Romans 7:5-6 - Dead to Sin; Thus, Dead to Law - Pt. 3 (Conciliation Series, Part XXX)

 Part IV: God’s Conciliation, Confirmed

For, when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, which were through the law, operated in our members to be bearing fruit to Death.

With all of that said, we can now conclude this argument. The two verses we’re going to study here are at their best when they’re side by side. They can be contrasted effectively, as they are more of that patterned ‘contrast’ that we’ve been establishing for the previous two chapters.

‘For,’ gar, is becoming one of my favorite connectives in Paul’s letters. To reiterate, ‘for’ represents a forceful conclusion of the argument Paul has been making, and, through it, establishes more revelation with a statement that will assuredly cause someone on the planet to go, ‘Doh, no, whaaat? That’s not true!’ even though he just proved it. ‘For’ is special in this regard, and I get excited every time Paul uses it.

Paul, in this sentence, is most assuredly speaking from experience. As the book of Acts clarifies, Paul, from an early age, was involved in the Jewish traditions (Acts 7:58.) He was present when the Jews were rejecting their Messiah a second time, in stoning Stephen. And, he…

Well, let’s just let him speak for himself. Here’s Phil. 3:4-6–

And am I having confidence in flesh, also? If any other one is presuming to have confidence in flesh, also? If any other one is presuming to have confidence in flesh, I rather: in circumcision the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, in relation to law, a Pharisee, in relation to zeal, persecuting the ecclesia, in relation to the righteousness which is in law, becoming blameless.

Sounds like a lot of hoopla this guy was involved with in order to herald and prioritize his own flesh. Thus it was what this man says about the law in 7:5 that can be trusted. If he had not spent the majority of his life under law, we’d have a bunch of expositors saying, “Oh, well, what does Paul really know? He isn’t speaking from experience.”

Furthermore, this is why he says ‘we’ were in the flesh. Some expositors will use this verse to say that Paul was only speaking to Jews (again, looking at Pilkington.) But Paul clarified at the beginning of the chapter that, for now, he is speaking to those who know law. In that, they could have been Jews, Proselytes, or knowledgeable Greeks. Nonetheless, this is why Paul says ‘we’ here.

But what does he mean by ‘in the flesh’? Obviously, we’re all currently literally in the flesh, and yet Paul speaks of this as though it was past tense. Given the perfect argument so far, Paul isn’t crazy, so we must be dealing with a figure. The figure itself is reflective of the ‘old humanity’ (Rom. 6:7,) reflective of ‘sin reigning’ (Rom. 6:12,) and, per this verse, this active reign is through the law. Thus we must be speaking of our previous servitude, our enslavement to Sin, that Paul said we are to be ashamed of, as only One has lived successfully in the flesh and satisfied God, and we killed Him.

In our old life, we were not ‘passionate’ about sin – to say this would be false on Paul’s part. I can’t think of a single Christian who would, with incorrupt conscience, say, “Oh, I’m passionate about sinning!” Though these folk are living in and to their flesh, they hate sin, and reasonably so. The passion to sin is something the saints are entreated to crucify, per Gal. 5:24. Simply put, unless you’re in a cult where they drink pig’s blood, or pray to a god that will send you to hell unless you follow their rules, you aren’t very ‘passionate’ about doing wrong.

But what does it mean to be ‘passionate’ about sin? The word ‘passion’ here is pathema. The Greek elements of this word is “EMOTION.” Oftentimes, the word is translated as “suffer,” or “suffering.” This, of course, does not mean that emotions are always correlated with suffering, as some of mankind’s greatest pleasures stem from emotional fulfillment. However, anyone skilled in philosophy or reasoning can tell you that, if your emotions were constantly satisfied, you would cease to grow. God, here, is alluding to this same idea, and will elaborate on it throughout these letters. This is key in understanding why ‘bad things’ happen to you – you must understand that, if you always got ‘your way,’ you’d be spoiled.

But it fits in the context here just right, because, as we read in Rom. 6:23, Sin is rationing things to you. It doesn’t come across this way, to those who receive the largest rations, because it appeals to their most powerful emotions, but it is indeed a ration being fed to the flesh. The passions of sins, then, is the emotional battle with sin – i.e. the guilt, the weight, the feeling of “What if I eat that extra bagel?” or “What if I take pride in my work one day?” Paul will elaborate on this feeling in a few verses, as well as its counterintuitive impact on your actions, but for now we must understand that the passion, the suffering, the emotion of your sin, all proceeds through the law.

Many in Christ like to discuss Romans 7:4, and for good reason. It’s a verse that clarifies, conclusively, that you were put to death to law through the body of Christ. However, this verse adds to our understanding of why we are put to death to law, by confirming our relation to death to Sin with our death to the law. The passions of these sins were through the law, so we have thankfully been removed from such an obligation by dying to the law. We don’t need to worry over the emotional weight of the consequence of sin, but accept its inherently corrupt nature as against God, temporary, and allow ourselves to crucify the emotion and suffering that comes with understanding your sin.

In this, we can add to our list of points concerning the law by adding:

-         The passions of sins are through the law (7:5)

Now, in contrast to ‘bearing fruit to God,’ we, when we were in the flesh, passionate about sin through the law (that is, instead of passionate about Christ,) we were bearing fruit to Death. Death, like Sin in the previous chapter, is capitalized, and is, as discussed in Romans 5, the root of Sin (5:12, 21.) God created the perfect “antithesis” to Himself, being Death, and, as the flesh is under the curse of death, as early as Genesis 3:19, it becomes apparent that the flesh, which is by definition unjust, per the mark of death, cannot be paired with the law, which is by definition just. If the two are unionized, the law will dominate the flesh, as Sin unjustly wields the just law to kill you (more on that later.) It disguises this by appealing to your emotion, the comfort of your relative flesh, which causes it to bear fruit to Death.

But how exactly does the law cause you to bear fruit to Death in this manner? Well, think about it as simply as this:

Parent: I’m going to go to the store. Sit at this table. Do not eat the oreos on this table.

Kid: Okay!

*kid proceeds to eat oreos*

         Simple enough? This is, in essence, called “reverse psychology.” I don’t feel a need to explain this to you all, because there are tons of articles on the subject, and the comparison between the law to Israel being a perfect reflection of this reverse psychology has been explained time and time again.

Yet now we were exempted from the law, dying in that which we were retained, so that it is for us to be slaving in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.

Yet now, apart from law, a–

Oop! Sorry. Inside joke. So yet now, in absolute contrast to the previous statement (Paul has employed these words before,) we are exempt from the law. How exactly were we exempted? Thankfully, Paul sums it up: we died in that which we were retained! We died in and to Sin, and thus died in and to the very thing that used to ‘limit,’ ‘retain’ ‘entrap’ us, thanks to our Lord (Rom. 6:4, Gal. 3:23.) We are thus freed from it (Rom. 7:1-4.) Irrespective of later objections (which will become increasingly subtle and provocative of the spirit of God,) Paul has unequivocally proven that you are free from Sin, free from law, while willing you to want to act properly.

Yes, the goal, as we’ve studied, is not for you to ‘just’ be free as a bird, because if it were only this, you would get lazy. Being lazy does not a good student make. You are learning in Christ, the goal being that you learn in realization of God (Eph. 4:13,) into a mature spirit. You are not saved by your work, but the goal of your salvation is to learn to work the same way that Christ works. This is why Paul says the goal of dying in and to law is still to be slaving, but in newness of spirit.

Now, as Paul already explained in Rom. 6:4, 6:5, and 6:8-9, we are living, now, vivified, as Christ is resurrected. This does not mean that we ‘receive a new spirit,’ as in, our entire personality changes, and our interests must wane (assuming, of course, your interest isn’t to have orgies with strange men in gas station bathrooms, but more like Pokemon cards or drinking at parties with friends.) Paul is very clear that the contrast in ‘newness of spirit’ is ‘oldness of letter.’ The ‘oldness of letter’ is, obviously, the law, and the law, when pitted against mortal flesh, begets more sin (5:20.) So, it follows that the law contrasts the spirit.

George Rogers rightly points out that this is the first reference to the ‘spirit’ since 5:5. In 5:5, the love of God was poured in our hearts through the holy (set-apart) spirit which was given to us. Now here, in 7:6, it is the newness of this spirit that we are slaving in. Paul will elaborate on the ‘newness of spirit’ in chapter 8, but here in chapter 7 we must establish the ‘oldness of letter,’ that we can see just what we are free from.

The contrast, of course, reveals itself to be between ‘law’ and ‘spirit’ (Rom. 2:29, 2 Cor. 3.) Conditional and unconditional. Mortality and immortality (1 Cor. 15:53.) This contrast is not merely ‘hinted’ at here, but is on full display for the next fifty verses, as well as most of Paul’s letters (it’s particularly stressed in Galatians.) Sin’s power is the law, and, since you’ve been freed from it, you are free to slave as a new spirit.

George Rogers points out another thing here that I haven’t considered until now. The precepts (the precepts, i.e. the direction – Rom. 7:8-13, 13:9) that Paul presents are the same precepts (the precepts, i.e. the direction – Rom. 7:8-13, 13:9) that the law presents. The goal of the newness of spirit is to be slaving. The goal of the oldness of letter was to be slaving. The problem with the oldness of letter was that it caused you to bear fruit to Death, whereas in newness of spirit (which God is, John 4:24,) you can be bearing the fruit to God. You’re slaving either way – man is not free (1 Cor. 15:22-28.) But in one, you can actually please God, whereas in the other, you can’t. One makes you responsible for your actions, whereas God clarifies that you are not – which, in essence, takes away that pressure to perform perfectly.

The precepts are the same, but the law speaks to man in the flesh, subjects the flesh, and kills you through it (as we’ll see in the coming argument.) You are required to follow every letter, or you fail. You are told “follow, and you’ll live” (Prov. 7:2,) but you aren’t told how to follow the law.

Grace, on the other hand, speaks to your spirit (Gal. 5:16,) subjects your spirit (Rom. 1:5,) starts with the terms that ‘you have life,’ (Rom. 6:3-11,) and then does guide you through the precept, to learn to apply the love that is poured in your heart (Rom. 5:5.) You are being willed to want to do something with the justification you are given, to God (Rom. 6:19.) You are enabled to live and serve God, in being placed outside of law’s jurisdiction. You can sustain it, apart from its requirements, by faith (Rom. 3:31, 4:14.) You are able to properly slave, in the manner that is well pleasing to God, in spirit, apart from your flesh (Rom. 12:1.)

This overwhelmingly corrects our perception of God’s influence on our lives! Don’t you see? One of the biggest lies we’ve ever been told is simply that, “If you pray to God, He will help!” No! No! God is not helping you! Is He going to help bring you back from the dead? “I can mostly resurrect myself, but I just need a tad bit of help from God, and then I should be okay!” What?? No, God is not helping, or assisting, but willing your service, your conduct, your love, with the new spirit that He placed in you, for His purpose. It is all Him, and your only job is to receive the benefits. You are a display for God’s delight, His work.

Thus, your slaving is thanks to Him. His Son’s death, His revelations to you, His glory being lavished on you. His spiritual power influencing you, and no longer Sin. We need not be passionate about Sin anymore. He doesn’t ‘sort of’ save you, ‘partially help,’ or any such nonsense. He blows Sin out of the water. His power is overwhelmingly brought to our attention. The salvation is complete in nature.

It all starts with Him. It all ends with Him. This is the only rational conclusion to the argument, of course, but Satan’s got more objections that must be considered, and God thankfully (graciously) covers them all here.

- GerudoKing