26-0524sc - Detailed Summary

Steve leads the class in prayer, thanking God for the first day of the week and the opportunity for brothers and sisters in Christ to gather, glorify, worship, and lift up the Lord. He asks Jesus to intercede as priest and requests blessings on their study of Paul’s writings inspired by the Holy Spirit. Steve prays for understanding, insight into their lives, and continued growth for the congregation. The prayer closes in Jesus Christ’s name.

Steve then introduces Romans chapter 7, noting they had completed chapter 6. He reviews how baptism into Christ reenacts His death, burial, and resurrection, making one a member of Jesus’s church. Key benefits include the cancellation of the urge to sin, with Jesus killing that desire and transferring believers from the condemning law to the law of faith where there is no condemnation.

Steve explains that under the law of faith there is no law to condemn believers. He addresses the previous lack of self-control and willpower due to desires leading to sin. He references James chapter 1, verses 12-18 from the New American Standard Bible, emphasizing perseverance under trial leads to the crown of life. God does not tempt anyone; temptation comes from one’s own lust. Lust conceives and gives birth to sin, which brings death. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights.

Steve connects this to wrestling with sin and how Jesus condemned sin in the flesh, previewing Romans 8’s statement of no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. He prefers the term "desires" over "lust" and notes believers lust for sins.

Steve turns to Romans chapter 1, verse 26, explaining that because people rejected worshiping and honoring God as Creator, preferring creatures, God gave them over to degrading passions or desires. He details how women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones, and men burned with desire for one another, committing shameful acts and receiving due penalty. This behavior stems from rejecting God and choosing contrary to His will.

Steve states that in Romans 7, Paul addresses the law’s role and its authority. He shares an anecdote about a former Black Panther fugitive who hoped his reformed life would override his legal obligations, but the law still held dominion, leading to his arrest years later.

Steve emphasizes recognizing obligation to the law of sin and death: sin leads to death, established in the Garden of Eden. This law is default and cannot be satisfied by good behavior alone; death is required. He references Romans 6, explaining baptism participates in Christ’s death. The law must be honored until satisfied through justification.

Steve clarifies justification comes either by dying oneself or through someone paying the debt. Jesus satisfied the law by dying on the cross. This allows transition from the law of sin and death to the law of faith through baptism, reenacting Jesus' death and resurrection. He invites observations or comments.

Steve notes Paul wrote to the church in Rome, which included both Jewish and Gentile (non-Jewish) members with limited knowledge of the law. Paul appeals to those who know the law, stating in Romans 7:1 that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives.

Steve introduces Paul’s marriage example. He recalls Jesus' teaching on divorce, where Jesus referenced the hardness of hearts allowing Moses to permit it, but appealed to God’s original intent in Genesis: what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.

Steve reads Romans 7:2-3: A married woman is bound to her husband while he lives, but released if he dies. Remarrying while he lives makes her an adulteress, but after his death she is free. He continues with verses 4-6: Believers were put to death to the law through Christ’s body to belong to the risen Christ and bear fruit for God. Sinful passions aroused by the law worked in their bodies to bear fruit for death. Now released from the law by dying to it, they serve in newness of the Spirit, not oldness of the letter.

Steve provides his interpretation: The law demands death for sinners. Believers experience the first death through baptism into Christ, dying to the law. Jesus satisfied the law and justified them.

Steve develops the analogy: The wife (believer) was dedicated to the law (or Satan) which held power until death. Remarriage (to Christ/law of faith) requires the first partner’s death, not mere divorce. Without death occurring, transferring to the law of faith would make Jesus an adulterer. Jesus accepts only after death to sin occurs, enabling the willing change to the law of faith.

Steve stresses the practical application: One cannot pass from the law of sin and death to Jesus and His church without death taking place. He concludes the section by inviting further comments.

Steve gives his personal summary of the passage. He emphasizes that believers are honoring and upholding the law rather than disregarding it. The law demands death for those who have sinned. The death experienced by believers is the "first death" — dying to the law through baptism into Christ. Jesus satisfied the law on their behalf and justified them.

Steve develops the marriage analogy further. The wife represents the believer who was previously dedicated to the law (or Satan). The law has power over her until either she or the law dies. She cannot simply divorce and remarry; the only way to remarry legitimately is if her first husband dies.

In the same way, believers cannot transfer from the law of sin and death to the law of faith without a death occurring. This death happens through baptism, where they die to sin and are raised to new life in Christ.

Steve explains the practical application: A person walking in sin cannot willingly pass from the law of sin and death to Jesus and His church without death taking place. If there is no death to sin, it would make Jesus an adulterer, which He will not accept.

The only way Jesus accepts a person is if they die to sin and make the willing transition to the law of faith. Steve ends this section by inviting any additional observations or comments from the class.

Steve addresses a common misunderstanding from Reformation churches that dying to sin is merely a mental decision or choice in the heart. He points out that Romans 7:4 contradicts this, stating believers "were made to die" to the law through the body of Christ. This is not something people do to themselves but something that happens to them.

Steve connects this to chapter 6, explaining that baptism means being baptized into Christ’s death. He references verse 7, noting that anyone who has died has been freed from sin. This carries forward from chapter 5, where Adam propagated death through sin, and Jesus propagated life through righteousness.

Steve explains how believers participate in Jesus' righteousness and victory over death. While Jesus was righteous and death had no hold on Him, believers take hold of this through participation in His death. They are crucified with Him and raised with Him through baptism.

Steve rereads Romans 7:4, emphasizing that the law is satisfied and believers are justified through Christ’s death. This allows them to belong to the risen Christ and bear fruit for God. He continues reading through verse 6, noting that while in the flesh, sinful passions aroused by the law bore fruit for death, but now believers are released from the law to serve in newness of the Spirit.

Steve explains that God gives people the opportunity to decide and obey from the heart the form of doctrine. This opportunity comes through God’s righteousness. He stresses that God is righteous by nature and wants people, made in His image, to be righteous as well.

Moving to verse 7, Steve addresses whether the law is sin. Paul says far from it. The law revealed sin, such as coveting. Sin took opportunity through the commandment, producing coveting of every kind. Apart from the law, sin is dead. Paul was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and he died.

Steve continues explaining that the commandment meant for life actually resulted in death because sin deceived and killed through it. Nevertheless, the law and commandment are holy, righteous, and good. The law’s purpose was to give direction and teach proper relationships with God and others, as seen in the Ten Commandments.

Steve notes that human desire and lust raised up against the law, using the command "thou shalt not covet" as an example. When desire takes hold, sin comes alive. The law was meant to produce righteous action through faith, but many followed it by works instead. He contrasts this with walking in the light so Jesus' blood continually cleanses.

Steve reads Romans 7:13, explaining that the good law did not cause death; rather, sin was shown to be utterly sinful by bringing death through what is good. He notes Paul now reflects on his pre-Christian wrestling with sin and fleshly desires.

In verses 14-15, Paul describes the law as spiritual but himself as fleshly, sold into bondage to sin. He does not understand his actions: he does not practice what he wants but does what he hates. Steve relates this to struggles with self-control, willpower, and resisting sinful attractions. People often want to do good things but fail, while doing things they hate.

Steve continues with Paul’s words: If he does what he does not want, he agrees the law is good. Yet it is not him but sin dwelling in him. The willing to do good is present, but the doing is not. He finds evil present when he wants to do good. Paul agrees with God’s law inwardly but sees another law in his body warring against his mind, making him a prisoner of the law of sin.

Paul cries out as a wretched man, asking who will set him free from this body of death. Steve explains this sets up the solution: becoming a Christian through baptism, dying to sin. Believers are freed from the law that empowers sin and transferred to the law of faith.

A class member comments on verse 16, noting two ways of viewing transgression. One (worldly) blames the law itself, wanting to remove it (e.g., with marijuana laws). Paul’s view is different: the law is good and shows what sin is. God determines right and wrong. Like with Adam and Eve, the law reveals knowledge of sin.

Steve and the class member discuss how recognizing the law as good leads to agreeing we do what we don’t want to do, showing the law’s value. The law reveals sin’s seriousness, which requires the death penalty. There are two attitudes: either submitting to the law and escaping condemnation through obedience, or rejecting the law to justify desires.

Steve emphasizes that God dealt with human weakness by providing transition from the law of sin and death to the law of faith, resulting in no condemnation. He previews chapter 8: Jesus came to condemn sin in the flesh, dealing with lust, cravings, and willpower. Steve references 1 John on the lust of the flesh, eyes, and pride of life. The class ends with a reminder to quit worldly desires. They will continue with chapter 8 next week.