Romans 7. Imagine you were a first-century Jew whose family had for centuries been quite serious about following all the details of Jewish law – all the dietary rules, the Sabbath rules, the worship and sacrifice rules, etc. Then along comes Jesus, and the disciples and Paul, explaining that keeping the law does not wipe away your sin, nor does it put you in a right relationship with God. The Jewish worldview was turned upside down. How could a right relationship with God be by faith alone in Jesus the Messiah? What were they supposed to do with the law? What was the whole purpose of the law anyway?! The Apostle Paul tackles this topic in Romans 7.

Paul starts the chapter by using the example of a marriage agreement (7:1-3). When one spouse dies, the surviving spouse is set free from the agreement. Then likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ. In the death of Jesus, we are now released from the law… so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit (7:6). This does not mean that the Jesus follower lives a crazy life doing whatever they want. Remember, should we continue in sin so that grace may abound? By no means! (6:1-2). It means that the authority of Jesus has superseded the authority of the law. We now serve Jesus, in the new way, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The situation reminds me a bit of what happens with a super strict high school dress code. Imagine a school dress code that is super specific and only allows you to wear a specific shirt and a specific brand of khakis that must be exactly a certain color and length. The minute that is the rule, you find that your heart rebels and you just want to wear jeans to school so badly! Then imagine you switch schools, and the new school has a more liberal dress code. Finally, you can wear jeans to school with whatever shirt you want. You are so happy! However, if you show up to your new school wearing a swimsuit top or a mini skirt that reveals your underwear, you are still going to get in trouble. That would be an abuse of the freedom. There is still an expectation that you will dress properly for an educational environment. So, we see that the purpose for having a dress code is valid, but now there is more freedom – and more responsibility – to live and dress appropriately. The law is holy… righteous and good (7:12), but we serve Jesus in the new way of the Spirit.

Paul closes chapter 7 by giving us a glimpse of what his struggle with sin is like. Paul – like us – hated sin but still lived in a broken world. The good news is that Jesus gives us the power to withstand temptation and avoid sin, but we sometimes still feel the battle raging within us. My family calls this the “Dr. Suess section” of Romans. “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very things I hate… I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing… I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war…”(7:15-23). Ugh, we all feel the inner struggle of wanting to do right but being tempted by wrong.

Who shall set us free? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (7:24-25) There is freedom from sin patterns in Jesus, there is power to choose right, and there is forgiveness when we make mistakes. Hallelujah!