Romans 7 Bible Study – Audio – May 5, 2017

This is a recorded Bible study centering on Romans 7 with context given from Romand 6 and the beginning of 8.

Some people have questioned whether Romans 7 was speaking of a regenerated Christian experience, or the struggles of an Old Testament Jew – which Paul had been prior to his conversion.

It is most definitely about a Christian experience and can be summed as being about a Christian’s deliverance from the law.

Christians are commonly taught we are “not under law, but under grace,” and it is in Romans 6 and 7 that Paul under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration explains we died to the law when we were crucified with Christ.

We are then in the New Covenant, as those raised to “newness of life” married to Jesus Christ (Rom 7:4). He is as demanding as the law ever was (Mt 5:18-20; 48), but He is the Helper in us, the Comforter, the Teacher, and the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:2). In this life union He reveals Himself to us, loves us, and we love Him, and “faith works by love.”

Union in Christ is such a better covenant with better promises than the Old Testament law with its laws that demanded death on those who would not obey.

Gal 3:24 says the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ!

We as Jesus’ sheep are called to do all we do in this life by faith in His Spirit in us, and we serve the spirit of the law with our spirits leading – and not the letter of the law, as though it were a code of conduct to be obeyed by the carnal mind.

The best an Old Testament Jew could do was try to obey God’s law with his/her earthly intellect, for they had not the Spirit of God inside (See: Eze 36:26).

Unfortunately, even though born of the spirit, many a Christian has found himself in a “Romans 7 experience” whereby serving God is full of failure. This happens when one sets out with his “old man” (carnal/fleshly self) in Adam to serve a holy, righteous God. We are called to do all we do according to the new man, in the Spirit in Christ.

Christ in you is the hope of glory! This is all seen and experienced by faith, obedience, and God works it in us to will and to do. He calls us to know Him, and by love serve Him, commune with Him, do all we do in Him with this right spirit, just like Jesus and the early Christians did.

The recording is broken into two parts:

The Law that Transcends the Law

At about 23 minutes into the second recording, discussion of Rom 7 and 8 was made.

These are the passages with keywords “law” highlighted in color.