Free From the Law

Romans 7:1-6, 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.
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 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.”

This chapter is one of the most controversial in Scripture. Without a thorough background, which Paul has put forth in chapter six, Chapter seven would be confusing and even frustrating for the person who wants to understand the Bible. I do not believe Paul is talking about the Mosaic law. The law of Moses would be included but the passage is speaking about natural law, or moral law. A law written in man's heart that is the basis of all right and wrong. We are all bound by the law — not “laws” individually — but law in general. In Paul's example, the Christian has died to the law and is free to be united with Christ. Having been born again we can now live as free people under grace — not under law.

We are not free from responsibility.
All lawlessness is to be rejected. Antinomianism is one of the charges brought against Paul. And is often brought against anyone who teaches grace. Paul answered this twice in chapter six. “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” And, “Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?” The answer to both questions is pretty much the same, “ABSOLUTELY NOT!” In no way did Paul ever advocate a lawless lifestyle.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-20, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

According to Ephesians 2:8-10 we are saved by grace through faith unto good works. Those who advocate salvation by works have missed the point altogether. Good works have never been the basis of salvation. The blood sacrifices of the Old Covenant were pictures pointing to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. They spoke of God's grace not of man's works. When God's grace is released in our lives we joyfully serve him and should obediently do the works he has set out for us to do.

We have been united with Christ in order to bear fruit for God. The fruit we had been bearing under the old relationship was fruit unto death. But now we can bear good fruit. Galatians 5:22-23, "…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. This is certainly not lawlessness. In fact, these fruits call us to real responsibility. To love is not always easy instead it calls for the other gifts to be released. To joyfully love another is to be at peace with them; to be patient with them; to show them kindness; to be good to them; to be faithful with them; to be gentle with them; and, most of all, to practice self control with regard to them. Living under that kind of grace is hard work indeed! We need strength that is beyond our human ability. We we need the Spirit of God that comes at salvation to live out the fruit of the Spirit.

Instead, we are freed from bondage.
We were slaves to sin under the law. Remember Romans 6:16-18? “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” “Set free from sin” is an awesome concept! This does not mean that we cannot sin but it does mean that sin has no power over us. That makes our guilt even greater because we cannot use the excuse, “The devil made me do it.” Or, “I couldn't help myself”.

You see, we were set free by the Son of God. In John 8:31-36 Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The Pharisees said they had never been enslaved to anyone. They said this while they were occupied by the Roman army and in many ways were enslaved to Rome. But that's not the freedom Jesus is talking about.
He went on, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. …” Since all have sinned then everyone is a slave to sin. This is a bondage we cannot break. We are married to the law at birth and that marriage is driven by the flesh. We cannot free ourselves. Like the old song says, “He paid a debt he did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away, and now I sing a brand-new song, “Amazing Grace”, all day long. Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.” the wages of sin is death. Not just physical death but spiritual death. In the atonement Jesus took us to the cross with himself.

We have been crucified with Christ. Paul said it best in Galatians 2:19-21, “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

I once heard the story of a man who was faced with being drafted into the Confederate Army during the Civil War. We'll call him George. George had a wife and children and of course did not want to go. His neighbor, we'll call Tom, was the same age, was unmarried and had not yet been called up for the draft. Tom came to George and said, “I will go in your place”. He then went to the county seat with the draft papers in hand and was enlisted in the Army as George. A few months later Tom, now called George, died on the field of battle. His death certificate was sent back to the County seat where he lived. In the course of time the Army was desperate for soldiers. They sent out patrols looking for men who should have been drafted. They found George plowing a field one day and arrested him as a draft dodger. He was taken to the county seat and put in jail. George asked the judge to look at the death certificates. When he did he found that Georgia was legally dead. He sent him home to his family because as far as the law was concerned he had already died.

Christ did that for us. He took our sin and our self to the cross and put it to death so that we could live to him under a new relationship, a new covenant!
Believers now live under a new covenant.

This was prophesied by Jeremiah Hebrews 10:14-18 tells us about it, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. These quotations are from Jeremiah chapter 31. A new way of living! A new covenant! The law is now written on the hearts of those who believe.

This is a covenant that gives life. Not a covenant of law, or the letter, the law of the spirit. We find in 2 Corinthians 3:4-6, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

This covenant is without any condemnation. Listen to Romans 8:1-4, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” There Is No Condemnation! The liar, the devil, tries to make us feel condemned and worthless. We recognize that our past condemns us. But that past is based on a marriage that's been done away with! Once we were married to the law empowered by the flesh. But, since we have come to faith in Christ we are now married to Christ Jesus. The law has been satisfied by the death of Jesus on the cross. Now a new law takes over “the law of the Spirit of life”. Praise God! If God says you not condemned then you are not condemned!

The Apostle uses the example of marriage to teach an essential truth. Being married to the law, and the flesh, from our conception made us bring forth fruit for death. Having died to the law through the body of Christ we can now bring forth fruit for God. In order for us to grow spiritually we must recognize that we are not married to the law and the flesh. With salvation several things have happened. We're united to the Lord Jesus Christ, we have died with him and are made dead to the law as a result of that death. And now we are married to the Lord Jesus Christ! We are risen with Christ and are enabled to seek things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Our union with Christ is essential to our sanctification.
If you have not settled the issue of salvation listen to the voice of God that is calling you. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and you will be saved.
All quotes are from: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001, Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.