DO CHRISTIANS NEED THE
TEN COMMANDMENTS?
The seventh chapter of the book of Romans deals
with the very knotty problem of whether Christians need the Ten Commandments
any longer. If you haven't discovered already, I am sure you'll soon recognize
this as a sure-fire question with which to start a religious argument. Any time
you want to enliven a dull evening, I suggest you pose this question as a topic
of conversation, and you'll find that everyone in the room soon chooses up
sides -- and off they go. Most people who discuss this question, I have discovered,
follow the same method: If they persecute you in one verse, flee to another!
And so it goes all evening long -- the discussion generates more heat than
light. But this is a very important question, and I hope we can see it now in
line with the apostle's whole argument in this section of Romans. You'll notice
that Chapter 7 begins with a question:
MARRIED?
YES! BUT, TO WHICH HUSBAND?
Romans
7
1Know
ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law
hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2For the woman
which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth;
but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3So
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.
4Wherefore,
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. 5For 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. 6But 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.
INTRODUCTION:
·
It has been said that there is nothing certain
but death and taxes. I have never experienced death, but I know something about
taxes and I am convinced that the only way to be free from them is to die. Your
family might get a bill, but you will be beyond the reach of the IRS. This is
what Paul is trying to get us to understand about our new relationship to the
Law and to sin.
Chapter seven finds the Apostle
Paul still trying to make this matter of our being dead to the Law and to sin
clear. In the last of chapter 6, he used the analogy of slavery to teach us
that, in Christ, we were free from the old master of sin and alive to a new
Master: the Lord Jesus Christ.
·
Now, he moves from the analogy of a master and
slave to a husband and wife. He uses marriage as a picture of our new
relationship to the Law. The fact is, spiritually speaking, we are married to
either the Law or the Lord. So, tonight, I would like to look into these verses
for a few minutes and consider the question "Married? Yes! But To
Which Husband?"
KNOW
YE NOT, BRETHREN (FOR I SPEAK TO THEM THAT NOW THE LAW) HOW THAT THE LAW HATH
DOMINION OVER A MAN AS LONG AS HE LIVETH? VS. 1
23 times
in chapter four there is reference to the LAW.
The Law of God’s really is glorious
thought. We are dead to the LAW it is still a good law.
SO THE LAW
WAS IMPORTANT FROM GENESIS TO MALACHI.
The Jews had a high regard for the Law even in Jesus time.
In fact,
the Jews believed in keeping the Law, that it could overcome man’s sinfulness.
The Jews said “man can make themselves right before God by just keeping the
Law. Thus the Law became the mode of
salvation.
Notices the theme in the N.T.
Well how
do we view the Law, well, Sin is define as a transgression of the LAW,
therefore the LAW is really important.
Romans 3:31
Do we void the law after salvation?
of course not. Rather we really
establish a place of the law.
Romans 3:19-20
tells us that the law is good, holy, righteous, honorable. The Law reflects the heart and mind of
God. But nobody at no time, under any circumstances
will ever be justified by keeping the Law.
Romans 5:20 Of course the question keeps
coming up, Why The Law if you are not saved by the Law? So why do we have the
Law?
Romans 6:14
Here this was a shock to the Jews!
Paul does to things
·
The law
shall not have dominion over you as we have seen in Romans 6:15-23.
·
Secondly
you are under grace not under the law as we will see in Romans 7
So why
after a life time of living under the Law (the Old Testament) why was that changed. Paul is going to tell
us in Romans 7:1-25.
CAN I SAY AS A WAY OF INTRODUCTION
TO ROMANS 7
In Romans
7 I think Paul is brilliantly portraying for us the “frustration of trying to
go back and live under the law.”
I am sure
over the years, not only I was living under the law, but I’m sure that I also
put others under it though my preaching.
There were
times in the pass that I was critical of those who did not live up to my
convictions. Most of us here today were
raised with a kind of pressure to live a certain way in order to be a good
Christian.
Too many
times we believe if we lived a certain way we were spiritually superior over
those who did not live certain ways.
When you live under the Law you make quick judgment of others, and not
yourself.
LIVING UNDER THE LAW CERTAINLY CAN
CAUSE TENTION IN A CHURCH BODY.
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KNOW YE NOT, BRETHREN (FOR I SPEAK TO THEM THAT NOW THE LAW) HOW
THAT THE LAW HATH DOMINION OVER A MAN AS LONG AS HE LIVETH? VS. 1
23
times in chapter four there is reference to the LAW. The Law of God’s really is glorious thought. We are dead to the LAW it is
still a good law.
SO THE
LAW WAS IMPORTANT FROM GENESIS TO MALACHI.
The Jews had a high regard for the Law even in Jesus time.
In
fact, the Jews believed in keeping the Law, that it could overcome man’s
sinfulness. The Jews said “man can make themselves right before God by just
keeping the Law. Thus the Law became
the mode of salvation.
Notices the theme in the N.T.
Well
how do we view the Law, well, Sin is define as a transgression of the LAW,
therefore the LAW is really important.
Romans 3:31 Do we void the law after salvation? of course not. Rather we really establish a place of the
law.
Romans 3:19-20 tells us that the law is good, holy,
righteous, honorable. The Law
reflects the heart and mind of God.
But nobody at no time, under any circumstances will ever be
justified by keeping the Law.
Romans 5:20 Of course the question keeps
coming up, Why The Law if you are not saved by the Law? So why do we have
the Law?
Romans 6:14 Here this was a shock to the Jews! Paul does to things
·
The law shall not have dominion over you as we
have seen in Romans 6:15-23.
·
Secondly you are under grace not under the law
as we will see in Romans 7
So why
after a life time of living under the Law (the Old Testament) why was that changed. Paul is going to
tell us in Romans 7:1-25.
CAN I SAY AS A WAY OF
INTRODUCTION TO ROMANS 7
In
Romans 7 I think Paul is brilliantly portraying for us the “frustration of
trying to go back and live under the law.”
I am
sure over the years, not only I was living under the law, but I’m sure that
I also put others under it though my preaching.
There
were times in the pass that I was critical of those who did not live up to
my convictions. Most of us here
today were raised with a kind of pressure to live a certain way in order to
be a good Christian.
Too
many times we believe if we lived a certain way we were spiritually
superior over those who did not live certain ways. When you live under the Law you make
quick judgment of others, and not yourself.
LIVING UNDER THE LAW CERTAINLY
CAN CAUSE TENTION IN A CHURCH BODY.
Living
under the Law of Moses, living under the Ten Commandments, or even living
under the law of the Baptist. Its
what you are bound by that is impose on you that can get you in trouble.
Living
under the law doesn’t mean you you are not determined, or self disciplined.
It means that you measure your spirituality by those things and if they are
not accomplished, then you think you have failed to win the love and favor
of God in your life.
So
we need to learn the difference of living “UNDER LAW’ and living “UNDER
GRACE.”
In
Romans 7:1-5, if you look carefully, Paul clearly shows us how it
was when we had no choice but to be under the law. In verses 1-4 we see
that the law ruled over us to control and condemn the works of our flesh
when we were in union with Adam. We were not married to the law before our
union with Christ. We were in union with Adam, and the LAW had jurisdiction
over us as long as we were in this union with Adam.
Let me point out here, in this
open verse: we need to connect Romans 7:1 with Romans 6:14 to have a good
understanding of Romans 7.
“Do” you not know 50
agnoes
·
Paul
is saying: Have you not had enough information about this. Do you not recognize (Acts 13:27)
this. More than likely the term KNOW
conveys the idea that there was a lacking of ability to understand (Hebrews 5:2) There is an
inexcusable moral/ethical ignorance (even a disregard to).
NOT KNOWING:
Paul uses a lot in Romans. And Paul
uses the term to introduce us to a new spiritual truth that the reader should be aware of:
And I might add when Paul would
begin a sentence with “do you not know” or “I would not have you ignorant”,
it often turns out that they didn’t know the truth he was about the tell
them.
It is possible that they as well
as us today that we may not know, or we did not recognized the truth, or we
did not really understand, or we were unaware, and maybe we just were
uninformed of the truth.
I want to say we have two sections in this chapter: 1 to
6 and then 7 to 25. And to be sure they are both prone to be
misunderstood, and misapplied. We
can take these first three verses and misapply them and then miss the whole
point to Paul’s argument.
(FOR I SPEAK TO THEM THAT KNOW1097 ginosko
THE LAW3551 nomos) Vs. 1
· Paul is speaking
her to those who had a
knowledge of a general principle of ALL law, not just THE LAW of
Moses. What he is saying or pointing
out its character as law, that which has binding force, which of course is
the fundamental character of any law or regulation.
HOW THAT THE LAW HATH DOMINION 2961 KURIEUO OVER A MAN
AS LONG AS HE LIVETH.
· The law had the power of control. There are those who
exercise authority or have control over others, They lord over others, the
have jurisdiction over someone. Luke
22:25; Romans 14:9; 2 Corinthians 1:24.
· So Paul is personifies the Law as that which controls
human life.
What Paul is saying is that the
law is like a lord who rules over a man and that man remains subject to the
lordship of the law as long as he lives (in Adam). The only thing that can
severe a man's relationship with "Lord Law" is death! And that
death came about when the believer died with Christ on the Cross.
Since the believer died with Christ, the power of "Lord Law" has
been broken (forever)! This is one of the great truths of the Good News,
the Gospel.
Though freed from the LAW with
its stern demands--
No longer ruled by its harsh commands--
I'm bound by Christ's love and am truly free
To live and to act responsibly - D J De Haan
Romans 7 depicts the law as
actually awakening rebellious desires within as in Romans 7:5).
Being told not to do something excites our
old man, our flesh to desire to express itself. By daily walking and
talking with Christ, we can go from ''NO'' power in the law to ALL
power in Christ.
Remember that walking is simply
placing one foot before another and then repeating the process. That is how
believers can learn to walk in the Spirit of Christ and in His power. In
Christ, God's love was expressed and His law was satisfied (Galatians 3:13) and our call now is
to work out our salvation in Christ with fear and trembling ( Philippians 2:12)
AS LONG 5550 CHRONOS AS HE LIVETH 2198 VS ONE
· As long as a person lives the Law will have dominion
over him.
2For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the
law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is
loosed from the law of her husband. 3So 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.
·
The Picture Of The Law
- In these verses, Paul uses the image of marriage to demonstrate what he
means. He tells us as long as a woman's husband is alive, she is bound to
him by the law of marriage. If she leaves him for another, she is guilty
under those laws and is still her husbands wife. However, if her husband
dies, she is free to marry again, because she has been liberated from the
law of her husband.
·
(The whole idea of this passage is not to give us a discourse on
marriage, but to remind us that the only way to be free from the confines
and demands of the Law is for us to be dead. Until we die, the Law hangs
over our heads making demands that we can never hope to keep. However, at
death, we are set free from these terrible demands.)
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Here Paul uses the fundamental law of domestic
relationship to illustrate the fact that only death breaks a legal bond.
This is the evident, simple meaning in this passage. This husband-and-wife
illustration is marvelously chosen. It is of world-wide application—instantly
understood everywhere; and it sets forth perfectly what the apostle
desired—that is, to describe the Ending of a relationship by death, thus
making possible a new relationship. (Romans 7)
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Ironside notes that...
· In the same way (as the wife's husband's death freed
her), death has ended the relationship of the believer to the law, not the
death of the law but our death with Christ, which has brought the old order
to an end. We are now free to be married to another, even to the risen
Christ in order that we might bring forth fruit to God...Death has
dissolved the former relationship, and the one who once looked to the law
for fruit now looks to the risen Christ. As the heart is occupied with Him,
spiritual fruit is produced in the life in which God delights.)
Barnes writes...
·
As
the woman that is freed from the law of her husband by his death, when
married again comes under the authority of another, so we who are made free
from the law and its curse by the death of Christ, are brought under the
new law of fidelity and obedience to him with whom we are thus united. The
union of Christ and his people is not infrequently illustrated by the most
tender of all earthly connexions--that of a husband and wife, Ephesians
5:23-30; Revelation 21:9; "I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's
wife;" Revelation 19:7. (Albert Barnes. Barnes NT Commentary).
John Piper points out
·
He begins in Romans
7:1-3 with a detailed comparison between the function of the law for a
married couple and the function of the law for the Christian. The gist of
it is that when a death happens in a marriage, the law that makes marriage
to another person wrong is not binding anymore.
·
So he argues that, similarly, when the
Christian dies with Christ, the law is not binding on the Christian anymore
the way it was. That's why we are not "under law."
·
We'll
work on that next time
·
But now the question is: OK, how does that
help? Justified people have died with Christ through faith and this death
is a death to the law, so that it is not binding anymore.
·
Why does that not produce lawless, unloving
people?
·
His answer is found in verses 4 and 6.
That's what I want us to see this morning – the bottom line reason why not
being under law does not produce people who sin more, but sin less and love
more.
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