Romans 7:6

6 But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life].

    

Right now we are now discharged from the Ten Commandments. We have terminated all relationship to them and to every other Law, except the Law of Love. 

Love does no wrong to one's neighbor [it never hurts anybody]. Therefore love meets all the requirements and is the fulfilling of the Law. Romans 13:10

I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character and Your very [a]Self, and I will continue to make [You] known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them [felt in their hearts] and that I [Myself] may be in them. John 17:26

The only Law that we now live under is Love and to insure that we love, Jesus lives to ever intercede for us so that we are saved to the uttermost, Hebrews 7:25. Jesus lives to make the Truth known to us and because He does, we now have His very own love living in us. The Truth is that in Christ we cannot help but love. Amen, we now serve our Kingdom through the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, not by us keeping rules.

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever-- John 14:16

When we talk about our freedom from any and every law that would convict us of sin, people far too often assume that we are advocating going out and getting drunk, killing people, lying, stealing, doing drugs, or whatever else they consider to be sin. That is the farthest thing from the Truth. We are sharing the only way that those acts will ever stop in our life’s. The Law retrained us from being free from sin. It held us captive to being dependent on ourselves and our own abilities. Grace, which is our Father directly influencing our souls, is the only way that we can be free from sin. Grace frees us from sins presence, pleasure, power, and penalty. 

It is a reason for pride and exultation to which our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world [generally] and especially toward you, with devout and pure motives and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God (the unmerited favor and merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, and keeps, strengthens, and increases them in Christian virtues). 2 Corinthians 1:12

Our old husband, the Law, has died and we have remarried Grace, and Grace is a far better husband! 

Romans 7:5

5 When we were living in the flesh (mere physical lives), the sinful passions that were awakened and aroused up by [what] the Law [makes sin] were constantly operating in our natural powers (in our bodily organs, in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh), so that we bore fruit for death.

The important Truth here in verse 5 is that the Holy Spirit writes that when we were in the flesh. He does not have Paul write that these passions are in our flesh now. I have found that most people still believe that we are limited by our flesh. They believe that our spirits are somehow the only things that our Father sent Jesus to deal with. How weak would salvation be if our Father knew that there was nothing good in our flesh and then He did nothing about it?

And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah). 1 Thessalonians 5:23

    

And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them. Ezekiel 36:27

We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin. Romans 6:6

Jesus came so that we could be one with Him right now, even while we are on this earth and even though we possess flesh. We are right now completely one with Jesus, John 17:23. How can Jesus be connected to sin, when He has died to sin once and for all, Romans 6:10? So it is impossible for us to still have a sin nature in our flesh and be one with Christ. 

Also notice what our Father tells us here in Romans 7:5, that the Law awakened and aroused a sinful attitude in us. I know that most people do not believe this, but it is the Truth, our Father made man to want to do what we are told not to do. He did this so that none of us could ever depend on ourselves. We were made to depend on our Father being greater in us. We were made to need Christ, John 15:5. 

For God has consigned (penned up) all men to disobedience, only that He may have mercy on them all [alike]. Romans 11:32

Romans 7:2-4

2 For [instance] a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is loosed and discharged from the law concerning her husband.

    

3 Accordingly, she will be held an adulteress if she unites herself to another man while her husband lives. But if her husband dies, the marriage law no longer is binding on her [she is free from that law]; and if she unites herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.

    

4 Likewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law through the [crucified] body of Christ, so that now you may belong to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.

  

How much clearer can our Father be to us? No one considers a woman to be committing adultery if she remarries after her husband dies. Our Father tells us plainly and repeatedly that the Law has died for us. Jesus came and was successful and through His sacrifice and success the Law is now dead. So the Truth is that we are now discharged from it. We have remarried, we are now the Bride of Christ, and Christ is all about free and unearned Grace. 

Could you imagine how bad a marriage it would be if a woman continually kept talking about and doing the things that her dead husband demanded of her? What if her new home was filled with his pictures and she daily tried to talk about and do what he had said? The new marriage would stink! Yet, go into churches and see all of the Ten Commandments hanging around. Listen to the preachers tell us what we have to work and how we have to act. They mention grace, our new husband, but it's always tied to getting to Him through our old dead husband. That is just creepy when you think about it. It's like telling the woman that to please her new husband, she must work through her dead husband. 

Father that is good teaching right there! Empower us Father to really know what your grace is. Allow us to live in its fullness and power and empower us Father to share its Truth with the world so that they may be set free. 

Roman 7:1 Continued

Even the Father judges no one, for He has given all judgment (the last judgment and the whole business of judging) entirely into the hands of the Son, John 5:22

Our Father has given all judgment over to Jesus. This is a glorious thing, because Jesus is our High Priest and He knows what it is like to be human, Hebrews 4:15. When Jesus was here on the earth as a man we repeatedly were shown how He judges. Jesus forgave and let an adulterous woman go free, John 8:11. He forgave the very people that were killing Him, Luke 23:34. He forgave a sick man His sins and the man was restored to health, Matthew 9:2. Jesus told us to always forgive, Matthew 18:22. The glorious Truth is that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, Hebrews 13:8. There is also another powerful Truth here with these examples of Jesus’ judging style: none of the people being forgiven by Jesus were asking to be. This shows us plainly how Jesus will judge on Judgment Day because He never changes. He will judge with pure grace, all freely given and all completely underserved!

There is also another Truth that many people do not know and that is that we will sit in judgement with Jesus on Judgement Day, 1 Corinthians 6:2. 

Do you not know that the saints (the believers) will [one day] judge and govern the world? And if the world [itself] is to be judged and ruled by you, are you unworthy and incompetent to try [such petty matters] of the smallest courts of justice?

In Revelation John saw the Thrones of the Judges, not the Throne of the Judge.  

Then I saw thrones, and sitting on them were those to whom authority to act as judges and to pass sentence was entrusted. Also I saw the souls of those who had been slain with axes [beheaded] for their witnessing to Jesus and [for preaching and testifying] for the Word of God, and who had refused to pay homage to the beast or his statue and had not accepted his mark or permitted it to be stamped on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived again and ruled with Christ (the Messiah) a thousand years. Revelation 20:4

As we talked about in our Study of Romans 7:1, so many in religion try and fear us into acting right by threatening us about the consequences of our actions on Judgment Day. The Truth is that we are raised up, transformed to be just like Jesus, 1000 years before Judgement Day. We actually rule with Him for the 1000 years prior to Judgment Day. So for us to be judged on Judgment Day doesn’t make any since. Jesus would actually be judging Himself and His actions, because we are now members of His body, flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bone, Ephesians 5:30. The Truth is that we have already passed from judgment and now live a new life in Christ Jesus. This is the Truth that allows us to live righteously and honor our Father and our Kingdom, not that we have to fear. 

I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the person whose ears are open to My words [who listens to My message] and believes and trusts in and clings to and relies on Him Who sent Me has (possesses now) eternal life. And he does not come into judgment [does not incur sentence of judgment, will not come under condemnation], but he has already passed over out of death into life. John 5:24

Romans 7:1

1 DO YOU not know, brethren--for I am speaking to men who are acquainted with the Law--that legal claims have power over a person only for as long as he is alive?

Before we start on this study of Romans 7, I want you to know that this Chapter, far more than any other Chapter in the Bible, has been used by people to try and disprove the Truth of our freedom from sin in Christ. But, as we will see, our Father shows us, with this Chapter, the glorious Truth of our Freedom.  

The very first thing that we are told here is that legal claims only apply to us as long as we are alive. This should bring out of you a great big amen, because our Father has shown us repeatedly through His Word that we are now dead.

Are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Romans 6:3

For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3

I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:20

There is not a single legal claim that can be laid against us. We have been made free and this Truth is what empowers us to live as our Lord lives. Not just as He lived, but as He lives! We have passed from all judgment and we now have eternal life!

I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, the person whose ears are open to My words [who listens to My message] and believes and trusts in and clings to and relies on Him Who sent Me has (possesses now) eternal life. And he does not come into judgment [does not incur sentence of judgment, will not come under condemnation], but he has already passed over out of death into life. John 5:24

Too many religious people try and bring us into fear of Judgment Day. When the Truth is that we will have been transformed and ruling with Jesus for 1,000 years before Judgment Day ever occurs! For us to be judged on that day would mean that Jesus would have to bring us back to human form, separate Himself from us, and then judge Himself for how He lived through us. 

My next post will be on that we have passed from judgement and that we actual are the judges on Judgment Day. 

Romans 6:19-23

19 I am speaking in familiar human terms because of your natural limitations. For as you yielded your bodily members [and faculties] as servants to impurity and ever increasing lawlessness, so now yield your bodily members [and [d]faculties] once for all as servants to righteousness (right being and doing) [which leads] to sanctification.

    

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

    

21 But then what benefit (return) did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? [None] for the end of those things is death.

This is what is missing with so many who stumble at our freedom in Christ: they don’t realize that we have been enlightened with the Holy Spirit. They don’t understand that we now have Jesus’ very mind and so we know that sin has no benefit, 1 Corinthians 2:16. When our Father grafts us into The Vine, which is Jesus, not only is the penalty of sin removed from us, the pleasure of sin is removed as well. We now have the same attitude towards sin that Jesus has. Our Head doesn’t enjoy murder, lying, stealing, or any other harmful act, so how can His body? People need to know that we now actually have the Mind of Christ and our minds now desire righteousness as much as Jesus desires it. Righteousness allows us to serve others and further the Kingdom of our Father. 

Far too many people believe that sin still holds power over us. As long as a person believes that the ability to sin or not to sin lies within themselves, they will desire to sin. Our Father made us this way. He demands that we look unto Him to Author and Finish our faith, Hebrews 12:2. The Truth sets us free and the Truth is that through Christ we are free from sin, John 8:32. The Truth is there is no longer any law to convict us with, Romans 8:2. The Truth is that we are now more than conquerors through Christ, Romans 8:37, and the Truth is that Jesus is greater in us, then anything that is in this world, 1 John 4:4. 

    

22 But now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life.

    

We are now free from sin and our present reward is that we are truly Holy. In this world we are Holy. Man, I really do not believe that people know this glorious Truth. We absolutely need to preach this from the rooftops. Far too many people believe that they are still under a curse, when the Truth is that Jesus has redeemed us from the curse, Galatians 3:13. They believe that our Father is against them because of their actions. Our Father knows our limitations because He made us, Romans 11:32. He isn’t angry at us. He has given us full access to His grace. Our actions, whether good or bad, in no way limit our Father from taking care of us. He never leaves us and He never forsakes us, Hebrews 13:5. Where sin abounds, our Father’s grace much more abounds, Romans 5:20. We are now one with Jesus and He has given us His very glory, John 17:  

23 For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord.

The effects of sin have been destroyed through Christ. Jesus did away with the law of sin and death. We are now Holy and we now possess eternal life. These things are not waiting for us in Heaven, they are our possessions right now. We posses them every bit as much as Jesus possess them. That is what salvation has freely given us. 

Romans 6:18

18 And having been set free from sin, you have become the servants of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in thought, purpose, and action).

You have to just love this Truth: we have been set free from sin. Through Christ we  have become the servants of righteousness. So many of us place so much weight on sin. People are constantly talking of its wages, when the glorious Truth is that we have been set free from the Law of Sin and Death, Romans 8:2.

For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.

What is in abundance in our hearts our mouths will speak, Luke 6:45. If a person is always talking about what sin will do and the consequences of it, sin is what is in abundance in their heart. Human nature is that we will aggressively preach against what it is that we are actually doing, Romans 2:1. We feel condemned by our shortcomings and so we try to tell others that it is wrong. It makes us feel better, especially when we see others and their shortcomings.  

I use to ask for forgiveness dozens of times a day. I would preach what was wrong and how our Father would discipline us for our sin. The problem was that the focus of all of my efforts was on man and not on Jesus. But as soon as our Father showed me the Truth about our freedom in Christ and just how successful that He was, everything in my life changed. Our Father began to use me to share the Truth and He empowered me to tell people to look to Jesus. He filled my heart with the knowledge and actual experiences of His grace. My carnal thought process, which before only focused on my actions and the negative consequences of them, went right out the door. Our Father showed me that all things now work out for our good, Romans 8:28. He showed me that Jesus’ sacrifice was so powerful that it overcame sin. I was shown that what Jesus did dwarfed anything wrong that we would do. 

The Truth finally allowed my life to begin to be lived the way that it should be. As long as I thought about how I controlled my destiny through my actions, I constantly did the things that I thought would damn me. But when the Holy Spirit set me straight and showed me the Truth of grace, it took my focus off of myself and placed it solely and completely on Jesus. Only after He did this for me, did I began to live in the ways of righteousness. What is in abundance our hearts we definitely speak and only the Holy Spirit and His Truth can take the focus off ourselves and that is what set us free!