The definition of the law by apostles is sometimes challenging. In his writing, Paul states that the law is part of the flesh and the sinful world until the life of the Christian on earth ends. In Roman 7: 1-6, Paul continues to equate the law with the evil powers1. The law is what the people follow to avoid sinning. Many people believe that the law guides them, but this is contrary to Paul’s teachings. He dictated that human beings are saved by grace and not by observing and following the law. As it might seem to many people, this is not a guarantee that an individual can sin; human beings should continue serving the Lord as the slaves of righteousness. Paul offers a sequential description of following the law to its point of disqualification.
A follow-up of the dictates of Paul gives a complete and rational answer to the topic question. As he was addressing those who knew the law, Paul stated that the law’s authority could be exercised on an individual so long as the individual is alive. In the previous chapter, Romans 6, Paul had explained that the true believers died with Christ. This is to mean that all Christians have died as a result of their sins. In Romans Chapter 7, Paul proceeds to state that Christians died to sin and to law. From this point, it can be concluded that the law cannot prosecute the Christians anymore since, in the eyes or before the law, Christians are dead. In all the writings of Paul, Christians are under a new authority or law. Up to this point, Christians should law follow the law as they died, marking the end of the authority of the law in their lives.
Paul also gives a scenario of a husband and wife using the analogy of marriage. The primary theme of his illustration is to educate Christians on the effects of death on the legal status of living Christians2. By the law, a woman is married and should serve his husband as long as the husband is alive. Suppose the husband dies and the wife is left alone; she is released from the law that connects her to the husband. From this teaching, the marriage law is the authority over the individuals, and they should follow it as long as the spouses are alive. This means that Christians should not follow the law since they were parted from the law by their death through Jesus Christ.
Paul continued with the idea until he arrived at the part of the death of Jesus Christ where he stated that Christians were disqualified from following the law. He said that Christians died to the law through the death of their savior Jesus Christ3. He also stated that Christians belong to he who resurrected from the dead so that Christians can bear good fruits for God. In verse four, Apostle Paul pointed out that Jesus Christ broke up the bond between human beings and the law, and through his death and resurrection, a fresh bond was permitted4. Those who were Jewish believers died to the law via the death of the savior Jesus Christ and their contemporary allegiance is not to the law but to Jesus Christ. Christians are released from the law, and therefore, they should not follow the law but Jesus Christ5. He was born under the law and passed through his death and resurrection to escape the obligations of the law. Therefore, Christians will not sin by omitting the law and should not follow the law but Jesus Christ.
Bibliography
Timmins, Will N. “Romans 7 and the Resurrection of Lament in Christ: The Wretched “I” and His Biblical Doppelgänger.” Novum Testamentum 61, no. 4 (2019): 386-408.
Series, Harvest Inspiration Discoveries Lecture. “Lecture On Romans Chapter 7.” (2017).
Miller, David M. “BLST 825 Romans Fall 2021.” (2021).
Van Der Biest, Jarrik. “Teaching Romans 7 after Trent: Michael Baius and his Lecture Hall on Concupiscence and Original Sin in Early Modern Louvain (1552–1589).” Journal of Early Modern Christianity 8, no. 2 (2021): 193-221.
King, Justin. “Rhetorical Chain-Link Construction and the Relationship between Romans 7.1-6 and 7.7–8.39: Additional Evidence for Assessing the Argument of Romans 7–8 and the Identity of the Infamous ‘I’.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 39, no. 3 (2017): 258-278.
Footnotes
- Timmins, Will N. “Romans 7 and the Resurrection of Lament in Christ: The Wretched “I” and His Biblical Doppelgänger.” Novum Testamentum 61, no. 4 (2019): 386-408.
- Series, Harvest Inspiration Discoveries Lecture. “Lecture On Romans Chapter 7.” (2017).
- Miller, David M. “BLST 825 Romans Fall 2021.” (2021).
- Van Der Biest, Jarrik. “Teaching Romans 7 after Trent: Michael Baius and his Lecture Hall on Concupiscence and Original Sin in Early Modern Louvain (1552–1589).” Journal of Early Modern Christianity 8, no. 2 (2021): 193-221.
- King, Justin. “Rhetorical Chain-Link Construction and the Relationship between Romans 7.1-6 and 7.7–8.39: Additional Evidence for Assessing the Argument of Romans 7–8 and the Identity of the Infamous ‘I’.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 39, no. 3 (2017): 258-278.