Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and sisters, don’t you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives? For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. So then, if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress.
Romans 7:1-3
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:31-32
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.
Romans 7:4-6
Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2 Corinthians 3:4-6
How would you describe the central message of the book of Romans? Which verses/ideas/truths from Romans have impacted you so far?
Read Romans 7:1. What is the “thesis statement” of this section?
In Romans 7:2-3 Paul uses marriage as an illustration. What assumptions about marriage does Paul make in this passage? How are those assumptions different from how marriage is seen and promoted in our culture? What is the point he is trying to illustrate?
In Romans 7:4 Paul is arguing that we were once “married to the law,” but the law has “died” and we now belong to Jesus. How did your life change when you were united with Jesus?
In Romans 7:4-7 Paul says that, in Christ, we are now able to “bear fruit for God” and “serve in the newness of the Spirit.” What are some practical ways you can bear fruit for God by serving others in the coming week?
