Freed From the Law (Romans 7:1-6, Isaiah 61:1-11)
Rev. David Huffman, March 16, 2025Part of the Series On Romans series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
In II Peter 3:16, Peter acknowledges that Paul’s letters are hard to understand. Romans 7 is an example of this. Who is Paul referring to here, saved or unsaved people? What is the purpose of the law for believers? At the end, are we helpless? In vs. 25, Paul gives the resolution, that Christ gives us life. The focus of our passage today is the relationship between the law and sin. We know that the wages of sin is death. The law provides another kind of bondage that can be a problem for us. Chapter 6 shows us how grace operates, not as with antinomianism, which promotes sinful behavior. In union with Christ, we are raised to newness of life. In Chapter 7, Paul shows us the principle (vss. 1-2), an illustration (vss. 2-3) and an application (vss. 4-6). In principle, knowing the law is binding on living people. Death annuls the law’s authority. As an illustration, Paul uses marriage, but this is not the central point. The application is that in Christ, we have died to the law and married to Christ, where we bear fruit. We are released from the power of the law which produces death. The law’s dominion is broken in Christ. In Adam, we inherit his fallen nature, are corrupted and enslaved to sin. Knowing the law increases the guilt. When God brings us to faith, we have died to sin and its condemnation in body and spirit, and also to the tyranny of the law. We have arisen in Christ, been made new and died to the law, being married to Christ. Marriage to the law is a bad marriage; its fruit is death. Marriage to Christ brings fruit from God. The law exposes the wickedness of our hearts. It shows us what God requires and that we do not conform. The law entices us to sinful desires, bringing us to despair. The law is a cruel husband. As with marriage, when the husband dies, the wife is no longer in bondage, yet there is often the tendency for her to live as if she were still under bondage to him. In vs. 6, we see now a good marriage, to another man who accepts her proposal. It is hard to believe, that if we fall short, how can He still love me? He does! His arms are open even if she fails. We are then motivated to love Christ, something we can’t do if under the law. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. As with Israel, life under the law results in exile. But Christ's love motivates us to live for Him. So, be joyful!
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
|---|---|---|
| « Slavery & Freedom | None |
Romans 7:1–6 (Listen)
7:1 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? 2 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. 3 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.
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 has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 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.
(ESV)
Isaiah 61 (Listen)
61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 but you shall be called the priests of the LORD;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
they shall have everlasting joy.
8 For I the LORD love justice;
I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.
(ESV)