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Law and Grace What a difficult chapter the seventh of Romans is to many. Then again there are some Christians, the minority perhaps, who are not bothered with it at all and would seem to be quite happy if it were not there. But it is necessary, it is fundamental and rightly understood is certainly most precious. However, I ought to say at the beginning that there are different views on this chapter. I can only give my own view which amounts to a firm conviction, and which can be summed up in this way. The personal pronouns of verses 7 to 25 are convincing enough to show that Paul is referring to himself. But at what time. Well it couldn't have been before his conversion on the Damascus Road. For then he was a godly Jew, keeping the law blamelessly, at least so he thought. (Phil.3.6) With his conversion his eyes were opened to see that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world. And so, zealot that he was, he straightway says "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? ln other words, having been made free in one sense by beholding the Great Sin-offering, he now wanted to serve his new Master by doing good works. But Paul had yet to learn the very painful lesson of deliverance from law in addition to deliverance from sin. Not only that he had a body prone to sin, but that in that body dwelt no good thing. Such knowledge, I suggest, could not have been a momentary attainment, as was his conversion, but only achieved by experience over a length of time, possibly during one of those periods mentioned in Galatians. What I do know is that insofar as I could say every one of these particular verses and apply them to myself, then I do know where the experience occurred and no doubt you can say the same. It reminds me too of the words of that inimitable Christian of bygone days, John Bunyan who, recounting his experience of the "Slough of Despond" in his book "Grace abounding" could say that he "did greatly long to see some ancient godly man's experience who had writ some hundreds of years before I was born" until Martin Luther's Commentary on the Galatians was put into his hand of which he says "When I had but a little way perused, I found my condition, in his experience so largely and profoundly handled, as if his Book had been written out of my own heart". Doubtless one could say the same about the 7th of Romans. It follows, therefore, as a somewhat sobering fact that were it not for the presence, in our own make-up, of that which is so clearly portrayed in this chapter itself, there would probably have been no reed for it at all, one could go straight on to Chapter 8 and enjoy all that God had purposed that we should enjoy anyway. But such is man. To illustrate the doctrine Paul uses the picture of the marriage relationship, the woman being bound to her husband by the law as long as the husband lives. So with the believer, he cannot get away from the law, with its "do this" or "don't do this" by his own efforts, and one who is striving to do so is only in complete bondage. Neither will the law itself die for it will operate we are told in Matt.5.18 "till all (things) be accomplished" (Diaglott). The Apostle likens the believers at Rome, and of course elsewhere, to the woman and if they ask "How do we die to law" in verse 4 he answers "You were put to death to the law through the body of Christ, in order that you may belong (become) to another"*. And the word for "another" is "heteros" which means another of a different kind not another of the same kind, and refers of course to Christ. In the previous chapter verse 7 he has already said that one who dies is justified (or "freed from sin") now he is saying the same thing about the law, you are made free from it. It is all a question of reckoning. For both sin and the law have resulted in death—the death of Christ and by reckoning ourselves to have died when he died we are made free from both to serve "in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of the letter" as it says in verse 6 (Rom.7). So Paul covers the doctrine in these first 6 verses. From verse 7 he considers its implications using his own experience to illustrate. He first meets and answers a question which is sure to follow from his pronouncements, namely "Is the law sin?". Of course not. But it gave the knowledge of sin in the individual, and as it says in Galatians "It was added because of transgressions". Let us make no mistake, if all is out of God, and it is, then God gave the law knowing full well that man could not keep it, but it has proved and will continue to prove that the whole world is guilty before God. Paul tells us that he would have had no knowledge of sin if the law had not said "Thou shalt not covet", and the word means desire, lust, covet or yearning. Now some have found this very difficult, but it should not be forgotten that it needed the Holy Spirit of God to shine into Paul's heart to give the knowledge of this. But I am sure that only let a believer say that from now on I will not desire anything whatsoever, he would break that law within a very short space of time, if not by act then by the very desire itself. It is like man's boasted so-called free will. Man hasn't got free will. He goes on to say in the 14th verse that the law is spiritual but because he is carnal or fleshly then he is sold under sin, sin takes charge and brings forth death. The explanation is given in verses 15 to 23. They are explicit in themselves, as it says "For what I do, I do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do. But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law, and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin which has its home within me does them. For I know that in me, that is, in my lower self, nothing good has its home; for while the will to do right is present with me, the power to carry it out is not. For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do; but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I constantly do. But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it. I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me. For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God; but I discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body—the Law of sin." (Weymouth). Now all this shows a condition of absolute helplessness and desolation as he exclaims "O wretched man that I am, who (or what,) will rescue me out of this body of death"*. And then, having reached that point, deliverance comes. Not law, but GRACE. "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."(v.25) This is the point all believers have to come to, when we trust Christ to do all which we could not do by trying to keep the law. The mature Christian is at rest, trusting in the work of Christ who has been made unto him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He can say "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God." The man of the world is full of confidence‑confidence in his achievements, what he has done or can do. Paul had none as he says in Phil.3.3 and neither should we, our confidence is in Him for all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him, Amen. Oh! what a blessed transition it is from the 7th to the 8th Chapter of Romans. For here we tread the ground of resurrection, beyond the reach of anything to which the judgement of God applied. As Paul shows in the 2nd verse the end result of sin is death, what he had previously said in the last verse of chapter 6 but by the Spirit of God dwelling in us this gives the realization of the fact that we have been made free from that law and can now rejoice in the more abundant life that we have in Christ Jesus. We were too weak to keep the law, but the Strong One came, subjected himself to that law and died under it and so we, taking our place with Him in His death can also follow through and partake of his resurrection too. The words "Not according to flesh are they walking but according to spirit" at the end of the first verse should be omitted, their proper place is at the end of verse 4. (Diaglott) Paul goes on to show that the real conflict is now between the flesh and the Spirit and the more the believer seeks to walk in the Spirit (that is exercising the truth which is ours as being in Christ Jesus) the more constant the enjoyment of victory. Romans 8.9 says, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Now some believers have wondered whether or not they have the Spirit because of the use of the word 'if'. They only have to read Gal.3.2 "Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith" or Eph.1.13 "After...ye believed ye were sealed…" to realize that they have and that the words are applied to any "man". In God's sight the believer is not in the flesh but in the spirit, the life inherited from Adam reckoned as dead and finished with and the Spirit life because of righteousness. The practical result of having the Spirit is that it takes away all fear. We are no longer in such bondage, for fear, John tells us causes pain and torment, but perfect loves drives away fear and if a man gives way to fear there is something imperfect in his love. Of course it doesn't mean to say that we should never experience fear, because it can give us warning of danger, but it should be treated as a watch-dog and kept outside the door of our hearts. This Spirit of God within us is a spirit of adoption as sons so that the cry of "Abba Father" comes naturally to us as it did to our Saviour, for we are joint heirs with him and if we suffer with him we shall be sharers in His glory. But until that glory comes we are in the midst of a groaning creation, and furthermore because of the weakness and frailty of our earthly bodies we too are part of it. The press, radio, television and many other things all join together to proclaim the sad and undeniable fact that the effects of the curse are still with us, and I need hardly add that not only man is in this sad condition but the animal world and, in fact, all creation as it says. Let us not overlook the very important fact stated in verse 20 too, that the "creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope". If words mean anything this surely speaks of the fact that our great God Himself was the originator and Architect of the whole great and wonderful plan of redemption. How often we have read the words of verses 26 to 28 and found them sweet to our taste. Dwelling in us the Holy Spirit pleads for us in the midst of the misery around and within by groans which cannot find audible expression. Is it not a manifest token that it is the same spirit that was in our Lord Himself when he groaned in spirit at the grave of Lazarus? All this shows us that He is not unmindful of our sufferings and perplexities for they are part of the all things which He is allowing to work together for our good, because we love God and are the called according to His purpose. Only let us believe all this and the blessing and comfort will follow, for God has foreknown all His children, and predestinated them to be conformed to the image of His Son. He has spoken it and He will do it. Verse 31. What, then shall we say to these things. Yes, what? It is so marvellous, for if God is for us who can be against us? Who can condemn us, Who can separate us from the love of Christ? And the answer is no one, or nothing. For even though there be tribulation or persecution etc…even in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Yes, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In conclusion I would just like to say that if there is one thing which I have learned from the Companion Bible is the value it places on the marvellous structure of Scripture as a means to a correct understanding. It may not always be easily seen, but in the case of this 8th Chapter of Romans it is most clear. At the beginning we have no condemnation, next to the beginning and the end the question of sonship, next again the Spirit bearing witness or interceding and finally in the middle suffering and glory and the manifestation of the Sons of God. Surely this one more link in the chain of proofs giving weighted testimony to the fact that this Book is indeed the Word of God far beyond the mind of man to conceive. Grace Reigns JS |
