Read: Romans 7:1-6 - STEP Bible, Bible Gateway
Another twist of the corkscrew in St Paul’s thought: since the Law was given to the ancient Jews to tell them what was sinful so that they could avoid it, Paul thinks that the Law and sin go hand-in-hand. And that means that, since the Jews have been freed from sin through the resurrection of Christ, they have also been freed from adherence to the Law’s demands.
Now, this makes Paul quite a radical. It was controversial enough in the early church to say (as Paul did) ‘Gentile Christians don’t need to follow the Jewish Law, because all that matters now is whether you have faith in Christ’. It was controversial – but most Jewish Christians were persuaded by his argument. And yet Paul goes far further than that. Here, in chapter 7, he is saying ‘It’s not just Gentiles who don’t need to follow the Law; but Jewish Christians ought no longer to be subject to their own historic Law, either’. Why? Because when Christ’s death killed off the power of sin, it also killed off the need for the Law. If you are raised with Christ in baptism, then the Law has nothing more to say to you, because the Law is only of use as long as you are a slave to sin.
This proposal obviously raises a practical question. For the Law, as well as diagnosing sin, had also given the Jews helpful guidance on how to live in ways that weren’t purely self-serving. The Law had actually helped them exist peacefully as a people. It had given them a general pattern for how to live in a way that pleases God. So if the Law is ditched, how on earth will we know how to live and act?
Paul’s answer (which he makes more vigorously in Galatians chapter 5) is simple: if you are a Christian, then the Spirit of Christ dwells within you. And if the Holy Spirit of Christ lives within you, then you need no Law (or even guidance) any more, because the Holy Spirit living in you will always direct you to do the right thing.
That is an extraordinary challenge, isn’t it? We Christians have no need of rules because the Holy Spirit will always guide us to do what is right? It doesn’t often feel like that; and very often our actions betray the fact that we aren’t being guided by the Spirit at all. But there it is, brazenly put. That is what should happen. If we are truly followers of Christ, then the Holy Spirit will cause us to act in ways that are exclusively good. Let us pray, this Lent, that the fruit of the Spirit will unfold in our daily lives, and that we may be attuned to his will in our lives at all times.
These devotions were originally written for the parish of All Saints, Ascot and we are grateful for permission to republish them on Fulcrum.
Patrick is curate of All Saints’, Ascot in Berkshire. A musicologist by training, he is married to Lydia, a university lecturer, and dad to Madeleine. He writes (sporadically) at benedixisti.wordpress.com and tweets (even more sporadically) as @patrickgilday.