We continue to look at Romans 7 and what it might mean about the Law and NOT the Christian life!!!
Paul continues his dialogue with his reader about The Law. Having declared that we died to the Law as a means of our relationship with God (7:4), Paul goes further to reveal the reason we have died to the Law as a means of being right with God is because of what the Law does in our experience of sin.
Paul states that the Law is what aroused our sinful passions when we lived in "the flesh." Note Paul's use of the past tense: "lived." Paul asserts that we used to live in the flesh or in human power and ability. But we have been released from the Law through the death of Jesus and now joined with him (previously asserted in Romans 6::1-11). This release from the Law is not from its moral standards but from relying on it to give us power to deal with sin. We are now living in a new way, the way of The Spirit (7:6) and relying on the Spirit to be able to deal with sin and its power.
Think of this, Paul is declaring that the Law did not reduce sins grasp on people but aroused sin. As shocking as this might appear it is exactly what Paul writes in I Corinthians 15:56: "the power of sin is the Law. And this is why we live in the "new way of The Spirit (7:6)" as a Christian and not the old way of life in the flesh. This is quite a change for these readers.
REFLECTION: Can you see how the Law is the subject of Romans 7 and not the Christian life? Reflect on the 2 ways of life: flesh or Spirit and the result of each.