Romans 6 and 7

Romans 6 - KNOW

In Romans 6, Paul opens with questions essentially asking if we should sin to get more grace. The answer is of course no - but his explanation is what is important. It's as if Paul is leaning into the thinking of those who would genuinely be asking the question - not to shame them - but to help them in the error of their thinking.

Paul says, in my own words," don't you KNOW..."and the explains what has happen with us because of Christ's death. Because we identify with Christ, we also died - putting sin to death in our lives. But like a coin with 2 sides, we can't neglect talking about the resurrection. Since we identify with Christ and he rose from the dead - so did we.

It's like Paul is asking if we KNOW that we are resurrected like Christ. Do we know that this is true? And Paul also says that since we are resurrected we should live like Christ, to the glory of God, In other words we should live in such a way that shows we are resurrected.

Romans 7 KNOW

In the form of a question directed Paul begins Romans 7 stating that the law has dominion over a man while he lives.

I think here Paul is leaning into the truth that the Jews are familiar with: if one is alive they are bound to the covenant. The covenant is the law that people are to live by to maintain fellowship with and access to God, which was given to the people by Moses.

The Jews knew this because the Old Covenant was their way of life - keyword life. As long as they lived, they were bound by the law of Moses. But if one died they would be released from that law because there was obviously no way for them to live it out. Paul then uses the example of marriage.

So what of it?

The questions that Paul asks in these chapters are related to one's relationship with sin in light of what Jesus has done on the cross. From what I gather, it's a good thing that Paul's audience had an understanding that Christ' death covered their sins but the group was lacking understanding of the other side of the coin - an understanding of Christ's resurrection.

Well if I'm forgiving, why not keep sinning? This is a question that I've asked plenty of time in my journey. I think I've heard church folk say that this is like crucifying Christ all over again so I would feel shame even considering this question.

But the apostle Paul doesn't go that route, instead of only pointing to the cross, he also mentions the resurrection. In my own words - Do you not know that Christ didn't just die but was raised from the dead so that you don't have to sin any more?

I think that is the way we need to phrase it - we need to be called up - not shamed down for lack of understanding.

In Romans 7, the question Paul is addressing is one that he brings up himself. I'll state it as a statement: the law is for those who are living. Then Paul uses the example of marriage and how the woman would no longer be bound to the law of marriage to her husband if he dies.

For us in the new covenant, I think that Paul is trying to emphasize that since we died, we don't live by the law. It's gone, it's dead. No we are married to another and the way we live is not by the law (a system of dos and don'ts) but in the newness of the Spirit, producing good fruit to God.

I think I've said this before, but our focus as Christians should not be on "not sinning" because that was the oldness of the letter. Our focus should be on the 'newness of the Spirit'.

Instead of trying not to sin, we should focus on bearing good fruit. Instead of focusing on trying to maintain rules and regulations, we should focus on trying to serve in the Spirit.

Now this is where it can get confusing because you can't see Spirit so it's a little harder to identify if we are doing exactly what we are to do in the Spirit. However with the law it was very clear. Either you hit the mark or nah.

QUESTION FOR GOD: How we know that we are serving in the Spirit? What indicators do we have that we are in alignment with You and the work that you did through Christ on the cross?