Therefore, my
brethren, you also have become dead
to the law through
the body of Christ, that you
may be married to
another––to Him who was
raised from the dead,
that we should
bear fruit to God.
Romans 7:4
The
word that is so often misused or poorly used is the word: “commitment,” and
often has little power over the one applying that word to themselves. We have
no problem committing to those things that bring us pleasure, a pleasure that
so often is unrighteous, or a commitment that has little effect on the outcome.
The divorce rate among peoples is one such hallmark of this fact, little
commitment to the one to whom you gave your vows. Or; people just live together
outside of marriage as though there is commitment, a commitment that falls
short of actually being a true commitment for if it was a true commitment then
there would be no problem with being married to the one that a person says that
he, or she, has commitment. There is more of a passion for another, a lust, a
need to have companionship, or a multitude of reasons that is only a
rationalization for the sin, or lack of commitment that is sin, a sin of the
flesh: “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were
aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death” (Romans
7:5). As one who admits to being a Christian there is a much greater need
to live as you say you are, a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. To be a
follower is to do that which the leader shows, says, and does. To not do so is
to bring disdain, first on the leader, in this case, Jesus Christ, and to bring
dishonor to the one that says one thing and does another. It may then have been
forgotten that as a Christian you are to reckon yourselves dead to sin through
the body of Jesus Christ. Why? Because you are the Bride of Christ, the one who
is married to Him. This is what marriage means and is giving credence to this
fact, a fact that we are admitting and living so that we are not only the bride
of Christ, but we are also children of God, a child given eternal life by the
dead and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If we are not living as what we are,
then we are not able to produce fruit that is honoring to God, and to
ourselves. We are not the same for we are a new creature in Jesus Christ: “But
now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by,
so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of
the letter” (Romans 7:6). The law pointed forward to that which God
revealed to us; sin, the inability for us to live holy lives outside of sin. It
is not that the law is sinful, no, it is the way God revealed to us what sin
is, and what we are to do so that we are pleasing to God: “What shall we say
then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known
sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the
law had said, ‘You shall not covet” (Romans 7:7). The law led us to God,
revealed that which God hates, and leads us to Him who pays this debt of sin
for us because the sin is what produces all manner of evil desires: “But
sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil
desire. For apart from the law sin was dead” (Romans 7:8). It is not that
sin is so hurtful in all its manners, no, for some sins are so pleasurable, so
much does this pleasure make us feel alive, and yet God condemns sin, whether
you know it is sin or not: “I was alive once without the law, but when the
commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to
bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me” (Romans 7:9–10). Our ability
to have some morality, some amount of goodness, that is, a knowledge of good
and bad and this was what Adam gave to all his posterity, a knowledge of both
good and bad: “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of evry tree of
the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”
(Genesis 2:16–17). It was not the tree that was bad, no, no faith is faith
unless it is tried, and no authority is authority unless there is a test of
authority. God tested Adam and Eve, they failed and brought upon all men sin.
Yes, sin kills. Sin kills in some cases immediately, and in other cases there
is slow and painful death, not always physically, but at times a death to
others due to a person attempting, as did Adam and Eve, to be an authority unto
themselves. It is not the law that deceives, it is sin, therefore the law is
good, and holy: “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and
just and good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But
sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good,
so that sin through the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know
that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin” (Romans 7:12–14). The
good news is so simple yet so often ignored: “For you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). Paul
has enlightened us in a contrast, sin and holiness, sinfulness, and
righteousness, and the fact that sin is death, and righteousness is eternal
life. We can focus on the negative, or we can focus on the positive. Your
disposition towards God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, and your disposition
towards His word given to show us life is what will determine your position
with God. Notice: I did not say your salvation; no, salvation is a free–gift of
God and He determines who will or will not be saved, rather you life, your
fruit in this life is determined by your position towards Jesus Christ who is
God incarnate. Whom will you live for? Who will you be a bondservant for? “Walk
as children of light” (Ephesians 5: 8b), Blessing flow to those who are
walking in the light.
I will sing of he mercies of the
LORD forever;
With
my mouth will I make known Your
Faithfulness to all generations.
For I have said,
‘Mercy
shall be built up forever;
Your faithfulness You shall
establish in the
Very
heavens’”
Psalm 89 1–2
Walk As A Child Of Light
Richard L. Crumb
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