what holds you
In the seventh chapter of Romans, Paul’s conversation changed from an offering of choice to a reminder of the inescapable oppression present without the mercy of Christ. In the previous chapter, we read of the decision available to us to choose to live in grace claiming the lordship of Christ or to wrongly treat the freedom of the Gospel as an excuse to sin; Paul urged the Church to serve the Kingdom of Heaven and not choose to earn the wage of death promised to us through obedience to sin. However, Paul then shifted his emphasis to the rightful assertion that, without Christ, this is not a choice available to us—instead, we are tormented captives in a war between sin and law, spirit and flesh.
“The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Romans 7:10-12)
Again, Paul never described the law as being the source of our problems; he even states, “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being” (Romans 7:22). But, he was also very clear in all of his letters that reconciliation is not available to us through attempted pious adherence because in order to achieve the standards of the law we must display the totality of the nature of God—an act impossibly beyond us. But, the law is good and was meant for good. Here, we read that Sin saw an opportunity to deceive us; and the deception is quite remarkable.
The deception of Sin brought upon us the prideful consideration that we could exist outside of our nature. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ began with declarations of Christian identity with poor in spirit being the first noted (Matthew 5:3). We are the poor in spirit, beggars before the throne, ragamuffins kneeling empty handed before the Cross. And, most importantly, this is not a chiding statement but an announcement of blessing. Sin, however, presented the temptation that we could possibly produce a worthwhile offering, a righteous gift, piety worthy of the holiness of God. The poor rely on God, but legalism produces self-reliance.
Paul clearly stated that sin produced this prideful response of death through that which was intended for good.
“Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.” (Romans 7:13)
Later in his letter, Paul reinforced this claim by repeating the teaching of Jesus; love is the most important command. Likewise, Kierkegaard, in his commentary on the same verses, wrote that the law was but a sketch of that which it could not express in totality: the law existed as but a sketch of love. Love, then, is the fulfillment of the law. Those who live in love live in fulfillment of the law of God for everything can be summarized in the commandment to love.
“Owe no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, you shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10)
The law is good, but we are not meant to be bound to it; we are not meant to hold to the law as our source of salvation or hope. We were always meant to be bound to Christ. Therefore, through the sanctifying and renewing work of Christ, we, as Christians, are called to die—to sin, to our reliance on the law—and instead be reborn new creations in Christ.
“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.” (Romans 7:4)
“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.” (Romans 7:6)
That we may belong to another is a phrase essential to our understanding. Paul was not initiating a conversation to disband Old Testament Scripture; it is rather a question of belonging. Through this, he shared the example of marriage emphasizing “till death do you part;” when a spouse dies, you are no longer bound to uphold the wedding vow of faithfulness through all circumstances. We are no longer betrothed to the law or captives held under the power of Sin; we are the bride of Christ.
“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?” (Romans 7:1)
This truth, however, does not negate the daily struggle and the ongoing experience of sanctification. The daily struggle exists because of a war raging between spirit and flesh, law and sin. Paul, in a rare display of transparent confession, revealed his own struggles and frustrations providing comfort to his audience who undoubtedly also struggled with being torn between the truth of our spiritual righteousness and our not yet perfected fleshly desires.
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7:24-25)