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Dead to the Law

Sunday, 18thJanuary, 2009

We have returned to Romans this year because we want to know more of the ‘ life changing power in Jesus’ . We are not here this morning for a pleasant hour with friends we are here to be disciples of Jesus. Church will always be frustrating while we want to music and the friendship without the discipleship. We have chosen “Let God change the way you think” because until he does you are incapable of living life as it was meant to be lived, the ‘abundant life’ is seen as health or wealth or happiness and we have none of the love, peace, joy goodness and faithfulness that the Spirit gives.

Romans is a systematic presentation of the gospel and is basically in two parts. At present, we are working our way through the gospel bit although , as you will find, the gospel itself includes about Christian life-style.

 The heart of this message is the verses in 1:16-17, and it is important to keep referring back to this because we are always in danger of adding our additions to this foundation.

 We have looked at the gospel in terms of how man cannot please God or attain salvation by any means other than by grace and through faith. We have seen that righteousness – being on good relations with God is obtained because Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

 And now we are looking at some of the issues that arise from that. Brian spoke about how grace does not mean that we can carry on sinning. That the Christian life is one of holiness, being separate from sin and attached to God.

 Chapters 6-8 can be summarized as Freedom from Sin, freedom from Law and freedom from death.

 So our attention this morning moves from how we are free from the bondage of sin to how we are released from the Law.

 We are going to concentrate on the first 6 verses.

READ 7:1-6

 What immediately hits you about this passage is the marriage metaphor and it might distract us from the message. So keep in mind that Paul sets out a legal principal, then illustrates it in a well-known environment, applies it to the gospel and then discusses its effect on us by contrasting average life with the new life in Jesus.

The theme of the paragraph concerns ‘release from the law’, since he uses this expression three times (2, 3, 6), and refers to the law in every verse.  In the last chapter we looked at release from sin and will continue to consider that.

He not asking for specialist knowledge simply a basic knowledge the Jewish law certainly and the Roman law probably as well.

 a.     The legal principle (1)

Paul lays down the principle which he assumes his readers know: the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives (1). Or better, ‘the law is binding on a person only during his life’ (RSV)

 Oliver Cromwell died at Whitehall on Friday 3 September 1658,

In 1661, his body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey, and was subjected to the ritual of a posthumous execution, His body was hanged in chains at Tyburn. Finally, his disinterred body was thrown into a pit, while his severed head was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685.

Normally in English law once you are dead, the law has no power over you. Your crimes die with you!

But taxation continues!

Law is for life; death annuls it. Paul states this as a legal axiom, universally accepted and unchallengeable.

 

 b.     The domestic illustration (2–3)

As an example of this general principle Paul chooses marriage, basically because it fits what he wants to say about the Law.  Death changes not only the obligations of the dead person (it is obvious that these are cancelled), but also the obligations of those survivors who had a contract with the dead person.

So …the married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he lives [literally, ‘the living husband’]; but if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.” Here it is clear that Paul is thinking as a Jew in terms of the Jewish law.

In Jewish law the wife was bound to the husband so long as he lived, since only he had the right of divorce in accordance with Deut 24:1  “Suppose a man marries a woman and later decides that he doesn’t want her, because he finds something about her that he doesn’t like. So he writes out divorce papers, gives them to her, and sends her away from his home.”

Jewish culture at the time added to it reinforcing the husband’s rights in the matter. In the Mishnah  we have the regulating of the transfer of women from father to husband. In Roman law, on the other hand, marriage could be brought to an end by the free will of either partner; and indeed by the time of the later republic divorce by common consent or at the wish of one had become common, “the normal course in matrimonial affairs”. However, in Roman law a woman was not freed from the law of her husband by his death, since she was obliged to mourn his death and to remain unmarried for twelve months; otherwise she would forfeit everything, which had come to her from her first husband.

I am not going to spend time on the way we ought to consider legislation on divorce or women’s rights because the whole point of this passage is about being freed from law itself.

 

The point is that a marriage is ‘as long as we both shall live’.  And Paul illustrates this by showing one of the strange consequences of this. This is probably best illustrated by Prince Charles, who appears to have had an adulterous relationship with Camilla while Diana was alive. But with her death, he became free to marry. You may draw all sorts of conclusions from what happened but the fact remains that as far as the law is concerned it once Diana was dead, Charles was free to marry Camilla.

 

It is a real difficulty in family life. I know of four instances in our own family where there has been a remarriage after death. In most cases it has caused a stir of emotions and real upset. That is not the point.  The point is that a widow or widower is released from the marriage and it therefore free to marry. How the rest of the family feel about it is not a matter of law!

 c.     The theological application (4)

Romans 7 verse 4 (NIV)

So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

Paul turns from human laws to the law of God. It too claims lordship over us while we live. In terms of the marriage metaphor, Paul implies that we were previously married to the law and so under its authority. But as death terminates a marriage contract and permits remarriage, so we also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that we might remarry or belong to another (4a).

So when Christ died, not only did he atone for all our sin, he died so that we might be dead to sin and also be freed from the Law. This is critical to our understanding of how we are to live. If we are still bound by Law then we have to follow the Law with all its regulations and God’s Law we are talking about is the Torah of Exodus through to Deuteronomy.  If law still applies we can tell you to do certain things to get to heaven. Unfortunately, for all sorts of reasons the church has continually imposed rules, which ‘Christians must do’. In so doing we have negated the Gospel.

The Act of Uniformity in 1559 set the order of prayer to be used in the English Book of Common Prayer. Every man had to go to church once a week or be fined 12 pence.

In 1658 Bunyan was indicted for preaching without a license and  was imprisoned for a period of nearly 12 years (with the exception of a few weeks in 1666). He was released in January 1672, by Charles II.

In 1950s these include no smoking, no dancing, no going to pubs and no guitars in church.

We must watch that we do not adopt similar laws for our time. Especially as Middle-class acceptability is so easy to make into a rule. “Surely all Christians behave like me!” – or at least like I want them to!

We and Christians around us have been released from the Law.

But we died in Christ. Now this is theology not anything else. Jesus died in our place, for our sins and he rose again from the dead.  We therefore see our spiritual death and resurrection there as those who are in Christ. And through our personal union with Christ we have shared in his death (as the apostle has argued in Romans 6), and we may therefore be said to have died ‘through’ his body.

 So  what does it mean that we died to the law? The expression reminds us of the similar statement that we ‘died to sin’ (6:2). Indeed, they appear to mean the same thing. For if to die to sin means to bear its penalty, which is death, it is the law which prescribes this penalty. Therefore to die to sin and to die to the law are identical.

Both show that through participation in the death of Christ the law’s curse or condemnation on sin has been taken away.

 There are, in fact, many parallels between Romans 6 (freedom from sin) and Romans 7 (freedom from the law). As we died to sin (6:2), so we died to the law (7:4). As we died to sin by union with Christ’s death (6:3), so we died to the law through the body of Christ (7:4). As we have been justified and freed from sin (6:7, 18), so we have been released from the law (7:6). As we have also shared in Christ’s resurrection (6:4–5), so we belong to him who was raised from the dead (7:4). As we now live in newness of life (6:4), so we now serve in newness of Spirit (7:6). As the fruit we reap leads to holiness (6:22), so we bear fruit to God (7:4).

 

 The purposes of our dying with Christ to the law are now spelled out. The immediate purpose is that we might belong to another,  to him who was raised from the dead (4b).

This is quite significant. A sense of belonging lies at the heart of our identity. We all have a built in desire to belong. That is properly satisfied here. You are in Christ. You are part of his family. One of his team, a member of his Union, one of his employees, a Jesus supporter with a season ticket, we are members of the commonwealth of God. Whatever we use as a means of identifying ourselves is just a shadow of our real identity We belong to Jesus. By grace and through faith and forever. And in John’s gospel we have this repeated phrase:” No one can take them from my hand” John 10 verse 27 - 30 (NIV)

Listen to this, its good stuff

 

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

 

If the immediate purpose of our dying with Christ to the law is that we may now belong to Christ, the ultimate purpose is that we might bear fruit to God (4c).

What is meant? It is ‘the fruit of holiness’, the fruit of the Spirit. He concludes that the law was impotent to do this. ‘But we are now married to One who has the strength and the virility and the potency to produce fruit even out of us’, that is to say, a life which is lived ‘to God’s glory and to God’s praise’. We must be careful not to stretch the imagery too far. It is the church that is the bride of Christ not individuals.

In simple terms we are set free from the Law so that we can live for God. Not to live for ourselves because we belong to him. Not to continue in sin but to live by the Spirit in holiness. The point being hammered home here is that you cannot please God through the Law. We are put right with God by grace through faith and the purpose is that we can live in a way that pleases God through the work of the Spirit of God.

 d.     The fundamental antithesis (5–6)

For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

 This extends the contrasts of  6:20- 23)

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In our Old life, we were slaves to sin but now we are set free from sin. We were free from righteousness, unable to gain it, but now we are slaves of God and I think we must think of slavery here as belonging and being part of his family. In the Old life we reaped a harvest of shame, but now we are able to harvest holiness and produce the fruits of the Spirit. In the Old life we not only died physically but we died spiritually. Death ended in Hell. But now by grace and through faith we have been born into eternal life. Physical death is the gateway to all that God has prepared for us in Christ Jesus.

 In our old life, when we were controlled by the sinful nature, our sinful passions aroused by the law (provoked to rebellion, as Paul will elaborate in verses 8–12) were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death But now, by dying to what once bound us, that is, the law, we have been released from the law so that in consequence, far from being free to sin, we are free to serve (as slaves). And our slavery to Christ is in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code (6). Or literally and more briefly, it is ‘in newness of Spirit and not in oldness of letter’.

 

The next question to me is “ is the law is still binding on Christians? Are we expected still to obey it? Yes and no!

Yes, in the sense that Christian freedom is freedom to serve, not freedom to sin. We are still slaves (6), slaves of God and of righteousness (6:18, 22).

No, because the motives and means of our service have completely changed. Why do we serve? Not because the law is our master and we have to, but because Christ is our husband and we want to. Not because obedience leads to salvation, but because salvation leads to obedience. And how do we serve? We serve in the new way of the Spirit (6). For the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the distinguishing characteristic of the new age, and so of the new life in Christ.

 

 For our justification, then, we are ‘not under law, but under grace’ (6:14f.), and for our sanctification we serve ‘not in oldness of letter but in newness of Spirit’ (6, literally). We are still slaves, but the master we serve is Christ, not the law, and the power by which we serve is the Spirit, not the letter. The Christian life is serving the risen Christ in the power of the Spirit.

 

This is simple enough in concept but very difficult to work out in practice. Why? Because we are a rule based society. We like rules, we feel comfortable with rules. An example of this is the Law on Seat belts. When it was first proposed, only 20% of the population wore them. Parliament debated at length the infringement of our rights and how impossible it would be to enforce.  But once the law was passed 95% of the population promptly belted up. What was sensible did not happen, in general, until we had a law. We like to be told what to do and then we can excuse the responsibility from ourselves and know we have done what is right. Even feel proud of it.

In the spiritual realm we love rules.  We want to know we have pleased God by ticking off a ‘to-do’ list. Been to church, done my Bible reading, Prayed, put money in collection, done a good deed to my neighbour, rung up a fellow believer. Right that will keep God happy, now I can enjoy myself on what I wan to do!

 

Paul could get really wound up by that sort of thinking. For example in Galatians 3 he says “You foolish Galatians, Who has bewitched you?”

 

So we need to let God change the way we think. And we will examine this in detail when we get to Romans 8. But for today, two pointers on the way.

1.      God loves you – he actually likes you! He gets upset by your sin but is immediate in his forgiveness and takes pleasure in your repentance and faith.

2.      When you love God, your desire is to know him and serve him. That is a life long exercise not a sort it out and then get on with my life. God wants to remove the “I” from your thinking and put “we” – God and Me we are a team. The best example of that is Jesus. He could say I and my Father are one. He loved doing what the Father wanted and the Father broke the rules and shouted from heaven this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. In Christ we can have that sort of relationship with God.  That can only happen when the Holy Spirit is permitted free control of us. Then we will be truly free from sin and the Law.

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