Sunday sermon
Romans 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.
Links to my sites here and the bottom of every post- Most updated at bottom.
Stats
Sunday sermon videos
https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhQL6nHl4LD34JK0d
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qdsy8ekouky1wxa/2-18-18%20Sunday%20sermon.mp4?dl=0
ON VIDEO-
.The flood and baptism
.The boat
.Marriage and sex
.Self control in all things
.You can abuse a God ordained appetite [Food- gluttony]
.Biblical teaching on being single
.Just because the bible talks about sex- and condones it in marriage- does that mean it can never be overdone- even in marriage?
.Are there verses that say if you remain celibate- it shows greater dedication to God?
These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
TEACHING- [Past posts below]
Today I talked about a few different verses from the churches- but the theme I wanted to focus on was the mystery of Christ and the church as seen as Christ and his bride.
There are many bible verses that talk about marriage- and yes- sex.
This was part of the theme from the Sunday services I spoke on.
Most of us know that marriage is a God ordained covenant- and that sex within the marriage covenant is pure-
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
We also read passages from the bible that teach us that some are called to be single- to abstain from marriage as a calling from God-
1Corinthians 7:7 For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
1Corinthians 7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
1Corinthians 7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
So there is a balance-
We also know that there are God ordained desires- like eating food- that if taken to an extreme- become sinful desire’s- though they are God ordained-
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
I tried to give this as an example about sex as well.
We live in a society that sees sex as a recreational event-
And as the church- we speak against sex outside of marriage.
But what about those that are married? Because sex is good and right and pure- should we‘abuse’ this right?
Can it be abused or overdone? Like eating food- it is a God given desire- yet- just because it is God given- too much of it[food] is considered sinful and a lack of self control.
I talked about this on the video- and tried to give the right balance.
Ok- the main point for today was the mystery of Christ and his bride- the church.
I used a favorite passage of mine on this-
Romans 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?
Romans 7:2 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.
Romans 7:3 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.
Romans 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.
Christ has died for us- freeing us from the condemnation of the law- so we could be married to another- even to him who died for us- and rose again.
Our union with Christ frees us from the judgment of the law- but does not in any way mean we violate the law of God.
The law was simply a glimpse of the Holy character of God- and no man could become righteous by the law.
Yet- when Christ died for us- he freed us from it- and enabled us to be united with him in a true spiritual union- greater than that of natural marriage.
In this union- we are one with Jesus our bridegroom- and as one- we share in his divine nature-
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
This is why we do not break the Holy law of God- because we have become united to the Holy Son of God-
And now that the external law is written upon our hearts- we serve in newness of the Spirit- and this mystery is what natural marriage symbolizes-
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.
But the heavenly reality is much greater than the earthly one-
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
PAST POSTS- [Other videos at the bottom of this post]
(835)ROMANS 7:1-4 Paul uses the analogy of a married woman ‘don’t you know that the law has dominion over a person as long as he is alive’? If a married woman leaves her husband and marries another man she is guilty of breaking the law of adultery. Now, if her husband dies, she is free to marry another man. The act that freed her from sin and guilt was death! Every thing else in the scenario stayed the same. She still married another, she still consummated the new marriage. But because her first husband died, she has no guilt. I always loved this analogy. For years I wondered why these themes in scripture are for the most part not ‘imbedded’ in the collective psyche of the people of God. We have spent so much time ‘proof texting’ the verses on success and wealth, that we have overlooked the really good stuff! Now Paul teaches that we have been made free from the law by the ‘death of our husband’ [Jesus] so we can ‘re-marry’. Who do we marry? Christ! He has not only died to free us from the law, he also rose from the dead to become our ‘husband’ [we are called the bride of Christ]. Paul connects the death and resurrection of Jesus in this analogy. Both are needed for the true gospel to be preached [1st Corinthians 15]. Notice how in this passage Paul emphasizes ‘the death of Christ’s body’. The New Testament doesn’t always make this distinction, but here it does. In the early centuries of Christianity you had various debates over the nature and ‘substance’ of God and Christ. The church hammered out various decrees and creeds that would become the Orthodoxy of the day. Many of these are what you would call the ‘Ecumenical councils’. These are the early councils [many centuries!] that both the eastern [Orthodox church] and western [Catholic] churches would all accept. Some feel that the early church fathers and Latin theologians [Tertullian, Augustine and others] had too much prior influence from philosophy and the ‘forensic’ thinking of their time. They had a tendency to describe things in highly technical ways. Ways that were prominent in the legal and philosophical thinking of the West. Some of the eastern thinkers [Origen] had more of a Greek ‘flavor’ to their theologizing [Alexandria, named after Alexander the great, was a city of philosophy many years prior to Christ. This city was at one time the center of thinking in the East. That’s why Paul would face the thinkers at Athens, they had a history in the east of Greek philosophy]. Well any way the result was highly technical debates over the nature of God and Christ. The historic church would finally decree that Christ had 2 natures, Human and Divine. And that at the Cross the ‘humanity of Jesus’ died, but his ‘Deity’ did not. I think Paul agreed by saying ‘we are free from the law by the death of Christ’s Body’ here Paul distinguishes between the physical death of Jesus and his Deity. Note- actually, Augustine would be in the same school as Origen. Alexandrian. [Some sites see here https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/2024/02/sunday-sermon-text_18.html?m=0 ]
(836)ROMANS 7: 5-13 ‘But now we are delivered from
ccoutreach87 
Discussion
No comments yet.