Today's Worship Service
Today's Bible Study
Paul’s Epistle to the Romans
November 21, 2021
Opening Prayer
O God, give me the joy of hearing thy Word and help me to
take root and grow in thy church. Grant me grace to rejoice in its services and
let not weariness and slowness of heart keep me away. Quicken my mind to hear
and to heed what thou wouldst say today; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.[1]
Romans 7:7-12
7 What then shall we say? That the
law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not
have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law
had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But
sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all
kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I
was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came
alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that
promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For
sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and
through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy,
and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
v. 8
Sin seized the opportunity…
-
Is this like, “The devil made me do it?”
-
“Most merciful God, we confess that we are by
nature sinful and unclean.” – LSB p. 151
-
Hereditary/Original Sin – “is such a deep
corruption of nature that no reason can understand it. Rather, it must be
believed from the revelation of Scripture.”[2]
-
The Augsburg Confession, Article II[3]
Our
churches teach that since the fall of Adam [Romans 5:12], all who are naturally
born are born with sin [Psalm 51:5], that is, without the fear of God, without
trust in God, and with the inclination to sin, called concupiscence.
Concupiscence is a disease and original vice that is truly sin. It damns and
brings eternal death on those who are not born anew through Baptism and the Holy
Spirit [John 3:5].
Our churches condemn the Pelagians and others who deny that
original depravity is sin, thus obscuring the glory of Christ’s merit and
benefits. Pelagians argue that a person can be justified before God by his own
strength and reason.
Apart from the law, sin lies dead …
-
The law gives sin its “teeth.”
-
The law informs sin’s action.
o
Sin is always rebellion against God.
o
The Law is the revelation of God’s will.
o
Sin is hostile action toward God’s will revealed
in the Law.
v. 9
I was once alive apart from the law …
-
What is this?
-
Two theories:
1.
An Age of Accountability
a.
Over the centuries some have taught that there
is a particular age at which we become responsible before God for our sins.
i. St.
Origen believed this age to be 2 yrs old.
ii. According
to Franzmann the Jews taught that this age was 13.
b.
There are modern iterations of this teaching,
often held by churches that do not believe in infant baptism.
c.
What is the problem with this idea?
2.
Paul is referring to a time in his life when, in
his self-righteousness, he did not feel convicted by the law.
a.
[Paul] “is speaking of the unperturbed, self-complacent,
self-righteous life which he once lived before the turbulent motions and
conviction of sin, described in the two preceding verses, overtook him.”[4]
b.
Self-righteousness is a form of delusion.
i. It
is not simply thinking that one is better than others.
ii. John
8:1-11 – The Woman Caught in Adultery (see below)
iii. The
self-righteous do not recognize their own sin, therefore they are not bothered
by the Law’s accusations.
c.
This seems the more likely scenario for this comment.
Early in the morning he
came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and
taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees
brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they
said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in
the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This
they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring
against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And
as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who
is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And
once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But
when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones,
and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus
stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned
you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus
said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” –
John 8:2-11
Sin came alive, and I died.
-
This is what the Law does.
o
It accuses.
o
It condemns.
o
It kills, meting out the just judgement.
-
Paul is describing the awfulness of being aware
of sin.
o
One can self-delude in response.
o
One will often despair in response.
-
This is different than the death of 6:2 in
baptism.
o
That death is a gift of the Gospel – we receive
Jesus’ death.
o
This death is the work of the law.
o
It is not death to sin, but
arousing awareness of one’s sin and its consequence.
v. 10
The commandment promised life to me …
-
“It was a false, misleading dream That God His
Law had given That sinners could themselves redeem And by their works gain
heaven. The Law is but a mirror bright To bring the inbred sin to light That
lurks within our nature.”[5]
-
It is like being “hoisted with our own petard.”
-
We hear the Law and think, “I can do that!” until
we realize, “I can’t do that!”
If we could keep the Law, would it mean eternal life for us?
v. 11
[S]in, seizing an opportunity through the
commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
-
What is the deception?
-
Genesis 3
-
“God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that
God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature
may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great
shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally
overcome them and win the victory.”[6]
v. 12
So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and
righteous and good.
-
What does “holy” mean?
o
Quodesh
o
Hagios
o
Sanctus
-
Note also that the law is good.
o
Not just righteous/just.
o
It is good.
o
What does this mean for when we tell people what
the Law says?
[1]
Unknown Author, from Doberstein’s, A Lutheran Prayer Book, Fortress Press,
Philadelphia, 1960, p. 100
[2]
Smalcald Articles, Article I
[3]
Concordia, The Lutheran Confessions, A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord,
CPH, St. Louis, 2006
[4]
Murray, John, The Epistle to the Romans, from The New International Commentary
on the New Testament, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1965, p. 251
[5]
Speratus, Paul (1484-1551), Salvation unto Us Has Come, LSB 555
[6]
Luther’s Small Catechism, The Lord’s Prayer, The Sixth Petition, And lead us
not into temptation
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