“Father, you are good, I need help,”

Romans 7:1-6

How often have you and I said, self, I sure wish the apostle Paul was here to help me understand what he is saying.  And yet one greater than Paul is here, He does not have skin like Paul but His presence is a guarantee.  Maybe it is time to take our primer off the book shelve, remove the dust and look up Holy Spirit.

In John’s gospel chapter 14:15-17, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”  And if you need more convincing turn to 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”  The Helper or Counselor we are told in Scripture is also our teacher, look at John 14:26, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

A student of the Word of God must not begin with a commentary, but they should begin with prayer, “Father, you are good, I need help,” and Jesus has promised to ask the Father to send the Helper, the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, and He will teach us all things and will remind us of everything Jesus has said to us.  A question comes to my mind, and could be why we find such comfort in first looking at a commentary and not going to the Father in prayer.  Many are not equipped to handle the book on living life on planet earth, the Bible. We have not obeyed and prepared for being reminded by the Helper.  “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11 ESV)   2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

But often it seems the Helper is slow by my time, and once more where is that anxious spirit coming from, not from God for He has been clear “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6)  So today I’m not getting in a big hurry, but waiting and praying Father, you are good, I need help, give me insights into Romans 7:1-5.

First and foremost Paul is addressing this to followers of Christ, ones who have been set free from sin, Paul uses the word slaves of God, we might say obedient followers.  The law is binding only on a person who is alive; it has no claim on a corpse.  Paul uses the example of a married woman who is bound by the law to her husband while he is alive, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.  So now the law does not have authority to keep her from remarrying, but if her husband were alive she would be called an adulteress if she lived with another man. 

Having Scripture recorded in your memory allows the Helper to do as He has just done, reminded me of Colossians 3:3, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”  Or Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  It is very clear the flesh did not die, but the old man died, and we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. 

In no way is Paul addressing sinless perfection, but he is telling us the flesh now is free to choose, to live by the Spirit, as stated in Galatians 5:16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice