"7 Now, dear brothers and sisters[a]—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living? 2 For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. 3 So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.
4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. 5 When we were controlled by our old nature,[b] sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”[c] 8 But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. 9 At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, 10 and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. 11 Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. 12 But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.
13 But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.
14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[d] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[e] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin."
This is from the NLT, it is very easy to read and understand although there are a couple of things that I don't agree with translation-wise, such as spiritual death. I never really understood what this passage meant for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I thought Christ died in my place, when in fact I died WITH Christ. With that death I was no longer bound to law but instead to my new relationship with Christ. The law no longer applies to us, because they law was only upon us UNTIL we died. "You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ." Before I truly understood what grace meant and that I was no longer bound to law, I tried everyday to live as perfectly as possible, I tried to follow the commandments and do what I knew was right. Yet, everyday I failed miserably no matter how hard I tried. Sometimes I failed for well-meaning reasons. For example, I wanted to love and encourage people no matter what they believed in or how they identified with themselves. But according to my religion that was a sin! I may as well be encouraging homosexuality and prostitution! You can't really love anyone when you feel like God disapproves of your association with them! I have a Muslim friend who is struggling very deeply to accept our friendship as it is, because in Islam, the only reason you are allowed to befriend someone is to convert them to Islam. She know that I have studied Islam and that I find it appalling. She is aware that I will not ever convert to it, yet she still can't walk away from our friendship because she feels a real connection. Unfortunately, she is conflicted within herself, because her religion tells her that it is a sin to be my friend, yet her conscious tells her otherwise. She, like a lot of well-meaning Muslims, has not truly looked into her faith (sound familiar) to see what it teaches, but deep inside her I know that she can feel God trying to wake her up. I was the same way, I wanted to care for others, I wanted to love others, but I couldn't if they didn't share my faith.
When Paul says we are free from sin, that in turn convinced me that I was free to LOVE. Free to care for others as Christ did, EVEN though Christ was only sent for the lost sheep of the house of Israel while on Earth, he still helped the woman who begged for just a scrap of his blessing. I never understood why God would condemn ANY loving gesture that edifies a person or family, as long as it does not harm another.
What brought this passage to light for me was my friend asking how I could have any sense of morals if I don't believe that anything I could do would change my standing with God. She couldn't understand why I was so kind to her and her daughter even though I didn't know them, and especially considering that they are Muslim. I tried to explain but Muslims believe Paul to be a deceiver and a false prophet. So any reference to Paul is an automatic dismissal in her eyes. Unfortunately, she has never compared Paul to Mohammed in order to make an educated analysis on which one is a true prophet or messenger of God. But this passage really sums it up. The reason I am so kind and loving today is because I am allowed to be. I have no rules, therefore I find no joy in doing evil or sinful things. When the law was upon me (in my perspective of course) breaking the rules had a thrill to it. When your parents tell you not to do something, what is the one thing you WANT to do? But if your parents say go ahead eat all the candy you want, what happens? Maybe at first you do eat tons of candy, but then you spoil it for yourself and you no longer desire candy. When something is allowed the excitement that you feel from rebellion or the rush you get from doing something that you know is wrong goes away. The only things that really bring joy after that are the good things that you are now able to do for people.
Once law is gone, selfishness fades quite a bit! Obviously, not all the way. Even Paul still struggled with doing things he didn't want to do. But when you look at who Paul is after he was freed from the law, he became a much more loving and caring person. Under the law, he murdered Christians! Under the law, I have condemned people to never-ending torment for not believing what I believed! I wanted to love them still, but I couldn't because they were dirty rotten sinners, and since I said a little prayer and believed in Christ, I was snow cover-dog poop as some evangelicals put it. "You are still just as crappy as you were before but now God only sees the pure snow because of Christ's blood." Hogwash. We are pure now, because we can't break the law, because we are no longer under it. We died with Christ and that is that.
So guys, go out and love everyone you can. Don't feel restrain because you don't agree with their life choices or beliefs. Paul didn't preach only to believers, could you imagine if he did? What would have been the point? Confuse the hell out of people. Make them wonder what in the world happened to you to bring about this kind of love towards humanity regardless of any conditions. We are free to bear fruit now that the law isn't choking out our roots. Soak up the love that Christ has for us, and pour it out on everyone you can. =)
This is from the NLT, it is very easy to read and understand although there are a couple of things that I don't agree with translation-wise, such as spiritual death. I never really understood what this passage meant for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I thought Christ died in my place, when in fact I died WITH Christ. With that death I was no longer bound to law but instead to my new relationship with Christ. The law no longer applies to us, because they law was only upon us UNTIL we died. "You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ." Before I truly understood what grace meant and that I was no longer bound to law, I tried everyday to live as perfectly as possible, I tried to follow the commandments and do what I knew was right. Yet, everyday I failed miserably no matter how hard I tried. Sometimes I failed for well-meaning reasons. For example, I wanted to love and encourage people no matter what they believed in or how they identified with themselves. But according to my religion that was a sin! I may as well be encouraging homosexuality and prostitution! You can't really love anyone when you feel like God disapproves of your association with them! I have a Muslim friend who is struggling very deeply to accept our friendship as it is, because in Islam, the only reason you are allowed to befriend someone is to convert them to Islam. She know that I have studied Islam and that I find it appalling. She is aware that I will not ever convert to it, yet she still can't walk away from our friendship because she feels a real connection. Unfortunately, she is conflicted within herself, because her religion tells her that it is a sin to be my friend, yet her conscious tells her otherwise. She, like a lot of well-meaning Muslims, has not truly looked into her faith (sound familiar) to see what it teaches, but deep inside her I know that she can feel God trying to wake her up. I was the same way, I wanted to care for others, I wanted to love others, but I couldn't if they didn't share my faith.
When Paul says we are free from sin, that in turn convinced me that I was free to LOVE. Free to care for others as Christ did, EVEN though Christ was only sent for the lost sheep of the house of Israel while on Earth, he still helped the woman who begged for just a scrap of his blessing. I never understood why God would condemn ANY loving gesture that edifies a person or family, as long as it does not harm another.
What brought this passage to light for me was my friend asking how I could have any sense of morals if I don't believe that anything I could do would change my standing with God. She couldn't understand why I was so kind to her and her daughter even though I didn't know them, and especially considering that they are Muslim. I tried to explain but Muslims believe Paul to be a deceiver and a false prophet. So any reference to Paul is an automatic dismissal in her eyes. Unfortunately, she has never compared Paul to Mohammed in order to make an educated analysis on which one is a true prophet or messenger of God. But this passage really sums it up. The reason I am so kind and loving today is because I am allowed to be. I have no rules, therefore I find no joy in doing evil or sinful things. When the law was upon me (in my perspective of course) breaking the rules had a thrill to it. When your parents tell you not to do something, what is the one thing you WANT to do? But if your parents say go ahead eat all the candy you want, what happens? Maybe at first you do eat tons of candy, but then you spoil it for yourself and you no longer desire candy. When something is allowed the excitement that you feel from rebellion or the rush you get from doing something that you know is wrong goes away. The only things that really bring joy after that are the good things that you are now able to do for people.
Once law is gone, selfishness fades quite a bit! Obviously, not all the way. Even Paul still struggled with doing things he didn't want to do. But when you look at who Paul is after he was freed from the law, he became a much more loving and caring person. Under the law, he murdered Christians! Under the law, I have condemned people to never-ending torment for not believing what I believed! I wanted to love them still, but I couldn't because they were dirty rotten sinners, and since I said a little prayer and believed in Christ, I was snow cover-dog poop as some evangelicals put it. "You are still just as crappy as you were before but now God only sees the pure snow because of Christ's blood." Hogwash. We are pure now, because we can't break the law, because we are no longer under it. We died with Christ and that is that.
So guys, go out and love everyone you can. Don't feel restrain because you don't agree with their life choices or beliefs. Paul didn't preach only to believers, could you imagine if he did? What would have been the point? Confuse the hell out of people. Make them wonder what in the world happened to you to bring about this kind of love towards humanity regardless of any conditions. We are free to bear fruit now that the law isn't choking out our roots. Soak up the love that Christ has for us, and pour it out on everyone you can. =)
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