Dead Or Alive? Romans 7:9

Anyone who vainly imagines that he lives by and is obedient to God’s holy law is spiritually dead, like Saul of Tarsus – “Alive without the law.” Once a sinner is made to see that he is totally incapable of keeping the law, once a person is slain by the law, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, he is dead to the law, but alive to Christ. As Paul puts it, “when the commandment came sin revived, and I died.” As was the case with Saul of Tarsus, there are many things which give lost religionists a false sense of ease and security in religion, though they are yet without Christ.

Ignorance Regarding God’s Holy Law

Many, like Saul, are totally ignorant of the law’s spiritual character (Rom. 7:7). Like the Pharisees, they foolishly imagine that the law only regards the outward actions. They fail to understand that it reaches to and demands perfection in heart and thought, as well as all outward deeds. Self-righteousness, in its essence, arises from this failure to understand the spiritual character of the law of God. Uncleanness of mind in God’s eyes is as obnoxious as uncleanness of life. Our Lord tells us plainly that an unclean thought is adultery, anger is murder, covetousness is theft, and love of self is idolatry.

The Respect And Esteem Of Religious People

Saul had the respectability and esteem of high office in the church. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He came behind no one in matters of religious devotion. Read the third chapter of Philippians. Saul of Tarsus was a remarkable, highly respected figure in the religious world. Like Judas, Demas, and Diotrephes, he was in a position of high esteem, a spiritual leader, who did not know God. Nothing gives a lost man more confidence in his religion than the high opinions of other men.

A False Evidence Of Grace

Evidence based assurance is false assurance. The believer’s assurance of salvation is the assurance of faith (Heb. 11:1). It is assurance based upon and found in Christ’s blood and righteousness alone. Most people, like Saul of Tarsus, presume that external reformation is evidence of grace and salvation (John 8:39-41).

The Wrong Measuring Stick

Lost religionists maintain their sense of security by measuring themselves with other men and women. They delude themselves with the idea that they are holy, because they think themselves holier that other people (Isa. 65:1-5). Comparing themselves with others who are outwardly more profane than they are, they deceive themselves with an imaginary personal holiness which meets God’s approval.

Self Love

It is a proud love of self which causes self-righteous men and women to overlook their own faults and exaggerate the faults of others (Matt. 7:3-5).

A Failure To Understand God’s Justice

Most people fail to realize that God’s justice demands an infinite atonement for every deviation from his holy law and perfect righteousness, perfect conformity to all his holy will revealed in Holy Scripture.

Presumed Goodness

Like the rich young ruler, all self-righteous men and women live under the delusion of a presumption that they are really good enough, holy enough to meet whatever demands God himself might put upon them. Being alive without the law, they feel perfectly comfortable with themselves. In their wonderful opinion of themselves, they are good enough for God!

Through all of these things, the god of this world had blinded the minds of those who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto him. Do these things describe you? Are you in religion? Does religion keep you from Christ? Are you “alive without the law”?

Don Fortner