A Harvest of Good Deeds

Romans 7:1 – Now, dear brothers and sisters—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living? ² For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. ³ So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.

⁴ So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. ⁵ When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. ⁶ But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. (NLT)

The people of ancient Rome had a saying that the laws of Rome would apply to them only until they died!  The Apostle Paul, having been familiar with the saying, uses it in this passage as sort of a tongue in cheek remark.  His point is that we were formerly married to the power of the law. We have now died to the power of the law, and consequently, we are now free to belong to another.  That other – Jesus.

It wasn’t just the Jews who clung to religious laws in ancient times.  Many pagan cultures had various laws to follow.  Following these laws was their attempt to make things right with their gods.  As Christians, we don’t cling to any law, we cling to Christ.

We should note from verse four that the result of dying to the law is a harvest of good deeds!  (Other translations have bearing fruit for God).  Paul often mentions good deeds.  These good deeds are not our attempt to please God, but as Paul notes in verse 6, the result (or harvest) of a ‘new way of living in the Spirit.’  As Paul tells us in chapter five of Galatians, living in the Spirit produces a change in our lives (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control).  These changes are not seen just by ourselves, but by others through the harvest of our good deeds.

Are you living a new way in the Spirit of God?  A great way to measure our spiritual health is to take a look at ourselves.  Are we producing a harvest of good deeds? Today, let’s strive to live in the Spirit! 

Posted by Ramón Torres