{Set Free to Walk in Newness of Life}

In Romans 7 Paul is going to continue to remind the Beloved of their new position in Christ. He is going to use the analogy of marriage to guide us to an understanding of what God in Christ has accomplished for us. In Romans 6:3 Paul asked this question, “Do You Not Know?” Again in Romans 7:1 he asks, “Do you not know?” Galatians 5:1 teaches;

It is for freedom that Christ set you free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

 

 

I am tired of the yoke of slavery! How about you? There should  be evident joy in our salvation, knowing that we have been set free from the ties that bound us. Through Jesus Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin or to the Law! We have been set free to walk in newness of life.

There is a thread that paul has used to connect chapters 6 and 7. That thread is freedom! In Romans 6 he teaches that those who have died with Christ Jesus have been set free from sin. The power that sin once had over us has been buried. In Romans 7 he is going to pick up with the same teaching of freedom but this time, he is going to teach that those who have died in Christ are freed from the Law.  Notice that the thread is always connected to Christ. We cannot be allowed to think it was a work of the flesh.

I am Speaking in Human terms

In Romans 7:1 Paul is speaking to those who know the Law. He is speaking in human terms so that they/we can easily understand. He indicates that our flesh is weak. {Romans 6:19} In Romans 6:19 he used the analogy of slaves to teach death to sin and in Romans 7:1-3 he will use the analogy of marriage to teach death to the law.  He uses these analogies to accommodate our humanness. Because of our humanness, we find it difficult to grasp the spiritual.

as Long as he lives

The Law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives. For 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. So 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.Romans 7:1-3

The Law says that as long as the married woman’s husband is living she is bound to him. If the woman marries another man while she is still bound or married to her husband she is called an adulteress. It is against the Law to be married to more than one person at a time. But if the husband dies she is released from the law concerning the husband.

The Law says you are bound to me. I have jurisdiction over you, I rule you, I have dominion over you. But if we were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ you are no longer held in its custody. It no longer has the control that it once had. We are no longer joined to it.

Made to Die

Therefore, my  brethren, 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. Romans 7:4

As long as we were living in the flesh under the control of the evil one and the bondage of the Law we could not be joined to Christ. In a point of time, those who were held in custody under the law were by God made, through the death of Christ, to die to that Law. So through the mercy and the workings of God through Christ, He made us die to the Law.  We are no longer joined to the Law. The believer is released from the wrath and control of the Law into the Grace and protection of Christ!

We are set free to walk in newness of life in the Spirit. Praise God for the freedom that we have in Christ. We need to continue to read and meditate on the word of God to renew our minds.  As God renews our minds we will walk more and more in the freedom that is ours in Christ Jesus!

Please download your free copy of my Romans Bible Study. 25 lessons that walk you through the first 7 chapters of Romans.

Click on link for PDF Copy: Romans Bible Study book 1