Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20071230.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Romans: Charter Of God's Salvation Grace
Part IV: The Sanctification Of The Justified By Faith Through Grace, Romans 6:1-8:39
C. Understanding The Believer's Relationship To The Mosaic Law
(Romans 7:1-14)
  1. Introduction
    1. Some in Christendom hold we are still under the rule of at least a part of Moses' Law: (1) Seventh-day Adventism claims "While Christ's death ended the authority of the ceremonial law, it established that of the Ten Commandments." ( Seventh-day Adventists Believe . . ., 1989, p. 244). (2) Protestant Reformer, John Calvin taught, "'we must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law . . .'", Calvin, Commenting on a Harmony of the Evangelists, trans. by William Pringle, 1949, vol. 1, p. 277 as cited in Seventh-day Adventists Believe, Ibid. Consequently, Covenant theologians who adhere to Calvin's beliefs refer to "salvation by the Mosaic Law," C. C. Ryrie, Disp. Today, 1970, p. 190.
    2. However, Romans 7:1-14 with other Scriptures shows the Christian is not under any part of the Law, but has a new relationship in Christ where he lives sanctified apart from the Mosaic Law's rule (as follows):
  2. Understanding The Believer's Relationship To The Mosaic Law, Romans 7:1-14.
    1. In Romans 7:1-6, Paul taught that, in his position in Christ, the believer is dead to the Mosaic Law by Christ's death to it so he is set to live in the newness of the Holy Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter:
      1. Paul reminded his readers how the Law's dominion extended over an Old Testament era saint as long as he was physically alive; however, once he physically died, that Old Testament believer was released from its jurisdiction, Romans 7:1.
      2. As an example, Paul noted how a woman under the Law was bound in marriage to her husband as long as he lived, but that she was released from the rule of her husband as soon as he died, Romans 7:2.
      3. Accordingly, were she to marry a second husband while her first husband was living, she would sin in adultery, but were she to wait to remarry until her first husband died, she would not thus sin, Rom. 7:3.
      4. By the same way, the believer's identification with Christ in His physical death for sin on the cross positionally made the believer dead to the Law's jurisdiction so that he could be remarried in the spirit to Christ to walk in resurrected, newness of life in the power of the Holy Spirit, Romans 7:4-6.
    2. Lest we think we are subject to the Ten Commandments while being free from the Law's "ceremonial" parts [as Seventh-day Adventism holds], in Colossians 2:12-17, Paul revealed that believers are not only free from the Law's ceremonial regulations (meat or drink, or a holyday or a new moon), but also from the rule of the Ten Commandments represented in the sabbath regulation, cf. Exodus 20:8-11!
    3. Anticipating an objection from Judaizers who held tenaciously to the Mosaic Law's authority, Paul voiced their question that he suggested the Law was evil and thus not to be obeyed, Romans 7:7a, a question to which Paul strongly objected, Romans 7:7b-12 as follows:
      1. After strongly objecting to the charge that he held the Mosaic Law to be evil for the fact that its jurisdiction was no longer applicable to believers, Paul noted that the Law's purpose was to define sin as sin to condemn the sinner as a sinner before God, Romans 7:7b-11.
      2. Thus, the Mosaic Law was holy just and good in that it correctly exposed the sin in man, Rom. 7:12.
    4. Another question Paul's Judaizer critics would raise was that his claim that the Law only worked to condemn him of sin resulting in God's judgment unto death, making the Law an evil cause of death; Paul asked this their question, again strongly denying it, Romans 7:13a. His reasons are as follows, 7:13b-14:
      1. The holy Law of God exposed sin to be sin that condemns so that sin might be seen as vile, 7:13b.
      2. Thus, God's Law is spiritual and good, but the problem is the sinful nature in man, Romans 7:14.
Lesson: The Mosaic Law in its entirety was designed by God to EXPOSE SIN as SIN, and thus to CONDEMN the sinner before God. However, as the believer DIED in CHRIST to that SIN, and thereby became free from the ENTIRE Law's jurisdiction, the Christian is NOT under ANY of the RULE of the Mosaic Law. He is rather alive in the risen Christ to live in newness of life in the Spirit!

Application: May we note we are FULLY FREE from the WHOLE Law to live in the SPIRIT'S power!