Dead to the Law

September 25, 2022 Download: Audio

Romans 7:1-25

One of the exciting things about the gospel is the promise of life—particularly a new life. When you put your trust in Christ, believing this good news, things happen that are powerful. You have become something that you weren’t before. You see things differently than you saw them before. You have a new power at work in you that you didn’t have before. And yet, you are not yet what you want to be. As much as things change about your life, there are yet more changes needed. You know that. So how do we walk in the direction of those desired changes?

Last week we considered the concept of being united with Christ. That’s what chapter 6 talks about. As a result of your justification bought by the death of Christ, you have been united to Christ in his resurrection—which is a reference to the power to live on the other side of death, specifically, the death penalty that you deserved.

The good news is that this came by grace, as a free gift of God. It did not come because you lived a righteous life. It did not come because you kept the law. Instead, Paul writes, the law was given to expose your guilt before God. Instead of earning you the life you desired, it condemned you to the death you deserved.

As we come to this chapter, Paul is further showing us how important it is for us to understand our relationship to the law, for if we don’t we will find ourselves trapped between the person we want to be and the person we once were.
So what is the Christian’s relationship to the law?