There is a popular meme on social media these days that
simply says “the struggle is real.” It is something that people say/post when
they are faced with a frustration, inconvenience, or difficulty. It is an
acknowledgment of stress and a recognition of effort that is required to
overcome an obstacle or circumvent an issue. Interestingly, I imagine many of
the reformers embracing this little maxim—the struggle is real. For many in the
reformation, especially Martin Luther, they understood their conflict with sin
and growth in Christ-likeness as something of a real test and struggle. In
fact, Paul agrees when he says,
Philippians 2:12-“So then, my beloved, just as you have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling;”
2 Corinthians 7:1-“Therefore, having these
promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Romans 8:13-“for if you are living according to the
flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death
the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Growing in Christ is a real struggle in the midst of this
world and our natural tendencies, so much so that Paul devotes an entire chapter
in Romans to this topic. Today we begin part 1 of an important series entitled—“The
Struggle is real”—in which we will acknowledge the struggle that is sanctification
and learn how, in God’s grace, we can endure to the end while growing in
Christ-likeness. Today we will look at two elements of Paul’s teaching
concerning one’s struggle with the law in Romans 7:1-6.
a. The Illustration
of a Widow- 7:1-3
In Romans 7, Paul moves from his explanation of salvation
past—justification—to his delineation of salvation present—sanctification
(growing more like Christ). In chapter 8, Paul will deal with the promise of
salvation future—glorification. However, this middle phase or second step in
the salvation process will preoccupy the next few weeks as we examine what we
are calling the struggle and, as the title of this mini-series makes clear, the
struggle is real. The struggle is real because there are many things that
either stand in our way or distract us from endorsing phase 2 (sanctification) rightly
and growing more like Christ. Today we are going to look at the first of three
hurdles that all must scale in order to grow in Christ well—the Law.
Paul begins his discussion in verse 1 when he asks, “Or 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?” In a comment on Paul’s opening line, one
commentator has said, “Paul puts his arm around the Roman Christians in order
to draw as near to them as possible with the great assurance that the justified
are, indeed, delivered from the law” (Lenski 1945:443). This, Paul does, by
referring to his audience as brothers. Paul, like the religious Jews and those
who admired them, knows how big a struggle the law is. After all, Paul is a
Jew’s Jew and was a law-embracer himself. The law was attractive to many as it
gave them a means to keep score, compare themselves to others, and check off
requirements. Like many today, measured tangible practices are preferred over
real spiritual maturation. Therefore, in his instructions to those listening,
Paul demonstrates his familiarity with their struggle and states “The law has
jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives.”
But why is this a struggle? How does the law potentially
keep someone from growing more like Jesus? Because the law is a condemning
master. The verb for “has jurisdiction” means “to be master of” or “to
dominate.” While all masters are not bad, the law only has the power to point
out sin and prescribe punishment.
Galatians 3:22-24-“But the Scripture has shut
up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might
be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody
under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be
revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to
Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”
The law, which is master over everyone is only capable of
exposing flaws and condemnation. Though for many, this led to legalism and an
unnatural pursuit of moral perfection in one’s own strength, the law was
designed to frustrate people so that they might give up trying to be holy and
lean on someone else entirely—Jesus Christ. Until then, the law hangs over
people as an unforgiving master—“as long as he lives” (7:1).
If this is complicated, Paul provides some clarification by
means of an analogy—marriage. He says in verse 2, “For the married woman is
bound by the law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies,
she is released from the law concerning the husband.” Before people are tempted
to draw all kinds of conclusions about marriage and divorce from this passage,
remember what Paul is ultimately discussing here—the law and the struggle
thereof. The word “law” (nomoV) is used
no less than three times in verses 2-3 and eight times in verses 1-6. “The
topic of Paul’s discussion is the law, and marriage is simply an illustration
of its lifelong nature” (Osborne, 2004:168). After all, does not a married
couple intended to “belong to” each other “until death do them part?”
Like the bond of marriage, which is designed to only be
broken by death, people are bound to the law until the death.
Paul continues his explanation by saying, “so then, if while
her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an
adulteress” (7:3a). Once married, the woman’s allegiance is to her husband and
the husband to his wife. Transgressing that exclusivity results in adultery.
Similarly, people cannot be joined to the law and Christ simultaneously. One
cannot have two lords and/or masters. Other verses make this case in varying
ways.
Luke 16:13-“No servant can serve two masters; for
either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to
one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
James 1:5-8-“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let
him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach,
and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without
any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven
and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive
anything from the Lord, being a double-minded
man, unstable in all his ways.”
In all of these contexts it is made abundantly clear that
one cannot be beholden to more than two rulers simultaneously. This includes
one’s allegiance to the law and ones allegiance to Christ. As long as one is
married to the law he cannot grow, he can only be condemned. This is a real
problem as everyone who is born is born married to this system of the law and condemned
in his/her sin. The law is a struggle and the struggle is real.
However, there is an out—a pretty radical one at that—that
makes freedom from the law possible and potential growth in Christ
expected—“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” (7:3b).
b. The Revelation of
One’s freedom from the Law-7:4-6
Just as death severs a marriage bond and frees a woman/man
to remarry someone else, so too does Christ’s death sever the bond between
people and the condemnation of the law –that is potentially for all who
believe. Those who died with Christ in his death and have been raised in his
resurrection are freed from the law and awakened to a new master and new
possibilities for growth in Christ as realized in what is called
“sanctification.”
“Therefore, my
brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ”
(7:4a). Part of overcoming the struggle of the law involves recognizing that
Christ’s death has freed one from the condemnation of the law, making it
possible to grow and develop in the Lord.
In the marriage to the law equation, the law must not die (after
all, Jesus said that not a jot or title shall depart from it until all is accomplished
in Matthew 5:18), we must die and in Christ this death can be facilitated.
Romans 6:5ff-“For if we have become united
with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also
be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing
this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in
order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would
no longer be slaves to sin; For he who has died is freed from sin. Now if
we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him”
This is what Paul means when he says “so that you might be
joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead” (7:4b).
Have you ever stopped to consider how much your
relationships in general and your marriage in particular affects who you are
and what you do? I can say with great certainty that I have changed a great
deal because of my relationship with my wife. She has softened some of my rough
edges and changed my perspective on a many things. In fact, I’d say, next to
Jesus, she has been quite a sanctifying agent in my life. The same is true,
albeit on an infinitely greater level with one’s relationship with Christ.
Because of the believer’s relationship with Jesus, they, like Him, have risen
life from the dead and that same power to help them grow in His likeness. It is
one of the many benefits of the believer’s marriage to Jesus.
What results from this new marriage? What is yielded from
growing in Christ (sanctification)? The answer is in the purpose clause of
verse 4 “in order that we might bear fruit for God” (7:4c). While the law only
brought us the knowledge of our need, Jesus brings us the opportunity to be
productive. Something meaningful, something refreshing, something eternal is
yielded from the lives of those who have been joined to Jesus and are growing
in Him. This is what Paul means when he speaks of fruit. The apostles John
echoes these truths in his gospel.
John 15:1-5-“I am the true vine, and My Father is
the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He
takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes
it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of
the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so
neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are
the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for
apart from Me you can do nothing.”
This life-giving, eternal fruit yielded in sanctification is
far greater than what was produced in one’s relationship to the law before.
Paul continues in verse 5 and says “For 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” (7:5). In other words, the law for sinners only
brings about the knowledge of sin and condemns them to their much-deserved
death. Thankfully, there is a better system.
“…But now [Paul
continues] 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,…” (7:6). The believer’s death “in Christ” and subsequent resurrection
affords him the opportunity to break ties with the law and live in the newness of
the Spirit. Such living is indicative of the sanctified life—a life that seeks
to grow more like Jesus, abiding in Him, bearing eternal fruit.
So What?
The law is a struggle. Adherence to codes and measuring
ourselves against the next person by means of a set of objectives is tempting
for all of us who were born into sin and made to live under the law from our
birth. However, we must realize, as Paul explains here, that living in this way
only brings about condemnation and death. What is needed is a new system
characteristic of a marriage more than a tutor. This comes through Jesus Christ.
His death and our death in Him through faith, has broken our subjection to the oppressive
law and makes it possible for us to marry a far better suitor. Relationship
with Him yields fruit, not guilt and leads to life, not death. Believers must
understand that the process of sanctification is predicated on this change of allegiance.
One cannot be sanctified or grow in Christ if he/she is still living under the
law. Instead, he/she must be married to Jesus, filled with His spirit, and
capable to bearing lasting fruit. The struggle is real, but praise be to God
that it is not overwhelming. It can be circumvented in Christ.
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