Sermon 17

Loosed From The Law / Married To Christ

Romans 7:1-6

Teaching eternal salvation by grace is bound to raise some questions. There is just something about our human nature makes us tend toward extremes. Paul, anticipating those questions which his readers would ask and those objections which they would hurl, deals with the extremes.

On one end of the spectrum is the extreme of license which says that if we are eternally saved by grace, then we are free to live in sin. Romans 6 answers that question by saying that we cannot live in sin because we are dead to sin and alive unto God and because we are free from sin and the servants of Christ.

Romans 7 moves to the other extreme. The other side of license is the extreme of legalism. We hear that word used in Christian circles often today. Often a person or even a church is labeled as legalistic, by people, who in my humble opinion, don't know what it means. If a Christian has a very conservative lifestyle, particularly in areas of separated living, you are likely to be labeled a legalist. Legalism, is not a biblical word, but it is a biblical concept in some ways. But legalism is not the same as being conservative. You can be very conservative in your personal convictions and not be a legalist. It may be that being more conservative puts one in greater danger of legalism, just as being less conservative is matters of personal separation, puts one in greater danger of un-separated living. Just what does legalism mean? What are the signs of legalism? What are the dangers of legalism? What is the biblical balance between license and legalism? Perhaps this message will help answer some of those questions.

Many of those first century Christians were Jewish. They came out of a tradition of keeping the Old Testament law. It was difficult for them to let go of the law. Remember, the problem that Peter had with eating "unclean" animals? (See Acts 10:9-15). Now, as Paul writes to these Christians at Rome there are those who still believe and teach that even a Christian is compelled to live under the law. Some went to the extreme that they believed that the law was a means of salvation.

These people felt like Paul dishonored the law which should be honored (see Deuteronomy 6:1-9; Psalm 119:1,4,5,11,12,16,34,97,160,165,172; Malachi4:4; Isaiah 42:21).

Legalism has not disappeared! Conservative Christians tend to be susceptible to legalism. As we grow spiritually we see deeper into our hearts and discover more sin. Legalism is trying to control our flesh by laws and rules rather than by through the Holy Spirit. A legalist is one who measures spirituality by do's and don'ts. It emphasizes outward obedience rather inward obedience. The danger of legalism is that it usually leads a person either to become a pretender or else to abandon a godly life altogether. Legalism also makes us critical, unloving, and unforgiving of others.

If keeping the law doesn't save, just what is the purpose of the law? What is the believer's relationship to the law of God? Romans 7 is about the law. In fact, the word "law" is found 23 times in this chapter, 8 times in the first six verses.

Before we get to our text, let's look else where in Romans and in the New Testament to see if we can determine the purpose of the law. Then, from this text, we will learn of our present relationship to the law.

Matthew 5:17-19 - Christ did not destroy the law but fulfilled the law.

Romans 3:19-20 - The law pronounces the whole world guilty, it makes us to know sin, but it cannot save.

Romans 3:31 - faith does not make void the law but establishes it.

Romans 6:14 - We are not under the law but under grace.

Romans 7:12 - The law is holy, just and good.

Galatians 3:21-26 - Law and grace do not contradict each other, they complement each other; the purpose of the law was to as a schoolmaster which brings us to Christ. But once we are saved, we are the children of God and are no longer under a schoolmaster.

What then is our present relationship to the law? The answer to that is in Romans 7:1-6.

A Question, v.1.

Like the question in 6:16 ("Know ye not"), the question here is axiomatic; it is a general truth so self-evident that it needs no proof. Don't you know that laws are for the living and that the law has no jurisdiction over the dead. Though Lee Harvey Oswald was the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, he never stood trial for the crime. Why not? Because he was dead! The dead do not suffer the penalty or punishment attached to the law. This is an obvious truth.

An Illustration, vss.2-3.

In verses 2 and 3, Paul illustrates the obvious truth that dead people are bound by the law from the law of marriage. Marriage is until death. Let me say it another way. Marriage ends at death. If a married woman marries another man, she has broken the law and is a polygamist and an adulteress. But if her husband is dead and she marries another man, she has not broken the law, nor is she and adulteress. (Some people use these verses to establish some principle about divorce and remarriage, but this verse is not actually dealing with divorce and remarriage; it is about the law and how it ends at death). Do you see the analogy? The law ends where death begins.

An Application, vs. 4-6.

Having established a basic and obvious truth about law, and having illustrated that truth, Paul now makes an application. Notice, the 3 things which Paul draws our of this principle about death bringing an end to the law.

A Connection, v. 4. Christians are dead to the law by means of Christ's death, 6:6-8. Christians are married to Christ who is resurrected.

Getting saved is a lot like getting married. Both salvation and marriage begin with a faith commitment based on love. Not feelings or emotions but commitments. In marriage you take a person and give yourself to that person. In salvation you take Christ and give your life to Him. In both cases a union takes place. Marriage is a good analogy to salvation.

The result of our union with Christ is to bring forth fruit unto God. Fruit is as natural a result of a Christian as babies are to marriage.

A Contrast, v. 5. What has taken place in salvation stands out in contrast to life before salvation. Before salvation we were "in the flesh". Before salvation, we had sinful passions ("the motions of sin"). Before salvation, those sinful passions were actually aroused by the law. What effect does the law have on a rebel? A rebellious nature makes a person want to do what is forbidden! that's the way it was for us before we were saved. And before we were saved, the fruit of this life was destined to be death!

A Conclusion, v. 6. But now we are...

We are dead to the law, vs. 4, 6. The law didn't die, we died! Remember verse 1? Is a dead person subject to the law? No. Does a dead person suffer the penalty of the law? No. If we are dead to the law then we are no longer under the law (6:15) and no longer must fear the punishment of the law.

We have been delivered from the law. Does this mean that we have no reason to obey God? Absolutely not! What it means is that we have a different reason for obeying God. The law can control men's actions but cannot change men's hearts! Obedience should not be "in the oldness of the letter" of the law, but "we should serve in newness of spirit." That is, now that we are saved, we obey God not because we are afraid of the punishment of disobedience (we are no longer subject to the penalty of the law), but because we love Christ, we are united with him. It is not fear of the law that keeps me from murdering my wife. I do not think, "I better not kill her or I will go to prison and possibly get the electric chair." I do not murder her because I love her, we are married, we are one.

In like manner, because of our faith in Christ and his gracious salvation to us, we no longer have to worry about the penalty of disobeying God's law, we no longer have to serve motivated by fear. We still serve. We still obey God. But we do so motivated by love. In salvation, we are dead to the law but married to Christ!

We must find the balance between license and legalism. Salvation is not freedom to live a life of sin. But neither is it a life bound to the law and fearful of breaking the law because of the punishment. We obey God because we love Him! In fact, because we have been saved, for the first time ever we are able to obey Him, we desire to obey him, we are going to obey Him.