a will that desires to sin and he cannot find enough desire within him to overcome his evil desires.
2-Two Opposing Wills
(Romans. 7:14-20)
Rm. 7:17, So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
Rm. 7:20, Now if I do not do the good I want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
They say that the hardest part of overcoming an addiction is to admit you have a problem. It is a humbling thing to do. To say that you are weak and not able to handle the matter on your own.
But on the flip side of that consider the life of a person struggling with addiction, what do people in their life say about them. They usually say something like they are making excuses and just need to make better choices, to do the right thing.
So on one side, internally they don’t want to have to admit they have a problem, but on the other side everyone around them are telling them they have a problem and all they have to do is make better choices which they can’t find within them the strength to do.
It is here, where Paul walks through personally admitting to himself that he has a problem, but he looks to the Lord for the strength to do something about it.
He has in one way a will to do right, but he does not find the ability to carry it out to completion. One will desires to do right, but another will continues to have dominion of his actions.
He is at war within himself and can’t find a way of escape
3-A Plan to Move Forward
(Romans. 7:21-25)
Rm. 7:25, So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
The reality of our conversion is that just as Paul was left with a reminder, a thorn in his flesh, we also are left with a reminder of who we were apart from Christ. God grace can be amazing, but He leaves most believers in this life with a body of death to remind them of who they use to be apart from Him. Their victory over the fruit of the body of death comes from trust in Christ.
3 Perspectives on Sin
1-Wrong Doing (88.289) To act contrary to the will and law of God. (Act of Sinning, the committing of Adultery or Murder.)
2-Being Evil (88.118) A State of sinfulness as an integral element of some one’s nature. (Sin Nature, the heart of sin, the seed of it, anger or lust.)
3-Guilt (88.310) The moral consequence of having sinned. (The shame, the guilt the consequences)
It is in Romans 7:13, that we see a grammatical challenge in the text when it comes to processing the richness of the power of the text. While it uses the form word of sin or sinful it is fundamentally talking about slightly different things that fully address the equation of what our condition is fully. In general, we all know the idea of our sin nature or fallen nature. But this actual wording is not the way the Bible technically explains it. Just because the actual wording in not used though it doesn’t mean it is not communicated.
As last week, we considered how the Bible teaches in the 10 Commandments do not commit adultery or murder and in the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus raises the bar saying if one lust in their heart or if they are angry with their brother they have committed adultery and murder in their heart. The actual desire is sinful enough to bring about condemnation.
So in Romans 7:13, we see the form of sin, recognized 4 different times. If you have just a simple definition of sin is sin, then you will not be able to appreciate the nuances in the text. The sin nature is the heart beat, the will or the seed of all our acts of sin. We sin actually because it is what a part of us actually wants to do. And all sin brings death in different degrees, but in general the fruit of sin is guilt, shame and condemnation, which are all things we all try to cover up, hide and blame others for.
So in this simple one line text using the word form of sin, it in my opinion touches on all these angles and perspectives giving a deep unpacking of the depth, complexity and severity of our trouble with sin that we find ourselves in apart from Christ.
My hypothetical word suggestion would be something like this…
It was (my sin nature) sin, producing death in me through what is good,
in order that (the written statement forbidding my sinful actions) sin might be shown to be (actually bad for me and something I need to seriously refrain from doing) sin,
and through the commandment might become (a producer of shame, guilt and condemnation )sinful beyond measure.
3 Perspectives on Law
1-Law of Spirit of Life (Rm. 8:2)
2-Law of Sin and Death (Rm. 8:2)
3-The Law (written standard)(Rm. 8:3)
Similarly, like the Romans 7:13 challenges with the single word “sin”, the word “law” also has some slight nuances that matter and warrant our attention. The law can be considered a written rule that proclaims “do not do this” or “do not do that” like the 10 Commandments or the command of God “do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. Paul considers this type of law form in Romans 7:7b, where he defends this kind of law specifically the one that says “You shall not covet” by saying if not for the law he would not have know what coveting is and or why it was wrong or harmful. These forms of the law or to address and limit or prohibit outward actions, but there is another sense of law that must be considered also. That is the inward desires that drive our actions.
Here in this level of thinking, we again move from the Mount Sinai, where God delivered the “written law” on stone tablets, which it’s primary focus was on outward actions, to another mountain where Jesus spoke to the heart of his hearers and in one way or another fulfilled the prophecy that God spoke that He would write His law on man’s heart. We again see the defining of the law to go deeper than just outward actions, but to a consideration of the heart. What desires do you have? What is truly driving you to propel forward? It is not this that the Lord calls us to consider? He urges us to slow down and think more thoroughly about why we do what we do.
As we have been walking through this diatribe of Paul’s from the 1st Adam to the 2nd, from “Death to Life”, he has led us to quit playing around with our shallow thoughts and to see the law as more than a lifeless thing, but a Spiritual Cancer or Covid test that diagnosis the root of our struggle, the root of our grief, and the root of our weakness.
So looking at Romans 8:2-3, we can see 2 inward laws that drive our actions and 1 outward law that like the Spiritual Cancer or Covid test, recognizes fruit that is produce by a inward condition. He starts in vs. 2, with the law of the Spirit of life and compares that inward law to it’s opposing inward legal force, the law of sin and death. These two laws don’t have to be written down to be real and to have a binding power over our lives. Earlier Paul explained we are either a slave to sin or a slave to God. These two internal laws are like a seed that as we live out our life they produce fruit either for God or for sin. Either for life or for death. But in vs. 3, we see yet another perspective represented of the law. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh could not do. Outwardly, the written law could not help us solve our problem, but it could show us that we had a problem and desperately needed a solution. The law can drive you to your knees and to surrender to Christ. The law points you to your desperate need for Him and in that it is Holy. It is loving beyond measure.
Genius Stylistic Writings of Paul
Romans 7:15-18a and 19-20
Sometimes the only people a person can be concerned about it Me, Myself and I.
In this text Paul uses exactly these word me, my and I.
It is written in a way that in order to read it you have to say those words, me, my, I.
That is the genius here, it for the prideful slave to sin who doesn’t want to admit he has a problem.
On this, I will just repeat the above verse again…
Rm. 7:17, So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
Rm. 7:20, Now if I do not do the good I want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
To make this confession doesn’t sound right. It sounds like we are giving up on trying to do what is right. It sounds like we are making excuses for our actions. It sounds like we are not taking responsibility for our mistakes. And maybe for some when they talk like this about other things, that is what they are doing. But we are not talking about trivial things here. We are talking about eternal life and death. We are talking about the most important thing, we will ever talk about ever…
So between just you and God. Ponder what these scriptures are saying. Have you familiarize yourself with Paul’s diatribe enough to see what he is really getting at???
Is he a mean old man trying to make your feel bad about yourself or is he pleading with your to open your eyes like never before??? Is he asking your to hear with your spiritual ears what the creator of all things is calling out to you deep with in your soul??? Is he asking you to look into the spiritual mirror of God’s word??? Is he asking your to trust your heart and soul to the only One who understand’s it??? To the only One who can heal, restore, and save it.
Did you hear Paul say in vs. 15, “For I do not understand my own actions”?
Have you ever been there? There is One who understands your actions and is willing to walk you through the chaos.
I will close will this last verse out of Romans 8 in verses 3&4, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.”
“By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Does loving and trusting in Christ like crazy really matter? Absolutely!!!
We can’t fulfill the requirements of the law, but we can trust in Him fulfilling our requirement for us. We are not able, but He is. If we trust in ourselves, we will slowly die and fade away, but if we look to Him, we will find an eternal life that never fails us.
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