Title: The Purpose of Salvation
Commentary on Romans 49
purpose of salvation
Romans 7:1 - 4
Introduction: At the beginning of Romans 7, Paul compares the relationship between the law and Christians to marriage with a tyrannical husband and explains how we got out of it and how we were able to welcome a new bridegroom as our husband. is trying. Paul's explanation is that when a woman with a husband dies, her husband dies. We were put to death to the law through the body of Christ because we deviated from the law of her husband. Therefore, since Christians are completely freed from the law, they are showing that it is never illegal to marry someone else. And going one step further, it says that we were killed to the law in this way, “so that we might go to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.” Paul clearly states that God has a purpose for saving us, and that purpose is “that we might bear fruit for God.”
1. Paul's excuse
In the process of preaching the gospel or explaining the truth of salvation, Paul had a lot of potential to cause misunderstandings to Jews. So he had many adversaries and had to keep fighting with them for the truth. Paul's adversaries denounced Paul's interpretation of Christians' deviance from the law as "no-legalism," "anti-legalism," and "post-legalism." What Paul felt most sorry for while preaching the gospel was how he could explain and understand the righteous life of a Christian, saying that he was dead to the law and deviated from it.
(1) It is an objection to the objection that if it is said that there is no body by which the law can be justified, then it is not saying that there is no need to keep the law. Paul nailed it, saying, “There is no flesh to be justified before him by the works of the law” (Romans 3:20). Judging from the cross-section of Paul's argument, Paul's words must be those of an 'abolitionist'.
This objection from the Jews is a misunderstanding because they did not understand the true purpose of God's law. The purpose of the law is not to bring righteousness to man, but to condemn it, and this rightful seat is to make man realize his sin and lead to salvation through the grace of God.
(2) Another malicious slander was that man was saved not through the law, but through grace, and where sin abounded, God's grace abounded all the more. It means that there isn't. This refers to non-legalism. If Christians are not condemned by the law, can they not live in sin? Wouldn't grace abound more where sin abounded? It is such an objection. In response, Paul categorically denies their claims. “Shall we dwell in sin so that grace may increase? No way. How shall we, who were dead to sin, live longer in it?”
(3) Paul's problem with this kind of problem comes in Chapter 7, and he draws a strong conclusion by using the parable of the marriage relationship. The reason for being put to death against the law was not because there was no law or a life of abolition, but it was revealed that “this was to go to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.”
2. Meaning of being dead to the law
To say that Christians were killed to the law does not mean that they have forsaken the law. Because renunciation of the law means renunciation of conscience, a life without the law is not a human life, but a life of taboo. God is holy. We humans are created in the holy image of God. God's holiness is revealed in the law. And even Gentiles who do not have the law, their conscience is the law (Romans 2:14).
(1) To be dead to the law means that we are not under the condemnation of the law. The law condemns the sinner. There is no escape from the condemnation of the law. The condemnation of the law demands a penalty for sin. It is declared that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). This declaration of death came from the condemnation of the law. But for Christians, there is no condemnation of this law (Romans 8:1). To be dead to the law means not to be condemned by the law in this way.
(2) To be dead to the law means that we are not governed by the law. The law rules over all sinners. It is the law that governs the slaves of sin. The law commands those under the law to ‘do’. But Christians are freed from the dominion of this law. We are not living under the dictates of the law and its rule. Since Christians are already dead to the law, they have departed from its command and dominion.
3. Purpose for which Christians were saved
For our salvation, God sent His Son into the world to fulfill the law that we could not fulfill, and He died under the condemnation of the law in our place. Paul argues against this like this: “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and on account of sin, condemned sin in the flesh… that the requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Romans 8:3,4).
(1) There is a clear purpose for which we were saved by the grace of God. It is not to abolish the law, nor to live in sin. “that we might bear fruit for God.” Therefore, a person who is unfruitful for God is, in fact, not a Christian. This is because it goes against the purpose of being saved by God's grace. Therefore, it is said that a tree that does not bear fruit will be cut down (John 15:2). He said, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).
(2) The fruit we bear for God is the perfect fulfillment of the law. One day Jesus told the lawyer the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:34-40). This code is the fruit of Christians who fulfill the law toward God. It is love for God and love for neighbor. Jesus gave Christians the commandment of love as a new law (John 13:34).
Conclusion: The greatest fruit for God is to live our whole life for the glory of God. “Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). This should be the continual fruit that the Christian must bear in his lifetime. And there are beautiful fruits from the new life we have received. These fruits are the fruits that must be borne for God. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22, 23). These fruits are not only higher than the fruits under the law, but also the fruits of the new commandment that will fully fulfill the law.