If God be for us, who can (successfully) be against us? A study in Romans chapter 8

Book of Romans: A Bible study series in 17 parts

The general theme of Romans: How to be right with God.

Lesson nine:  If God is for us, who is against us? (Romans 8)

[To watch this on YouTube as it was given live on Zoom and on Facebook Live, click    https://youtu.be/58iFt7FKYO4 ].  [The whole biblical text is at the end of this blog]

Introduction

Happy Shavuot to all my Jewish mates. Did you stay up all night and read the book of Ruth? Did you eat a cheesecake yet or a blintz? No matter, on to our study today. Welcome to those of you who are new to our class in this the 9^th lesson, as we take up Paul’s comments recorded in chapter 8 of The Book of Romans. If you are watching this video on YouTube long after our class ended today, then please pause the recording and read the 8^th chapter. It will only take 3 minutes, or maybe 4 if you get a wee bit confused, then push play again, and come back as we will try to bring meaning to it all. OK, welcome back.  For those of you on the Zoom call just now, have your Bible open, will you? And next week, please read the chapter before you come to ‘class.’ Thanks.

   This chapter is mammoth and worthy of weeks of study. But in our rendering, this will take the usual time today as I’m going to highlight aspects of the chapter and you will get to read, mark, inwardly digest it for another few days, or at least until tonight. Please muse on this, on all the promises, on the lavish grace that Paul writes about here, as it will bring deep gladness to your heart and spirit. The purpose of this letter is to help you get right with God and to remind you that YOU ARE right with God by faith in Yeshua. 

The overview of God’s promises

This chapter alone carries the bulk of that purpose.

Listen to the results of being right with God.

Verse 1: No condemnation

Verse 2: Set free from the law of sin and death

Verse 4: The requirement of the Law is fulfilled in us

And we walk in the Spirit

Verse 5: We set our minds on the things of the Spirit

Verse 6: This brings life and peace

Verse 10: Our spirit is alive

Verse 11: God will quicken our mortal body

Verse 13:  We will live!

Verse 14: We are called ‘the sons of God.’

Verse 15: We have received a spirit of adoption as sons and cry ‘Abba”

Verse 17: We are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Yeshua and we will be glorified with him

Surprisingly, in 

Verse 23: We groan like creation for the complete restoration of all things

And

Verse 25: We hope for the redemption of our bodies

Verse 26: We have the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words

Verse 28: God causes all things to work together for the good

Verse 31: God is for us; who can be against us (successfully)?

Verse 32: God will give us all things (needed to get there)

NO MATTER WHAT!

If you are not yet feeling confident and assured, it’s time for a reality check. 

The contrasts

The chapter makes all these promises and assurances come to light against the backdrop of the comparisons of the other guys if you will, your past life, and those who still resist the love of God. You are adopted, but others are still outside. You are free, but others are still in chains. 

Look at the list from verse 2:

The law of sin and death. This is not Torah, of course, but the guiding principle he has clarified for several chapters that our sin and our flesh (Greek: sarx) is opposed to the Lord and results in death. 

Verse 3: The Law was weak because of our flesh

Verse 4: We walked in the flesh (that is, the system by the which we thought we were acceptable to God)

Verse 5: Our minds were set on fleshly (carnal) things

Verse 6: The result of carnal thinking was death

Verse 7: Carnal thinking was hostile to God, incapable of right-thinking

Verse 8: Carnal thinking prevented right relationship with God

Verse 9: Don’t belong to God (orphans)

Verse 13:  Death is the winner

Verse 15: Spirit of slavery which leads to fear

This list summarizes the failings of the carnal mind, the flesh-oriented person in Rome who wants his cake and to eat it, too. He has rejected God’s standards and God’s Son. He either thinks he will make it on his own religious path and he can earn God’s favor. Or he has dismissed God altogether and considers himself above the need for repair. Both the self-possessed and the self-righteous are going to fail. 

Family (.12-17)

The words in the chapter highlight family relationship. Sons, adoption, Abba. 

Paul is not being capricious, but he’s helping the believers in Rome to get it, to understand his compelling argument that the loving Father shown in the story of the Prodigal is your Father.  Most Jewish people would not have ever thought of God as Father in First Century terms. That came later. But Jesus and Paul certainly take no small pleasure in showcasing the Almighty as giving us sonship, we are children of God, heirs, joint-heirs with Yeshua. 

Adoption may mean different things in those days and in these days, but honestly, an adopted child is chosen and that’s more significant than one born naturally. We could say that an adopted child is favored, almost more than the natural born one. 

The excurses on suffering (.18-27)

Paul’s imagery of suffering in the few verses from verse 18 stands out to me in the reading. He puts the groaning of creation and the personal groaning of the believer in context. We are suffering in this mortal body and aching to be fully redeemed. We long for the fulfillment of the final restoration of body, soul, and spirit at the return of Jesus to establish his kingdom. And Paul helps us see our aching in light of Creation itself. Since Adam failed in the Garden, and brought sin to the planet, and thus the curse of Genesis 3, the entire creation longs for that same redemption that we await. 

We groan, we ache, we anticipate, but are we worried? That’s the key in this paragraph. He wants us to groan, if you will, in faith, because God has the whole world in his hands. Nothing will surprise him. In fact, he has sent us the down payment, the Holy Spirit to help us in our weaknesses in light of our sufferings. Groanings too deep for words might be praying in the Spirit. 

What God did (.28-31)

Some of you will be mad at me. You may have been waiting for this section since we announced the study on Romans. You long to hear your own convictions about predestination and justification. Call, glorification, and foreknowledge. Great… I’m glad you have such convictions. And I hope we can talk about those in due course, but for today, these grand topics are going to be only markers for us as we visit chapter 8. They can best be summarised as “What God did for us.” 

If you are new to these biblical words, no worries, they will come up again and again for you in further readings and in sermons down the track. For now, let me say this, “God knew all things from the beginning (foreknowledge) and he laid out a course of action and circumstances (predestination) so that we would end up living a holy life and represent Yeshua well. (verse 29). God made sure we would be aware of this reality by calling us (verse 30) and making justification happen. (Isaiah 53.11) Glorification is the final result of that and it’s already done (in a spiritual sense) and has not yet happened (in the temporal world of the flesh). (verse 30)

Remember before we were put in the Garden, God made man in his image and wanted us to be regents on the planet under his lordship. We failed back then, and God enacted Plan A to get us back into right relationship with him. That’s called “the plan of salvation” and is what God did as I just laid out in those heavy theological terms. But making us be together the imago dei (image of God) according to his purpose…that’s what this whole story is about. 

Please don’t get caught up in the controversy about Calvin vs Wesley and ‘inexperienced people’ or ‘the learned author’… the issues here are not designed for us to be perplexed, but rather to be comforted. God’s got this. Relax!

The summary

Verse 33: Look at the judicial charges. Who has anything to say against you?  His implication is that NO ONE does. He’ll detail this in a moment. 

Verse 34: No condemnation. You are set free; liberated, and acquitted. Made right with God.

Verse 35: Who will separate us from God’s love? There are 7 candidates. 

Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? There is a certain rhythm to this sequence. The ‘or’ between each word is like a drumbeat. And within the sentence, I want to hear you say, “NO”. Will tribulation? NO. Will distress? NO! Will persecution? NO. Will famine? NO. Will nakedness. NO? Will peril. NO. Will sword. NO!!! All these imposters to the plan of God will fail.  Will Covid-19? NO. Will the failing of your superannuation? NO. 

PSALM 44.22.

Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”

 This quoted verse probably had already been used of martyrs of the Jewish people. 

Just mentioning the 7 attack dogs of peril and tribulation etc might hearken the reader of the letter back to the mood, the somber mood of chapter 7. “Who will save me from the body of this death?” BUT against that, immediately, Paul launches one of the greatest return-of-fires recorded in the Scripture, “We are more than conquerors.” 

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. (verse 37)

We are conquerors. We are MORE than conquerors. Overwhelmingly. This is not a slight victory in extra time. This is not eeking out a one-point win in overtime. This is the conquest and overwhelmingly so because of Yeshua, who loved us. We know that love (chapter 5) in that while we were yet sinners, Messiah died for us. We win because HE WON!

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (38-39)

These 10 things are going to try to prevent our victory. 10 things are going to weigh in psychologically or sociologically. All these realities are aiming to stop your celebration… they don’t want you to remember the love of God. They want your failure. God, however, wants your success. 

Paul says he is convinced. He wants you to be convinced. The word is often translated “persuaded” (Luke 16.31, Acts 18.4, 19.8, .26) Are you?

Look at this list of the Top 10: And this list is not exhaustive. Neither death, the ultimate finality of death cannot separate us from God’s love because it was in death that Yeshua showed us that great love at Calvary. Can life separate us? By that he probably means the regular, ordinary role of living, going to work, riding the train, mowing your lawn, buying groceries, regular ordinary life. Can that separate us? Not at all.. in our ordinary life, God’s love can shine and be manifest. He shows up in ordinary circumstances like sticks that blossom in Aaron’s day or ravens that feed prophets, like an ordinary fishing expedition that nets 153 fish after an empty catch all night. God shows his light all the more in the darkness of ‘life.’ Angels—can they separate us? Gabriel and Michael called us to God; Satan’s empty beckoning is vain and empty when shown against the glory of the call of God. Can principalities prevent the love of God? Greek word ‘arche’ like ‘heads’ or ‘rulers’ like in Colossian 1.16, 2.10, 2.15, 1 Cor. 15.24, especially Ephesians 6.12). All governments, all authorities, all powers… he is above them all! 

What about things present? You know, situations in which I find myself. Loneliness, despair. What about anxieties or worries. What about the Romans ruling over us and we have no freedom. What about I want to open up my village or city or state and the government is not letting me. Things present.  Things to come? Our future, the stock market, impending troubles from China aggravating our relationships with Australia or in the USA. 

What about powers (Greek word: dunamis)? People who are stronger than me, and I worry they will hurt me.  What about height or depth…Paul is moving into every considered discipline of conversation… can anything of these 10 or your next 10 or the media or the duopoly of Coles and Woolies…can anything separate us from God’s love. 

His unequivocal answer is NO. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. 

Hallelujah is our answer and our response. 

Is that your response?

If so, you are right with God and that’s nothing to shake a stick at. It’s something about which to sing and rejoice. For those watching this video later, I’m going to put a song into the video that I heard for the first time the other day. It was made during COVID lockdown in the UK and celebrates the reality of this conclusion. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. If God be for us, who or what can be against us? NOTHING else will win; He has won it all. Enjoy that song. But first, 

Dear friends on Facebook and on this zoom call, if you are not yet a believer in Yeshua, I urge you today, call on him while he is near. If you know your Torah, and you know yourself, you know you need a Saviour. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be rescued, will be saved will be made to be in right relationship with God. It’s worth all the social distancing people will give you when you tell them about God. It’s worth all the rejection of others who don’t want to know about God’s love in Messiah Yeshua. 

If you want, you can pray a prayer with me just now to solidify your choice. Something like this, “Father in Yeshua’s name, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Yeshua to save me from myself, from my selfishness, from my despair, and the harm I cause so many. Thank you for making me right with God through your sacrifice. I receive Yeshua (Jesus) as my savior and the lover of my soul. He frees me to love others. I repent of my sins and ask for God’s forgiveness to be my portion. I receive the free gift of God, eternal life in Messiah Jesus our Lord. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, will you let us know via the messages or write me directly? I would appreciate that.

NEXT WEEK we will look at the 9^th chapter and find some of the most difficult passages in the Bible about Jewish people and about the Sovereignty of God. If nothing can separate us from God’s love, what about the Jewish people… that will be Paul’s major question. 

To all my Jewish mates, Chag Shavuot s’meach, and to all my Christian friends, happy Pentecost on Sunday.

I’m delighted to be able to read and help us understand this book each Friday here from my home in Sydney.  Shabbat shalom!

The actual text:

Rom. 8:1   Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are ^bin Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³ For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Rom. 8:9   However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Rom. 8:12   So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — ¹³ for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Rom. 8:18   For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. ²³ And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. ²⁴ For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Rom. 8:26   In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; ²⁷ and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Rom. 8:28   And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; ³⁰ and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

Rom. 8:31   What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? ³³ Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; ³⁴ who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 

³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

³⁶  Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”

³⁷ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Torah: Good or Bad? A study in Romans chapter 7

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The actual text:

Book of Romans: A Bible study series in 17 parts

The general theme of Romans: How to be right with God.

Lesson eight:  Law: Good or Bad? (Romans 7)

[To watch this on YouTube as it was given live on Zoom and on Facebook Live, click    https://youtu.be/srLigerpUY0 ].  [The whole biblical text is at the end of this blog]

Introduction

Welcome to those of you who are new to our class in this the 8^th lesson, as we take up Paul’s comments recorded in chapter 7 of The Book of Romans. If you are watching this video on YouTube long after our class ended today, then please pause the recording and read the 7^th chapter. It will only take 3 minutes, or maybe 4 if you get a wee bit confused, then unpause and come back as we will try to bring meaning to it all. OK, welcome back.  For those of you on the Zoom call just now, have your Bible open, will you? And next week, please read the chapter before you come to ‘class.’ Thanks.

The overarching question of the day: Is Law good or bad? And how will this help me get right with God? 

Paul uses three relationships to help us with the question of Torah: 1) we are freed from Torah as a widow is free from her dead husband, 2) we are to show faithful regard and delight (v. 22) for Torah and 3) we have a war between our will and the reality of our failures, so law is on the side of ‘flesh’ and ‘sin’ and therefore ‘death.’ Knowing the law will only lead me to death… who will deliver me? That’s the apostolic cry at chapter’s end, and wait for it, there is an answer too. 

1.    First then, we are freed from Torah

Some of you watching will get very nervous just now. There are two such groups who might be thinking the same thing, but with different considerations.  Some messianic folks will be thinking that I’m relinquishing my honorable views of Torah, abandoning Jewish life and culture, and that I’m going to reach over and pull out a ham and cheese sandwich (probably on white bread with mayonnaise) and will scandalize the most Jewish of Jewish believers in Jesus.  

Others will imagine that same actions on my part and will be rejoicing thinking I’ve finally come to my senses about this whole “Jewish” thing and that I’m going the way of all the good Gentiles for Jesus. You will both be wrong as we shall see. I will eat no ham and I’m still very Jewish, and I intend no scandal to Jew, to Gentile or to the Church of God.

Paul’s metaphor of the widow being freed from her husband has many meanings, but the most obvious is that a believer, both the Jew first, and also the Gentile believer, is freed from Torah. Although the metaphor’s picture doesn’t exactly fit. The Law doesn’t actually die, but the believer dies to the Law. 

OK, back to verse 1: “are you ignorant?” This should be seen as following chapter 6, verse 14, rather than 6.23. Paul has argued against Torah and then goes on an excurses as is his custom. He now returns and assumes that both the Gentile and the Jewish believers know the Law. I find that fascinating already. 

By the way, the question “are you ignorant?” will probably not make it into the book I’m writing which some of you know about. It’s a selection of the top 52 questions in the Bible, actually asked in the Bible, and both my and the biblical answers will follow. Some, like this rhetorical one, will not make it into the collection. 

Verses 2 and 3 showcase the bondage of the woman in a marriage to the husband. If she goes off with another man while her husband is alive, she is an adulteress. If however, her husband dies, she is free to relate to another man. The issue is merely exemplary and not to be a full teaching on divorce, remarriage, etc. The argument is that Torah is dead and we, as the former wife, ruled by Torah, are now free! Don’t push the analogy too far; it’s merely exemplary. 

That’s why verse 4 works. Obviously Torah (husband) should die for this example to work perfectly. But Torah doesn’t die; we have been put to death to the law.” 

Please hear me, the imagery is forced and although it serves a single purpose, pushing the whole to an allegory for something won’t work. Jesus is the one who died, not Torah. And we are not free to do whatever we desire either. Thus, there are limits to this imagery. The point is clear: the Torah does not master us, nor does it rule over us. In Yeshua’s death we are liberated from the Law’s death sentence. And we are actually joined to another already, Messiah in his resurrection.

Verse five and six tells us that our sinful passions were triggered by the Law, which speaks both to the inefficacy of the Law and what he says in verse 7, that we wouldn’t have even known about sin but that the Law taught us of its existence. Knowing I’m not supposed to sin by murdering another never would stop an angry man from doing so. 

Do you know the story told by Rev Ironside about a native American and spitting?

Some years ago, I had a little school for young Indian men and women, who came to my home in Oakland, California, from the various tribes in northern Arizona. One of these was a Navajo young man of unusually keen intelligence. One Sunday evening, he went with me to our young people's meeting. They were talking about the special subject was law and grace. They were not very clear about it, and finally one turned to the Indian and said, "I wonder whether our Indian friend has anything to say about this."

He rose to his feet and said, "Well, my friends, I have been listening very carefully, because I am here to learn all I can in order to take it back to my people. I do not understand all that you are talking about, and I do not think you do yourselves. But concerning this law and grace business, let me see if I can make it clear. I think it is like this. When Mr. Ironside brought me from my home we took the longest railroad journey I ever took. We got out at Barstow, and there I saw the most beautiful railroad station and hotel I have ever seen. I walked all around and saw at one end a sign, 'Do not spit here.' I looked at that sign and then looked down at the ground and saw many had spitted there, and before I think what I am doing I have spitted myself. Isn't that strange when the sign say, 'Do not spit here'?

"I come to Oakland and go to the home of the lady who invited me to dinner today and I am in the nicest home I have been in. Such beautiful furniture and carpets, I hate to step on them. I sank into a comfortable chair, and the lady said, 'Now, John, you sit there while I go out and see whether the maid has dinner ready.' I look around at the beautiful pictures, at the grand piano, and I walk all around those rooms. I am looking for a sign; and the sign I am looking for is, 'Do not spit here,' but I look around those two beautiful drawing rooms, and cannot find a sign like this. I think 'What a pity when this is such a beautiful home to have people spitting all over it -- too bad they don't put up a sign!' So I look all over that carpet, but cannot find that anybody have spitted there. What a queer thing! Where the sign says, 'Do not spit,' a lot of people spitted. Where there was no sign at all, in that beautiful home, nobody spitted. Now I understand! That sign is law, but inside the home it is grace. They love their beautiful home, and they want to keep it clean. They do not need a sign to tell them so. I think that explains the law and grace business."

As he sat down, a murmur of approval went round the room and the leader exclaimed, "I think that is the best illustration of law and grace I have ever heard."  -H. A. Ironside, Illustrations of Bible Truth, Moody Press, 1945, pp. 40-42.

Back to our text. 

Verse 5: Paul uses a term “when we were in the flesh” This from Craig Nelson, a pastor in the US state of Arizona.  “In the Hebrew thought, the understanding of a human being is that there is nothing merely physical because humans do not have flesh, but are flesh. God created human beings (i.e., flesh) as good, just as all other parts of His creation (Job 10:8-12; Ps 119:73; Isa 45:12). God desired that human flesh be fully dependent upon Him for everything (Gen 2:7; 6:3; Isa 31:3). However, because of the Fall, the flesh was exposed to the endless assault of sin and is now frail and transitory (Gen 6:3,5,13; Ps 78:39; Isa 40:6). All of the New Testament uses of the word 'flesh' are built upon the foundation of Old Testament understanding.”-- Craig Nelson, LifeSprings USA (church), in Arizona)

John Murray in his commentary on Romans says, “flesh in this ethically depreciatory sense means, “human nature as controlled and directed by sin.” 

The contrast in verses 5 and 6 is clear. Fruit which is good comes from Yeshua and fruit which is bad comes from Torah and our natural inclination to sin. Verse 5: past. Verse 6: now. Note the other contrast: letter (old) and Spirit (newness). 

Now in the 2^nd case, Paul has to answer what would appear to be the obvious follow-up question: IS the Law sin? 

2.    Demonstrating regard and honor to Torah

Verse 7: Paul again puts on his clip-on shouting microphone and reminds us that the Law is not sin. God forbid! Verse 12, the Law is good and holy and righteous. But as he has and will continue to teach, the Law reminds us of our failures and sets the greatest standards of living with God, with our neighbours, with ourselves. Knowing not to spit doesn’t stop spitters. Knowing not to murder doesn’t prevent my ruining other people’s reputations or listening as others defame others. Simply put the law does not deliver us from sin.  In fact, the law aggravates and adds to our bondage to sin. 

Look at verse 9, he says he “was alive apart from the Law.” Not alive like eternal life, but self-complacent, self-righteous and undisturbed and then came conviction of sin, and ‘sin came alive and I died.” It’s not Torah which is the problem; it’s sin in my body, and sin took the occasion for knowing what to do and what not to do and found its strength. As he says in another epistle, “the strength of sin is the Law.”

Of note in verse 9, the dying is not the same as dying to sin (6.2). Dying from sin or due to sin is what he’s highlighting here. In chapter 6 he was talking about dying to sin and being united with Messiah. 

Verse 10 reminds us of the purpose of Torah itself. It was not to help us to sin but rather to guide and regulate our lives in the right path. But with the reality of sin in our lives, that same law enacted punishment on us leading to spiritual death, or separation from God. Listen, the prophets had long ago taught this. Isaiah said that 700 years earlier, “my hand is not so short that it cannot save, but your sins have made a separation between us” God said. (59.2) Ezekiel had said, “The soul that sins shall die.” (18.2)

Look at verse 12 of chapter 7 of Romans, “so then, the law is holy”. This is a deduction, almost a therefore. How did Paul come to that? Isn’t the Law the guilty party here? Not at all. It’s not sinful (verse 7), but due to our own actions and deep-seeded thinking we make our own lives to be not alive, and thus dead. 

He says the law is ‘holy righteous and good.’ Fantastic perspective on Torah, isn’t it? “holy” reflects God’s awesome nature and purity. “Righteous” because he is fair in all his doings and judgments, and “good” as it would show us the higher, brighter, better way of living.

Verses 16 and 22 say that Paul delights in the law of God which he considers ‘the good.’ On so many levels he was ever the faithful Jew who never spoke against Torah in his teaching nor in his living. Those antinomians will do well to hear that word particularly.

3) War exists between our will and the reality of our failures

The issue for Paul in chapter 7 remains the problem of sin in his own life and in the lives of all faithful people. Did Torah cause us to sin? Not on your life. But sin itself, which has roots in our First Parents, lives on in us and we are pleased that Law exposes our sin. If you will, sin is shown to be sin, and we are better for that. 

John Murray says, “the law exposes sin and convicts of it. The law becomes the occasion of sin in that the depravity residing in us is thereby aroused to activity. The law aggravates sin—it is the instrumentality through which sin is aggravated in its expression. But the law is not sinful.” 

Some commentators argue energetically that the Paul of chapter 7 is not a believer, but rather the words of an unregenerate Saul, and Paul is remembering his former estate. That’s easy to conclude and it makes everything neat and tidy. Except for one thing, and that is that Paul and you and I still have sin. And we still operate often in the flesh. And we still fail.  Chapter 8 will clarify for us the mind of the Spirit and the mind of the flesh and Paul is clearly thinking and being a regenerate man as he unpacks chapter 7.  But in verse 18 we read, “The willing is present within me.” That’s not the sound of an unbeliever.  And his conclusion in verse 24 of his own wretchedness is hardly the sound he was making as he described his pre-regenerate condition.

If these words are confusing, I apologize. What I’m saying is that there is a war that exists between our will and the reality of our failures. And that’s true of those who are born again and of those who are not yet born again. We all fail. We all fall short of God’s standards. Earlier in the letter Paul said, “we all fall short of the glory of God.” (3.23) Paul’s aching in chapter 7 highlights the desperation of every person who understands the holy, righteous and good God who gave us a blessed book and foundational information manual in the Torah. 

Verse 14: “I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. ¹⁷ So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”

Remember I told you that the word ‘law’ is used 70 times in this letter. Here we see ‘the law of sin’ (.23) and it’s not Torah; it’s perhaps better for us to say, ‘the reality that sin will eventually bring about death.’

This is not the apostle saying like Flip Wilson, the 1960s American comedian, that ‘the devil made me do it.’ Wilson’s character was self-excusing; Paul’s declaration here is an indictment of himself and causes a longing for salvation somewhere. Unless you know your own desperate need for redemption and salvation, you will continue to self-excuse. The Law shouts against our own sinfulness. The Law is unable to release us from its indictments. We all need someone outside us to save us. Who will save us? That’s what Paul cries from the depth of despair. “Who will save me from the body of this death?” (.24)

Miriam had led the Jewish woman in song at the Red Sea along with the Song of Moses (Ex. 15) singing “The Lord my God my strength and song, and he has become my salvation.” (.2) If you had the Egyptians chasing behind you and the Red Sea disallowing you going forward, then your cry for help would have been very real. David said it in Psalm 18. Isaiah said it in chapter 12. Isaiah also quoted God as saying, “I am the Lord, there is no savior besides me.” (43.11)

When you get to this end of your rope and see that you have no hope apart from the Lord, you will not attempt to impress God with your religion or your religious activity. You will deny your self-celebrations and look outward for the Almighty to bring you to himself. 

You will shout as the apostle here in verse 25. 

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

He alone is our hope. His is the eternal gift of life. His actions and his life give us the charisma of eternal life. He died and rose again to open the way into the presence of God to give us a holy, righteous and good life ahead with the Lord. 

Dear friends on Facebook and on this zoom call, if you are not yet a believer in Yeshua, I urge you today, call on him while he is near. If you know your Torah, and you know yourself, you know you need a Saviour. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be rescued, will be saved will be made to be in right relationship with God. It’s worth all the social distancing people will give you when you tell them about God. It’s worth all the rejection of others who don’t want to know about God’s love in Messiah Yeshua. 

If you want, you can pray a prayer with me just now to solidify your choice. Something like this, “Father in Yeshua’s name, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Yeshua to save me from myself, from my selfishness, from my despair and the harm I cause so many. Thank you for making me right with God by your sacrifice. I receive Yeshua (Jesus) as my saviour and the lover of my soul. He frees me to love others. I repent of my sins and ask for God’s forgiveness to be my portion. I receive the free gift of God, eternal life in Messiah Jesus our Lord. Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer, will you let us know via the messages or write me directly. I would appreciate that.  (bob@jewsforjesus.org.au) 

NEXT WEEK we will look at the 8^th chapter and find some of the most beloved promises ever made to believers. It’s designed to comfort us, and with global pandemic cases passing 5 million this week, that chapter will be very worthwhile to study.    

I’m delighted to be able to read and help us understand this book each Friday here from my home in Sydney.  Shabbat shalom!

Rom. 7:1   Or 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? ² 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. ³ 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.

Rom. 7:4   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. ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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.

Rom. 7:7   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.” ⁸ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; ¹⁰ and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; ¹¹ for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. ¹²  

Rom. 7:13   Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

Rom. 7:14   For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. ¹⁷ So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. ¹⁹ For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. ²⁰ But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

Rom. 7:21   I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. ²² For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, ²³ but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Free Hand sanitiser (a flyer we distributed with the actual gel)

Free Hand Sanitizer

We welcome you to receive a top-up of your own hand sanitizer for use during this coronavirus season and hopefully well beyond it.  The function of hand washing is not overridden by the use of the sanitizer but will help you while you are out and about. You are receiving this freely, please share it freely. Be generous with the product and with your time and love to others. Our Rabbi Yeshua said, “Freely you have received; freely give.”[1]

Jews for Jesus is not making any money on this enterprise, nor do we want to do so. We have received this product to distribute freely from Astro EcoTech in Hervey Bay, Queensland. All the relevant data is on the back of this sheet. Their reorder number is on the label as well on the back. Feel free to contact them for more product.

Our health officials, agreeing with the worldwide health community, have indicated that clean hands is the 2^ndmost important part of the slowing of the viral spread. The first, of course, is social/physical distancing. That’s why there are spots on the floor here to allow you to stand in the queue, but not too close to others.

We believe the words written by the half-brother of our rabbi, Yaakov, who said of distancing and handwashing, “Draw near to G-d and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”[2] As we approach the Almighty for help, especially in times like these, we can be assured of His love and mercy. His grace is prodigal towards us, and towards you. Even so, make sure your hands and heart are clean and honest before Him. God is not interested in your perfection; He’ll deal with that in due course. What He wants is your honesty with Him and with your fellows.

We wish you safety and calm in the midst of this viral storm. Listen to the doctors and the scientists. Listen to our premier and our prime minister. Above all, listen to the Lord of Life who wants us to know Him personally.

Shalom! Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay connected.

58 Bronte Road, Bondi Junction 2022

www.jewsforjesus.org.au/coronavirus

Phone: 1.800.MESSIAH (637.742)

(ON THE BACK)

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[1] Recorded in Matthew 10, verse 8

[2] Recorded in James 4, verse 8 (James is the English, Yaakov (Jacob) is the Hebrew rendering