Title: The Newness of the Spirit
I. Paul uses an interesting metaphor
v1 “brethren (for I speak to those who know the law),”
This parenthetical remark by Paul serves as a reminder to us exactly who Paul’s original audience was. Again, his focus was on the Jewish Christians living in Rome at the time. In his next comparison, where Paul uses the metaphor of marriage, Paul is speaking in terms not of the Pagans, but of the Jewish understanding of Marriage as the letter of the law dictated.
If Paul was writing this letter to a group of Gentile Christians, his illustration probably wouldn’t have had the same impact because their customs and traditions surrounding the sanctity of marriage may have been quite lax in comparison to the Jewish Law’s teachings on marriage.
Incidentally, I would be very carefully using marriage as an illustration to a non-believer today. Why? Because our country’s concept of marriage is reflected in the rising divorce rate, according to the census bureau the current actual rate is about 41%, not the usual 50% most believe it to be.
But the divorce rate has been climbing so steadily in the last 50 years that four states in our union have officially stopped keeping track of divorce rates: Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, and California.
In Paul’s time the divorce rate within the Jewish community was minuscule, we have no accurate way of putting a number on it, but it was low enough that Paul didn’t even consider it when he used it as a metaphor here.
V1/v2 “as long as he lives” appears twice, at the end of each sentence. Paul is definitely drawing a comparison between the two, but the reason for the binding is what the law is dictating: A woman is bound by the Law, to her husband, as long as he lives.
V3 There is a “way out” of her marriage without sinning, but it involves death. Catch that. Paul is a very crafty writer and he is illustrating, ever so subtly the sacrifice of Christ that we might be free from the law.
II. The turn
v4 (read) “therefore…”
Notice in Paul’s applying of the same idea how one is sinfully removed from their bounded-ness to the law. It is by death. But not by the death of the law. But rather by the death of the person who is bound to the law.
Through the acceptance of Christ, the Jewish Christians became dead to the law. And it was not just for the heck of it, but with great and grand purpose.
“That you may be married to another–to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.”
The purpose of our dying to the law was not so that we could live the single lifestyle. It was not so that we could hang out in single’s bars and have flirtatious one night, or one month stands with other Gods, or other religions, or other vices. Essentially, we were not freed from sin so that we could go sin more! And Paul actually addressed that very concept over and over and over again in Romans.
Now you might be asking, Pastor Ben, is this concept really applicable to believers today? You bet it is, let me show you how. I know several stories of the lost who become authentically saved, yet they have no roots. They have little or no accountability, they are not consistent in church, or with their daily devotions, and over time, and given the environment they never really left, even though their heart made a change, they wander back, slowly at first, into their previous lives of sin.
You all following me? We are all familiar with backsliden-ness. But what it most interesting about those who are saved and backsliden is their mental state. Whether they openly admit it or not (and to be honest with you, many of the backsliden people I’ve worked with do admit it) they are using the theological concept of the Perseverance of the Saints, or as it is more commonly said, “once saved, always saved” as a safety net for their own illicit behavior.
They know what they are doing is wrong, they know that their flesh is winning the battle with their spirit. But they also believe that they are still saved.
But Paul tells us flatly the reason we are saved is “to bear fruit to God.” We are saved with a purpose, and it has nothing to do with us, it have everything to do with God. We are the instruments He is choosing to use to do His good will.
You boss doesn’t sign your pay check for no reason. He signs your paycheck because he’s expecting you to go to work for him, to do his bidding. Our God is not arbitrary, His salvation is not arbitrary. If you are saved this morning, sitting within earshot of my voice, let me tell you flatly, “You have work to do! You were bought at a price!” I think even the most seasoned Christians forget that sometimes. I know I do.
III. Once saved, we have a choice
v5/6 (read)
Paul shows us two roads here. On the first he tells us that our sinful passions were actually aroused by the law. (Have any of you wanted to do something specifically because you were told that you shouldn’t?) And those sinful passions had one purpose, one destination: death.
But now (v.6) we have been delivered from the Law, because our old selves died in the newness of Christ. Paul says we died to “what we were held by.”
What a powerful image. Imagine for a moment that we are dangling over the edge of a cliff hanging by one hand for our literal lives. If we were fall from this height our bodies would be smashed beyond recognition. And at the other end of our hand is the most evil person in the world. Laughing hysterically at our predicament. No use at this point to try and figure our how we got here, the fact is we are here, and we are clinging to something evil for the sake of our very lives.
And then, suddenly a piece comes over us, and we move our gaze from the jagged rocks below to meet the eyes of the evil that we are clinging to. And with a total peace of mind, we let go, and fall, and die, and return anew.
Not much time will pass before this evil man will see us and say, “Hey, there is something really neat I want to show you right over this cliff, won’t you come and take a look with me?”
At that point we have a choice that we’ve never had before. You see, before Christ we had to go look , we were bound by our very nature, we were obligated to go look over that cliff, to gaze into death, and to not be free.
But now Paul asks us, “Which will you serve? The oldness of the letter? Or the newness of the Spirit?”
It seems to be such a simple question, each with such clear consequences. So why do we, as believers, struggle so often to chose correctly?