Life in the Flesh
Fitchburg Nazarene Church
October 18, 2015
by
Rev. Charles W. Pendleton, Jr.
(These are the Pastor’s notes. He may have said more which is not noted here. He could have ignored certain portions of these notes in our actual service.)
READ:Romans 7:1-25
In our passage today, Paul directly relates/correlatesVs 4 here – to Vs 1.
For the Christian, we have died to THE LAW through the body of Christ.
Paul gives us an example of that LAW by relating it to a marriage.
In essence he says – Okay, so if a woman is married to a man – THE LAW – says she cannot have sexual relations with another man.
The death of either party to the marriage-bond however, cancels it; and when one dies, the other virtually dies to the law that both were under.
Paul then relates that to our natural state as human beings. He says that in our natural (fallen) state – we are married to sin. That’s who we owe allegiance to – SIN.
We break the Laws of God and of nature, BECAUSE we are married to that way of life.
In Vs 5 we see Paul use a word which has a couple of different meanings. We need to be careful that we understand the CONTEXT in which the author uses this word, in order to understand what he is talking about.
In fact, we will see Paul utilize other words in this, and in upcoming passages, to mean the same thing as what I talk about next.
Look at Vs 5 with me.
5For when we were in the realm of the flesh,athe sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.
The word I want to point out is “FLESH” –
Paul uses the Greek word “SARX” here.
Strong's Concordance
Sarx: flesh
Short Definition:flesh, body
Definition:flesh, body, human nature, materiality; kindred.
HELPS Word-studies
[4561/sárks("flesh") is not always evil in Scripture.
Indeed, it is used positively in relation to sexual intercourse in marriage (Eph 5:31) – as well as for the sinless human body of Jesus (Jn 1:14; 1 Jn 4:2,3).
Indeed,flesh(what isphysical) is necessary for the body to liveoutthe faith the Lord worksin(Gal 2:20).]
HOWEVER…
4561 (sarks) is generally negative,
referring to making decisions (actions)according to self– i.e. doneapart from faith(independent fromGod'sinworking).
Thus, what is "of the flesh(carnal)" is by definition displeasing to the Lord – even things thatseem"respectable!"
In short,fleshgenerally relates tounaided human effort, i.e. decisions (actions) that originate from self or are empowered by self.
This iscarnal("of theflesh") and proceeds out of theuntouched(unchanged) part of us – i.e. the part that isnottransformed by God.
4561sárksproperly,flesh("carnal"), merelyof human origin or empowerment.
So, you heard me use the word “CARNAL” again and again in this definition.
Another expression used to carry this same thought is…
SINFUL NATURE.
BUT – upon becoming Christians; upon becoming Children of God – it is as if THE LAW died!
We no longer have to stay “faithful” to sinning.
Verse 6 goes on to explain that…
6But 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.
Did you see that?
…so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Our reasoning for doing good, for living good – changes.
Instead of behaving ourselves for fear of the repurcussions of the Law being applied for our wrong actions – we now operate out of a love relationship with God through Christ.
So now in the next section (vs 7 – 13) Paul says,
Look – the Law isn’t sinful – it merely stands there to tell me what sin is.
But, that leaves both Paul AND us, in a predicament.
We both are alienated from God by sin.
At this point, Paul uses the rest of this passage to paint a vivid picture for us, of a man supposed – at first– to be without law, and therefore unconscious of sin;
But then, through law coming in, he acquires a sense of it, and yet is unable to avoid it.
The man approves in his conscience to the good, but is dragged down by the infection of his nature to the evil.
He seems to have, as it were, two contrary laws within himself, distracting him.
And so the external Law, appealing to the higher law within himself, even though it is good and holy, is, in a sense, killing him;
forit reveals sin to him, and makes it deadly, but does not deliver him from it,
till the crisis comes in the desperate cry,
"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"(ver. 24).
This is THE LAW – it exposes our sin, but doesn’t give us any power over it.
But this crisis is the precursor of deliverance; it is the last throe preceding the new birth; the Law has now done its work, having fully convinced of sin, and excited the yearning for deliverance,
and in "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" the deliverance comes.
How that deliverance comes is set out for us in ch. 8, where the state of peace and hope, come as a consequence of faith in Christ.
In theological discussions, two questions have been raised and discussed with regard to vers. 7-25.
(1)Whether St. Paul, who writes throughout the passage in the first person singular, is describing his own personal experience, or if he is only writing in order to give vividness and reality to his picture of the experience of any human soul.
(2)Whether he is describing the mental experience of an unregenerate or of a regenerate man.
As to (1), his purpose is not to tell us about himself, but to depict generally the anguish of the human soul when it is convinced/convicted of sin.
But, in doing this, he undoubtedly draws on his own past experience;
- recollections of the struggle he gone through himself
He paints so vividly because he has felt so keenly. This makes the passage so peculiarly interesting, as being not only a striking analysis of human consciousness, but also an opening out to us of the great apostle's inner self; of the inward pangs and dissatisfaction with himself which had, we may well believe, distracted him through the many years when he had been a zealot for the Law and apparently satisfied with it, and when - perhaps partly to stifle disturbing thoughts - he had thrown himself into the work of persecution.
Then, further, the sudden change of tone observable in the eighth chapter, which is like calm and sunshine after storm, reveals to us the change that had come over him (to which he often elsewhere refers), when "the light from heaven" had shown him an escape from his mental chaos. He was then "a new creature: old things had passed away; behold, all things had become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
As to question (2),whether he is describing the mental experience of an unregenerate or of a regenerate man.
The condition described is that of the unregenerate; in this sense –the condition is of one still under the bondage of sin and law, before the revelation to the soul of the righteousness of God, and the consequent rising to a new life in Christ.
This seems obvious from its being the thought of law subjecting to sin that introduces the whole passage, - and also from the marked change of tone in ch. 8, where the state of the regenerate is undoubtedly described.
Further, we find, in vers. 5 and 6 of ch. 7, the obvious thesis of the two sections that follow, in the remainder of ch. 7.and in ch. 8. respectively.
Their wording exactly corresponds to the subject-matter of these sections; and ver. 5 distinctly expresses the state of being under law,
ver. 6 the state of deliverance from it.
Further, particular expressions in the two sections seem to be in intended contrast with each other, so as to denote contrasted states.
- InRomans 7:9, 11, 13, sin, through the Law,kills;
- inRomans 8:2we have "the law of the Spirit oflife."
InRomans 7:23the man is brought intocaptivity;
inRomans 8:2he is madefree.
- InRomans 7:14, 18there is invincible strife between the holy Law and the carnal mind;
- inRomans 8:4the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled.
- InRomans 7:5we were in theflesh;
- inRomans 8:9not in theflesh, but in theSpirit.
And, further, could St. Paul possibly have spoken of the regenerate Christian as "sold under sin" (ver. 14)?
Next week is our Children’s Sermon, but in the following week we will jump back into Chapter 8, and look at the life of the Redeemed.
The Righteous life, made free in the Spirit.
PRAYER