Romans 7: Released from the Law

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? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

Almighty God, if we live by the law, we’re bound to follow it entirely to please You. In truth, we cannot attain our righteousness on our own accord but only through Jesus Christ, who imputed His righteousness into us by His death. His righteousness provides us with wisdom and understanding of God’s will.

Savior of my soul, teach us how to live according to your word so that we can glorify Your name on high in everything I do.

I Belong to Him

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. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 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.

Father, if You didn’t give us the law, we would not understand our iniquities against a holy God. Even if our conscience dictated to us it was simply “wrong” or””good” we did. Until Christ was proclaimed and revealed, the law guarded and convicted us of our wrongs or goods. Also, our conscience dictated to us it was simply “wrong” or “good” what we did.

In Christ, we’re released from the righteous law of legalism and given righteousness by faith. By this, we know that we’re children of God when we bear good fruit by the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Law is Holy

“7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said,”“You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced all kinds of covetousness in me. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive, and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced all kinds of covetousness in me. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive, and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

In Your merciful grace, You provided a way for us to be whole and righteous in Your presence. We’re no longer children of wrath but children of God. By the law, we were condemned, and through Christ, we are saved and redeemed. Oh, Father, forgive us when we forget about the importance of the law given to us for our own protection, but also teach us through it what is good, acceptable and perfect.

All your rules, precepts, and statutes are holy and pleasing by Your grace and holiness. In Your merciful grace, You’ve provided a way for us to be righteous in Your presence. We’re no longer children of wrath but children of God. By the law, we were condemned, and through Christ, we are saved and redeemed.

Oh, Father, forgive us when we forget about the importance of the law given to us for our own protection, but also teach us what is suitable for us through it.

The Law is Spiritual

13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, so that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Holy Spirit, You’ve shown us our wrongs and how our fleshly desires have broken God’s law. By our sinful nature, we’re weak in faith and would rather give up on the passions of the flesh than trust in Your word to overcome our struggles. Forgive us when sins dwell in our hearts, ready to act on them, rather than fight back in prayer and supplication, with a loud voice and tears to the One who hears and cares for us.

Delight in the Law

So, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 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.

Holy Spirit, teach us how to delight in the law of God by trusting in His word, that all is good, profitable, and perfect. Purify our hearts from all the unrighteousness we’ve cultivated in our minds and hearts this week or this year. Let our life be servable to a holy God who loves us.

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