When a man gets a new electronic device, whether an old fashioned calculator or an Airbus Airliner, if he wants it to work he must be very precise with the Instruction Manual. This is even more so with the Bible. If one inserts words and concepts not found there, there is no way we can get to the bottom of it. Maybe, that is where you could start. ONLY use the words of the Bible. DO NOT add your concepts. Start with a clean page. If you start with a concept you will have colored and misty vision forever. All successful Bible students have a background. And all successful Bible students erase this background with malice. It is, "God's way and Word - NOTHING ELSE!
With that said, Romans was written because in Rome the Church was divided. Those ex-Jews who had embraced Christ still clung to aspects of the Law. Those ex-Gentiles had no such constraint. Paul builds the case in the early Chapters of Romans that all men are concluded under sin - those with the Law and those without it (Rom.3:9). Then Paul enters the solution for this in Chapter 5 and 6. Then, in Chapter 7, Paul addresses the Law because every ex-Jew in Rome had had this Law in his blood and culture for 1,500 years. Paul shows it inherent goodness and spirituality as coming from God, but then shows it inability to bring justification. Because of the intrinsic "sin" (singular) nature of men, the Law could only convict of this sin and the trespasses it produced. The Law was good, but it EXPOSED the true nature of men. It gave the knowledge of sin instead of eradicating it. It called for curse instead of blessing. It called for death not life. It showed man under an INTERNAL LAW -
the Law of sin and death. This Law is like gravity. It never lets up. It is firmly established in the flesh of men. Paul PERSONALIZES it. It DWELLS in man's flesh.
If Paul ended Romans with Chapter 7, both ex-Jew and ex-Gentile would have no hope. Chapter 6 shows that the only solution is DEATH, but that in order to continue His salvation work, God allows the man to symbolically die with Christ if he is Immersed. But this only fixes the POSITION of the Believer, not the problem of beating the LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. It would be like a group of educated scientists, all standing around a steel block and admitting that Gravity keeps that block on the ground WITHOUT PAUSE. Then, Chapter 8 is like God appearing on the scene and saying;
"Gentlemen, let me show you the LAW OF LIFT in aerodynamics". And without further ado, God shows them a NEW LAW that, if applied correctly, will overcome gravity. Gravity is not removed. But a NEW LAW is introduced that has CONDITIONS, the which, if kept, will allow us to lift a 600 ton block of steel, aluminum and rubber into the air and propel it at 600 mph (Mach .84 to .85 - the cruising speed of an Airbus 380).
Romans Chapter 8 does not report the ABOLISHMENT OF THE LAW. It does not report the end of the LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. It allows them both in their full force. But it INTRODUCES A NEW LAW - The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. For the Jew who refuses Christ, he CONTINUES under the Law of Sin and Death. He is condemned by it. He is cursed by it. He suffers the consequences of its righteous demands. HE HAS NO HOPE. He cannot be justified by it. He can only be found "blameless". He WILL SIN, and he WILL NEED THE SACRIFICES that cover, BUT STILL PROVE SIN. Romans 7 is a TRIBUTE to God's righteous demands and man's total inability to RISE to them. Romans 8 is the introduction of a The Law of Christ's Human Life that DID RISE to them and its availability via the Holy Spirit in fallen man's human spirit to OVERCOME the Law of Sin and Death.
This brings us finally to the Christian, ex-Jew or ex-Gentile. What is his relationship to the Law of Moses? He has NO RELATIONSHIP to it! The Law of Moses was given ...
- ONLY to Israel. The ex-Jew loses his ethnicity by the rebirth. His past is OVER. He is a New Creature. ALL Old things have passed away. He has no connection with the Law anymore (2nd Cor.5:17)
- To Give God His due. Christ INSIDE the Christian, when obeyed, gives God His due (Jn.5:23)
- To give men their due. Christ requires a higher standard towards a neighbor than the Law
- To give the Land its due. The Christian is asked to forsake Land until Christ comes
- To justify men. It proved unable. Christ then fulfills the Law and this justification is imputed to the Believer
- To display God's righteousness. Christ's death and resurrection, as testified to by the Believer, is a higher display of God's righteousness
- To being God's TEMPORAL blessing. The Believer become recipient of HEAVENLY and ETERNAL Blessings
- To enable to Israelites to STAY in their Land. The Believer will one day OWN the Land. Now he must forsake it
- To enable the Service to the Temple. The Believer IS THE TEMPLE of God
It is abundantly clear that in ALL POINTS the Law is INFERIOR to Christ's LIFE IN US. To return to the Law by a Believer is, as the Holy Spirit says in Galatians 4:9;
"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?"
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