The Secret Of Romans 7 Part 9

INTRO: We are going to be looking at verse 9 in Romans 7. But before we do that, let us review briefly what has gone on before. In verses 1-3, the lost person is pictured as bound to the flesh by the law. He is married to the sin nature. The law condemns to death anyone who has failed in one point. It was never meant as a means of salvation. It was meant to show the need of salvation. When a person turns to Christ in repentance and faith, the sin nature is rendered positionally dead. The believer is now free to marry Christ.

Now the believer, who has repented and believed in Christ, has become dead to the condemnation of the law that bound him to the flesh. And through faith in Christ now is married to Christ in order that he may bring forth fruit to God. This was necessary because when we were in the flesh, that is before we became Christians, the passions of sins which were aroused by the law were at work in our members, that is the members of our body, to bring forth fruit to death. That is they brought forth sin. So we needed to be freed from the dominion of the flesh, or the sin nature.

But we have been delivered from the law that bound us to the flesh so that we might serve in newness of Spirit and not in oldness of the letter, which is the law. So the question that now comes is, should we conclude then that the law is sin? Of course not! If it had not been for the law I would not have known what dwells within in me. I would never have become interested in cleaning up the filth and dirt within me, if the law had not shown me how dirty I was inside.