Romans 7:7-25 provides insight into a person who sought to become righteous before God through obedience to a law, adhering to a religious system, and fulfilling a moral standard. However, the more he attempted to adhere to a religious system and fulfill a moral standard, the more aware of his sin he became. This person’s religious system and moral standard was the Ten Commandments. He described himself as living as a slave to the commandments. Every day he chained himself to the commandments, seeking to obey them, hoping to gain God’s acceptance through his obedience. What this person discovered, in genuinely seeking to become righteous before God through obedience to the Ten Commandments, was the very commandments intended to make him acceptable to God brought more sin into his life, ultimately resulting in death (Romans 7:8-11). To increase sin was God’s purpose for the Ten Commandments (Romans 5:20, 7:13). He now became chained to guilt, shame, and condemnation because, rather than obeying the commandments, he sinned more and more. The law established a standard of moral behavior for him, educated him about sin, exposed his sinful heart, and then sentenced him to be executed for his disobedience. In his process of seeking to become righteous before God, he became frustrated with himself. He discovered that adhering to a religious system or fulfilling a moral standard to become righteous before God was impossible. Even though the Ten Commandments were good, they showed him how sinful he was, much like an x-ray machine shows someone his sickness, but can’t cure the sickness. The law shows us we are sinful, but can’t cure our sinfulness. The law showed him his sin, but had no cure. So he found himself in a terrible condition, asking a very good question: “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:25). Who Will Rescue Me? That is a good question. Maybe you have discovered what this person discovered, that no matter how sincere you are and how hard you try to achieve righteousness or acceptance with God through adhering to your religious system or fulfilling a moral standard, you keep falling short. You know yourself. You know your thoughts. You know your desires. You know your deeds. You know your sin. And you know God knows. Like this person, you have become frustrated with yourself for not measuring up. You feel rejection from the very God with whom you are seeking to find acceptance. So you find yourself asking the same question as this man: “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” His answer...your answer...the answer… "Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:25). This part of the Bible was originally written in Greek. The word thanks in this verse is charis, the Greek word for grace. Here is what I think the man is saying in this verse, “God, thank you so much for the grace you have provided for me through Jesus that rescues me from the condemnation of sin!” The only way we can be rescued from the condemnation of sin is grace. And for his grace, we say “Thank you!” God, with whom we seek acceptance, provides the solution to the condemnation for our sin. The solution is grace. He sent Jesus to take the condemnation for our sins (Romans 8:3). That is why the Bible says in Romans 8:1 that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Why is there no condemnation for those who have come to faith in Jesus? Because Jesus took all our condemnation upon himself through his death. As a result, there is no condemnation for those who have faith in Jesus. Since there is no condemnation, then there is no frustration! NOTE: This is an excerpt from my Brad's, The Story of Grace. To purchase a copy of the book, click below. |
