“O Wretched Man That I Am” — NOT! (Part 1: Stop Obeying the Law)

God’s new way is not to avoid the “nots”, but to do the “dos”

The law has authority over a man only as long as he lives… [4]You… died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. [5] For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. [6] But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. — Romans 7:1,4-6 (NIV)

This is the first part of what I hope to be a short series primarily written in response to a discussion a good friend and I were having about whether it is possible to live without sinning. I told him that I believe that I am very sympathetic to the position of the holiness churches — which would include the Methodists and the Nazarenes — in that I believe that it is possible. Not that I am claiming to have attained the point of never sinning, but that my temptation to sin and struggle with sin has diminished while my ability to live less for myself and more for God has increased.

And yes, some days I feel as if perhaps I made it through without any conscious awareness of sin on my part. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:3-4, “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me” (NIV). I think this is a good plan, to not become overly introspective, searching for darkness in ourselves, but to let our consciences speak to us.

One of the main New Testament verses that is quoted in support of our depravity is Romans 7:24, “Wretched man that I am!” (NASB), which Paul penned after discussing a personal struggle with temptation and sin. This followed the lead in to that thought given in verses 14 and 15, “I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (NIV).

To fully understand this passage, one has to start at the beginning of Romans 7 and continue through to the middle of chapter 8. When we do, we see that the Apostle Paul was actually saying the opposite of what verses 14-24 seem to be saying. We see, instead, that he was describing the life under the Law and apart from the Spirit.
You can also procure these good quality herbal pills by sending a DD or viagra sale Cheque or through online transfer by NEFT. It’s a notion that will probably be a cause or symptom of some other serious problem. vardenafil pharmacy This little blue pill blocks PDE5 (PDE 5 inhibitor), but it also free viagra india has an effect on PDE6. This medicine cheap viagra without prescription is produced by ‘cipla’ where ‘sildenafil citrate’ is the main ingredient used.
So to work through his thinking, we have to start at verse 1 in chapter 7. By beginning here, we see immediately that a major second and interconnected point from our excursion through this part of Romans is that the life of being a faithful follower of Jesus is to be lived by NOT TRYING TO OBEY THE LAW, but rather, by walking with the Holy Spirit. We see that those who try to follow the Law are in fact WRETCHED (Romans 7:24)! But those who follow the Spirit are blessed. Which are you, wretched or blessed?!

Verses 1 and 4 of chapter 7 emphasize the fact that if we follow Jesus, we died to the Law. That is one of the key meanings of being baptized (see what Paul wrote in Romans 6) — that we died, so that we might be born again into new life. Because we died, we are no longer married to the Law. We are free to remarry and not be considered adulterers — so we marry Jesus, so to speak; or if you prefer, the Holy Spirit, or even the New Covenant. The point is that there is a major life shift when we come to Christ, and the old ways no longer apply.

Verse 5 explains (and then is amplified in verses 7 to 11) that the Law actually stirs up sinful passions. As a simple example, if I tell you not to think about bananas, banana trees, or the flavor of bananas, and you really endeavor not to, you will be sorely tempted to do just what you were trying not to do — even though these things would not have normally crossed your mind for a day or a week or ever. Paul tells us in verse 6 that God’s new way is not to avoid the “nots”, but to do the “dos”. That is, we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, rather than focus on avoiding the things we shouldn’t do.

Originally posted on April 26, 2010

 

One Reply to ““O Wretched Man That I Am” — NOT! (Part 1: Stop Obeying the Law)”

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: