Do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who
WEEK 5
LOVING THE LORD OF THE LAW
ROMANS 7:1-12
Do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.
Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, taking
opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
OUR FATHER, we have been blessed by the
enlightening ministry of Your Spirit, who has opened our understanding to grasp the glories of the gospel. By Him we understand that Your moral law
is "holy and righteous and good," a manifestation of Your holy nature.
As such it is perfect and unchanging. We love the law because it is an expression of Your very Self.
But we confess that we have sinned and therefore the law cannot save us. By the works of the law no flesh will be justified in Your sight;
because through the law comes the knowledge of sin.1
We cannot merit redemption from sin or ransom ourselves
from the bondage of evil by our own works, because we have already fallen far short of the perfection
Your law requires—and thus under the law we stand condemned already.2
We thank You that You have opened another way:
"the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ," who perfectly obeyed the law on our behalf.3
Although the law was established as a true
reflection of Your absolute holiness, it is not given to us as a means of salvation, but rather as a means of revealing our sin
so we can run to Christ for mercy and through faith
obtain the salvation He purchased on the cross for us.
We are overwhelmed, we are grateful, and we worship You now in prayer
because of Your gift of full and free redemption
through faith in Jesus Christ. You have covered us with Your own righteousness,
Christ having paid in full the penalty for our sins. Since all the condemnation we deserved
was poured out on Him at the cross, none is left for us! You exacted the just penalty for sin on Your own Son,
and You, renowned as Judge of all the earth, are the justifier of all who believe in Him.4
We glory in this Gospel, O Lord of the law, and we love You for it! We ask, as a token of our love, that You would cause us
to live in the light of it. We know that we are often unfaithful; we fail and our flesh is weak. We sin and so again we ask for daily forgiveness and cleansing.
Make us in practice what we are before You in position. Grant to us increasing practical righteousness and holiness. By Your Word and Spirit mold us into the very image of Christ,
in whose name we pray. Amen.
1. Romans 3:20 2. John 3:18 3. Romans 3:22 4. Romans 3:26