Romans 7:6 - Delivered from the law?
Rom 7:6 "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."
KJV
Overview:
What does this text mean?
- I am delivered from the obligation to keep the 10 Commandments.
OR
- I am delivered from the penalty (death) of breaking the 10 Commandments.
This text is often interpreted to mean that the
10 commandments have been done away with.
However, reading the texts that immediately
follow it in the same chapter, state very
strongly that the law is good. They explain
that being delivered from the law does not
mean that the law has ceased to exist, but
that we are delivered from its penalty.
Evidence:
Rom 7:7 "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."
Thou shall not covet is found in the 10 commandments
and is where we find the knowledge of
sin. The law is not sin but points out
sin.
Rom 7:8-9 "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."
When one sins, the commandment (which was
meant to promote life) points to sin
which results in death.
Rom 7:11 "For
sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived
me, and by it slew me."
This said that sin (not the commandment)
slew me.
Rom 7:12 "Wherefore the law is holy,
and the commandment holy,
and just, and good."
We are not delivered from something that
is holy, just, and good.
Rom 7:13 "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."
The
law does not work death, but the breaking
of the law which is sin results in death.
We are delivered from the penalty of
the law by Jesus Christ.
Rom 7:14 "For we know that the law
is spiritual: but I am carnal,
sold under sin."
It is not a common thing to hear that the
10 Commandments are SPIRITUAL.
Rom 7:15-16 "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."
When one recognizes that what he did was
bad, he admits that what the law says
is good.
Rom 7:17 "Now then it is no more I
that do it, but sin that dwelleth in
me."
If sin dwells in the soul, then eternal
death results unless it is cast out
by the power of God.
Rom 6:14-15 "For sin shall not have
dominion over you: for ye are not
under the law, but under grace. What
then? shall we sin, because we are
not under the law, but under grace?
God forbid."
When
convicted of sin one is under the
law, but grace through repentance
takes the sin away.Grace takes
sin away, it does not take the law
away. So, when there is no sin
in the soul then one is not under
the penalty of the law.
Summary:
Thank God for deliverance from the penalty of
the law through Jesus Christ. Grace doesn't
take the law away, it takes sin away.
