What is to be the rule of life for a believer? Not the law given at Sinai, but the risen Lord Christ. When a believer is justified by faith, does he need the law to please God? These questions are answered in this chapter. It is evident that the law of our land only applies to those who are living. Once we die, we are beyond the reach of the law. An unconverted person can only please himself, not God whom he does not know. The Scriptures tell us while we were in the flesh (that is, without Christ), our members only brought forth fruit unto death, not fruit unto God. Because man is a sinner by nature and by practice and couldn’t keep God’s commandment, it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t holy, just and good. It was, but it showed that man wasn’t holy, just or good. The lesson we learn in this is that in our flesh dwells no good thing. The only way, therefore, that we can please God is to receive a new nature by receiving Jesus as Savior, and then it will be our delight to keep the law of God. We cannot work for our salvation (that can only be obtained by believing in the Lord Jesus), but after salvation, we can do “good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
1. How long does the law have dominion over a man? __________ Romans 7:___
2. When we were in the flesh, what were the results of the motions of sins that worked in our members? __________ Romans 7:___
3. Although grace is even better, what three words describe the law and the commandment? __________ Romans 7:___
4. In my flesh (the old nature) dwells __________. Romans 7:___
5. What part of a believer delights in the law of God? __________ Romans 7:___