We have arrived at the turning point of humanity's greatest resistance to GOD's program of Grace verses the Law of self works, as expressed by Paul, in his using of himself to reveal the struggle that he had within himself. Not knowing the story of the prodigal son. He starts this off like any good lawyer would do by presenting the case of what he believed that Christ accomplished and then working foreword by using himself, to drive his point home. he starts by using the figure of a wife loosing her husband, as the means of separation of the Law from the flesh, to get the ball rolling. All of this is because he began with the Law of Moses as the most pressing of issues then as it remains to this very day because of mans religious blindness. And his not acknowledging that there are indeed two sets of law at work just as there are two covenants. Over the next few days we shall see just how all of this played out for both him and then ourselves. Where they are selves are those who have been baptized by GOD with His Spirit, of promise.
Romans 7:1-3 "Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the Law,) how that the Law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man." (KJV)
Romans 7:1-3 "Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the Law—that the Law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress." (ESV)
Romans 7:1-3 "I write to you in the context of your acquaintance with the Law; you would agree with me that laws are only relevant in this life. A wife is only bound by law to her husband while he lives; any further legal claim he has on her ends with his death. The law would call her an adulteress should she give herself to another man while he has the first husband is still alive. Yet, once he's dead, she is free to be another's wife." (The Mirror)
Romans 7:4-6 "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the Law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the Law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." (KJV)
Romans 7:4-6 "Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the Law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code." (ESV)
Romans 7:4-6 "The very same finality in principle is applicable to you, my Friends and sisters. In the body of Christ you died to the system of the (old Mosaic) Law; your inclusion in his resurrection brought about a new union. Out of this marriage, (faith) now bears children unto GOD. (The first marriage produced sin; righteousness is the child of the new union. In the previous chapter Paul deals with the fact that our inclusion in Christ in his death broke the association with sin; now he reveals that it also broke the association with the system of the Law of works as a reference to righteousness.) At the time when the flesh ruled our lives, the subtle influences of sins which were ignited by the Law, conceived actions within us that were consistent in character with their parent and produced spiritual death. But now we are fully released from any further association with a life directed by the rule of this Law, we are dead to that which once held us captive, free to be slaves to the newness of spirit-spontaneity rather that age old religious rituals, imitating the mere face value of the written code. (The moment you exchange spontaneity with rules, you've lost the edge of romance.) (The Mirror)
Romans 7:7-12, 13 "What shall we say then? Is the (of faith and love) law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the Law: for I had not known lust, except the Law had said, "Thou shalt not covet." But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the Law sin was dead. For I was alive without the Law once: but when the commandment (to Love) came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law (of faith and love) is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." (KJV)
Romans 7:7-12, 13 "What then shall we say? That the (of faith and love) law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the Law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the Law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the Law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment (to Love) that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law (of faith and love) is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. " (ESV)
Romans 7:7-12, 13 "The Law in itself is not sinful; I am not suggesting that at all. Yet in pointing out sin, the Law was in a sense the catalyst for sinful actions to manifest. Had the (faith and love) law said, "Thou shalt not covet," I would not have had a problem with lust. But the commandment triggered sin into action, suddenly an array of sinful appetites were awakened in me. The (Mosaic) Law broke sin's dormancy. Without this Law I was alive; the (faith and love) law was introduced, sin revived and I died. Instead of being my guide to life, the commandment (to love) proved to be a death sentence. Sin took advantage of the (faith) law and employed the commandment to seduce and murder me. I stress again that the (faith and love) law as principle is holy and so is every individual commandment it contains; it consistently promotes that which is just and good.
How then could i accuse something that is that good to have killed me? I say again, it was not the (faith) law, but sin that caused my spiritual death. The purpose of the (Mosaic) law was to expose sin as the culprit. The individual commandment ultimately serves to show the exceeding extent of sin's effect on humanity." (The Mirror)
The LORD willing, we shall look at the war of conflict between the new law of faith and the sin nature or the conscience's knowledge of good and evil. The very thing that we are admonished to change through the acquired knowledge of the LORD, by eating of the bread of life. For in Deuteronomy 8:3 it states: "He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." (ESV) This Jesus repeated as recorded in two synoptic gospels, Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4 which read; Matthew 4:4 "But he answered and said, 'It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'" and Luke 4:4 "And Jesus answered him, saying, "'It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'" both in the ESV.
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