Dead to the Law? (Romans 7:1-6) | What did Paul REALLY teach that we were released from?

foreign hello and welcome to another teaching from 119 Ministries our ministry believes that the whole Bible is true and applicable to our lives today if you'd like to learn more about what we believe and teach please visit us at testeverything.net if you enjoyed this video please click the like button and subscribe to our Channel by clicking the Subscribe button below we hope you enjoy studying and testing the following teaching thank you [Music] [Music] is God's law in the Old Testament still relevant to Christians well that depends on who you ask for instance if you ask Jesus or Yeshua as he was called in the first century then the answer would be yes Yeshua prohibited his followers from even thinking that he came to abolish God's law Matthew 5 17 do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them Yeshua goes on to explain that nothing from the law would pass away until Heaven and Earth pass away and all is accomplished furthermore he admonishes his followers to do and teach even the least of The Commandments of the law so according to Yeshua we should be keeping God's law but not everyone agrees in the second Century A.D there was a teacher by the name of marcian marcion taught that the Old Testament was the product of demons and that Christians should have nothing to do with it marcian was widely rejected as a heretic but sadly his ghost continues to haunt the modern Christian Church for instance in his book irresistible Pastor Andy Stanley Echoes marcian when he writes the following quote Jesus followers are dead to the law the law along with the Covenant Arrangement that served as the context for the law has no say in the life of a Believer none according to Paul Jesus followers are dead to the Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments have no authority over you none to be clear Thou shalt not obey the Ten Commandments so according to Pastor Stanley Christians should not obey God's law not even the Ten Commandments because we are dead to the law Pastor Stanley cites the Apostle Paul in Romans 7 1-6 in support of this idea In this passage Paul does say that Believers have died to the law and are released from the law but what do these statements actually mean does the Apostle Paul disagree with Yeshua about the Law's relevance for Christians does Paul think that God's law has no say in the life of a believer before we look at Romans 7 1-6 in more detail it is worth noting some other things that Paul says about the law for instance in this same chapter Paul calls the law holy righteous and good he calls the law spiritual and says he Delights in it elsewhere in Romans Paul says that our faith in Messiah establishes the law Paul says that our flesh refuses to submit to God's law but the Holy Spirit empowers Believers to keep the Law's righteous requirements based on these statements it appears that Paul and Yeshua are in complete agreement the law is a good thing and Believers should be keeping it so then how should we understand Romans 7 1-6 let's start by reading the passage 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 Paul says that the law the Torah is binding on a person only as long as he is alive so if a Believer dies then he will no longer be bound to the law Paul goes on to give an example in order to demonstrate this principle he says that a woman is bound to her husband for as long as the husband is alive that is while she is married to her husband she cannot marry someone else if she did marry someone else while she was still married to her husband she would be committing adultery however if her husband dies she is released from her Covenant with him and therefore free to marry another man how does this principle help us understand the believer's relationship to the law well let's continue Romans 7 verse 4 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 was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God so through his Union with Christ the believer has died to the law just as the woman is no longer bound to her deceased husband the believer is no longer bound to the law in some way the believer has been released from the law and is now free to belong to Christ as we've seen Pastor Stanley interprets this verse to mean that the law no longer has any say in how Believers should live but is that really what Paul is saying here how do we reconcile this passage with Paul's other statements that clearly affirm the Law's ongoing relevance to believers we think it is unlikely that Paul is blatantly contradicting himself he isn't encouraging Believers to obey the law in one part of Romans and discouraging them from obeying in another part so then how can we resolve this apparent contradiction the answer is that Paul seems to have a narrower focus when he speaks of the law here that is Paul seems to be speaking of a particular function of the law that Believers have died to and are released from to explain in Romans Paul sometimes uses the term law when speaking of particular functions of the law a good example of this can be found in Romans 8 2. for the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Messiah Yeshua from the law of sin and death here Paul seems to be saying that the law has a dual function in the realm of the spirit the law functions as a tool to fulfill righteousness which leads to life in the realm of the flesh which is inclined towards sin the law functions to condemn The Sinner to death in other words the law itself is a good thing but it is a tool that can be used to bring about either life or death those who are led by the spirit obey the law so for them the law brings life and blessing those who are led by their flesh disobey the law so for them the law brings death and condemnation so in Romans 7 4 it seems that Paul is referring to the Law's power to condemn Sinners this is the specific function of the law that Paul says we have died to Let's unpack this a bit more and see if it helps us to resolve this apparent contradiction regarding Paul's view of the law in Romans in Paul's theology all have sinned and have fallen short of God's glory sin according to Paul is defined as breaking God's law the law reveals our sins so that no human being will be justified in his sight the punishment for sin is death when we sin when we break God's law we are legally condemned to death before we put our faith in Christ and died through his death we were held captive by sin and rightfully condemned we cannot belong to Christ nor bear fruit for God while under the Law's condemnation why because according to Paul we were slaves to sin consider these parallel passages in Romans Romans 6 1-2 what shall we say then are we to continue in sin that Grace May abound by no means how can we who died to sins still live in it Romans 6 6-7 we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died has been set free from sin Romans 6 11 so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Messiah Yeshua Romans 6 20-22 for when you are slaves of sin you were free in regard to righteousness but what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed for the end of those things is death but now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end eternal life again these parallel passages indicate that the law to which Paul refers in Romans 7 4 is closely associated with sin and its consequence that is death Paul's point in Romans 6 is that we cannot serve two masters just as his point in Romans 7 is that a woman cannot be married to two husbands at the same time we cannot serve both Christ and sin we need to be released from our previous Master sin in order to serve our new master Christ as Paul writes Romans 6 16-18 do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves you are slaves of the one whom you obey either of sin which leads to death or of obedience which leads to righteousness but thanks be to God that you who are once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you are committed and having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness how were we released from our previous master and enabled to serve God we died to sin through Christ because we have died we are no longer held captive by sin and under the Law's condemnation therefore we are no longer prevented from belonging to Christ and bearing fruit for God as Christian scholar John Stott remarks what does it mean that we died to the law the expression reminds us of the similar statement that we died to sin indeed they appear to mean the same thing for if to die to sin means to Bear its penalty which is death it is the law which prescribes this penalty therefore to die to sin and to die to the law are identical both signify that through participation in the death of Christ the Law's curse or condemnation on sin has been taken away it seems that a more accurate interpretation of Romans 7 4 is that Believers have died not to the law itself but rather to sin and death that is just as the law of marriage does not apply to a widow the Law's condemnation of Sinners does not apply to those who have died with Christ in Paul's example the law of marriage represents the condemning function of the law this interpretation is much more consistent with Paul's other statements about the law in Romans Paul is not saying that we have died to the law as in the law is no longer relevant to us for instruction and righteousness no Paul is saying that the penalty for our sin no longer applies to us because we have already died with Messiah we are no longer enslaved to sin therefore we are now free to belong to Messiah and bear good fruit for god let's continue Romans 7 verse 5 for while we were living in the flesh our sinful passions aroused by the law who are at work in our members to bear fruit for death here Paul is referring to when we were living in the flesh that is before we put our faith in Messiah while we were unbelievers living in the flesh we were slaves to sin but our slavery to sin ended when we died with Messiah now we live as those who have been brought from Death To Life instead of being slaves of sin we have become slaves of righteousness what does Paul mean when he says that our sinful passions were aroused by the law when we were living In the Flesh in Romans 8 7 Paul says that the Mind controlled by the flesh is hostile to God and refuses to submit to his law here paradoxically the law exacerbates our flesh's desire to disobey God's law as Douglas moo writes quote as Paul explains more fully in Romans 7 7-11 the law in setting forth God's standard arouses sins by stimulating human beings innate rebelliousness against God when we were slaves to sin our flesh rebelled against the law therefore the law could only condemn us Christian scholar Klein Snodgrass has some interesting insights here quote the law can be either the law of sin and death or the law of the spirit of life therefore Paul's view of the law was positive but the law was like a tool it did not contain power within itself rather it could be taken over and used by sin or it could have its rightful use in the sphere of Christ the spirit and faith in the sphere of sin the law is a sub-tyrant is negative and causes death but in its intended sphere it is the expression of the will of God and is for Life Paul will not grant that there is anything negative about the law itself instead sin Works through the Flesh and uses the law to cause death so again according to Paul the law itself is good but the law can be taken over by the flesh to bring about death with this idea in mind it seems that Paul is saying that when we were slaves to sin sin used the law to condemn us our flesh that is our carnal inclination to sin and rebel against God's law Keeps Us enslaved to sin later in this chapter Paul speaks of his own struggles with sin and how his flesh did not want to obey God's law Paul describes the struggle as a war between his mind's desire to obey God and His flesh's desire to sin his frustration compels him to cry out Wretched Man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death he immediately answers his own question thanks be to God through Messiah Yeshua our Lord what did the Messiah do to deliver Paul and us from this body of death Paul goes on to explain that messiah's work on the cross freed Us From Slavery to sin and death when we joined him in death the spirit then raised us to life and empowers us to live in obedience to the law the Messiah freed us from the realm of the flesh where we were in slavery to sin and condemned to death and transferred us to the realm of the spirit now instead of death we receive the Law's blessings because we approach the law as Servants of Messiah and therefore as righteous people not as Sinners this brings us to the final verse in our study Romans 7 verse 6 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 what does Paul mean when he says that we are released from the law well it is unlikely that he means we have been released from having to obey God's law again Paul says that those who walk according to the spirit fulfill the Law's righteous requirements while those who walk according to the flesh refuse to submit to God's law thus we who serve in the new way of the spirit are fulfilling the Law's requirements how then could we also be released from those same requirements that would be a contradiction a better interpretation is that we have been released from the Law's condemnation rightfully declared upon Sinners that is because we have died with Messiah we are released from our slavery to sin and the condemnation that sin brings upon us the condemning function of the law no longer has any hold on us who are in the Messiah now that we have died to sin we are enabled to serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code in context the old way of the written code refers to the old life of Slavery to sin as Paul says elsewhere the letter kills but the spirit gives life when we are slaves to sin the law could only condemn us it could not cause us to live righteously hence there was a need for the Messiah to release us from our slavery to sin so that we can belong to him having been released from our slavery to sin and the Law's condemnation we are now free to serve in a new way this new way of the spirit enables us to obey God's law Paul is not saying that the spirit has replaced the law or that there is anything wrong with the law itself again the problem is that apart from the inner work of the spirit the law can only condemn us because we are slaves to sin the law is weakened by the flesh thus serving in the old way of the written code will do us no good we need the spirit if we truly want to fulfill the Law's righteous requirements as Christian scholar J Brian Tucker writes quote Scholars who claim Romans 7 4 and 6 as evidence that Paul thinks the law of Moses has been superseded or been made Superfluous in Toto have likely overstated their case to die and be released from the law means to be free from its condemning effects now that righteousness is facilitated through Christ The Curse including the difficulties of our day-to-day lived existence is overturned through the spirit but not in a way in which life in the spirit makes the law unnecessary or results in a law-free existence in conclusion when Paul says that Believers have died to and have been released from the law he means that we have died to sin and have been released from the Law's condemnation for sin just as the law of marriage does not apply to a widow the Law's condemnation of Sinners does not apply to those who have had their sins forgiven Believers have also been freed from the power of sin in their day-to-day lives the law on its own cannot cause us to live righteously thus God has given us the spirit who empowers us to fulfill the Law's righteous requirements far from doing away with the law serving in the new way of the spirit helps us to keep the law so does Romans 7 1-6 teach us that the law has no say in the lives of Christians not at all Yeshua and Paul are in complete agreement the law is as relevant as ever and we do well to study and apply it to our lives with the help of the Holy Spirit we pray you've been blessed by this teaching and remember continue to test everything shalom [Music] it is because of you our generous supporters who make it possible to offer these high quality teachings completely free of charge who led to support 119 Ministries so that we can continue this effort please visit testeverything.net and click on the support 119 tab learn how you can partner with us to take the whole word of God to the Nations thank you

Channel: 119Ministries

Views: 24,779

Keywords: 119Ministries, torah, bible, hebrew roots, Dead to the Law, Romans 7:1-6, the law of sin and death, dead to sin, can’t serve two masters, what are we dead to?, do Jesus and Paul disagree?, The Apostle Paul, Pauline Epistle, Epistle of Romans, Pronomian, God's Law, Grace, Under Law, Nailed to the cross

Id: klw2XnPQ6_k

Length: 20min 16sec (1216 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 17 2023