Thank you Suzy for taking time to consider Romans 7.
Suzy wrote:
There are two different laws talked about in Chapter 7. One is the law of sin and the other is the Torah.
Good. I'm with you here. There is the law of God and then there is the law of sin residing within our members (our body).
Suzy wrote:
We are not dead to Torah we are dead to the law of sin. Look at verse 12. "So then, the Law (Torah) is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good." Keep reading. Vr 13- Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandement sin would become utterly sinful.
In other words, the Torah points out one's sin and makes them understand how horrible it is.
Yes, but you skipped over the first part of the chapter.
Romans 7:3-5
(3) 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.
Which law is talked about in v. 3? It is the law of God, not the law of sin. Right?
(4) 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.
So here when he says ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, which law is he talking about? Not the law of sin, but the law of God. This was the concept he just talked about. Now he doesn't mean dead to it in the sense that it is not worth anything, but rather in how we live our lives. We are not to be legalistic (to use Slade's terminology) and work out our covenant with God by observing ordinances.
(5) 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.
Which law is being talked about in v. 5? The law of God. The motions of sin were made more alive by the law of God, not because the law of God was bad, but because our flesh had a law of sin within it that could not heed the law.
(6) 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.
Here he speaks of being delivered from the law. Which law? God's law. Think back about his analogy in vs. 3 & 4, that we are now married to another. Also note his use of the word "letter." The law of sin in our bodies does not have any "letter." This is God's written law that he is talking about.
(7) What shall we say then? Is the 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.
Here again, is it not abundantly clear that he is talking about God's law and not the law of sin within our bodies? God's written law, His Torah, is what says, "thou shalt not covet." The law of sin does not say that at all. In fact, the law of sin says just the opposite.. covet!
Suzy wrote:
It is the law of sin that is bondage not the Law of God.
I agree that the law of God is NOT bondage. The law of God is holy and good. But what Paul is describing is how that Holy Law can bring condemnation and bondage to a person who is in the flesh and under sin.
Please revisit the passage. Focus upon these first 7 verses, reading chapter 6 and the rest of chapter 7 and also chapter 8 for context. Come back and identify in the first 7 verses of Romans 7 what law he is talking about and what our relationship is to that law.
Again, thank you. You are the first to make a stab at explaining it.
Peace be with you.
David Miller.
---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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