1Or, brothers, are you being ignorant (for I am speaking to ones knowing law) that the law is ruling over the man upon how long a time he is living? 2For [instance], the married woman is bound to the living husband by law, but if the husband should die, she is released from the law of the husband. 3Then, therefore, [while] the husband [is] living, she will be called an adulteress if she should belong to another husband, but, if the husband should die, she is free from the law [so that] she is not an adulteress belonging to another husband. 4Thus, my brothers, you also were put to death to law through the body of Christ in order that you might belong to another, to the One raised out of dead ones, that we might be fruitful to God. 5For when we were being in the flesh, the passions of the sins which [were] through the law, were being energized in our members into bearing fruit to the death. 6But now we are released from the law, having died to that which we were being bound, so that we are serving in newness of spirit and not [in] oldness of letter.
In chapter 7, Paul delves deeply into the hopelessness of legalism. As I have often observed, we humans are incorrigible legalists. “Religions” around the world are invariably all about each one’s unique assortment of rules. We see the extreme cases like the Amish or like Hasidic Jews, but I fear the Evangelical church itself ends up being characterized not by their love for Jesus but rather for their own unique (and in their minds important) set of rules and standards and principles and such.
Reducing “religion” to rules is a very comfortable environment for us all. If we just “keep the rules,” then we’re good. All our rule-keeping friends applaud our exemplary job of rule-keeping, we all pat each other on the back, and life is good. We can meet together on Sunday morning, all approve of each other, and go away satisfied that we are quite successful in our “religion.”
In my opinion, a major point of the entire Old Testament is to showcase the total failure of legalism. The Jews began their relationship with God by telling Moses, “All that the Lord commands us, we will do!” “Just give us the rules and watch us keep them!” Of course, the words had barely left their lips before they were casting a golden calf and worshiping it. Their entire history was one of nearly total failure. By the time Jesus came, they had completely reduced Judaism to an extremely complex set of rules which they demanded everyone keep. They were so far from the heart of God, they even crucified their own Messiah.
On this side of the Cross, we can mock at the ridiculousness of the Pharisees’ rule-keeping and hypocrisy, but what I want to suggest is that, until we repent, we’re no better than them. Just because we think our rules are better than theirs doesn’t change the fact that we are legalists just like them. What is missing in all cases is the Lord Himself. Legalism is when “religion” is about rule-keeping and not about entering into a very real and very personal relationship with the God of Heaven. That is what I mean by “repenting.” At some point, each one of us must come to grips with this very question. Which will it be? Will I allow my “religion” to be, in reality, just my own seemingly admirable set of rules, or will I actually enter into a very real relationship with this Jesus?
I want to say that, for me, chapter 7 in Romans seems almost like we’re beating a dead horse. It seems like Paul has been assaulting legalism practically since the book opened. I wish we could say, “Okay, we’ve got it. Let’s move on.” However, Paul knows human hearts better than me and just how incorrigible our legalism really is. And so he devotes one more entire chapter trying to convince us of its complete hopelessness.
He already stated clearly we are not under law, but under
grace. If at this point, we are still saying, “But, but, but…,” then we do, in
fact, need to read Romans 7. From Romans 8 on, we will look at the glorious
freedom of genuinely born-again people. However, if we have not repented of our
legalism, we’ll never really understand what the rest of this book is about.
Note, Paul’s opening point in this chapter is that we have died to the law. Died. Someone once asked an old hillbilly, “How dead is dead?” He replied, “Plumb dead.” Dead is dead. Yes, we were born under law and its rule (and condemnation) over us was just as inescapable as marriage. To be married is to be married, but when the spouse dies, that marriage is no longer binding on us. Paul uses this illustration, I think, just because it is so obvious and undeniable and the analogy to law itself equally undeniable.
In v.4, he then draws his conclusion that you and I died in Christ and so we are no longer bound under law. Just in case we are tempted, like Lot’s wife, to “look back,” Paul reminds us in v.5 that living under law was a slavery that itself brought us only living death. Then all around that in vv.4 and 6, he inserts what it is we’ve been freed to. In the middle of all this discussion of dying to the law, Paul inserts an explanation of what that freedom actually means.
“Freedom” in the Bible is never freedom to “do as we please.” As we were reminded in chapter 6, there are only two alternatives. We either embrace the Lord and His place over us and with us, or we must by default serve sin and therefore self-destruct. In v.4, he says we died to the law in order that we might belong to another–the One raised from the dead—to the end we bear fruit to God. We were freed from the law and the chains of sin that we might climb in the lap of a wonderful heavenly Father.
Understanding that, we can begin to understand what he means when he concludes v.6 by saying we now serve “in the newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter.” Interestingly, it can be translated as either “in newness of the Spirit” or “in newness of spirit.” Personally, I don’t think it really makes any difference. Jesus said “they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” The whole idea comes down again to this simple question, “Are you just a rule-keeper, or have you entered into a real, personal relationship with God?” Rule-keeping is “the oldness of the letter.” What God has called us all to is something far better—a spiritual newness, a real heart relationship where we care what God thinks because we love Him. For us, His law becomes simply an expression of His heart, that which He desires for us, His wise and best way to live, and we actually want to live that way.
In the rest of this chapter, Paul has to go back and spend one last extended discussion of the hopelessness of our miserable legalism. Hopefully, by this point, we’ve all already clearly seen the difference and chosen instead to live in this “newness of the Spirit,” but for anyone still hesitant to give up their attachment to rule-keeping, the rest of this chapter just heads downhill.
Lord help us all. What He has provided for us really is a wonderful freedom to enjoy love and peace. It’s ours to decide whether we will.
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