Reading Romans

Hey Parents,

I hope you're keeping up with Romans, which your students are studying every Sunday morning.  This last week they hit chapter 7, but let's do a quick recap of what we've read up to this point!

Paul begins Romans by showing the depth of human depravity in chapters 1-3.  He then outlined the hope that we have for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ which in turns leads to peace with God and eternal life in chapters 3-5.  In chapter 6, Paul introduced the imperative for living the Christian life, and in chapter 7 Paul further addresses the reality that while the victory over sin is assured, believers still struggle with it.

Paul developed the idea that sin used the law (the laws that the religious leaders and the Jewish people followed) to seize an opportunity to do its destructive work in people (Romans 7:1-12).  Christians are no longer under the authority of the law - we died to it just as we died to sin through Christ.

We Know What Sin Is (Romans 7:7-12)
As Paul began preaching that we find salvation apart from the law (the Torah, the law of Moses from the OT) he wanted to make sure that no one assumed that the law, in and of itself was evil.  Paul points out that he would not have known sin if it were not for the law.  The law's purpose was to expose sin as sin.  Paul uses the 10th commandment (Do Not Covet) as an illustration or an example to help the readers of his letter understand his point.

Paul also explains how sin saw an opportunity.  The Devil knows how to take God's commands that were given for our good and to twist them into temptations that lead us into sin.  According to Paul, sin would not have this weapon against people apart from the law.

So, ironically the law resulted in death.  This statement doesn't mean that the law was evil in its intent.  The law was meant for life - to show us how to live as God intends.  It did this by marking off sin as sin.  But what the law couldn't do was offer a solution to the sin problem.

So Paul characterized the law as in no way our sin problem but as that which is holy and just and good in verse 12.

The main point we need to take from this is the fact that sin is awful, terrible, horrible and every other adjective you can think up to describe it's destructive power.  Sin is such a powerful force in our lives that it can take things that were meant for our good and can use them to drive us deeper into our sin situation....but there is a remedy and that remedy is Jesus Christ!  In Christ we find the power to die to sin, to die to the Law in the ways in which it has become a hindrance!  Sin is powerful, but our God is greater, our God is stronger and our God is higher than any other!

We Struggle With Sin (Romans 7:13-20)
This next passage has been debated quite a bit as to whether Paul is describing a believer or a non-believer's struggle with sin.  It's been debated that Paul was actually talking about his own personal experience, and if that is the case was it pre-conversion or post-conversion.  I tend to agree with those that say that it seems to strongly favor a description of a believer's stubble with the lingering presence of sin.

Paul starts off by clearing up another question: Was the law in some sense the cause of death?  Paul clearly states, that only SIN was the culprit, not the law.  The law, which shows us the moral picture of who God is, could not be evil!

Ok, so if believers have been freed from sin (the cause of death) and the law is spiritual, then why do we still struggle with sin?  Here's the kicker that Paul shares in verse 14 - we still stubble with sin as believers because we are still made out of flesh.  In Christ, our inner, spiritual nature has been redeemed and made alive, but we also still exist in our fleshly nature.  This is the part of us that still struggles's with sin's power.

As believers we face that confusing and frustrating reality in which despite our best efforts sometimes, we fail to live for God as we want to do and instead we do the things we hate and know are unhealthy for us. Our "want-to's" are lined up with God's word, but our fleshly nature still tugs us toward sin.

But in verse 17, we find some encouragement!  Paul states that to struggle against sin also serves to confirm a believer's salvation is genuine.  A lot of people who don't know Jesus might just live as good citizens by obeying the nation's civil laws, but they don't struggle against sin.  There are still in bondage to sin and are spiritually dead.  The believer on the other hand, can truthfully say, "I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me."

So we see that the struggle believers have against sin is caused by the continuing influence of sin through the fleshly nature.  We have the desire to do what is good, but not the ability.  These can be described as a believer's spiritual "growing pains."

We Have Victory Over Sin (Romans 7:21-25)
Alright so at this point, a believer might need to be in desperate need of a pep talk after chapters 6 and 7 and Paul closes out chapter 7 with a quick word of encouragement which leads into an extended message of hope in chapter 8!

As Paul closes out chapter 7 he explains how he had to come to understand, just as we do, that the Christians life was not automatic moral perfection but rather a struggle between on'e desire to do what is good and the continuing reality of evil.

There are 2 competing laws at work constantly in believers' lives.  One is God's law, which we as Christians joyfully agree with in our heart of hearts.  We know it is perfect, holy and more desirable than any treasure (Psalms 19:7-11).  But there's a different law that still holds sway in our fleshly nature.  The result of these two laws working at odds in the believer in nothing less than spiritual warfare.

Two opposing principles will always be at work in believers as long as we are in the flesh.  However, because of Jesus' death and resurrection we now can live without fear of condemnation and in the power of the Spirit.  We can always depend on God to help us against sin and give us victory over it!

This next Sunday we'll be studying Chapter 8, so read it this week!

Heffe