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*** LESSON 12 (JUNE 29) *** Romans 7:1 -25 *** The New Way of the Spirit *** “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" (Rom 6:14-15) To illustrate this foundation principle, Paul used the figure of slavery as an example in Romans 6. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey,.? (6:16a) To further illustrate the same point in Romans 7, Paul uses the institution of marriage as a second example. Or do you not know, brothers-for I am speaking to those who know the law-that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband & dies she is released from the law of marriage.Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. (7:1-3) While our grasp on the nature of marriage can certainly been enhanced from Paul's illustration, it's important to remember that it is an illustration used to make a point within a much larger context. If you are a Christian, the principle reflected upon in Romans 7:1-3) applies to your heavenly Father's expectation that you would now walk in newness of life. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in "l am speaking to those who know the law..."(7:1) What does this parenthetical statement mean and why is it helpful? In your own words, what can we learn from Romans 7:1-3?