February 14, 2017 GETTING THE FULL STORY
Romans 7:15: “For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
Romans 7:24-25: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
Romans 8:1-2: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Perhaps this section of scripture is the most widely misunderstood and misapplied of all the New Testament scriptures. It is necessary for us to understand the truth found in this section if we are to live according to our new identity as believers. All of chapter seven should be read, but verse 7:15 is a verse that many believers identify with, agreeing that that verse describes the life they live. Living life as portrayed in 7:15 is a life dominated by the old sin nature. As a believer, Paul had experienced the frustration that comes when the old nature dominates, leading him to cry out “wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from this body of death?” (In biblical days, if someone murdered someone, the punishment was to tie the corpse on the back of the one who murdered-in time, disease from the corpse would lead to the death of the murderer-that is most likely what Paul was referring in the body of death.) However, Romans 7:1-24 was not Paul’s testimony, but a description of his life before he came to know the freedom of not being in bondage to sin. Romans 8:1-2, is Paul’s testimony-free from the law of sin and death! In Christ we are new creations, sin no longer has the rule over us, and we are slaves to sin no longer. Because we are in Christ, and He is in us, we can say no to sin and yes to righteousness. The truth of the gospel centers around the fact that Jesus came to forgive us AND to set us free from the bondage to sin. When we experience the freedom of life in Christ Jesus, we have no desire to sin, but in fact have a desire to do the things that please Him. It is a major victory for us when realize that Romans 6:11-12 describes who we are: “Even so consider yourselves to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lust.” Let us get the full story; the “Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
Romans 6:13-14: “and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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