Romans 6-7 Set Free From The Reign Of Sin

Set Free from the Reign of Sin and Death

Romans 6-7

Introduction: Among Christians, chapter six is surely the most well-known. We rightly see the emphasis on being baptized into Christ and being raised to walk in newness of life. But what Paul emphasizes in the text goes beyond living a new life morally, he also stresses a new way of living before God (7:6 – “so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code”). This serving in the new way of the Spirit will be our main message in this lesson.

1. Highlighting Key Words
   1. 5:21 Paul ended the last chapter by drawing a conclusion using the word reign. Without Christ, death reigned. But now, with Christ, grace reigns. Picture it as living in two countries. First, we lived in the country of sin and we were held captive by the king of that country, and death was the only possible end result. But then through Jesus we were freed from that country and brought into a new country where death could not reign. Instead, in the new country grace reigns, grace is king, and the only possible end result is righteousness leading to eternal life. 
   2. 6:1-2 We often miss some subtle words in these verses. Paul’s question isn’t, “Do you promise to never sin again now that you are under grace?” Note the word continue and live. Paul is not talking about falling prey to occasional sin, or as Number 15: states, unintentional sin. 
      1. “If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven… “But the person who does anything with a high hand…  that person shall be cut off from among his people”  (Numbers 15:27–28, 30) (ASV: “unwittingly”; KJV: “ignorance”).  Contrast: “with a high hand”; NET, NIV, NASB, : “defiantly.” 
      2. “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26).
      3. This directly affected how the Jews thought about sin in their lives. Consider Paul’s words in Galatians 5:3, 13:
         “I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law… “For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.” 
      4. This is very important! It tells us what happens when we follow a “works/law” system. The result is to find what is believed to be the most important commands and then be satisfied to have done those commands.
         1. Matthew 5:19 – Jews lowered the standard.
         2. Christians often ask: “Well, is that a salvation issue?” Or, “You don’t think I’d be lost just because…? 
         3. A works system causes us to serve God the way we fill out a tax return! It isn’t loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. 
   3. Look carefully at the phrases Paul uses to follow up on the principle of not going back to living in the sin country:
      1. 6:6: “…so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” 
      2. 6:7: “For one who has died has been set free from sin” 
      3. 6:9: “…death no longer has dominion over him” 
      4. 6:12: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.” Now stop for a second. Throughout this text Paul is emphasizing that the change between living in the “sin and death country” and in the “grace and life country” is that sin cannot dominate you any more. When you were living in the sin country, you could not escape. But Christ has freed you so that now you can choose to no longer allow sin to reign. In other words, you and I do not have to go back to that country.
      5. Vs. 14: “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” This is critical. It sets up the rest of chapters 6-7. Following our analogy, sin can no longer have dominion because we don’t live in the country of “law” and thus, sin and death.” 
         1. As Christians we say, “Wait a minute, we are still under laws; we are under the law of Christ.” Yes, but you are missing the shorthand way Paul is referring to “law.” 
         2. To the Jew, “law” referred to the Law of Moses, but more specifically to the way they misread the Law. The law is filled with God’s grace (Exodus 20:5-6; Leviticus) and the need for God’s people to rely on grace. We already saw that David, though under the Law of Moses, was saved by grace.
            So what happened to Jewish thinking? Glad you asked: Romans 2:17-22. They boasted in knowing the law, being given the law, being teachers of the law, and being circumcised. That’s “identity religion” – since I have a Jewish identity, that’s the key to my justification. Nope! The Law condemns! 
         3. How do we apply that today? What does the average person say to the question of, why do you think you will go to heaven? Answer: because I’m a good person. And what have you done to be in the “good” category? Then they make a list, like the Pharisee. That’s salvation by works of the law, and it is still true today. Even Christians will often make a list.
      6. Therefore, “law” represents a system of salvation that relies on self, relies on the flesh. “For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” (Rom. 10:3).  
   4. Let’s notice a couple more phrases in chapter 7 to conclude this thought:
      1. 7:2 “released from the law of marriage.” In this case, instead of living in the sin and death country, it is being married to the law of sin and death. The only way to be released from the law of marriage is to die so that we can be married to another and bear fruit for God.
      2. 7:5-6 “…while we were living in the flesh, sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work…but now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we can serve in the new way of the Spirit…”  
         1. Remember, “living in the flesh” is being dominated by sin and death, captive to that which we cannot escape. Again, Paul is not talking about falling prey to occasional sin. 
         2. Now we can serve “in the new way of the Spirit.” This new way is being set free from sin and therefore living as slaves to righteousness. It is not sinlessness, but it also not captive to sin or living a sinful lifestyle. Cf. 1 John 1:6-7. 
2. The Captivity of the Law, 7:13-25
   1. Again, notice the key words and phrases in this section as Paul instructs the Jewish listener on the result of living under law. 
      1. 7:14 “I am of the flesh, sold under sin” 
      2. 7:17 “So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me”
      3. 7:20 “Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” 
      4. 7:23 “…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” 
      5. 7:24 “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” 
   2. A few observations are in order:
      1. Paul is not talking about an unbeliever or a Christian.
      2. Paul is describing himself as a Jew under the Law, before Christ. He wants to serve God! He wants to be right with God! But the law keeps condemning him and bringing him into captivity and death spiritually. See 8:2, “set free from the law of sin and death.” 
      3. The words/phrases we just highlighted describe the condition one is in when sin is reigning. Remember 5:21. 
   3. Though there are parts of Paul’s description of battling sin that sound familiar to us as Christians, Paul is not talking about the battle against sin that Christians deal with. Yes, we have a battle, and yes, we do things at time that we didn’t want to do and didn’t do things we should have done. But Paul is talking about sin having dominion over us so that we can’t escape. “In the flesh” and “sin dwells in me” are contrasted in chapter 8 with, “you are not in the flesh” (8) and “the Spirit dwells in you” (9). 
3. Conclusion and Application: 8:1-2
   1. These two verses bring us to Paul’s initial conclusion to the Jewish listener: you must give up any idea that you can be righteous by living a good Jewish life under the Law. No matter how hard you try, your sins condemn you and you cannot escape them.
   2. I will suggest the following lessons for the Christian:
      1. 8:1: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Paul is clearly telling us that if we are in Christ, we are not condemned – there is no condemnation. Many Christians struggle with that. They want to add, “yes if” and “hopefully” and “if you do your best” etc. But Paul gives us two explanations…
      2. 8:2: “The law of the Spirit of life has set you free…” We will explain the Spirit of life in the next lesson, but for now simply dwell on, “set you free from the law of sin and death.” Back to 5:21 – “sin reigned in death” – that is what you have been set free from. You have moved to the country of grace so that “grace reigns…through Jesus Christ.” Now, who and what is on the throne? Grace reigning through what Jesus did. If grace is reigning, death isn’t reigning!
      3. Luke 7:36-51 Remember the sinful woman? Remember her love for Jesus? Why did she wash his feet with her tears, continually kiss his feet, anoint his feet with precious ointment? Why? Verse 47: “Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” 

Conclusion: When you live with doubt concerning whether your sins are forgiven and whether you will be with the Lord, two things happen: (1) you are not trusting the promise of God; not trusting God’s faithfulness. And (2), you will live a crippled spiritual life, never loving much because you do not recognize how much you were forgiven! 

Berry Kercheville

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