The Normal Christian Life (15 page)

W
E MUST RETURN now to Romans. We broke off at the end of chapter 6 in order to consider two related subjects, namely, God’s eternal purpose, which is the motive and goal of our walk with Him, and the Holy Spirit, who supplies the power and resource to bring us to that goal. We come now to Romans 7, a chapter which many have felt to be almost superfluous. Perhaps indeed it would be so if Christians really saw that the old creation has been ruled out by the cross of Christ, and an entirely new creation brought in by His resurrection. If we have come to the point where we really “know” that, and “reckon” on that, and “present ourselves” on the basis of that, then perhaps we have no need of Romans 7.

Others have felt that the chapter is in the wrong place. They would have put it between the fifth and sixth chapters. After chapter 6 all is so perfect, so straightforward; and then
comes this astonishing breakdown and the cry, “O wretched man that I am!” Could anything be more of an anticlimax? And so some have argued that Paul is speaking here of his unregenerate experience and of his failure, as a Jew, to keep the Law. Well, we must admit that some of what he describes here is not a Christian experience, but none the less many Christians do experience it. When then is the teaching of this chapter?

Romans 6 deals with freedom from sin. Romans 7 deals with freedom from the Law. In chapter 6 Paul has told us how we could be delivered from sin, and we concluded that this was all that was required. Chapter 7 now teaches that deliverance from sin is not enough, but that we also need to know deliverance from the Law. If we are not fully emancipated from the Law, we can never know full emancipation from sin.

But what is the difference between deliverance from sin and deliverance from the Law? We all see the value of the former, but where, we wonder, is the need for the latter? For answer, we must first of all ask ourselves what the Law is, and what is its special value, for us.

Romans 7 has a new lesson to teach us. It is found in the discovery that I am “in the flesh” (Rom. 7:5), that “I am carnal” (7:14), and that “in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing” (7:18). This goes beyond the question of sin, for it relates also to the matter of pleasing God. We are dealing here not with sin in its forms, but with man in his carnal state. The latter includes the former, but it takes us a stage further, for it leads to the discovery that in this realm too we are totally impotent, and that “they that are in the flesh
cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8). How then is this discovery made? It is made with the help of the Law.

Let us retrace our steps for a minute and attempt to describe what is probably the experience of many. Many a Christian is truly saved and yet bound by sin. It is not that he is necessarily living under the power of sin all the time, but that there are certain particular sins hampering him continually so that he commits them over and over again. One day he hears the full message of the gospel, that the Lord Jesus not only died to cleanse away our sins, but that when He died He included us sinners in His death; so that not only were our sins dealt with, but we ourselves were dealt with too. The man’s eyes are opened, and he knows he has been crucified with Christ.

Two things follow that revelation. In the first place he reckons that he has died and risen with his Lord. In the second place, recognizing God’s claim upon him, and that he has no more right over himself, he presents himself to God as alive from the dead. This is the commencement of a beautiful Christian life, full of praise to the Lord.

But then he begins to reason as follows: “I have died with Christ and am raised with Him, and I have given myself over to Him forever. Now I must do something for Him, since He has done so much for me. I want to please Him and do His will.” So, after the step of consecration, he seeks to discover the will of God, and sets himself to carry it out.

Then he makes a strange discovery. He thought he could do the will of God, because he thought he loved it; but gradually he finds he does not always like it at all. At times he even feels a distinct reluctance to pursue it. And often when he tries to put it into practice, he finds he cannot.

Then he begins to question his experience. He asks himself: “Did I really know? Yes! Did I really reckon? Yes! Did I really give myself to Him? Yes! Have I withdrawn my consecration? No! Then whatever is the matter now?” For the more this man tries to do the will of God the more he fails. Ultimately he comes to the conclusion that he never really loved God’s will at all, so he prays for the desire as well as the power to do it. He confesses his disobedience and promises never to disobey again.

But scarcely has he got up from his knees when he falls once more. Before he reaches the point of victory, he is conscious of defeat. Then he says to himself, “Perhaps my last decision was not definite enough. This time I will be absolutely definite.” So he brings all his willpower to bear on the situation, only to find greater defeat than ever awaiting him the next time a choice has to be made.

Then at last he echoes the words of Paul: “For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not. For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practice” (Rom. 7:18–19). He has reached the point of desperation.

Many Christians find themselves suddenly launched into the experience of Romans 7, and they do not understand why. They fancy Romans 6 is quite enough. Having grasped that, they think there can be no more question of failure. Then to their utmost surprise they find themselves right in the midst of Romans 7. What is the explanation?

First, let us be quite clear that the death with Christ described in Romans 6 is fully adequate to cover all our need. It is the explanation of that death, with all that follows from it in chapter 6, that is as yet incomplete. We are still in ignorance of the truth set forth in chapter 7. For Romans 7 is given to us to explain and make real the statement in Romans 6:14 that “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.” The trouble is that we do not yet know deliverance from law. What, then, is the meaning of law?

Grace means that God does something for me; law means that I do something for God. God has certain holy and righteous demands which He places upon me—that is law. Now if law means that God requires something of me for their fulfillment, then deliverance from law means that He no longer requires that from me, but Himself provides it. Law implies that God requires me to do something for Him; deliverance from law implies that He exempts me from doing it, and that in grace He does it Himself. I (where “I” is the “carnal” man of chapter 7:14) need do nothing for God—that is deliverance from law. The trouble in Romans 7 is that man in the flesh tried to do something for God. As soon as you try to please God in that way, then you place yourself under law, and the experience of Romans 7 begins to be yours.

As we seek to understand this, let it be settled at the outset that the fault does not lie with the Law. Paul says, “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good” (Rom. 7:12). No, there is nothing wrong with the Law, but there is something decidedly wrong with me. The demands of the Law are righteous, but the person upon
whom the demands are made is unrighteous. The trouble is not that the Law’s demands are unjust, but that I am unable to meet them. It may be all right for the Government to require payment of £100, but it will be all wrong if I have only ten shillings with which to meet the payment!

I am a man “sold under sin” (Rom. 7:14). Sin has dominion over me. True, as long as you leave me alone I seem to be rather a fine type of man. It is when you ask me to do something that my sinfulness comes to light.

If you have a very clumsy servant and he just sits still and does nothing, then his clumsiness does not appear. If he does nothing all day, he will be of little use to you, it is true, but at least he will do no damage that way. But if you say to him, “Now come along, don’t idle away your time: get up and do something,” then immediately the trouble begins. He knocks the chair over as he gets up, stumbles over a footstool a few paces further on, then smashes some precious dish as soon as he handles it. If you make no demands upon him, his clumsiness is never noticed; but as soon as you ask him to do anything, his awkwardness is apparent at once. The demands were all right, but the man was all wrong. He was as clumsy a man when he was sitting still as when he was working. But it was your demands that made manifest the clumsiness which, whether he was active or inactive, was all the time in his makeup.

We are all sinners by nature. If God asks nothing of us, all seems to go well. But as soon as He demands something of us, the occasion is provided for a grand display of our sinfulness. The Law makes our weakness manifest. While you let me sit still, I appear to be all right; but when you ask me to do anything, I am sure to spoil it. And if you trust me
with a second thing, I will as surely spoil that also. When a holy law is applied to a sinful man, then it is that his sinfulness comes out in full display.

God knows who I am. He knows that from head to foot I am full of sin; He knows that I am weakness incarnate, that I can do nothing. The trouble is that I do not know it. I admit that all men are sinners, and that therefore I am a sinner—but I imagine that I am not such a hopeless sinner as some. God must bring us all to the place where we see that we are utterly weak and helpless. While we say so, we do not wholly believe it, and God has to do something to convince us of the fact. Had it not been for the Law, we should never have known how weak we are.

Paul had reached that point. He makes this clear when he says in Romans 7:7, “I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Whatever might be his experience with the rest of the Law, it was the tenth commandment (which literally translated is, “Thou shalt not desire . . .”) that found him out. There his total incapacity stared him in the face!

The more we try to keep the Law the more our weakness is manifest and the deeper we get into Romans 7, until it is clearly demonstrated to us that we are hopelessly weak. God knew it all along, but we did not. So God had to bring us through painful experiences to a recognition of the fact. We need to have our weakness proved to ourselves beyond dispute. That is why God gave us the Law.

So we can say, reverently, that God never gave us the Law to keep; He gave us the Law to break! He well knew that we could not keep it. We are so bad that He asks no favor and makes no demands. Never has any man succeeded in making
himself acceptable to God by means of the Law. Nowhere in the New Testament are men of faith told that they are to keep the Law; but it does say that the Law was given so that there should be transgression. “The law came in . . . that the trespass might abound” (Rom. 5:20). The Law was given to make us lawbreakers!

No doubt I am a sinner in Adam; “Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law . . . for apart from the law sin is dead . . . but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died” (Rom. 7:7–9). The Law is that which exposes our true nature. Alas, we are so conceited, and think ourselves so strong, that God has to give us something to test us and prove how weak we are. At last we see it and confess, “I am a sinner through and through, and of myself I can do nothing whatever to please a holy God.”

No, the Law was not given in the expectation that we would keep it. It was given in the full knowledge that we would break it. And when we have broken it so completely as to be convinced of our utter need, then the Law has served its purpose. It has been our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that in us He may Himself fulfill it (Gal. 3:24).

In Romans 6 we saw how God delivered us from sin; in Romans 7 we see how He delivers us from the Law. Chapter 6 shows us the way of deliverance from sin in the picture of a master and his slave; chapter 7 shows us the way of deliverance from the Law in the picture of two husbands and a wife. The relation between sin and the sinner is that of master to slave; the relation between the Law and the sinner is that of husband to wife.

Notice first that in the picture by which Paul illustrates our deliverance from the Law (Rom. 7:1–4), there is only one woman, while there are two husbands. The woman is in a very difficult position, for she can only be wife of one of the two, and unfortunately she is married to the less desirable one. Let us make no mistake; the man to whom she is married is a good man. But the trouble lies here: The husband and wife are totally unsuited to one another. He is a most particular man, accurate to a degree; she on the other hand is decidedly easy-going. With him all is definite and precise; with her all is casual and haphazard. He wants everything just so, while she takes things as they come. How could there be happiness in such a home?

And then that husband is so exacting! He is always making demands upon her. And yet one cannot find fault with him, for as a husband he has a right to expect something of his wife. And besides, all his demands are perfectly legitimate. There is nothing wrong with the man and nothing wrong with his demands. The trouble is that he has the wrong kind of wife to carry them out. The two cannot get on at all; theirs are utterly incompatible natures.

Thus, the poor woman is in great distress. She is fully aware that she often makes mistakes, but living with such a husband, it seems as though everything she says and does is wrong! What hope is there for her? If only she were married to that other Man, all would be well. He is no less exacting than her husband, but He also helps much. She would fain marry Him, but her husband is still alive. What can she do? She is “bound by law to the husband,” and unless he dies she cannot legitimately marry that other Man.

This picture is not drawn by me, but by the apostle Paul.
The first husband is the Law; the second husband is Christ; and you are the woman. The Law requires much, but offers no help in the carrying out of its requirements. The Lord Jesus requires just as much, yea more (Matt. 5:21–48). But what He requires from us, He Himself carries out in us. The Law makes demands and leaves us helpless to fulfill them; Christ makes demands, but He Himself fulfills in us the very demands He makes.