Romans 7 - Dead to the Law

[Corey Powell]

I have recently left the system of Progressive Covenantalism/NCT, but I'm still working through some exegesis, to "detox" if you will.

Today in my morning devotions I came across Romas 7 and was confused about how to interpret it, as it always made sense to me under PC. I'm not sure how to read it in light of the 3-fold division of the Law.

Romans 7:4-6 says "4 So, my brothers, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in newness of [c]the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter."

The previous context being that the law is the old husband who died so we could now be married to Christ. My confusion comes in V7 - " What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! Rather, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law. For I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

Paul says we are dead to the Law, and then doesn't refer to an abrogated part of the law, but to one of the 10 commandments. The continuing goodness and holiness of the command is affirmed later in the passage(Rom 7:12), but in what sense are we dead to the Law, specifically the moral law since that is what Paul quoted? Or am I misreading the passage?

Thanks for your help

 

[moral necessity]

I think it's safe to say that we are dead to the law in regard to it's ability to condemn us. "Therefore there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus...for the law of the spirit of life has made me free from the law of sin and death" - Rom.8:1-2. "We are no longer under the law, but under grace." - Rom.6:14. The law, however, is still our guide as to what is just, right, and moral, hence the 3rd use.

The Threefold Use of the Law

Every Christian wrestles with the question, how does the Old Testament law relate to my life? Is the Old Testament law irrelevant to Christians or is there some

www.ligonier.org

Blessings!

 

[Contra_Mundum]

We have died--in Chrst--to the judgmental demand of the law: "You failed, now you must pay, and that penalty is death." That's how we are dead to the law. The moral will of God has not changed, neither our obligation to conform to that good will of God summed up in 10 Commandments.

 

[Deleted member 6112]

I have recently left the system of Progressive Covenantalism/NCT, but I'm still working through some exegesis, to "detox" if you will.

Today in my morning devotions I came across Romas 7 and was confused about how to interpret it, as it always made sense to me under PC. I'm not sure how to read it in light of the 3-fold division of the Law.

Romans 7:4-6 says "4 So, my brothers, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in newness of [c]the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter."

The previous context being that the law is the old husband who died so we could now be married to Christ. My confusion comes in V7 - " What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! Rather, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law. For I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

Paul says we are dead to the Law, and then doesn't refer to an abrogated part of the law, but to one of the 10 commandments. The continuing goodness and holiness of the command is affirmed later in the passage(Rom 7:12), but in what sense are we dead to the Law, specifically the moral law since that is what Paul quoted? Or am I misreading the passage?

Thanks for your help

I agree with the other brothers, but to put a finer point to it, we are dead to the law as a covenant of works. WCF XIX.i says, "God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which he bound him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience; promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it; and endued him with power and ability to keep it."

If we have died with Christ, we are dead to the law as a covenant of works, because Christ has payed the penalty in our stead. However, the law isn't merely a covenant of works. Adam already had the law written upon his heart as a rule of obedience; the covenantal aspect was superadded. The requirement of the law as a rule of life stands.

 

[Deleted member 14531]

Thank you Corey for your posting. This was something that was the cause of much personal confusion and stress for many years in my own life; and I dare say, that many have similar conflicts, so thank you for sharing. It is interesting to note that Abraham was justified while he was uncircumcised, apart from the works of the Law, many years before the Law of Moses was even introduced; and the crux of Paul’s Letter to the Romans, is beautifully summed up in Rom. 5:12-21. Unfortunately, although we are “seated with Christ in heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6), we also have our feet very much planted on the ground of this world. The righteous requirements of the Law and its penalty for violation have been literally “covered’ by Christ “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus’ (Rom. 3:25-26).

However, the inner clash between “religion” and “relationship” "flesh" and "spirit" lives on, as the ‘flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Rom. 7; Gal. 5:17). Hence, the necessity of “walking in the Spirit” (Gal. 5;16), and hence the necessity of Luke 9:23 to take up our cross daily, deny ourselves, and follow Him, which we all know can be very challenging at times.

The unfortunate reality is that there is a gravitational pull where our “soul clings to the dust” (Ps. 119:25), and seeks to bring us back under the “natural” ways of “the old man” – Adam – where we can be dragged into the realms of inauthenticity and into a jurisdiction of Law which pronounces the penalty of death (Rom 6:23). I love Gen. 4:7 which tells us that “sin lies crouching at your doorstep – its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Yet, flesh cannot eradicate flesh; a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand” (Mark 3:24); all Adam can ever produce, is Adam, because “each seed reproduces after its own kind” (Gen. 1:11); and “the wages of sin is death (Rom.3:23); hence the necessity of the Second Adam (and Last Adam), and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit (Zech. 4:6).

The Law, sin, death, and the old man (not your dad) will always contrast between grace, righteousness, and the new man; and it is all about heart-relationship which is consistent with those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Matt. 5:6). Thank God, that he has abolished the legal requirements of the law by way of works of the flesh as a way to salvation (which He never intended anyway); thank God, that He is quite aware of our frailty. Thank God, that His “mercies are new every morning” (Lam. 3:23), because we could never, with our natural mind, logic, philosophical reasoning, fathom the depths of it all on our own.

I would encourage anyone to read Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones exposition of Romans 7. I cried many years ago as I read that book, because my theological degree taught me none of that! I guess that the power of the Cross, although a historical event, truly needs to be our regular “go to” all day, every day, because without Him, we can do nothing, as we ought to do. It is only in Him, in Christ, that we can do "all things" as we ought to do. As we actively trust in Him as oppsed to have a mere intellectaul assent to His truth, that is where we are empowered to fulfill the Law, as we abide in Him. As the old hym says: 'trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."

 

[alexanderjames]

To add to application from the above comments, think "dead to the law" as far as it serves to justify you, make you righteous, appease God or make Him love you (more).

As David points out we need ongoing reminding of this because we are prone to fall back into a legalistic or pharisaical mind set. Sometimes our perceived greatest zeal is utterly misguided because we are not acting in accordance with the grace of the gospel of Christ.. for example, when we try to achieve righteousness by our own willpower and self flagellation.

The gospel brings to us the principle of grace which is based on the sheer goodness of God freely given to us in Christ, simply received by faith, and results in genuine inward obedience to God out of love.

 

[Deleted member 14531]

Sounds very much like Rom. 5:12-21 language to me! How true it is, that our "soul clings to the dust" (Ps. 119:25) and that we have that "gravitational pull" to the Adamic side of things. Thank God for His grace that has been extended to us without merit; and thank God for His plan, for the Lamb to be slain. before the foundations of the world (Rev. 13:8). To God be the glory great things He hath done.