ROMANS Study Guide

Chapter Seven :

Freed from the Law (Old man vs. Soul Man)

As we move out of chapter six, we have discovered that we have in fact died in Christ to our old nature through faith in Christ Jesus. (Rom.6:6,11) The death of our Sinful Self Life is a “finished work” not an on - going work. We are not “still dying” no more than Christ is “still suffering” on the Cross. Jesus died once and for all for us and we identify with his death in our baptism. (Rom.6:3) But Paul now takes us a step further. We are not only dead to the old sin loving self but we are also now dead to the Law and its ability to condemn us . This is crucial that we follow Paul in this critical discussion. Even though we are free from the control of our Old Self (Adamic Nature) and therefore free from Satan and the World’s control over us…we still have a very serious battle to be fought.

The Great ongoing Battle for Believers

This chapter deals with what I would call the great battle of Christians after salvation. Many believers are living lives that are filled with struggles over private sins and fears in their lives. They are believers but seem to live lives of defeat when it comes to facing sin and temptations. For many Christians they do not know how to face sin or deal with temptation. They have all that Jesus gave them, but they do not know how to access what they have to live victorious growing lives in Christ. This chapter continuous to highlight this struggle and identifying why the battle is so serious and hard.

Understanding the Believers struggle with Sin

When the “body of sin” (The Old Self) was destroyed in us (Rom.6:6) … we were left with three

spiritual facts inside our inner life:

1) We now have the Holy Spirit living in us (Rom.8:9)

2) We have a new created life in us (2Cor.5:17) that is being

fashioned into the Likeness of Christ (a spiritual babe…1Cor.3:1 -2)

3) We have a carnal, selfish- sin ruined soul life that will need healing

and deliverance which must never be the source of our strength

and wisdom in serving God and living out our life in Christ.

(Rom.7:17-18; 1Cor.3:1-3; Heb.5:14-16)