Romans 7

The Problem of Sin and Remedy of Grace

Have you ever had a migraine? I get them every once in a while and I can tell you they are NO FUN. My head is pounding, I’m nauseas, and even the smallest amount of light makes it worse. Sometimes it’s so bad, things look and feel distorted. I am in need of a remedy. I need something to take the migraine away. Sometimes, the remedy comes in the form of a migraine pill, and sometimes, all I need is a cold washcloth, a dark room and some rest. Sin is like that migraine. It’s blinding and distorts reality and it is in need of a remedy. Unlike my migraine, there is only one remedy for sin – and that’s grace. Paul reminds us in this letter: the remedy for sin that leads to death, is grace that gives us life.

Vs 1-6 Since I am speaking to those who understand law, brothers, are you unaware that the law has authority over someone as long as he lives? For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. So then, if she gives herself to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she gives herself to another man, she is not an adulteress. Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us and bore fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.

Paul starts this part of his letter by giving us an explanation for the previous six chapters of Romans. The law, Paul says, has authority over someone as long as he lives. This is why it’s so important to understand what happens when one comes to Christ. Just as Christ was put to death, so we are put to death when we come to Him. Because Christ’s death on the cross conquered sin, sin has been put to death and conquered in us. Just as Christ was raised to life, we too are raised to life everlasting. Christs resurrection put an end to death – “When this corruptible is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” 1 Corinthians 15:54-57. Where did Paul get these sayings? He is quoting scripture: Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14. This show us that God promised long ago to conquer sin and death. In Christ, He brought it about through His grace.

Does this mean the law is dead? No, it means the law is dead in us who believe in Christ. There is a distinct difference between the death of the law and the death of the law in us. The law shows us how to have “right standing” before God. If we keep the law completely and continually, we could have come to salvation by the law. The law showed us how to live a life worthy and helped us understand how to walk rightly before God. But, because we couldn’t keep the law – not even a little bit – it instead, highlighted our sin. So, the law, for us, could only produce death and the only way to life was through God’s grace. Christ said in Matthew 5:17, “Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” Remember, the law is perfect, and can only be fulfilled by One who is also perfect. Through Jesus, we now have grace and can walk in life. And what is the purpose of this grace bestowed on us? That we may bear fruit for God. Now that we have been delivered from the law’s dominion over us by the grace of Christ on the cross, we can now walk in newness of life. The law no longer has a grip on us. Grace is now how we are justified and sanctified, (Romans 3:24) Now we are free to bear fruit for God.

Vs 7-12 What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life  and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me.  For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.  So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

Paul once again clarifies for those who believe something is wrong with the law – Is the law sin? Absolutely Not! The Greek phrase for this is me ginomai or may it never even come into existence. There was only one way we could have understood sin – and that is through the law highlighting it for us. Before the law, sin existed. We find evidence of it all through Genesis – murder, envy, adultery, covertness… and the list goes on. This is not to say that the law is the cause of our sin. A good illustration of this is an x-ray. If you’ve ever had an x-ray, you know you have one because something might be wrong. The Dr. wants to get a better perspective so they can know how to help you. The x-ray is not at fault for the broken bone, or the cavity, nor is the law at fault for our sin. What the x-ray and the law does is simply illuminate what is already wrong. Sin was already rampant before the law – just look at Cain or Noah. What the law did was allowed sin to spring to life. The Greek word for spring to life is anazaó, which means to live again. It is not that sin had suddenly sprung to life because of the law. No, sin was made to spring out and become apparent to us. What was dormant has now come to life.

Vs 13-25 Therefore, did what is good cause my death? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin’s power. For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God’s law. But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.

Paul re-emphases that the law is not the problem here: did what is good (the law) cause my death? Me ginomai – may it never even come into existence. Sin had already produced death in us. It was as if we were living on top of a volcano ready to explode. Before we had no clue about the volcano, but now we are aware of what is just below us. Now we understand that this volcano we live on top of will produce death unless something changes. This is what the law has done for us – it helped us recognize what was already there. The law had to come so we could see what we were not seeing. Satan is always trying to hide the sin and make it seem non-life-threatening. Look at the serpent’s temptation of Eve as an example. Eve tells the serpent they are not to eat of the fruit of one specific tree because they will die. Here is the serpent’s response: “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Do you see how Satan tries to hide the sin from her? Oh no, you won’t die – instead you will be more like God… This is the way temptation works. “That’s not so bad.” “It won’t really hurt you.” “If you do this, you will get…” What the law did, and now grace does, is exposes the lies so we can truly be dead to sin.

So what is the problem? Why do I continue to do the things I really don’t want to and shouldn’t do? Because temptation will always be with me. It’s important to understand that we are going to continue to struggle. It’s not an easy road we take when we choose to accept the grace God has given us. On the contrary, the road is fraught with danger. Psalm 23 reminds us “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” Yes, there will be valleys and temptations. Christ is our example. He was tempted on a few occasions. He dealt with temptation after 40 days of fasting and then again in the garden of Gethsemane. Both times He was able to say – Not my will, but God’s. He was able to stand firm and walk in purity. His temptation was very real, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been a real test. Paul reminds us that we are of the flesh. The Greek word for flesh is sarkinos and it means we consist of flesh or we are carnal. This is important to understand, as we are still not perfect, even after we come to know Christ. We still struggle because we are still made of flesh. We do what we don’t want to do, and don’t do what we want to do. The difference now? By the grace of God, we now have a way out of the temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 says, “So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.” In His grace, we will be able to stand as long as we look to Him. He is the One who will rescue me from this dying body. He is the One who keeps me on the right path. We now walk with Him by our side.

In conclusion: the lesson we learn from the law is this – we can’t. The thing the law highlights for us is – we can’t. In fact, the lesson of the entirety of scripture is – we can’t. This was the lesson Moses, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, David, Peter and Paul, along with many others, learned in their lives – we can’t. That’s why there’s grace. If you’ve read enough of my blogs, you know I love music and often quote songs. I find writers of music often hit the nail on the head. (That’s why the Psalms are so amazing – they’re all songs!) There’s a recent song written by Tauren Wells and sung by Tauren Wells and Rascal Flatts called “Until Grace”. All the lyrics of this song are worth reading, (and listening to), but here, I will just give you the chorus: Until grace called my name. Oh, I didn’t know I could be free, until grace found me. Until grace broke these chains. Oh, I didn’t know I could be free, until grace found, Your grace found me. And that’s what it’s all about. The problem is sin – we can’t. But the remedy is grace on a cross – He did it. The problem was that sin caused death – we can’t. But the remedy was death was conquered by Christ resurrection – He is the way the truth and the life. The problem is our continued struggle with temptation – we can’t. But the remedy is Christ, who continues to work in and through us, providing that way out – He will always be. For all of our “we can’ts” God always has a “He can”. His grace has found me.