Much of the Book of Romans is addressed to Jewish believers or Jews who were contemplating becoming believers. It helps us Gentiles understand Romans when we keep this in mind.

We might think of Chapters Seven and Eight as being one whole. Paul is reasoning with Jews concerning the superiority of the new covenant and how the new covenant works out in practice.

In Chapter Seven Paul points the Jew to the fact that the Law of Moses brings guilt and death to the seeker. There is nothing wrong with the Law. It is just that the law of sin operating in the sinful nature of the worshiper contradicts the Law of Moses, defying it and acting against it.

So the devout Jew serves God in his mind, agreeing with God that the Law of Moses is righteous, but his sinful nature keeps insisting that he disobey the Law.

Paul asks, "Who will deliver me from the spiritual death caused by my sinful body?"

The eighth chapter proceeds to offer the solution.

If the devout Jew is intrigued by the thought of abandoning Moses in favor of looking to Christ for righteousness, he still is torn by the problem of guilt. All his life he has been taught that to disobey the Law of Moses is to sin against God, and the result of sin against God is death to the soul.

"What if I start mingling with Gentiles, not observing the kosher dietary laws, not keeping the feast days, not attempting to obey all the principles set forth in the Talmud? I would love to forget about all these details, they are a yoke around my neck. But I don't dare forsake Moses."

Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? (Acts 15:10—NIV)

So Paul commences his explanation of the solution to the dilemma of the devout Jew by saying: "There is no condemnation resting on those who are in Christ Jesus. Since Christ kept the Law perfectly He is able to transfer the righteousness of the Law to those who obey His Spirit."

You can come to Christ without a defiled conscience because God through Christ has assigned the righteousness of the Law to you.

The writer of Hebrews says the same thing:

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:14—NIV)

Because the One who kept the Law of Moses perfectly was offered as a sin-offering, He has the authority to ascribe to us the righteousness He gained by obeying the Law of Moses perfectly.

In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:4—NIV)

The righteous requirements of the Law of Moses are met fully in us if we choose to live according to the Spirit of God rather than according to our sinful nature.

To be continued.