This is the first part to the subject
concerning being "Under the law" and what does this phrase means. There are a few questions in this article that
I posted and I would like for you to think about the answer using your Scriptures tools or by remembering what you know.
The answers are posted in the second article to this subject but I ask that you please answer
the questions in your own mind first then see the answers I posted. If you have not please read "The Torah" first! As a disclaimer I must state that I also agree that
we are not "under the law", however I disagree with how that phrase has been defined today
Romans 7:1-25
1. Or are ye ignorant, brethren
(for I speak to men who know the law), that the law hath dominion over a
man for as long as he liveth?
2. For the woman that hath
a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from the law of the husband.
3. So then if, while the husband
liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law,
so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man.
4. Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Messiah [his death]; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from
the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto G-d.
5. For when we were in the
flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law [because the law exposed what sin was in our lives thus showing where we were guilty of death verses
8-25], wrought in our members [the question is what wrought in our members:
the law or sin to bear fruits of death? #1 Think about what is it in the Scriptures that is specifically describe as it's fruit being that which results in
death as the consequence?] to bring forth fruit unto death.
6. But now we have been discharged
from the law [what is it that everyone agrees to that has been cleansed/washed
away by the blood, which presents no contradiction whatsoever to Scripture? #2], having died to that wherein we were held [what did we die to and what
were we held by prior to coming to the Messiah? #3 ]; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter [what
was it that Yeshua did with the letter of the law? #4 ].
7. What shall we say then?
Is the law sin? YHVH forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the
law had said, Thou shalt not covet [same goes for today, how can we have know what is right and wrong without the law?]:
8. but sin, finding occasion,
wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin is dead
[The law is needed for sin to have power to destroy through the penalty of the law giving by sinning against
it. If there was no law stating that coveting was wrong a person would be able to covet without consequences therefore that
sin would have no power against the person. But because the law says one must die for their sins now the sin of coveting has
power to have us destroyed by the law. The problem is not the law for as Shual said it is righteous and holy.
The problem is with the person and the sins their committing. So the unrigteous and unholy person needs to be changed
from their unrighteous and unholy sins. This will deliver them from the penalty of the law and give them freedom from
the power of sin, the penalty of death.]
9. And I was alive apart from
the law once [without any law all would be found innocent of
any wrong doing, therefore one would be alive because there would be no death sentence looming over there head. Compare
this to the prison term "Dead Man Walking" the inmate is considered a dead man because death is looming over him as soon he
will be executed. The law brings us all into this condition because we have sinned against
it thus giving sin dominion over us. It is the penalty that was needing to be rid of not
the righteousness of the Law]: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died [because the law makes the wages of sin death, this still applies today. How can this be if the law
is void today? It is the law that makes the penalty for sin death: Romans 6:23];
10. and the commandment, which
was unto life, this I found to be unto death [this is because he was a sinner and
therefore what was actually leading to life in a sinner's perspective it leads to death]:
11. for sin, finding occasion,
through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me [Shaul's own explanation
of what I said earlier].
12. So that
the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.
13. Did then that which is
good become death unto me? G-d forbid. But
sin,
that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good;that through the commandment
sin might become exceeding sinful.
14. For we know that the law
is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15. For that which I do I
know not: for not what I would, that do I practise; but what I hate, that I do.
16. But if what I would not,
that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17. So now it is no more I that do
it, but sin which dwelleth in me.
18. For I know that in me, that is,
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not.
19. For the good which I would
I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practise.
20. But if what I would not,
that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.
[Paul has just given us the
state of the sinner]
21. I find then the law, that, to
me who would do good, evil is present.
22. For I delight in the law of G-d after the inward man [This would be in direct contradiction to the notion that verse 6 is telling us
that the law is no good. If that were so why would Shaul state that he delights in that which so many abhor today in Xtianity?
Why would he delight in that which we've been discharged from unless it is the penalty of the law (by sinning
against it) that we've been freed from.]:
23. but I see
a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind [the inward man of verse 22], and bringing me into captivity under the
law of sin which is in my members [which is death through the law when your under
its penalty for sinning. This will be proving in other Scriptures].
24. Wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me out of the body of this death [What does he need to be delivered
from so that he be freed from the death? Ans: Sin ?]
25. I thank G-d through Yeshua
Meshiach our Master. So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the
law of G-d; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 8:1-8
1. There is therefore now
no condemnation to them that are in Meshiach Yeshua [Why? Ans:
Because our sin is removed by YHVH's grace].
2. For the law of the Spirit
of life in Meshiach Yeshua made me free from the law of sin and of death.
3. For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh [the law could not bring us righteousness not because it was wrong but
because the flesh is weak in sin to follow it], G-d, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4. that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us [How? Because we have already been
credited with His righteousness of serving the Law but as Shaul said, this does not give us license to break them],
who walk not after the flesh [which is not subject to the law but sins against
it verse 7], but after the Spirit [which gives us the ability to follow
it, which we did not have or could have when we were sinners and this is why we could not keep the law in our flesh.].
5. For they that are after
the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6. For the mind of the flesh
is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace:
7. because the mind of the flesh is enmity against G-d; for it is not subject to the law of G-d, neither indeed can it be:
8. and they that are in the
flesh cannot please G-d [because it is not nor can be subject to the law of G-d].
I ask that all would read these Scriptures again
for themselves slowly and carefully. I am not recommending something I myself won't do as I want to make sure I am taking
my time to understand the Scriptures not a doctrine, feeling, biased, sermon, etc.