September 27, 2026, Morning Service
Free From The Law
Pastor Greg Isom
Paul has thrown a whole lot of things at us in chapters 5 and 6 of his letter to the Romans. I love all that he has shown us about being justified by faith, entering into grace, dying out to ourselves in the waters of baptism, being set free from sin, and becoming slaves of righteousness. As we begin chapter 7, Paul anticipates the next question that will logically arise. What part does the law of Moses play in the life of a New Covenant believer? This is was a very divisive issue especially with the Jewish Christians, but it also needed to be dealt with for the sake of the Gentiles. In chapter 6, Paul had clearly shown that our spiritual death in the waters of baptism had broken the hold sin had on each of our lives. Dying out to our old former selves allowed us to arise and walk in the newness of life. Here he is going to show us the same is true with those who are bound to the law. It will help us to understand what he is saying if we look at the law as a covenant (contract) God had established with His people. He starts with an example we all understand to teach us a deeper truth.
Romans 7:1-3 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? (2) For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. (3) So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.
We understand in God’s law, as well as the law of the land, the covenant of marriage is designed to last a lifetime; “until death do we part.” At that point we know the remaining spouse is no longer bound to their marriage vows, but freed form them to marry another if they so choose. The law no longer has any control over a person who has died. Paul now builds upon that truth that we know and understand.
Romans 7:4-6 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. (5) For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. (6) But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
Paul now refers back to the previous principle of death freeing someone from the marriage covenant and applies that principle to Christians being under the law. Our spiritual death in the waters of baptism frees us from both power of sin and the power of the law. Our death now allows us to have a new start and to marry another, Christ Jesus, entering into a new covenant with Him. We now are not bound to a set of rules and regulations, but are free to give Him our heart and begin to “bear fruit to God.” We allow God to change us from the inside out because of our love, gratitude and commitment to Him, no longer being driven by fear or a sense of duty. This again shows changing the “why” behind the “what” we do. Paul tells us we have been set free so “that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit.” “Anyone in Christ is a new creation, old things have passed away and all things have become new.” (2Cor 5:17) Our spiritual marriage to Christ places us into a new status with God moving from slaves to family and our service from duty to love. Paul clarifies deeper:
Romans 7:7-9 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” (8) But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. (9) I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
The law itself is not sinful, it only defined sin for us. In defining sin, it also magnified our guilt creating death within us not life. The law fulfilled its purpose to show us that we are sinners, but also revealed to us how helpless we are to live it out to perfection and justify ourselves. It showed us the problem, but left us with no real answer on how to overcome it. Paul explains:
Romans 7:10-13 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. (11) For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. (12) Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. (13) Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
Paul shows us that the law and the commandments are “holy, just and good,” so then how does it bring death to us? It shines a light on our sin and our sinfulness and shows us that rebellion is a part of our nature just as we are told not to do something, we become obsessed to do it! (Adam/Eve) Rather than focusing on all the good the law has, people focus more on what it limits us from. Paul now becomes very transparent with us. He reveals his own struggles showing us that none of us are exempt from the temptation to sin.
Romans 7:14-22 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. (15) For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (16) If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. (17) But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. (18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. (19) For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. (20) Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. (21) I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. (22) For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
When we slow down and really try to catch what Paul is pitching to us it is incredible! A man with perhaps the greatest redemption story of anyone being called by God, a persecutor of the church becoming a pillar within it, admitting to us that he struggles with doing the right things. Think about that. Paul has the same identical struggles that I do when it comes to choosing to do the right things or not to do the wrong things. How awesome is that for him to be so transparent with us here! I am not the only one who has those struggles. My enemy wants me to believe that I am uniquely evil and unworthy, but Paul here openly shares with me that he is in the same boat I am when it comes to these struggles. None of us are exempt from the power of the sin nature within us. We must be aware of the fact that we are vulnerable to fall at any time. Paul wrote this to the Corinthian church speaking of the events of the OT and the record of their struggles:
1Co 10:11-13 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (12) Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. (13) No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Paul show us first that we are to learn from all the OT events of failures and successes. We are given them not for our enjoyment, but for our admonition or warning. He next calls us to always be on guard because at the very time we think we are above falling, we will fall. Have you been there and fallen as I have? It is indeed a very humbling thing to find yourself in a situation you never would have dreamed could have happened.
Thirdly, is the point that ties with our Romans text in that all temptations are not unique to us only, but “such is common to man.” Our enemy shows no partiality with any of us, he will tempt us all with everything he has in his tool bag to cause us to fall. We are all vulnerable to the same temptations and just when we think we are not, trouble will come. Notice finally though, he gives us a promise that I have stood on many times in my life. “God is faithful” and will protect us from being tempted and tested beyond what we are able to bear. He will make a path for us to escape and the perseverance to be an overcomer in all that comes our way. God said it, we need to believe it and walk according to it. Trials will come, but He will never allow more than we can bear to come against us.