“There are some things in them hard to understand,” says Peter of the writings of Paul (II Peter 3:16 – all quotes from R.S.V.). We know what he means! On one occasion Paul refers to “the law of God,” “another law,” “the law of my mind,” “the law of sin,” “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” “the law of sin and death” and “the law” -seven laws in seven verses! (Rom. 7:22,8:3). We may well wonder: What are all these laws? What do they mean? How do they relate to each other? Before addressing these questions, let us turn to an earlier portion of this epistle.
The eternal law defined
Consider this summary definition of the eternal law of the Lord: “For he will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life: but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury” (Rom. 2:6-8). Here is the one divine law, with its two complementary aspects. Here is revealed the righteousness of God, as manifest to those who, in faith, act in response to the divine mercy and grace and to those who rebelliously reject it.
Where we fit in
This passage is followed by a further clarification: “There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek” (Rom. 2:9-10).
Paul now emphasizes that the two basic elements of God’s law, revealed earlier to the Jews through Moses, are equally valid for the Gentiles.
Note that this presentation of the fundamental operation of God’s law would “fit” as comfortably in Genesis, Deuteronomy or Micah as in this epistle. The principles have not changed.
We must recognize our need
Before any can benefit from God’s mercy, they must first acknowledge their need for it.
“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God” (Rom. 3:19). Every commandment, statute and ordinance of the law of Moses has a critical lesson for us! What is that lesson? Primarily this: “For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin” (3:20).
That knowledge comes by means of its prohibitions. For instance: “I should not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said ‘you shall not covet'”, (7:7). Along with the people of Israel, we are constantly being taught by the law that so much of what we think and say and do is wrong.
Further, we learn that, as sinners, we deserve to die. “For the wages of sin is death…” (6:23). Since we are all sinners, there is no possibility of justification by works; we can never be good enough to deserve eternal life. Righteousness belongs to God alone. “So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good” (7:12). “We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin” (7:14). We acknowledge, therefore, that God is righteous in decreeing death for sin and so we are prepared to die, and to be buried, with Christ.
We die to the law
“Likewise, my brethren, you have died to the law through the body of Christ…now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit” (Rom. 7:4,6). The KJV has an unfortunate error of translation in v.6, “now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held…” Reference to the KJV margin, to other translations and to the demands of the context establish, beyond doubt, that the “death” involves the individual, not the law. The person died; the law lived on. In what sense have we “died to the law?” How are we “discharged from the law?”
How many laws?
This brings us back to our initial problem of the seven laws! Pause to read from Rom. 7:21 to 8:13 noting particularly the various “laws” and the series of contrasts between two ways of life. Last month, we noted that the eternal law of God, in its two primary and complementary elements, is derived from attributes of the LORD as revealed in Ex. 33 and 34. God is “merciful and gracious…abounding in steadfast love…forgiving…but who will by no means clear the guilty…” Both “the kindness and the severity of God” are manifest in His law through Moses and through Christ (Rom. 11:22).
God decrees that “the wages of sin is death…” (Rom. 6:23). This law is a principle that is one aspect of the total law of the LORD. It becomes imprinted in our minds, our flesh and our human nature. “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand” (7:21). This is “the law of sin” (v.25), “the law of sin which dwells in my members” (v.23). This is “sin, working death in me…in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and…might become sinful beyond measure” (7:13), for “…I am carnal, sold under sin” (7:14) and, inevitably, “the wages of sin is death!” This is the law that demands our death. This is the law to which we died and from which we are discharged.
Grace in the divine law
The marvelous thing is that this discharge is accomplished without our literally being put to death. “We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin” (Rom. 6:6,7). “Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God…” (6:22), we serve a new master and are discharged from the old. King Sin no longer reigns over us; we owe him no allegiance; we are no longer his slaves; his law has no further claim upon us. We who have died, with Christ, in baptism, will never truly die again. Should our Lord’s coming be delayed, we will but sleep awhile.
The “law of sin and death” is only one eternal aspect of God’s law. Now we are subject to the “kindness” of God, that gracious aspect of the law of the LORD that reveals His steadfast love “to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality” (2:7). For such, “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free…” (8:2). Hence, “I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self.” This is “the law of my mind,” for “I of myself serve the law of God with my mind…” (7:22,23,25). A review of Rom. 7:22 to 8:3 should now disclose that the seven laws are really only two, identified in different terms. Each of these two is a principle in itself. Together they form the two complementary aspects of the one eternal law of God.
Submitting to God’s law
The law of the LORD still makes demands upon the life of newborn converts as they must “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4). While “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1), there is a series of reminders that they remain subject to divine law. Note the emphatic contrasts, with their echoes of the two elements of God’s righteousness in relation to human conduct.
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit” (8:5).
“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (8:6).
“Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him but if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness” (8:9,10).
“For if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live” (8:13).
“Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off” (11:22).
“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (12:2).
“I would have you wise as to what is good and guileless as to what is evil” (16:19).
The last of these passages takes us back to Eden, where God initially revealed His requirements and His mercy. The serpent beguiled Eve, who saw “that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.” The struggle between good and evil was under way; it continues to the present day.
Law and grace
It is divine law that makes us conscious of our sinfulness and consequent mortality. Divine grace offers deliverance and the prospect of righteousness and life. Law and grace, with no conflict between them are the two complementary aspects of the eternal law of the LORD.
“Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (5:20,21).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One