Slavery Options

In my further investigation into this concept of slavery I scanned through Romans 6 and 7 to isolate out the two sides being presented by Paul. So far I have only condensed the “sinner” side of the issue and in another post I will do the same for the “saved” side. It is also very helpful to notice that these chapters are primarily addressing different classes of “sinners” that were outlined in the first two chapters of the book. The analogy that Paul uses to address the first group is the slave/master paradigm which was quite familiar to those to whom he was writing at the time. The second group addressed in Romans 7 were the ones he identified in Romans 2 who were the religious people attempting to live a righteous life and being a Christian by keeping the rules. Their situation is different in many respects from the first group and for them he uses the analogy of a stifling marriage arrangement. This too was quite familiar to many of those living in that day and likely to many of us as well. So to start out with, let me just share what I have condensed so far and then see what emerges after that.

Elements of slavery to sin in the life of lawless sinners:

• Through one man, Adam, sin entered into the world, and death through sin, so death spread to all men, because all sinned. 5:12

• By the transgression of one many died. v.15

• Judgment arose from one resulting in condemnation. v.16

• By Adam's transgression death reigned through him. v.17

• Through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men. v.18

• Through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners. v.19

• The Law came in so that the transgression would increase. v.20

• Sin reigns in death. v.21

• Lives in our body of sin, our old self. 6:6

• We have not died. v.7

• Death is master over us. v.9

• Sin reigns in our mortal body so that we obey its lusts. v.12

• We present the members of our body to sin as weapons of unrighteousness. v.13

• Sin is master over us under the law. v.14

• We present ourselves to sin for obedience resulting in death. v.16

• We are slaves of sin. v.17

• We presented our members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in more lawlessness. v.19

• As slaves of sin we are free in regard to righteousness. v.20

• The benefit, fruit or outcome derived from those things is death. v.21

• The wages of sin is death. v.23

Notice that the results in this category are measured out in wages. The next category uses the analogy of sexual union in marriage resulting child-bearing to produce its outcome.

Elements of slavery to sin in the life of Law-obsessed sinners

or

Marriage to the Law instead of Jesus:

• I am under jurisdiction of the Law. 7:1

• My real self is bound (to my sinful self) by the Law. v.2

• I am in the flesh where my sinful passions are at work, aroused by the Law, in the members of my body to bear fruit (children) for death. v.5

• I serve (God) in the oldness of the letter. v.6

• Sin takes opportunity through the Law to reproduce itself (conceive offspring) in me. v.8

• (This kind of) sin can only live (as a parasite) with the Law. v.8

• The commandment causes sin to come alive, deceive me and causes the real me to die. v.9-11

• Sin is the cause of death for me through the commandment – not the commandment itself, which is good. v.12,13

• I are of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. v.14

• I am doing the very thing I hate while not practicing what I would like to do. v.15

• I agree with the good Law while doing what I do not want to do. v.16

• It is sin that dwells in me that is doing all this, not me. v.17,20

• Nothing good dwells in my flesh, even though the desire for good is present in me. v.18

• I practice the very evil I do not want. v.19

• I realize that I am under the control of an inescapable principle that evil is present in me. v.21

• I joyfully concur, delight in, the law of God in my inner (real) self. v.22

• I see a different law (inescapable controlling principle) in the members of my body waging war against the law (my good intentions) of my mind making me a prisoner of the law of sin. v.23

• I am wretched and bound to the body of this death (a dead corpse tied to me). v.24

• I see that in my flesh I am serving the law of sin and with my mind the law of God. v.25

Sifting through these two chapters to condense this list has been helpful for me to begin to clarify the real problems in my own experience. I am far from finished yet, but the confusion and fog that has surrounded Romans 7 in particular for most of my life is beginning to clear away some more. It greatly helps to study it in the context of a clearer understanding of the rest of the book that has come before it instead of just dropping into the chapter from outside and trying desperately to figure it out.

I find it very helpful and useful to isolate one side of an issue and collect all the items together in one place so that their identity can be more clearly seen like I have done here. Then the contrast between the two sides becomes much easier to identify and remember instead of going back and forth from one side to the other as is usually the way they are presented. I am not saying that it is wrong to present them that way. It is just very helpful to separate them for awhile until it becomes much more clear in my mind and then when I read them again mixed together I can understand them much better and appreciate the contrasts more intelligently. I suppose maybe it is part of my adaptation for accommodating my weaker mental capacity at times to get me up to speed with brighter minds. But I also find it useful for being able to explain it more simply and clearly to others as well.

I welcome your thoughtful input.

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