(1) "The law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth," i.e., a living, responsible man on earth as such; and here, and here only, does it apply (Rom. 7:1-31Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. (Romans 7:1‑3)).
(2) The believer has died (with Christ, Rom. 6:2,82God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Romans 6:2)
8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: (Romans 6:8)), and hence the law has nothing more to say to him. As it looks upon his death and grave it is now satisfied, and has no further claim or dominion over him as such (Rom. 7:44Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Romans 7:4)).
(3) The believer is in God's sight (and this faith apprehends and enjoys) now alive again, alive in Christ (as also risen, Col. 2:20; 3:120Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Colossians 2:20)
1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)); alive in Him, the risen, ascended and glorified Head of the new creation (Rom. 6:10, 11, 2310For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:10‑11)
23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). Christ, the true Ark of Salvation, who passed through the waters of death and judgment, and who is now alive and risen, has brought all His own through death and judgment, and they are alive in Him, in life associated with Him on resurrection soil, our Mount Ararat-"that we should be to (Gr.) another, even to Him who is raised from the dead" (Rom. 7:44Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Romans 7:4), R.V.).
(4) In this new scene, the new creation, where the believer (who was crucified with Christ and buried with Him) is now associated with Christ in life and fellowship, FRUIT is the result—"that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Once he brought forth "fruit unto death" (Rom. 7:55For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. (Romans 7:5)), but now he produces the fruit of a new life, in a new creation, upon new soil, and under the pruning and care of a new hand (Rom. 7:44Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Romans 7:4); Gal. 5:22, 2322But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22‑23)). Hence the believer is dead to the law as a means of justification, or as a rule of life (Rom. 7:44Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Romans 7:4)).
(5) The believer now learns the work of the law, the especial place ordained of God for it, and what it produces and works out. It gives the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:2020Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20)); by it the offense abounds (Rom. 7:2020Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (Romans 7:20)), and transgression is apparent (Rom. 4:1515Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. (Romans 4:15)). It also "worketh wrath," and in our chapter awakens lust; and hence we learn by it what man is (Rom. 5-23), and this is the main lesson taught us in detail in these verses.
(6) The believer now sees his wretched condition, because the man in Romans seven who goes through these exercises is not one, as in Romans three, with the guilt of sins upon him. The loathsome and incurable nature that produced the sins, i.e., the flesh, he is learning to hate. The new life and nature that he now possesses as born of God leads him to this, as well as the teaching of the Holy Spirit—a never-to-be forgotten lesson. The two natures are here recognized, while a good deal of darkness may cloud the mind, and the man cry out, "O wretched man that I am" (Rom. 7:21-2421I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:21‑24)). Here it is "I," "I," "I," the personal pronoun, some forty times or more.
(7) Deliverance is near at hand for the believer (for, be it noted carefully, this is not the deliverance of a sinner; that lesson is taught in Rom. 3-5. The cry for deliverance is what Pihahiroth (the door of liberty) was for Israel, the eve of their emancipation and final triumph over Pharaoh and the Egyptians. The souls get light, the light of Divine truth; the Spirit leads in this, for they both work together from the first—the Spirit and the truth (John 8:3232And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32); Rom. 8:22For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)). Christ is not only apprehended as the sin-bearer on the cross, but now as the risen and glorified Man in whom we are alive, the Head of the new creation. "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Here the soul emerges from the darkness of this experience, as Israel on the night they passed the sea. Now we get the song of a delivered soul—Israel (Ex. 15); the believer (Rom. 7:2525I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:25) and through the whole of chapter eight). What a deliverance and what a freedom! Christ in the glory my acceptance, my object now for life and for eternity. Hence the heart is freed from the distress occasioned by the law, and walks by a new rule-the Spirit's law (Rom. 8:22For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)), and this is the rule of the new creation (Gal. 6:15,1615For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 16And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. (Galatians 6:15‑16)).
—A. E. B.
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