Rom 7.1-25 tells us that we have been set free from the curse of the law (Torah), meaning the Judicial aspect of the Torah. We are no longer “under indictment or arrest” for our sins. We know from Rom 1 that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. However, after we are born again, we fall under what is called the Educational aspect of the Torah. This is where the Torah tells us how to walk before God, and how to love him in our actions by being obedient to his commands. Believers are not made righteous by keeping the Torah, we have been made righteous by faith through the grace of God, not by works. As a result, we will have a conflict between the old nature and the new nature. So, to explain these concepts, we would like to go over them in a way that will be easier to understand.
There are two aspects to the Torah, called the Dual Nature of the Law. The first aspect is called the Judicial Aspect. This where the Torah acts as our custodian until one comes to a conversion through faith in Yeshua. The Torah identifies us as sinners, tells us what God considers sin, and it demands our punishment and death, holding us under indictment and arrest until the judgment. The knowledge of the Torah’s standards increases our awareness that we are sinners, thus eliminating ignorance as an excuse. When we come to conversion through Yeshua, the Torah’s role as custodian is abolished. No longer can the Torah demand our death, for God has declared us “Not Guilty” and we are no longer under indictment or arrest. The Torah no longer declares us as transgressors, for the record of our sins has been blotted out, and the curse of the law has been removed. In other words, we are “not under the Law” which demands our death as a sinner. That is what Paul means when he says we are not “under the law (he means the law of sin and death; he also means we cannot keep the law for righteousness with God).”
Once that happens, we are now under what is called the Educational Aspect of the Torah. It now reveals God’s way of life and the path (way) to walk in and follow him as a believer. It tells us about the good and perfect will of God, not only by explicitly telling us through his commandments, statutes, and judgments, but implicitly through the historical stories and histories, even the genealogies.
Paul tells us in Rom 7.2-3 about the Torah concept of how a married person is bound by the Torah to the other spouse until the death (or legal divorce) of the other spouse. Then, once the spouse has died, or there is a legal divorce, the living spouse is no longer under obligation to the deceased or divorced spouse, and is free to marry another person. So, let’s look at this in the spiritual aspect and apply it to our lives as a believer.
Once we become born again, we have died to the old nature (like the old spouse) and we now have a new nature (or a new spouse, Yeshua). But, as we all know, there will be conflict between the old nature and the new nature because the old nature (spouse) does not like the new nature (spouse). Our old spouse (old nature) still tries to tell us what to do and we sin. Instead of ignoring the old spouse, we give in to it at times and do what it says. That is like getting a divorce and the former spouse still tells you to come over and mow the lawn, fix the house or pay the bills. But we need to realize that we are no longer under obligation to listen to the old spouse. Spiritually, we are under no obligation to listen to the old nature.
Our new spouse, Yeshua, now gives us a new life and we need to learn what to do and what not to do. However, our old spouse or old nature will still try and tell us what to do. As a result, we will have a conflict (like Paul did in Rom 7.19-25). So, we will have trouble in our new marriage if we don’t come to a proper understanding of what is going on. That is where the Torah comes in in its educational aspect. The Torah is like a marriage counselor that comes in to show us what sin is as defined by God, and it is that sin that is affecting our new relationship with our new spouse, Yeshua. When there is a conflict, the Torah as a marriage counselor comes in to tell us the truth and to show us what to do and how to please our new spouse, and it also tells us that we are no longer obligated to our old spouse, the old nature, and we are dead to its demands. We are not to listen to the old spouse, or the old nature, any longer. When we come to the realization that we are not obligated to the old spouse, then we can concentrate on pleasing our new spouse Yeshua by listening to the marriage counselor, the Torah, and walking in a manner that will lessen the conflict in our new marriage by walking in the commandments.
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