Rom. 7:1-8; 8:1-4

Know-Reckon-Yield-Obey brings us to the place where we are submitted in faith to the Lord Jesus.  We are assured “sin shall not have dominion” over us (6:14).  But where does the power come from for this victorious walk with Christ?  The same verse answers this question: for you are not under law but under grace.  Romans 7 explains how seeking to be righteous by keeping the law will only lead to defeat.  Romans 8 explains how the grace of God empowers us.

In Christ we have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead, that you should bear fruit to God (7:4).  What is the problem with the law of God?  Before we were justified by faith our sinful passions were actually aroused or animated by the law (v5).  The law said “you shall not covet” (v7) and my passions were aroused in rebellion (v8).  As we could not be saved by keeping the law, so we also cannot grow in holiness by the law (in the diagram there is an “X” over the law).

The problem is not with the law but with our passions.  In 7:13-23 we see how this works.  If we try to live by the law, we cannot do the things we want to do and we will not avoid doing the things the law says we should not do (thus the conflicting arrows in the diagram).  The frustrating conclusion is understandable: O wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?  As long as we place ourselves under law, sin has dominion over us.

The answer comes with a shout of joy!  I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!  We live our new life in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter (7:4)  Chapter 8:1-4 explains.  We have been justified so that there is no condemnation (thus the “X” over the judgment seat).  We should not wallow in guilt.  Rather, we see that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (the principle that the indwelling Spirit gives us Jesus’ life) has made me free from the law of sin and death (the principle that say the wages of sin is death).  This freedom is in Christ who condemned sin in the flesh.  As Col. 2:14 puts it, He nailed the law to the cross, fulfilling the requirement of the law by dying in our place.  By the Spirit of Christ the law can be fulfilled in us day by day!  The rest of Romans 8 will help us see the ways that the Holy Spirit’s power is unleashed in the believer in Christ.