One of the greatest things I have learned since becoming a follower of Christ is what a yoke is. If you are not a farmer, let me explain to you what that is. It is a wooden cross piece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull. I know this from my many years of working on a farm and dealing with cattle almost every day of my life. Now, if you know me, you know that is the furthest thing from the truth and are probably laughing out loud at the thought of me being a farmer. I am the furthest thing from a farmer. However, this idea of a yoke and understanding this illustration can be very impactful for our walks with the Lord and as we continue to study through Romans.  

Jesus uses this illustration in Matthew 11:28-30, where He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

1. What do you think Jesus means when He says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”?  

2. Can you think of some things that you have been “yoked” to? 

I believe Jesus is telling us that the requirements to have a right standing with God and the way we are to follow Jesus is not meant to be hard. His grace towards us is completely unmerited, and the way God views us does not depend on all the things we can do, but rather, it is based on the finished work of Jesus. That is the truth we have seen through Romans up to this point. Our justification is dependent not on the work we can do, but rather, it is completely through what Jesus did for us on the cross. We no longer need to be yoked to a burden of religious works. That burden is lifted because Jesus completed the work.  

This is the idea that Paul is going to lay out in Romans 7:1-3, “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.” 

3. What is the message that Paul is trying to convey with this illustration?  

4. How does this illustration apply to our lives?  

Essentially, what Paul is trying to do here is to give an illustration of the truth He is about to reveal in the next section. He goes on to say in verses 4-6, “Likewise, my brothers, you have also 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 order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”  

5. What is “the law” that Paul was referring to in this passage? How did we once “belong” to the Law?  

6. What does it mean to know that you are released from the requirements of the Law?  

7. Have you ever, or had someone else, put a burden on you to fulfill some requirements so that God would love you? 

All of us were in this place that Paul talks about in verses 4-6. God is perfect, His Law is perfect, and He demands absolute perfection from us through His Law. It is not enough to keep every Law and only break a few. As James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” However, praise God, we have been released from that requirement through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus! We belong to a better covenant, one that actually gives us the power to serve Him in a way that is pleasing.  

I am sure some of you are thinking, “So, the Law must be bad or sinful, right?” Paul anticipated that question from his readers as well. Romans 7:7-12 continues, “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”  

8. If the Law is not sinful, then what is its purpose?  

9. Are we the ones who fail the Law, or did the Law fail us?  

Paul makes sure to clarify at the end of this section that it is not the Law that is sinful; we are the sinful ones. The Law was always meant to be a mirror for us. It shows us how sinful we are and how holy God is. That was meant to lead us closer to God, knowing that He is our only way to salvation. Yet, the point of this passage of Scripture is to remind us that we are no longer burdened by the Law. We are no longer yoked to the Law. We have a new yoke; we are attached to Christ and His unmerited, never-ending grace that changes our lives and empowers us to follow Him every day.  

10. What are some false burdens or requirements to earn God’s love that you need to let go of?