Romans 7: Psychology 101 (Part 1)

Romans 7: Psychology 101

THAT YE SHOULD BE MARRIED TO ANOTHER

Rom.7:1  Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?  (2)  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.  (3)  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

This passage from Romans 7:1-3 uses an analogy of marriage to illustrate the relationship between the law and believers. The key message is that the law has authority over a person only as long as they are alive. Just as a woman is bound by the law to her husband while he lives, but is free to remarry if he dies, similarly, believers are bound to the law until a death takes place. The important thing to learn from this analogy is who are the role players? 

Though Paul provides context to the marriage analogy from verse 4, and before we look into it, let us consider this analogy and work out for ourselves who the role players are.

The Inner and Outer Man

Paul teaches us in 1Thess.5:23 that every person has a spirit, a soul, and a body. The body is the lifeless outer shell that connects us to the earth and allows us to interact in this realm. The spirit is the breath of God within us that gives life and makes us a living soul, 1Cor.15:45. This means that the soul, according to Gen.2:7 and Mrk.8:36, is truly what you are. The body goes back to the dust, the spirit goes back to God who gave it, and the only part that remains of man is his soul.

1Pe.2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Heb.4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Now, with this in mind, it is interesting to note that though we have 3-parts, the Bible only talks about 2 men: the inner man or new man, Eph.3:16; Eph.4:24; Col.3:10, and the outer man or old man, Rom.6:6; Eph.4:22; Col.3:9. The inner man is the connection between your soul and the spirit and is what the Bible calls the mind of the spirit, Eph.4:23. The outer man is the connection between your soul and the body and is what the Bible calls the heart of man, Rom.1:21; Rom.10:8-9; 1Co.2:9; 2Co.9:7; Eph.4:18; Eph.5:19. It is in your heart where your emotions exist. The word emotion relates to the motions of our activity that come from out of the heart, or from the outer man, and is susceptible to the law of sin within the carnal nature, Jer.17:9. Conversely, man was created to operate from the inner man, being influenced by the Spirit of God to give him understanding. Paul talks about the eyes of the understanding being enlightened, Eph.1:18, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, Eph 3:17. It is from the inner man by which we ought to live, and move, and have our being, Act.17:28, Gal.2:20.

It is these 2 men that will help us to understand the analogy in the proper context.

Who is the husband, who is the wife, and who dies?

By understanding the tri-part being of man, and how they are connected to the inner and outer man, we can start to see how the analogy of Paul works. It is the wife who is bound to a husband by law and who cannot be freed from the law until the husband dies. It is plain to see that the wife in the analogy is our soul. We are bound to the law as long as our husband lives. Who is the husband? The husband is the outer man; the life we live between the soul and the flesh, the life that is produced from the heart of man and is subject to the law (or body) of sin, Rom.6:6; Rom.7:23; Rom.8:2. It is this life that represents the husband, and while this husband is alive, we remain bound under the law, which, though Paul has taught us is good and holy, it is also the source for sin’s power and its ability to condemn us, Rom.7:9-14. So, in order to be free of the law, the outer (or old) man must die so that our soul can be married to another, husband (to Jesus Christ); one who is not subject to the law of sin and death, but who is raised by God to life and brings us into a new law, the law of righteousness and life. This is represented by the inner (or new) man, the mind of the spirit Eph.4:23, which is God’s workmanship, created and renewed in Christ Jesus unto good works, Eph.2:4-10.

Let us now have a look at what Paul writes about his analogy,

Paul’s confirmation

Rom.7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.  (5)  For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.  (6)  But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

What an incredible passage of scripture, but sadly, it’s a passage that is little understood and even less applied in modern denominational Christianity. This passage does not describe a positional experience, as with justification, but rather, it is functional, operating within us through the Word of God and producing fruit of righteousness, even in these earthen vessels of clay. In order to experience this passage as Paul describes it, it must be lived from the mind of the spirit which is the life of the inner man; that part of living between the soul and the spirit, where the eyes of the understanding are being enlightened, where the Word of God is producing righteousness according to the will and activity of God’s good pleasure, Php.2:13.

In the next post we’ll look into the fruit that is produced from this relationship and what it means to serve in the newness of the spirit versus the oldness of the letter.