Romans - Lesson 28

Introduction to Romans 7:1-25

A. Overview Romans 7: 

The fascination and the frustration of Romans. Almost every chapter of Romans throws us into deep water. There are big theological issues, big practical issues in terms of what the Christian life is about, and here is another one now: the debate about Romans 7 and what we are to learn from it. 

There are three basic parts of the chapter: verses 1-6 is the place Paul is giving his basic positive teaching in the chapter. I suspect a lot of people immediately move to the end of Romans 7, that’s what they are interested in, but in fact, from the perspective of Paul’s own argument, it is the beginning of the chapter which makes the basic point he wants to make here. Then having made that point though, in verse 7, Paul makes that move that he often does in Romans. “What shall we say then?” He asks a question that he answers and then explains. 

I talk about this in the commentary; Paul has been preaching the gospel in a lot of different places to a lot of different audiences for twenty-five to thirty years by the time he writes Romans. He kind of knows what questions people are going to have. I have taught Romans in context everywhere from junior high youth groups, to academic PhD seminars at Trinity and Wheaton, to pastors’ conferences, to Campus Crusade leaders in Eastern Europe, a lot of classes at Wheaton and Trinity (some Greek based, some English based), Doctor of Ministry courses; I know what questions you are going to ask. When I say certain things, I pause and wait for the hand to go up. Someone is going to have this issue. That is kind of the situation Paul is in as he writes Romans. One reason the letter is so effective is because he anticipates the kinds of issues people are going to have. He knows the questions they are going to ask. 

So, he raises this question in verse 7: what about the Law then? He has said some pretty negative things about the Law, so what is he actually saying about it. That is why Paul focuses on it in the remaining part of the chapter. Now from 7:7 to 25, this is somewhat a parenthesis in terms of the sequence of Paul’s argument. That section is further divided into two parts: verses 7-12 and verses 13-25 and we will see how those two parts contribute to Paul’s answering the question about the Law.  So that is the overview.

B. The Law is the Torah: 

Let’s remember a very important point as we move into Romans chapter 7. in Paul’s situation, when he talks about Law, he is talking about Torah. The word, nomos, is the Greek word that Paul uses over a hundred and ten times throughout all his letters, and seventy-six of those happen in Romans. In the basic word count you get an idea about what Paul is interested in here. But in his context, he is talking about the Jewish Law, the Torah, the Law of Moses that God gave to His people at Sinai. 

This is an important principle to make. In theology, and particularly historical theology, “law” is frequently used for any commandment of God, anything God tells us to do. The Lutherans are particularly famous for the law-Gospel distinction that shows itself throughout scripture, God addresses us in two modes: first He tells us what we are to do, law, second, He makes promises and intervenes to come to our help, gospel. 

So, there is law and gospel throughout the Bible. There is law in the Old Testament and there is gospel in the Old Testament as well, because God comes to the help of His people again and again. There is law and Gospel also in the New Testament; the Sermon on the Mount is Law in this sense. Jesus tells us what we are supposed to do. This is the kind of life that you are supposed to lead. The Sermon on the Mount in that sense isn’t gospel at all because it is making demands of us. If you took the Sermon on the Mount by itself, all of us would recognize that we are in a lot of trouble. We are supposed to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. We are supposed to give to anyone who asks of us, and so on. But there is nothing in the Sermon on the Mount that shows us how God is going to help us to do that. It is the expectation, it’s the law.  

To me, it is endlessly amusing to see people outside Christianity asking about the essence of Christianity? It’s the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ teaching. Which of course is far from the truth of what the essence of Christianity is about.

The point is then, we have come to use “law” in this very broad sense. If we are going to understand Paul correctly, we have to understand that he is talking about Torah. In light of this, go back to 6:14: “Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” 

How many of you have heard this verse quoted to justify sinful behavior? I have certainly heard it used that way. You confront someone with a pretty obvious sin they are involved in; they say wait a minute! This is a matter of Christianity and I’m not under the law anymore, I’m under grace. Quit bothering me with what I am supposed to do or criticizing me for my behavior; you don’t understand what Christianity is all about. 

This is a fundamental misreading of this text. Paul is saying that you, Roman Christians, are no longer under the Torah, you are no longer under the Law of Moses, but by no means is Paul suggesting that we aren’t under some kind of law. That is something we’re going to explore a little bit as we move through Romans 7 today. 

So, 7:1-6 have sort of been set up by some things that Paul has said. He brings the Law into the discussion here in interesting ways. We have baptism and dead to sin, alive to God in Christ in Romans 6 and yet again in verse 14 and verse 15, Paul brings the Law into the discussion. Why does he do that? In confronting the situation of the Christians in Rome, the whole question of how salvation history works is a central issue for that community and for the Christian church at large.

C. Salvation History: 

If we do a very simply summary here, here are four key points, four highlights, four mountain tops in salvation history: Adam, Abraham, Moses, Christ. 

God creates humanity with Adam and Eve. Adam falls into sin and God decides to begin to reverse the effects of that fall into sin by calling Abraham and making promises to him, making a nation out of him and promising him blessings for his descendants and then the whole history of Israel then begins to evolve. In a significant point in time, God brings His people together at Sinai and gives them a Law that they are to live by as they move into the land God is promising them. 

A fourth point we should insert in here is Exile. Israel created by God, given His Law, nevertheless fails in the mandate God gave Israel to spread the Good News of the Lord all around the world, to be a people for His own possession, to live a holy life according to the Law He gave them. 

So, the people are sent into exile that continues even into the period of the New Testament. Even though the people of Israel are back in their own land again, Israel, nevertheless, they have not received all the things God has promised them after the exile. Now Christ has come as the one whom Paul claims is now taking the people out of their exile. He is bringing them and fulfilling the promises that God gave the people. 

The issue that Paul keeps coming back to is a key issue of division in the early Christian community is how does this stage fit into the New Covenant people of God? Where does the Law fit into this? 

Jewish Christians in Rome apparently are saying that they don’t have to do all of the Law perhaps; maybe the sacrifices have been fulfilled in Christ, but they still have to do a lot of the Law. We are still under it as a New Covenant people of God. Jeramiah said that the Law will be written on our hearts, but it is the Law, the Torah written on the hearts. It is still God’s Law that we need to do. So, they are arguing for a strong sense of continuity between Moses and Christ. 

Whereas the Gentile Christians in Rome are perhaps saying that we should draw a line here; we are Christians, let’s forget all that stuff we don’t need it. All we need to do is to be Christians; maybe we don’t even need the Old Testament itself. 

What Paul is keen to do in Romans is to say that this is a continuous single plan of God; salvation history unfolds in stages, but stages that God has designed from beginning to end. But the era of Moses and his Law is a bit of a parenthesis (and I will develop that idea a little bit further today.) 

This is why the Law keeps being very significant in Romans. It is addressing the needs of the Roman church and reflects the larger most basic theological issue the early church had to face. That is why we have all this about the Law, Torah.