According to the apostle Paul every person has a choice – To bear fruit to God or to bear fruit to death.
“Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our member to bear fruit to death” (Romans 7:4, 5, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some observations:
1. Paul was writing to the Christians (called to be saints) in Rome (Romans 1:7). He called them “my brethren”. Yet some of them were still not “dead to the law” and still lived in the flesh – a legalistic “Christian” life. They failed to understand that “a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16).
2. When a person is united (married) to Christ, sharing His life and walking “in newness of life” (Romans 6:4) he would bear fruit to God. This is only possible if a person is dead to the law. Every true Christian is dead to the law and so bears fruit to God.
3. When a person is still in the flesh (with a corrupt nature of an unsaved person) he is living the old life of sin. As a result he would bear fruit to death. Therefore he is not a true Christian.
4. There is a close relationship between righteousness and life; sin and death.
Paul put it this way, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).
“The righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit”
5. To walk according to the flesh is to walk according to the law. Therefore to walk according to the law would bear fruit to death.
6. Sin is aroused by the law and therefore no one could obtain righteousness through the law.
The Ministry and Functions of the Law (Romans 7:7 – 13)
In Paul’s time new converts were asking, “What good is the Law if we don’t need it any more?”
Roman 7:7 – 13 is Paul’s answer. Many other Scripture verses also support Paul’s explanations.
1. The Law reveals sin (Romans 7:7)
“Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20, NKJV, emphasis added).
“…. For where there is no law there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15).
The Ten Commandments are part of the Law. The last of the Ten Commandments concerns “covetousness” – “You shall not covet …” (Exodus 20:17) which differs from the other nine Commandments that it is an inward attitude and not an outward action. Covetousness leads to the breaking of the other commandments. It is an insidious sin that most people never recognize in their own lives, but God’s Law reveals it.
A perfect example of the use of the Law to reveal sin and show a man’s need for a savior is the story of the Rich Young Ruler (Mark 10:17 – 22). The young man was morally right outwardly, but he had never faced the sins within. When Jesus told him to sell his goods and give to the pour, the man went away in great sorrow. The Commandment “You shall not covet” had revealed to him what a sinner he really was! Instead of admitting his sin, he rejected Christ and went away unconverted.
2. The Law arouses sin (Romans 7:8, 9)
Paul, a devout Pharisee was seeking righteousness by obeying the Law before his encounter with Jesus.
But, after his conversion he said, “… that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; …” (Philippians 3:8, 9).
Paul also said, “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law” (2 Cor. 15:56).
In other words, the law gives strength to sin or the law arouses sin. We are born with a sinful nature and the natural tendency of everyone is to disobey any given law. Something in the fallen human nature wants to rebel whenever a law is given. Here is an illustration:
A mother was telling her little girl not to touch her lipstick when she is away. But the moment the mother was not around the first thing the little girl wanted to do was to mess herself up with her mother’s lipstick! The sinful desire in the little girl was aroused by the law of her mother!
3. The Law kills (Romans 7:10, 11)
The Law kills and cannot give life; it can only show the sinner that he is guilty and condemned:
Paul said, “For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law” (Gal. 3:21).
This explains why legalistic Christians and local Churches do not grow and bear spiritual fruit. Churchgoers are living by their own man-made laws and standard which make them feel guilty and condemned when they break their own laws!
Paul said, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Gal. 5:18).
So, if a Christian finds himself under the law, the Spirit takes no part in his Christian walk!
There are many Pastors and Preachers who preach their sermons based on books of human philosophies and psychology and wisdom of men. The Internet is full of doubtful Christian materials. We have no lack of information, but what the Church lacks is revelation! If we are not careful we will start to follow a human leader or a “great man of God” and accept his teachings as law. This practice is a very subtle form of legalism, and it kills spiritual growth. No human teacher can take the place of Christ; no book can take the place of the Bible. Men can give us information, but only the Spirit of God can give us illumination and help us understand spiritual truths.
4. The Law shows the sinfulness of sin (Romans 7:12, 13)
Unsaved people and the so-called Christians know that there is such a thing as sin; but they do not realize the sinfulness of sin or the true nature of sin. We excuse our sins with words like “mistakes” or “weaknesses”. But God condemns our sins and tries to get us to see that they are “exceedingly sinful” (Verse 13). Until we realize how wicked sin really is, we will never want to oppose it and live in victory.
Paul’s conclusion is the Law is not sinful – it is holy, just, good and spiritual. The problem is not with the Law; the problem is with our sinful nature!
What the Law fails to do (Romans 7:14 – 25)
Having explained what the Law is supposed to do, Paul went on to explain what the Law cannot do.
1. The Law cannot change us (Romans 7:14)
Paul said the Law is “spiritual” because it deals with the inner man, the heart of man or the spiritual part of man.
We must not forget that in the original giving of the Law in Exodus, the emphasis was on the outward actions. But when Moses restated the Law in Deuteronomy, he emphasized the inner quality of the Law as it relates to man’s heart. This spiritual emphasis is stated clearly in Deuteronomy 10:12 – 13 by the use of the word “love”.
Our old nature is fleshly or carnal; but the Law’s nature is spiritual. This explains why the old nature respond as it does to the Law. Someone has said, “The old nature knows no Law, the new nature needs no Law”. The Law cannot transform the old nature; it can only reveal how sinful that old nature is. The believer who tries to live under Law will only activate the old nature; he will not eradicate it.
2. The Law cannot enable us to do good (Romans 7:15 – 21)
Paul repeatedly said that because of sin which dwells in our old nature we are not able to do the good that we want to do; but to do the evil that we do not want to do.
Paul was saying that of himself he could not obey God’s Law; and that even when he did, evil was still present with him. No matter what he did, his deeds were tainted by sin.
The truth is, it impossible for us to obey the Law because we have a sinful nature that rebels against the Law. Even if we think we have done good, we know that evil is present. The Law is good, but by nature, we are bad!
3. The Law cannot set us free (Romans 7:21 – 24)
The believer has an old nature that wants to keep him in the bondage of sin. He tries to overcome his old nature with the Law, but the Law cannot deliver him from the old nature.
The fact is that the inward man may delight in the Law of God:
“Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it” (Psalm 119:35).
But, the old nature delights in breaking the Law of God!
That is the reason why Paul said, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death” (Romans 7:24).
What could be more wretched than exerting all our energy and effort to try to live a godly and blameless life, only to discover that the best we can do is still not good enough?
The Way out
Deliverance comes in Roman 8:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1, NKJV, emphasis added).
Those who are “in Christ Jesus” are true Christians who “walk according to the Spirit”.
“And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:24, 25).
In other words, those who are still in the flesh do not belong to Christ!
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