Romans 7

The Law, Sin, and Salvation
Produced by Bill Fritz for Adult Sunday School7/13/2019 1

Scripture Reading
Romans 7: 1- 6
Produced by Bill Fritz for Adult Sunday School7/13/2019 2
Freedom from the law, what does Paul mean?

7/13/2019 Produced by Bill Fritz for Adult Sunday School 3
 Because believers in the gospel are dead in
Christ and saved by grace through faith and
nothing else, they were no longer servants to
the law but servants to Christ Jesus. (See
also Gal 2:20, Rom 6:13-14 NKJV)
 Paul is speaking of two laws in verse 1.
 The Law handed down to Moses to the Jews, and
the Roman law which both Jew and Gentile were
subjected to (Holman Bible Staff).
 In verse 2, is Paul saying that the Law
governing marriage no longer apply?
 Paul is giving an example of this particular Mosaic
Law to reinforce his statement in verse one, that the
believer has died in Christ, and therefore are dead to
the Law.
 God’s design was for a marriage to be dissolved only
by death.
 Paul speaks about the Law and divorce in
verse 3. Was a person justified by the Law for
divorcing their mate?

 According to Scripture once God joins two
persons in marriage they are to remain married for a
life time.
 However, God gave permission for men to petition for
divorce under certain conditions (Mat 10:5, Mar 10:4-9
NKJV).
 Questions remains about the dissolution of
marriage.
 Is infidelity a justifiable reason for divorce?
 Jesus reluctantly gave the acception for
infidelity or adultery. (See also MAT 5:32, Heb 13:4)
 Some argue that God permitted Abraham to
divorce Hagar, on the grounds of mental cruelty
towards Sarah.
 This action was before the Law of Moses.
 God did not join Abraham to Hagar, she was a
surrogate conceived by Sarah’s.
 How about when one is a believer and the other
is not?
 1 Cor 7:10 does not condone this for a reason
to divorce.
 However, in 1 Cor 7:15 Paul states if the
unbeliever departs then let the unbeliever go.
 Paul writes a warning in his second letter to
the Corinthians not to marry an unbeliever (2
Cor 6:14).

What about physical cruelty.
Scripture is strangely silent on this issue.
 Read Matthew 18:15-17.
 Although these passages do not directly
address physical cruelty between spouses, the
procedure as outlined can be adapted to
physical abuse in a marriage.
 On a personal note: it seems getting married
is to easy, and man’s law have made divorce
just as easy. Although we are not under the
Law of Moses we still must live in accordance
to God’s will. Scripture states God said it is
not good for man to live alone, and so He
created Eve as a helper and companion (Gen
2:18). It is clear to me that God’s intent is for
one man to marry one woman and remain
married to that person for life (see also Mat
19:6). This does not mean to remain in the
house of an abuser, instead follow the civil
law.

Scripture Reading
Romans 7: 7 - 12
 Does sin have an advantage in the Law?

 In verses 1-7 Paul was speaking about
marriage and specifically divorce. The Law
was ridged.
 Paul asks is the Law sinful?
 No! The Law reveals the nature of sin.
 The Adamic nature of man persists in humanity, and
the Law forces mankind to face that nature as sin.
 If it was not for the Law how would mankind
know what sin is?
 Paul gives an example of Law revealed sin -
covetousness.
 To covet is a principle sin, because it evokes other
sin, this is true because all sin begins in the heart.
 A person covets his neighbors goods might lead
him to steals what he covets
 A man covets is brothers wife and commits
adultery with her. Jesus tells us that even to look
at a women with lust is guilty (Mat 5:8).
 David coveted Uriah’s wife and subsequently had
Uriah killed. (2 Samuel 11:17).

 What does Paul mean when he says I was
alive once without the Law?
 Paul is referring to ignorance of the Law, in a time
before he knew the Law, he thought himself to be
righteous through the Law.
 What a person fails to know in ignorance, can hurt
him.
 Not knowing covetousness was a sin would have
opened the door to other sins, bringing the penalty
for sin -death.
 In verse 11, Paul draws the conclusion that
because the Law revealed covetousness as a sin, it
saved him from being lured into other sins, thereby
saving his eternal life.

Scripture Reading
Romans 7: 13 - 20
 Is it possible to be saved through the
Law?

 In verse 13, Paul is saying that before his
conversion he thought he knew the correct
interpretation of the law.
 Through his pre-conversion mind, Paul’s
interpretation of the Law would have been his death.
 However, because of Paul’s enlightenment after
his conversion, Paul now saw the Law as God had
intended it to be, -a revelation of sin.
 Therefore the Law was not sin in itself but rather
man’s inability to abide in the Law because the Law is
ridged, and the human race is flawed in sin.
 There is no provision in the Law to cleanse a person
of the Adamic nature, the root of sin.
 In verse 14, why does Paul call the Law
spiritual?
 The origin of the Law was God and therefore His
Law is spiritual.
 The intent (spirit) of the Law demands are also
spiritual
 Although different religious groups interpret the
basic Law (The Ten Commandments) slightly
differently

[Table accessed through http://biblescripture.net/Commandments.html]
As shown in the table above the order is not the
same and the words may differ but the spirit is the
same.
Paul continues in verse 14 by say “but I am
carnal, sold under sin”.
 Paul is pointing to himself as a mortal human being,
fallen as is the rest of humanity.
 As a result of his fallen state his fleshly desires and
his spirit are at odds with each other (Holman & Staff).
 Paul refers to this battle between the carnal and
spiritual worlds of mankind again in Ephesians 6:12.
 Paul was a slave to sin before his conversion and
therefore he says he was sold to sin.
 Now that Paul is no longer under the control of sin
he has been bought from sin to life in Jesus (see also
Philippians 1:21).

 What is Paul telling us in verse 16?
 The Law is good but the evil within mankind is to
be hated.
 The things Paul did prior to his conversion he now
hates even though at the time he thought he was doing
right.
 Paul is also saying that the spiritual battle rages all
around him and battling within him as well.
 Today we as believers in the gospel of
Jesus, fight the same battle, between the evil
that is all around us, and the evil that attacks
us personally.
 In verse 17 Paul is saying that even after his
conversion sin is within him, and does battle
with his spirit, and it is not he who desires to
sin, rather it is the sin that is within him.

 In verse 18, Paul speaks about the carnal
nature within him.
 The flesh will always want to pleasure itself.
 Your body yearns to satisfy its basic needs of thirst,
hunger, and shelter, these desires of the flesh will
always be with us. However, other temptations of the
flesh can lead us to ignore the will of God.
For example: you might wake up early enough on
a Sunday morning to get to Sunday school but your
fleshly body says “I am still tired, just a few more
minutes of sleep.
 It is your spirit that communes with the Holy Spirit
after conversion, your body is still of the old Adamic
nature, for of this earth we were formed and to it we
will return (Gen 2:7; Ecc 3:20 NKJV).
 The tempting by your carnal body can cause the
weakening of the spirit, which in turn aids the evil
one in the spiritual battle you fight each day.
 Paul s wrote the Ephesians, telling them to put
on the whole armor of God (Eph 6:11-13 NKJV).
 This holy armor is to be put on every day.
Therefore lean on the Holy Spirit the power of
God within you.

 What is Paul telling us about “will”?
 The battle of two wills.
 The will of the flesh.
The will of the flesh is the Adamic nature we all
share.
 The will of the spirit.
 “The conflict here graphically described between
a self that "desires" to do good and a self that in
spite of this does evil, cannot be the struggles
between conscience and passion in
the unregenerate [non believer], because the
description given of this "desire to do good“ (Jamieson,
Fausette, Brown)

Scripture Reading
Romans 21 - 25
What is the battle that rages within?
Good VS Evil | Simpsons Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

 The most difficult battle we as believers face in the
battle within, the spirit to do good versus the fleshly
will not to do that good (do I give that panhandler
money?).
 Truly the spirit is willing by the body is weak (Mat 26:41).
In reference to verse 21 Holman writes the following:
 “In his inner self (Gk eso anthropos), in his deepest
recesses, the believer delights in God's law, but he finds this
alien power living within, waging war with him and taking him
prisoner to the law of sin (Holman and staff, 2010).
 What law is Paul speaking of in verse 22?
 The law of God to do good, which is revealed in his spirit by
the Holy Spirit.
 However, Paul also acknowledges another law in verse 23
 Paul once again is talking about his Adamic nature the law
of the flesh.
 In verses 24-25 Paul tells of his contempt for this law
of the flesh, while in verse 25 he thanks God for the
deliverance from Jesus the Christ.

Bibliography
Holman Bible Staff, Howard, Jeremy Royal,
The HCSB Translation Team & Blum, Edwin
(2010). HCSB Study Bible. B&H Publishing
Group. Retrieved from
https://app.wordsearchbible.com.
Jamieson, Robert , A.R. Fauseset, David
Brown. 1871. Commentary Critical and
Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Accessed
May 04, 2018.
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commenta
ries/.
All art was copied from bing search engine
without copy write information available,
and believed to be free domain.

Romans 7

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Romans 7

Similar to Romans 7 (20)

More from CMAFellowship

More from CMAFellowship (6)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Romans 7