Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? – Romans 7:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 4, 2015): Romans 7

Apparently, “Amazing Spider-Man 2” has made the list of 2014 movies that should never have been made. The reason for the negative review on behalf of some critics seemed to have been that they were confused by the plot of the movie; including what they considered to be an excessive number of villains that the movie found it necessary to employ. The feeling for some seems to be that the movie would have benefited from a more concise plot line as well as just one or two key bad guys to keep Spider-Man on the edge. But one of the soft spots of the movie happens to be a scene where Peter Parker watches a You-Tube video in order to try to figure out how batteries work. The problem is that according to the Spiderman metanarrative, Peter Parker is a scientist – the workings of a battery should have been child’s play for him. It may be a small detail for some, but for others it is simply the straw that has broken the movie – it is a detail of which the writers should have been aware, but apparently they weren’t.

Paul seems to have had the same struggle with the Roman church. Paul addresses those in Rome who were well acquainted with the law. The Romans seem to have been struggling with the role of law in the Christian church. This comment may have been directed to the Jews in the church, but it could also have been directed toward the leaders who had learned under the instruction of the Jews. But whoever they were, they were not getting the message. So Paul makes this observation – the law has authority only as long as a person is alive. But once you have died, it no longer holds its authority over you.

The comment makes sense, even though we seem to have missed the truth of the message over the course of history by trying and executing dead bodies, or even removing dead bodies from their final resting place as a further punishment for their crimes. But once we are dead, we are – well, dead. Inflicting pain on a dead body might make us feel better (admittedly I’m not sure why), but it does nothing to the one who has died. The law has lost its authority. Jesus alluded to this when he said “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

I can almost imagine Paul pausing as he gets to this point. The unspoken question is simply this – are you understanding this detail of the plot? For Paul, this is the “Spider-Man 2” moment. It is the moment that he hopes the Romans are understanding. If they are in Christ, they have already died. The law no longer has any authority over them. To believe anything else is simply to not understand the details of the plot.

Yet, it is still a plot detail that we seem to struggle with. If we are Christians, then we have died to the things of this life. And if we have died, then the law no longer has any authority over us. Let me repeat Paul’s point. We are dead and, therefore, the law has no authority over us. And this is a good thing, because we were never good at keeping the law anyway.

And this is a part of our metanarrative of which we simply need to make sure we never lose sight. Because we have been crucified with Christ, the law no longer has any authority over who it is that we are.        

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 8