The new covenant: Romans part 9

Know 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? For 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. So 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.

 Wherefore, 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.

 For 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. But 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.

  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Romans 7:1-17

Many commentators have said that chapter seven deals with a man before redemption; it does not. Such a perception causes us to miss the benefit of the raw principles of how to live in the life Yeshua has provided. Paul is speaking to believers who are in the midst of a conflict of how the new birth is to be lived out in their present living.

In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul addressed a gentile church that was fracturing into divisions and thought Christian liberty meant that sin was an acceptable way of living (1 Corinthians 1:10-11 & 5:1-2). Paul answers them as the rod of YHWH with all vehemence that they have errored (1 Corinthians 1:13-16 & 5:4-5). We see this same reaction in the letter to the Galatians when they believe that Messiah has done His part now they must do the works required by Moses to complete their redemption. The Spirit again is a club crushing the flesh when Paul writes that if you go this way you have no part in redemption(Galatians 5:2-4).

In the letter to the Romans Paul is not beating back the wolves of false doctrine but instead he is using a shepherd’s hooked staff. This type of staff not only provided the shepherd with a support and balance for himself but was also used to draw sheep who were wondering astray back into the safety of the herd.

The debate in the church of Rome is about how to conduct oneself in the living out of the life given to us by Messiah. The gentile believers held that Jesus had taken on himself our death and given us life (this is true).This understandings lead them to the conclusion that our actions do not matter only our faith. Paul shows this idea is false by saying sin brings death in anyone who does it, that we are joined in Christ death, so if we walk in sin we are not yet living the new life.
The Jewish believers in Rome believed Yeshua gave us the life proclaimed by Moses when he said I have set before you life and death blessings and cursing (this is true).This understanding lead them to conclude that we now can keep the law if our heart is true towards YHWH. Paul shows this too is false by showing that no man can keep the law by his nature received from Adam.

Paul addresses chapter seven to these believers saying to those who know the law. The covenant of Moses was indeed a marriage contract proclaiming that by it Israel had become the wife of YHWH. The nation of Israel however was joined to another just as every man is; this other was the flesh of Adam.

 Israel showed itself it was an adulteress wife by a constant breaking of that covenant and joining itself to those things not allowed for. It was only the blood covering the mercy seat that stopped them from being killed as the law declared was the end of an adulteress’s ways. This covering of animal blood stayed their judgment but it did not take away the sin.

 In Messiah’s death we too die; that we may be free to be joined to the Son and be made one with His life. Furthermore we having died are freed from Adams dominion over us. Paul points out that since we have died in Messiah we are also dead to the imitation of the actions of life described in the law. We have now been betrothed to the life of the Father in Messiah.

This is the thing that we tend to overlook the law has not changed; it was and shall ever be the witness and instructor of what life is and is not. It is the covenant which has changed. The first was a declaration of intent to marry; the new is a consummation of that marriage. No marriage is consummated without the two becoming one. So the engagement made requirement of our behavior to be a suitable bride which we showed ourselves we were not. Though our espoused would have been right to judge us instead He took us still as a bride, purged us of our adulteries through the death of the cross, and consummated His marriage with us.

Having been purged of our own life we have been made one with Messiah and by that one with the Fathers life.

So did the description of life kill us? No; it showed us we were already dead. The more we tried to generate that life from our dead source the more completely it showed us our death.

This being true Paul gives us his personal testimony. When Paul says he was alive without the law but when the law came sin revived. Do you remember that time when the new birth came into your heart? For a time everything in life was painted Jesus; your speech, your hearing, your desires everything.

At a point we either read or were told how a lover of God must act; and when this happened our focus became what we would do for Him. This is the deception of sin that we can become our own maker; even if we desire to make ourselves His child, servant, brother, or bride. No amount of sincerity can change the fact that when we try to make our life we can only bring death.

It is this nature of sin that lies at the core of all that have been born of Adam. It is this self-generated man that must die at the cross so that our trust must be in God alone as our maker. The life He generates in us is His life and therefore the life described in the law.