Studies in Romans

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SUMMARY OF CONTENTS:OPENING REMARKS: 1:1-17BAD NEWS : Universality of sin and its condemnation 1:18 - 3:20GOOD NEWS : A gospel that changes our relationship to God 3:21- 5:21HOW TO GROW AS A CHRISTIAN : 6:1- 8-39

Sanctification 6:1-23 Union with Christ and its implications The Place of the Law 7:1-25 Freedom from the Law 7:1-6 The sinner’s relation to God’s law 7:7-13 The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

Life in the Spirit 8:1-39A SHORT DETOUR : Questions concerning Israel 9:1-11:36HOW A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO LIVE : 12:1-15:13

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Studies in RomansThe Place of the Law

Part 2Chap. 7v1-25

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Having rehabilitated the law, Paul, describes a conflict experience with it climaxing in the anguished cry of v24 'O wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of sin?'. The tension in described between being in Christ and in the flesh. A remnant of sinful flesh still clings to the new man that God has made us. Like sediment at the bottom of a bottle. Because we are still living in bodies that belong to a fallen creation our salvation remains incomplete until we take delivery of new glorified bodies. Paul's callshimself carnal/ unspiritual making it hard for some to understand he refers to his present Christian experience.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The contradiction in the believer 7:14-251. Who is the “wretched man” in v24?

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The Christian belongs to two different worlds.

In Christ In the FleshUnited to Christ.. Hence a new nature. Producing new longings, desires and aspirations.

This life is everlasting and we have access to this life now!

This new life is lived out in the environment of the old sinful order.. Our bodies still give house room to the remnants of the old sinful nature, the men and women we once were.

As yet we do not live in redeemed bodies in a redeemed creation.

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The struggle in these verses has to do with our relationship to the law. However, Paul wants to remind us that this struggle is with the dregs of his old sinful nature that remain inside the new man God has made us and is an ongoing struggle. In other words while on this earth our salvation remains incomplete.

We glory in the truth of our union with Christ, and in the fact that sin is no longer a ruling principle in our lives, but yet we still fall into sin.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

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Though sin and grace were never born together, and though they shall not die together, yet while the

believer lives, these two must live together; and this

keeps us humble.

Paul knew that there was a time when he was exclusively a sinner, and there would be a time when he would be exclusively a saint, but as he writes he is living out the tension of being a sinner-saint. Commenting on this state of affairs Thomas Brooks a Christian of an earlier generation wrote :

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

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Paul's cry in v15, ‘I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do’, reflects the perplexity experienced by other Christians. Augustine wrote, “I have become a puzzle to myself.” He like Paul knew that obedience to the law should express his love towards God. But like Paul, when he examined his practice, he could not understand his failure - his inconsistent Christian experience.

The Christian throughout life on earth will see himself as a puzzle, as a transgressor of God's law involver in a daily battle. Why? 'the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit'. Gal 5:17

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

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When we become Christians we become more sensitive to sin and as we grow in our faith and draw nearer to God who is light, then our sin becomes uglier to us.

But more than this needs to be said to explain Paul’s predicament.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

2. Understanding the Struggle.

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Sin is a squatter living where it does not belong. Paul traces his problem to its source cf. v17, ‘It is no longer I but sin living in me.’

It may appear that Paul is trying to abdicate responsibility by finding a clearinghouse for his sin. But in actual fact he is doing no more than indicating the presence of an unwelcome intruder, a wicked squatter, who makes it impossible for him to behave as he wants.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

3. Tracing Sin to its Source.

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Paul recognises the practical importance of identifying the presence of the squatter which is the remnants of the sinful flesh that cling to the new man God has made him. Christians, who have failed to trace sin to its source, have experienced much unnecessary distress. They have wrongly concluded that the presence of indwelling sin proves they are not Christians.

New man In

Christ

Theman I once

was.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

4. Paul is not a Schizophrenic

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In v21Paul seems to personify evil. He describes 'evil lying close at hand'. He is saying, 'I am under constant surveillance. There is an enemy who lies in wait to frustrate all my good intentions'. Cf Gen 4.7.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

5. The Personification of Evil

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In his inner beingIn the depths of the new man that he has become through union to Christ, he delights in God’s law.

In his bodily membersThe squatter or the remnants of our fallen nature ensures that our bodies, not yet in harmony with the new man that God has made us, opposes what is pure and good and true.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

6. There are Two Contrary Laws at Work

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These two opposing laws result in warfare. So that v24 is the cry of distress of the man who realises that he is not living in complete harmony with God's will. He longs to be rescued from his body of death, i.e. from his body in its present condition. Who can bring about the deliverance he longs for?

Christ is able to deliver. His people’s deliverance will be complete when he returns, for then his people will be given a redeemed body.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

7. He Carries around the Body of Death.

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But there is also an interim deliverance that takes place progressively, though never finally, in the life of the believer down here. The Christian lives his life in a tension but it is not an equal tension, for the new life of Jesus in his heart is stronger than the remnants of sinful flesh that cling to him. Each victory that the Christian experiences brings him greater assurance that ultimate victory will be his.

How to Grow as a ChristianThe Place of the Law : 7:1-25The contradiction in the believer 7:14-25

8. The New Life of Jesus is Stronger

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