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The Apostle Paul's Epistle
to the Romans |
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Chapter 7
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1Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking
to those who know the law), that the law has
jurisdiction over a person as long as he
lives? 2For the married woman is bound by law to
her husband while he is living; but if her
husband dies, she is released from the law
concerning the husband.
For the sake of clarification, Paul went on to
explain exactly what he meant when he said that
we're "not under law." Firstly, he addresses His
Jewish brothers, those who would know the Torah.
It's my contention that the Torah is in view
here since Paul will later go on to declare that
we can know what sin is through the Torah;
surely we cannot rely on human or natural law to
know what's right and wrong but only God's
revelation. Furthermore, interestingly, Paul is
actually providing for us a picture into how he
approached the Oral Torah as well, since he
matter-of-factly states that a "married woman is
bound by law to her husband while he is living."
The written Torah never explicitly specifies
what constitutes adultery but Jewish law
certainly does. Nevertheless, Paul presented
this situation, that a woman is not bound to the
law of adultery if her husband dies, as being
analogous to the believer's situation to the
condemnation of the Torah. Too often this
passage is interpreted as an allegory but this
fraught with difficulties.
3So then, if while her husband is living she
is joined to another man, she shall be called an
adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free
from the law, so that she is not an adulteress
though she is joined to another man.
If situation were an allegory and the woman
represents the believer, shouldn't the woman
have died, since Paul had already gone to great
lengths to show how we have died with the
Messiah to sin? This is why we must not take
this passage as allegory but simply understand
Paul's singular point: there is a precedent to
not being under the condemnation of the Torah.
In other words, just like the woman would not
under the condemnation of the Torah in regards
to this situation by marrying another man, we
are not under the condemnation of the Torah at
all because the Messiah took that penalty upon
Himself.
4Therefore, my brethren, you also were made
to die to the Law through the body of Messiah,
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.
Again, Paul's entire point was to simply
illustrate for us that a woman cannot penalized
for remarrying another man if her husband had
died, we too cannot be penalized for any
transgression because we have died through the
Messiah. The Messiah's body was substituted for
our body and therefore, in a sense, have already
experienced the penalty of the Torah. Since
there is no longer any transgression to pay for,
we are free to be joined to another, namely, the
Messiah. To what end are we to be joined to the
Risen One? To bear fruit for God; Messiah did
not take the penalty of the Torah upon Himself
simply to pay for our sins but to transform us
into perfect and holy people.
5For while we were in the flesh, the sinful
passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at
work in the members of our body to bear fruit
for death. 6But now we have been released from
the Law, having died to that by which we were
bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit
and not in oldness of the letter.
To be "in the flesh," referred to the spiritual
state believers found themselves in before the
Spirit's regenerative work. In other words, "the
flesh" refers to a lack of illumination by the
Spirit of God. While in this state, our sinful
passions used our body to produced actions which
would only result in death. Paul had already
declared that the "wages of sin is death" (cf.
6:23)
but here he added the fact that our sinful
passions were "aroused by the Torah." In what
way did the Torah arouse our sinful passions? As
God's perfect revelation of what's right and
wrong, the Torah made it clear to our sinful
nature what was wrong with us. Our sinful
nature, corrupt as it was, rebelled against such
a perfect standard. Without the work of the
Spirit, we were helpless to meet such a standard
and were therefore condemned by the Torah. Now,
by the work of the Spirit, we are released from
the Torah, that is, we are no longer under it's
condemnation. Through the Messiah, we have died
to condemning work of the Torah and can now
serve God by the Spirit of God. As we have seen
before, Paul's use of the word "old" refers to
the unregenerate state of the sinner, while the
word "new" refers to regenerate state of the
believer; therefore, to serve in the newness of
the Spirit refers to obeying the Torah by power
of the Spirit of God as opposed to trying to
obey the Torah without the work of the Spirit.
The phrase "of the Torah" could be added to both
the words "Spirit" and "letter." In either case,
the Torah is a constant, since it is God's
revealed standard of righteousness; the
difference would be the presence of the Spirit.
The letter of the Torah, by itself, can do
nothing for us in regards to our spiritual state
but the Torah, written on the heart by the
Spirit, brings us life.
7What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May
it never be! On the contrary, 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."
Knowing that some would misunderstand this
teaching, Paul quickly refuted the idea that the
Torah itself is sinful or connected with sin.
Though Paul clearly went on to show that the
Torah itself is not the problem, the historic
Christian Church certainly believed that the
Torah was something to be abandoned. This is
unfortunate, since, as Paul clearly stated, the
Torah reveals to us what exactly sin is. Without
the Torah clearly telling us what to do or not
to do, we would have no idea what God's standard
of righteousness is. If God had not prohibited
coveting, upon what authority can anyone say
it's wrong? The truth is that apart from God's
standard, revealed first in the Torah, no one
can know what's right and wrong. This is why
it's extremely dangerous to relegate any part of
the Torah as obsolete or no longer applicable,
since that would be the equivalent of calling
good what in actuality is evil. Furthermore, the
Apostle Paul is not the only Apostle to clearly
teach that the Torah tells us what sin is. The
Apostle John similarly declared: "Everyone
who practices sin also practices lawlessness;
and sin is lawlessness"
(1 John 3:4).
8But sin, taking opportunity through the
commandment, produced in me coveting of every
kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.
As we've seen Paul do before, he personified sin
and showed how the sinful nature used God's
perfect standard and produced rebellion to it.
Again, without God revealing what is right and
wrong, there would be no way for our corrupt
human nature to know what disobedience looks
like. Sin is dead apart from the Torah because
without a perfect standard to rebel against, no
one could be sure what sin actually was. Since
there is a perfect standard, sin rebels against
it; in fact, sin finds various ways to rebel
against God's commandments.
9I was once alive apart from the Law; but
when the commandment came, sin became alive and
I died;
What does Paul mean that he was once alive apart
from the Torah? To know this, we can simply look
to the previous verse where Paul stated that
"apart from the Torah sin is dead." Paul already
effectively made the case that all mankind is
sinful and are helpless in their sin apart from
God's regenerative work. Therefore, as an
unregenerate sinner, spiritually, we cannot see
what the Torah truly is: a reflection of God's
holy character and reflection of our unholy
state. It's not that Paul did not know the Torah
before His illuminating experience with Yeshua;
as a top student of
Rabbi Gamaliel, he certainly
did. To an unregenerate sinner, however, the
Torah remains as simply letters on parchment.
That person may even scrupulously obey the
Torah's commandments but without the work of the
Spirit, there will never be an internal,
spiritual realization of sin and the need for a
saviour. Paul, along with the rest of humanity,
previous to salvation, lived in a state of
spiritual ignorant bliss, not realizing the
severe gulf that sin creates between man and
God. Thankfully, to His elect, the commandment
comes and with it, sin becomes alive and we die.
In other words, by the work of the Spirit, God
illuminates our utterly dire spiritual
situation. As a result, we see the Torah for
what it truly is and, for the first time, we see
sin for what it truly is. This enables us to
recognize our deathly state; as Paul stated
elsewhere, we are “dead in [our]
trespasses and sins”
(cf. Ephesians 2:1, 5).
10and this commandment, which was to result
in life, proved to result in death for me; 11for
sin, taking an opportunity through the
commandment, deceived me and through it killed
me.
The commandment (a term, though in the singular,
represents the Torah as a whole) was intended to
provide a good life for the people of God. God
did not give the Torah to His people as
punishment or for any other reason than to bring
blessings. Why then does God, on the basis of
the Torah, consistently bring punishment upon
His people? It seems simple enough, God made a
covenant in which obedience to the Torah would
be blessed and disobedience to the Torah would
be punished. Why is it that God's people, both
nationally and individually, can't seem to ever
consistently obey the Torah and reap the
blessings promised? The answer is that sin, in
rebellion against the commandments of God,
deceives us and, in turn, kills us. In what way
does sin deceive us through the Torah? A
unregenerate sinner will mistakenly think that
by simply keeping the commandments of the Torah
they can please God. This is futile, for apart
from the work of the Spirit, made possible by
the work of the Messiah, obedience to Torah will
simply result in condemnation. This is, at
first, seems confusing, since the Torah clearly
states that obedience results in blessing not
cursing.
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12So then, the Law is holy, and the
commandment is holy and righteous and good.
To clarify, Paul firstly sought to make it clear
that the Torah itself is not the problem or the
source of the seeming paradox encountered above.
In verse 7, Paul asked "is the Torah sin?" and
here he definitively answered the question. No,
the Torah is not sinful, bad or anything else
negative. The Torah is holy, righteous and good
just as the giver of the Torah, God, is holy
righteous and good. The Torah is set apart from
all other literature because it is the Creator's
revelation of what is right and wrong. Even the
best of constitutions of man will pale in
comparison to God's holy constitution.
Furthermore, since God is perfectly righteous,
we can trust that the decrees of the Torah are
perfectly just and are not imbalanced. All this
can be summarized by calling the Torah good;
every part of the Torah, when properly applied,
is good for us. Knowing that this is how Paul
viewed the Torah, when we study Paul's writings,
we should have the presupposition that he always
viewed the Torah in a positive light.
13Therefore did that which is good become a
cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather
it was sin, in order that it might be shown to
be sin by effecting my death through that which
is good, so that through the commandment sin
would become utterly sinful.
In continuing to clarify how it's possible that
sin could use the Torah to deceive and "kill"
people, Paul rhetorically asked the question of
whether the good Torah itself was the cause of
death. The emphatic answer is that it was not
the Torah that caused death but the sin. Though
all blame should be given to sin for our cause
of death and not the Torah, it is true that sin
used the Torah to affect the death in us. In
other words, sin knew that God's judgement of
disobedience is death and used that judgment
against us. Once again, we face the dichotomy of
"letter" and "Spirit," for without the work of
the Spirit, that which is good (the Torah), will
be used by sin to effect death in us. With the
work of the Spirit, however, that which is good
(the Torah), will be used by the Spirit to
effect eternal life within us.
14For we know that the Law is spiritual, but
I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
The translation of the Greek word "nomos"
is indeed "law" but, of course, Paul had the
Hebrew word "torah" in mind. The word "torah"
refers to "teaching" or "instruction." To Paul,
God's teaching was spiritual. Back in
1:11,
Paul had declared his desire to visit the Roman
believing communities, so that he could impart
to them "some spiritual gift," with the
result "that [they] may be established."
How can believers be established in the life of
faith? By knowing and obeying the Torah,
specifically the commandments of the five books
of Moses. While it's true that the Torah is
spiritual, people are not. Paul used first
person language in this passage, indicating that
he was speaking of himself but, really, his
experiences are similar to all believers. It is
true that in the Messiah we are freed from sin
and we are no longer under the condemnation of
the Torah but it doesn't mean the temptation to
sin isn't there anymore. As long as we are in
these mortal bodies, we will have a bent to sin,
an inclination that Paul called "bondage to
sin."
15For what I am doing, I do not understand;
for I am not practicing what I would like to do,
but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16But if
I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree
with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
Paul then moved on to express his feelings
towards his own sinful actions. As mentioned
previously, these words really should express
the feelings that all believers have towards
their own sinful actions. If a person does not
feel this way towards sin, they should question
if God has done the regenerative work of
salvation in their hearts. For when I sin, I
simply don't get it because in my heart of
hearts, I am not doing what I actually want to
do. In my heart, I want to please and obey God
but I end up doing the thing that I hate and sin
anyway! The fact that I'm doing what I don't
want to do, however, proves that I agree with
the Torah and that I know the Torah to be good.
This, furthermore, proves that I am indeed a
regenerate believer, for the unregenerate sinner
is not aware of or is not concerned with his
sin. How dreadful that many within so-called
believing communities flaunt their disobedience
to the Torah calling sinful action good. This
type of thinking would be completely backwards
to Paul, for the Torah remained the standard of
what is good, for it is the Torah itself that
defines what sin is.
17So now, no longer am I the one doing it,
but sin which dwells in me. 18For I know that
nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh;
for the willing is present in me, but the doing
of the good is not. 19For the good that I want,
I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I
do not want. 20But if I am doing the very thing
I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it,
but sin which dwells in me.
Like an irritating rash that makes us want to
scratch, even though we know it will just cause
more irritation, sin dwells in us and causes us
to sin, even though we have been illumined to
consequences of sin. This is not an excuse for
our sin but simply the reality of our situation
as believers still living in our mortal bodies.
In our flesh, that is, in the part of us that
has not been given newness of life from God,
there is nothing good. Here Paul sought to show
that there was an aspect of ourselves that still
needs to be done away with; there's a part of us
that makes us do what our regenerated hearts
don't want to do. For in our regenerated hearts,
there is indeed the willingness to do good and
obey God but, apparently, the part of us that
actually enables towards action is still greatly
bent towards sinning.
21I find then the principle that evil is present
in me, the one who wants to do good. 22For I
joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner
man, 23but I see a different law in the members
of my body, waging war against the law of my
mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin
which is in my members.
Paul found, as all believers come to also
experience, that even though he was one who
wanted to do good, there was in evil present in
him. The reason why he could confidently
describe himself as one who wanted to do good
was because he joyfully concurred with the Torah
of God in his inner man. Rejoicing in agreement
with the Torah is something that was very much a
part of King David's life as well. To David, the
"precepts of the LORD [were] right" and
they rejoiced his heart (cf. Psalm 19:8).
Only when God spiritual revives the heart of a
person can they take delight in the Torah. The
unregenerate sinner's heart is hostile towards
God and his desire is certainly not to submit to
God's Torah (cf. 8:7). Therefore, the
"inner man" refers to the part of us that God's
Spirit has brought to life, equal to the "new
man" terminology used elsewhere by Paul.
Unfortunately, there is a different "law" within
us and it wages war against the "law" of our
minds. The "law" of our minds is the Torah of
God, the instructions of God that the Spirit
writes on our hearts. This war, since it will
not end until we "put on" immortality,
essentially makes us a prisoner to the law of
sin, since we will constantly have to deal with
not being able to freely do what our new, and
now, true nature want to do, which is to obey
God.
24Wretched man that I am! Who will set me
free from the body of this death? 25Thanks be to
God through Yeshua Messiah our Master! So then,
on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving
the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh
the law of sin.
Only a redeemed person would come to view
themselves in such an intense and honest way.
Obviously, Paul referred to the "old man" here,
which as he showed, still exists even after
regeneration. The body of death refers to fact
that we still have our mortal body with a bent
towards sinning. Though the answer to who will
set us free is obvious (Messiah), it's not
always obvious to our emotions that one day, in
the resurrection, we actually will be free from
sin altogether. To recapitulate, Paul stated
that with his "mind" he was serving the Torah of
God but with his "flesh" he served the law of
sin. How should we understand Paul's use of the
words "mind" and "flesh?" It's obvious that Paul
did indeed serve the Torah in action (as the
book of Acts consistently attests), therefore
Paul used the word "mind" here to refer to the
part of us that God has regenerated. In
contrast, the "flesh," as we've seen before,
refers to the part of us that is still bent
towards sinning. Essentially, Paul is simply
summarizing what he had taught all throughout
this passage; there is a war inside of each
believer, with inclinations to do both good and
evil. As believers, we are not obligated to the
flesh but to the Spirit. |
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