Romans 7:21-8:11, The Two Laws, Dr. John Carpenter

Romans 7:21-8:11 and the Meaning of “The Law”

Romans chapter 7 in verse 21. The chapter 8 verse 11. Hear the word of the Lord. So I find it to be a law. Then when I want to do right evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being but I see in my members another law.

Waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

For God has done what the law Weakened by the flesh could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin He condemns sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.

Who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit? 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.

To set the mind on the flesh is death. But to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You however are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you although the body is dead because of sin the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead Will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

The Law of Sin and Its Poisonous Fruit

May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word. But do you know the law. Everyone here know the law. And the first thing you think well, what kind of law what are you talking about? And there are all kinds of laws varieties of laws lots of laws.

In fact, we use the word law In all kinds of different ways, you know, we talk about the laws of physics the state law. Laws of success. And so what do you mean by do you know the law? Well, if you're in the restaurant business, you need to know the sanitation and health regulations.

There are health inspectors who come around grading you and how well you're keeping the law. Checking if the cooked food is kept at a high enough a temperature. So it kills the bacteria if the vent doesn't have too much grease in it.

They may clog it up and be a fire hazard. Now if you're particularly if a restaurant is particularly bad, they the health inspector can shut it down. So you have to obey the law to stay in business. Now when we talk about the laws of nature like the laws of gravity the laws of motion Aerodynamics other laws of physics these described with certainty how things work.

And if you know the laws of nature, you can then invent things. You can build engines you can make airplanes that fly through the sky seeming to Defy the law of gravity not really. But seeming to people can launch multi-million dollar satellites into space with the assurance that it will go Exactly where they wanted to go and will do exactly what they wanted to do.

Because they know the laws of nature now most people in our culture now assume that that's an entirely different use of the word law. Then the health inspectors laws just happen to be the same word, but we use it differently, but not really.

It's not really true. The health inspector knows that if the food is not kept hot enough bacteria will grow and Make people sick because knows the laws of biology the health laws all are or at least they should be Based on the laws of nature on what is required to operate a healthy safe restaurant a Just human law.

That's a law that the government enforces Should be rooted. It should come from a Natural law and a law of nature. In other words, not just because the government says so should be a reason for it. Like you shouldn't drive over the speed.

Because they know that the laws of physics tell us that for most cars It is unsafe if you go beyond this speed the laws of nature show that over the speed on this particular road. Most cars will be dangerous.

So they make a law speed limit. Now in chinese philosophy, they talk about the tao the tao the way you need to know the way Things work the flow of forces like in feng shui whatever you think of that.

But the course to take the tao is the the way of the world. And the way that you should follow Government laws then I guess I would imagine should be then expressions of applications of the tao. A law is a statement that this is the way the universe works.

Do you know? The law. Well here we see in this passage Two laws at work. And then we see the escape from one of them. In verse 21 he says I find a law. And then in verse 23 another law. Which is unlike the first so that there are two laws.

He says he's found spiritual laws. Meaning there's these principles like the laws of aerodynamics describe how an object will move through the air if it's shaped one way. It'll just drop. If it's shaped another way it can fly.

And so there are spiritual laws that tell us what we will do in certain situations whether we'll just drop. Or whether we'll fly. There's two of them first. There's the law of sin and it bears Six poisonous fruit at least that he mentions here first.

It makes evil present. In verse 21 when I want to do good. Evil is present. It's near it's right with me. That fact is so absolutely certain. It's a law. Just like gravity, you know, if you drop a pin It's immediately drawn to the center of gravity.

You you all knew that the pin would do that. If I let go of it because you all know the center of gravity. If you can't necessarily define it laws of physics in scientific terms. You you've seen the law of gravity at work and you know what it's going to do.

And so there's a principle at work with with the pin dropping and with our own Sinfulness and the law of sin verses 23 and 25. Or the law of sin and death same thing in chapter 8 verse 2 when I want to do right.

Here's the law when I want to do right. I want to love god. I want to give and to serve and to be full of the fruit of the spirit. I want to love his word and and worship god. The fact that i'm still a sinner means that in verse 21 evil is Present is still there.

We need to know this law. So that even after we've surrounded ourselves with bible verses and christian music and we go to church. We listen to sermons and we read good books and we spend time with good christian friends then still We find ourselves being tempted.

Our temper is still short. Still struggling with lust or with greed sometimes feeling sometimes we feel like we're tired of the bible. We need to know this law so we don't give up and think well all this hasn't done what I expected it to do.

I thought it would drive evil far from me. I still find Evil Right there with me in my grasp. And we should know the law that when we want to do good. We want to be godly when we want to be like jesus still we're going to find evil Present with us and he describes that law more in verses 22 and 23.

I delight in the law of god in my inner man. Yet still in verse 23. I see a different law. It's different than the law that makes me Love god's law god's word. That different law is the law of sin this evil this present with me also.

Notice his different uses of the word law. Just a little lesson here on interpreting the bible particularly this passage here. He uses the word law in a variety of ways even in just a few verses. I delight in the law of god.

What's the law of god? I delight in the law of god in my heart. But then there's a law of sin. What's that making me? That's making me making evil present with me working through my body. The law of god is the word of god.

God's maybe he means particularly the commands of god. Maybe he means particularly the torah. But it's it's the it's god's word. It's inspired we would Call it the bible most of the time and so if you're born again, you love god's word.

I delight in the law of god. I delight in god's word. You relish hearing his command so that now you can now you can obey them. But the law of sin. Tries to get in your way. So there's two different laws.

In conflict. One of one of the one of the things that makes it difficult for modern people to understand romans. Is that paul will use the same word? With different meanings sometimes. One after another immediately after and we do this in english too.

Often we use the same word we can say I was living fast and loose and then driving Fast down the road. But then I drove into a ditch and got stuck fast in the mud. And I knew I had to get my life right and so I went on a fast.

Just use the same word in four different ways. And you knew exactly what every what that word meant by its use and you got to do the same with the bible. Don't have this attitude. It's got the same words always got to mean the same thing everywhere in the bible and not even in a few verses here.

Paul uses here the word the law of god meaning probably particularly the law of moses. The sinai covenant or all god's commands even in the prophets is in verse 22. And then secondly he'll use law is in legalism what the law could not do.

That's what legalism couldn't do but the principle of rule keeping about me trying to please god by my works. Could not do the then he says god did that's another way uses the law and then thirdly the law for a principle that describes how something works like how.

Like gravity how gravity works the law of gravity here how sin leads to death. It's the law of sin and death just as assuredly as gravity pulls you down. So the law of sin pulls you away from from god from the law of god from god's word that you delight in toward death.

So the second the the law of sin bears the poisonous fruit also in verse 23 of the of the war within. It's raging war. Against the other law. We talked a lot about that in the last two weeks, but there's a war raging within.

Raging against the law of my what he calls the law of my mind in chapter 7 verse 23 that inner man. That now delights in obeying god is pulling me the other way. And it is the source of that wretched struggle.

Oh wretched man that I am that makes us cry out who will deliver me. Now third poisonous fruit. Is my captivity? It's captivity the law of sin is Shackling me. It has me in chains in verse 23. It's taking me captive.

So we're captive to this law that keeps evil close to us. No matter how much we want to love and to obey god so much so in verse 25. It makes me serve it in verse 25 says I that's the fleshly me. Am a slave to the law of sin the me that is a slave to the principle of ever present evil.

Is my flesh. I understand it the me. That's a slave to this law of sin. Principle of ever present evil that me is my flesh. And so here we have a definition of the word flesh. And Here in verse 25 the flesh is that sinful nature that that tries to live without god or as we'll see later That's hostile to god.

You can't reconcile it to god. It's it's a slave of the law of sin. That's what the flesh is now. Fourth poisonous fruit. The law of sin dwells in my body. But it's not my body. Some careful. Be careful to make that distinction.

It's important to make that distinction. The law of sin is in our body says twice in verse 23. But that does not mean that the body itself is sinful. It is in my members. He says that means like in my skin and my hands my feet and the rest of me the law of sin is working there.

But the body itself is not sinful. The body is not the flesh if by flesh we mean sinful nature. All right, jesus had a body. But he had no sin. So the body itself is not simple. The word flesh again is like with the word law.

Paul was sometimes used with different meanings. Sometimes sometimes he will use it as a synonym for body. Like in chapter 8 verse 3 where he says that god condemned sin in the flesh. And he means that in the body of jesus.

You know that suffered it was beaten and it was crucified in his body. Our sin was condemned. God condemns sin in the flesh in the body of jesus who didn't have a sinful nature so he didn't have that kind of flesh.

If if you think one word means the same thing in every use. You're going to be confused. Particularly in this passage. You have to read how it is used. Now most of the time here though flesh is about the simple nature about life without god.

Without god as god now some people use the word the phrase sins of flesh to refer to. Most to sexual sense and which are indeed they are indeed sins of the flesh. But so are all sins. So really all sins are of the flesh.

You can be of the flesh. You can be fleshly and and be religious. You can use the name of god you can read the bible you can quote it you can put it on your wall or in your Bumper and your facebook post.

But if your life isn't about god if you're just using god. Put it on your bumper your car in the hopes that that'll keep you from getting in an accident something like that. It's a magic Wand of that kind of thing to get the power you want.

To get the money you want or the family or the relationship you want for your own consumption. If you're not really happy in god, you're not content in the lord. You're using him for whatever you think you can get from him for yourself.

Then you're still living in the flesh. You're still a prisoner of the law of sin. The fifth poisonous fruit. Of the law of sin is a is a fleshly mindset. Your flesh that sinful nature thinks on flesh in chapter 8 verse 5.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have set their minds on what that nature fleshly nature desires. In greek, it's actually much more concise literally says those who are according to the flesh think on the things of the flesh.

Nature determines mindset what you're made of. Determines what you think about? If your nature is flesh you think about flesh if your if your life is basically godless. Godless at heart even if you're religious you can be religious and be godless.

Then you are in the flesh and so a prisoner of the law of sin. It means it means no matter how good you might try to be without god Evil will be present with you. This is why anything anyone does Without god's grace without god's spirit is sinful and that's hard for many people to understand.

They think well, there's you know, people the the billionaire who gives millions of dollars to Uh children hospital, that's something god must be impressed with that. Maybe. If he's a if he's a converted person is doing it because the spirit of god working in his heart.

Yeah. It could be a it could be a good fruit. If he's just a philanthropist who wants his name remembered for something has all this money doesn't know what else to do with it. And he's buying recognition.

It's the flesh. You can be a philanthropist you can be charitable you can give to the needy you do it for the recognition you for your pride your ego. You're doing it for your flesh. Now for some rich people that you want to have their name carved in marble on the building.

The pharisees fasted they afflicted their bodies that they did it so everyone could see. So they'd be admired for how religious they were people would respect them. That's what they hoped. It was it was hard on their bodies.

But it was for their flesh. In our culture here. We have a lot of men and some women Who love to be called preachers? And they may not want to spend much time preparing to preach because that's that didn't that didn't do anything for the flesh.

But they want you to give them their time on sunday morning now for many. That's the flesh. They might have a gift for the gab and so they might be interesting to listen to. Or maybe they don't. And they have no gift for the public speaking, but they claim that they get and they get an inner satisfaction from their preaching.

You don't get any satisfaction. You could hardly pay attention as they mumble along. But they claim that their sense of satisfaction requires you to give them their to give them your ears. But maybe what is being satisfied?

Is their flesh? Flesh. Thinks on flesh. Nature determines mindset. If your nature is flesh. Then you want to be seen as the big man. You think about your ego. And maybe all you can think about is money.

You want to get wealthy? And so we have people that claim to be christians but say they can't come to church and so they'd like to but they can't. Because they got to work. They got to make money. You know, they got to open the business.

They got to be where the customers are. Their mindset is set on dollars which shows That their nature is flesh. The sixth poisonous fruit of the law of sin is hostility to god. The flesh. Is god's enemy if we're if we just think of a flesh it just just overt sins.

You know the openly immoral person who boasts that he wants to live fast die young and leave a good-looking corpse. We'll have too limited view of what flesh and so being an enemy of god is the fleshly mind.

Can be the preacher who doesn't care what the body needs. He only cares about what serves his ego. It can be the wealthy philanthropist with his picture in the paper giving one of you know, one of those huge checks can be we don't always know but it can be nature determines mindset.

If your Nature is flesh then you are a prisoner of the law of sin and an enemy of god. Notice the second half of verse 7. It that's the fleshly minded Person the flesh-centered mind does not submit to god's law.

It does not submit to god now. It may look like it's submitting to god's law if it's outwardly keeping it, but it's not really doing it. Doesn't matter how religious it looks even if it appears to be submitting to god's commands.

It's about itself. And so even if it's going through the motions of submission. It's not killing. It's not physically committing adultery. It's not breaking any of the laws about stealing still at heart.

The Law of the Spirit of Life and Freedom in Christ

It hates it lost it craves. It's still fleshly still a slave of the law of sin. And it leads you to death. Well, that's one spiritual law. The other spiritual law. Is the law of the spirit? In verse 23.

He says that When he wants to do right? He sees another law a different law, which is the law of sin, which we just looked at. And that means that what is making him want to do, right? Want to be pleasing to god want to be godly to worship god to please god.

What's making him do that is also a law understand. There's another law. That means the other thing is a law. He calls it the law of my mind here verse 23. The law of the spirit of life in verse 2. It's the same thing.

This passage describes seven healthy health giving and healthy fruits of the law of the spirit. First delight. You are now alive and so now you delight In knowing god from his word. In verse 23. I delight in the law of god in my inner man.

I mean, I really like it. I love god's word. I just enjoy getting to know god his word. That's the law of the spirit to work on you. You want to follow his commands? They're not just dreary duties that you make yourself do because what you feel you got to oh, I gotta go to church again.

That guy is so boring. If that's the way someone thinks about following the lord their problem really is that they need to be told you need to hunker down and obey. No, their problem is their heart. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.

Second healthy fruit. Is obedience. The law of the spirit produces the fruit. Of obedience as augustine said at one time, you know, what's god require of you some ask. Love god with all your heart. And do as you please.

Of course now that you love god with all your heart what pleases you? No, that obedience will. Please you, you know, please god in verse 25. I myself serve the law of god with my mind. Not just his brain here, I don't think it means his brain but i'm just as nearly as thoughts but he means his inner being.

I remember in chapter 6 they had become obedient from the heart. He commended him you're obedient from the heart. The obedience is coming because you want to obey. The fruit of is service not just justification that produces no change.

Claiming that i'm saved but no different. That's the kind of the assurance that's sold to some people. You say this prayer you come forward. Maybe you'll baptize maybe not but you give an assurance that you're saved and but your life shows no obedience.

You don't even want to obey. You don't want to go to church. You don't want to you don't care. Well those kind of people the problem isn't that they need to now you need to learn to obey. No, now you're probably really you're probably not really saved in the first place.

If you are justified you are not. Just not merely not only put in the right relationship with god. Now. That's a huge achievement. And i'm not making light of that but if you are justified you aren't only declared not condemned.

And then left. At heart no different. So you so you live no different. As though is as though salvation is just a legal standing. Changing a verdict from guilty to not guilty. It is that but it's not just that understand me.

Is that what some people think it's just that change of verdicts. You were guilty now, you're not guilty. That's not a changing of you. No, you have a new heart as rock of ages says. Let the sin offering of christ be of sin the double cure.

Double it cures two things. Our relationship with god that is our condemnation that verdict that was against us and Our sinful nature what we've delighted in what we wanted. Be of sin the double cure save from wrath.

That's no condemnation and make me pure. Give a new heart. So now in your spirit. The law of the spirit kicks in and makes you want to follow god's law. You want to obey? You enjoy knowing god you delight in his law if you want to please him.

Now you won't do it perfectly because you still have that flesh with this law of sin, but you can now walk in the spirit. Now, yes, you are justified. Even with that law of sin still at work in you there is therefore.

That is because of the imputation of christ's righteousness to you therefore because of that no condemnation. That's justification. And we want to celebrate it, but that's not all there's also the law of the spirit.

That is that the holy spirit creates you to be a good tree. It now bears good fruit. And the third of those fruit. The healthy fruit of the spirit is freedom. The law of the spirit gives Freedom in verse 2 the law of the spirit of life Has set you free set you free from that captivity we talked about before from the law of sin.

You're free to live in the way That now your new heart wants to live. Notice both in verse 1 no condemnation and then in verse 2 freedom given by the law of the spirit. Notice that the fruit is only for those who are in christ jesus.

He says that. Both times in both burfas he repeats it if you're in christ jesus. Now that means that if you're not in christ jesus. If you don't have faith in him if you're not in him when he died risen with him.

If you're not that Then there is still condemnation there is still captivity to the law of sin. The flip side of verse 1 is there is condemnation for those who are not in christ jesus. Because they're only sinners.

Right last week talking about you're simultaneously justified and sinners. If you're not in christ jesus, you're just a sinner. You're not justified. But if you're in him, there is no condemnation and there is freedom From the law of sin and death.

So the shackles of sin Are broken and you are now free to love And serve god which you now delight in doing. Fourth healthy fruit. You can Fulfill the law before you couldn't now you can. And verses three and four the law of the spirit means that you can now obey god which you want to do.

In your inner man deep down you want to do that now god did what we couldn't do. By ourselves god did what we couldn't do by our rule keeping no matter how hard we tried before. Without the spirit of god without christ's work.

If we tried we were religious and we tried. If we were willing to do good. But always evil was right there with us now because god condemned our sin in jesus's body. His body was the sin offering in verse 3 where he says for sin.

He condemned sin in the body of Jesus sin our sin was condemned for sin. That phrase for sin there means that it was the offering That took our guilt away. Because of that we have no Condemnation. We have no condemnation.

Because sin was condemned in the condemnation jesus suffered. So this is the reason in verse 4 notice He says in order that it's a purpose statement the purpose of god condemning our sin. In jesus's condemnation is not only That we'll have no condemnation.

Understand we're getting too complicated. It's not only for that B of sin the double cure not just a singular cure. Say not just saving from wrath not just no condemnation. And we can rejoice in justification.

We can enjoy some being saved from wrath. Yes, we can do that, but even more so that now will he says fulfill The righteous requirement singular of the law. Notice there's just one requirement. This righteous requirement with me strike.

It was odd. You know, there are lots of requirements and a lot when you talk about just one requirement. There's lots of laws. The torah itself had at least 612 different laws different commands. So what's this one?

Righteous requirement. Well paul will tell us explicitly in five chapters later in this same book in romans chapter 13 verses 8 to 10 Says oh nothing to anyone. Except to love one another for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

For this you shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not covet. And if there's any other commandment it is summed up in this saying you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Love does no wrong. To a neighbor therefore Love is the fulfillment of the law. So the law of the spirit means that we will that you will love. Love will come From your new heart the fifth healthy fruit walk.

You'll get to walk. For you really couldn't walk. It's not in god's way. Not the spiritual ways. The law of the spirit means that we will walk in verse 4 that is there was will live daily will live spiritually.

Not just dutifully. Not just following rules and disciplines and regimens. Like you might do if you try to lose weight or to get in shape. Now some people think that that's what it means to be a christian.

You got to find the rules. And then follow them. And some reform people think that's if they have they have the right formula. They have the right practices and if you just follow the right formula you accept their confessions you use their catechism.

You sing their songs you follow their liturgy their order of service. You'll have it. A church that god is pleased with it just matters following the like paint by numbers that kind of thing. I even wrote a book seven pillars of a biblical church.

But some could think well it means if you if you follow the the rules that I laid out. Then you'll have a biblical church. That's not really the case if our heart is not new if there's no law of the spirit at work.

If we don't have the holy spirit in us giving us life, it won't work. Our daily living needs to come from a new heart where the spirit is empowering us to walk. The six healthy fruit. Is a spiritual mindset.

The law of the spirit makes us think spiritually in verses five and six. We live according to the spirit. Not according to rules and certainly not according to flesh because the new spirit that we have.

Our new heart where the holy spirit lives sets our mind on spiritual things. Now you don't just have to make yourself read the bible and memorize verses. Although you should do that. But it's not just making ourselves do something and you know, you figure out okay I've read my chapter or two today and i've done this at my time and then you just forget about it.

And go about the rest of your day. No, but the spirit brings the word of god to your mind. We consider it when we're going through our daily routine. We're reminded of it when we hear something. You know someone reminds us to be to be kind.

When we're tempted to be rude and we thought yeah, you're right. That's true. Or when we hear something false and we we think oh no the word of god. Says the word of god says we're created male and female.

It's not something society assigns to us. What are you talking about? Our our mind is set on spiritual things. And so we aren't always thinking about how to how to make more money or the next thrill or our sports our politics or.

Whatever obsessions over comes others. They're they're social media. They're friends. They're whatever their obsessions. They're. People get obsessed about all kinds of things the spiritually minded person rises above that.

Nature determines mindset and because of the law of the spirit your nature is new and so your mindset is different. You don't think I can't wait two or three hours every sunday morning, but I could be making money.

Or sleeping late or watching sports center. Or arguing about politics online. Or looking at instagram, whatever that is your your new nature. Changes your mindset and so so that you think I want to hear the word of god.

I I want to sing it. I want to to pray with god's people. I want to be with them. I delight in the law of god in my inner me. You have a new mindset. Well the seventh and the final healthy fruit in that last paragraph verses 9 to 11.

The spirit of god dwells in you. He's resident inside you. And notice it's you. Suddenly it's he's talking directly to you. Paul now starts talking to you to you all not just about Them or about these principles abstractly but directly to you.

You have the spirit of god in you the hallmark of the genuine believer you Is the indwelling of the holy spirit. The spirit of god lives in you. The fruit of that is that you are not in the flesh. Not captive to have to obey it.

Because you are in the spirit. You're delighting in god's word in his ways. You're wanting to serve god. You're free to obey and you're glad to do so fulfilling the law by loving people and living differently.

Notice again. This is not for everyone. Some people take some verses from chapter 5 where paul talks about justification and life for all. And they take that to claim that everyone is saved whether they know it or not.

But that's taking those verses out of context here. He makes clear that there is that this Is reality of no condemnation to the law of the spirit the sin offering. The freedom the new nature and the new mindset that is only for those who have the spirit of god living.

In them in verse 9 you are not in the flesh. That is you're not detached from god not hostile to god but in the spirit if There's a big if A condition if you meet the condition, this is true for you. If you don't meet the condition it's not true for you.

You are in the spirit if here's the condition. If you keep the rules. If you follow the laws. No. If the spirit of god dwells in you in the flip side. Anyone who does not have the spirit of christ? Does not belong to him.

Not everyone Is one of jesus's sheep. Not everyone Is a child of god. Notice, by the way. In that verse the paul uses spirit of god and then spirit of christ. One sin is after another immediately interchangeably.

That is in verse 9. He uses both terms for the the same experience. You have the spirit of god dwell in you. Don't have the spirit of christ dwelling you then you're not of god. That's because they the persons of the trinity are Are are together.

Not because they are the same person but because god being trinity where the holy spirit is so is christ. And vice versa if you have the spirit of god, you have the spirit of christ. Because they're trinity they're together.

They are inseparable. But this but his point here is is that not all are Justified with no condemnation. There are two laws two minds and two kinds of people. There's the not condemned. And there's the condemned.

How do you know who has no condemnation? The justified that is the the uncondemned. Are spiritual they have the spirit of god living in them right now. The final result of that will be in verses 11 and 12 that the spiritual will be raised in new bodies.