Romans 7:4 “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”  He saying that as death dissolves the connection between a wife and her husband – so the death of the Christian to the law dissolves that connection between our Old Man and the guilt he carries under the law which makes it possible  then for the New Man to establish another union – with Christ – which like the first marriage was to bring forth fruit of the womb – the second marriage is to bear fruit of love.  Scripture teaches that with Christ being the groom – believers are His bride.  Romans 7:6 “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”  Can real love exist when people are told they must: obey the Sabbath?  Pay a tithe?  Wear certain underwear?  What to eat and drink?  Do this?  Do that?  Never!  We are to serve in newness of the Spirit – not in the old letter of the law.  We are not under a covenant of works.  We are under grace.  Romans 7:7 “What shall we say then?  Is the law sin?  God forbid.  Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.”  In other words, 

Read More

is there evil in the law?  God forbid – no!  But there is evil in Man.  And as a result, the presence of the Law merely brings out the evil nature in human beings.  Remember we read back in Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of  sin.”  Then Paul adds, just to make sure we understand that it was sin that did the evil.  Romans 7:12 “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”  Paul makes it clear is that it’s not the law, but the corrupt nature of man and his attempted failure to live up to the law.  In Verse 14, Paul addresses the state of tension that exists in every true believer “For we know that the law is spiritual (it’s from God and it is perfect): but I am carnal, sold under sin.”  It is true that as Christians we are dealing with a dualistic nature in ourselves.  We are spiritual and we are carnal.  Paul describes it like this in Verse 15 “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”  Ever feel that way?  I do.  In our renewed minds, we long to please God but in our flesh, we act in opposition – and hate the fact that we do!  Paul goes on in Verse 16 “If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.”  The very struggle with evil within us proves to us that we don’t love the evil – but that it is the law that is good and desired.  Verses 17-18 “Not then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no go thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”  Our desire is there – but we fail miserably sometimes in the application.   After describing Verse 23 the state of warfare within him between the spiritual and the carnal – Paul exclaims in Verse 24 “O wretched (means miserable) man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”  Through this tension, we are forever reminded of our inability to overcome ourselves by ourselves or by any means other than reliance upon God.  And the answer – the solution to his own question he provides in Verse 25 “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Before we move on to the next chapter, I want to make a comment about Romans 7:24.  For Mormons this statement of Paul may sound reminiscent of a verse found in the Book of Mormon.  The character Nephi, in the book of 2nd Nephi