Free From Law

Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Eight
FREE FROM THE LAW

Scripture Reading: verses 2-5

FOR THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS HAS MADE ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. FOR WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT DO, IN THAT IT WAS WEAK THROUGH THE FLESH, GOD SENDING HIS OWN SON IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH, AND FOR SIN, CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH: THAT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED IN US, WHO WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT. FOR THEY THAT ARE AFTER THE FLESH DO MIND THE THINGS OF THE FLESH; BUT THEY THAT ARE AFTER THE SPIRIT THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT.

In strictly legal terms, Paul indicates the way in which the criminal is set free from the dominating power of sin and death. The primary conclusion reached in chapter 8 is that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

The forgiven sinner is given a standing in the Lord Jesus Christ that sets him apart from judgment. But this is not merely a theoretical standing, it has practical applications to the true believer’s everyday life. If God reckons us as liberated from the man after the flesh and the laws regulating him, then, by appropriating the resurrection power of our Lord Jesus Christ, true believers can also reckon themselves set free, liberated, and walking according to the Spirit.

Hence the assertion in verse 2, that the law or the regulating principle of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. In a practical way, we are given title to no longer live in the power of the flesh, for we have been given a new power, the power of Christ in resurrection, whereby we can live after His order. In this verse there is the law of sin and death. There is also the law of the Spirit of life. This does not refer to the Law of Moses, but rather to the regulating principle governing “the old man,” because he is incompetent to live according to God. But there is a new regulating principle which the Lord Jesus has secured for all His people. He has said, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” He has brought in a new power whereby we become partakers of the divine nature and thereby no longer serve sin, but God. This is a tremendous triumph, reducing itself to these legal terms:

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

A controversy exist among some regarding whether or not the law has been set aside. As far as the law itself is concerned, it is holy, just, and good; it is established and has never been abrogated. The law is just as potent today as ever. Why then should it be stated we are not under law but under grace? This verse tells us precisely the reason. The law was weak through the flesh. There is no weakness in the law itself, but the material with which the law had to work was weak. In other words, in our unregenerate state we were unable to meet demands of the law. Does this mean that a Christian is not under any law whatsoever? Not at all.¹

Therefore, instead of justifying us, the law which is still holy, just, and good condemns us. We do not and cannot keep the law. Some of the Lord’s people today have the mistaken idea they are keeping the law. The fact is that often times they single out some particular requirement. The favorite one is keeping the Sabbath, which is Saturday, the seventh day of the week. Some glory in the fact they observe Saturday as a day of rest, thinking they are keeping the whole law.

However, there is no particular virtue in resting on the Sabbath. In fact, it would do all of us good to have one day of complete rest every week. Many of us are too busy to do it, but do not attribute virtue to the keeping of the seventh day. It is astonishing to believe that there are some who think that by taking a rest on the Sabbath day they will get to heaven. Nowhere in the Bible are we warranted in coming to any such conclusion.

Further, those people who glory in the fact that they keep the law must be very loose in their reckoning. One of the requirements of the law is, “Thou shalt not covet.” Ever do any window shopping? That ministers to covetousness. Ever look at something someone else has and say, “I would like that”? That is covetousness. Again, one who thinks keeping the law gets one to heaven needs to honestly answer this question: “Do I really love the Lord with all my heart?” Do I have just a little bit of selfishness? If so, then the law-keeper is a lawbreaker.

The truth of the matter is set forth in this passage in Romans 8: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” As law-keepers, we are unable to live up to its requirements and therefore are condemned. Is our case hopeless? No, because the grace of God comes in, and “what the law could not do,” God has accomplished. How? By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sacrifice for sin. He has condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. It is not that the law has been set aside, but because he could not keep the law, the unregenerate man has been set aside. This has been done in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took our place on Calvary. He not only bore our sins, but the true believer, as it were, lays hands on the Offering, as the priest did in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), thus identifying myself with Him. “If One died for all, then were all dead.” In other words, the unregenerate man died with the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the object of that? It is that a new and greater regulating principle might be inaugurated for our practice. It is that we should not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and thereby all that the law requires and much more is fulfilled in those who live in the power of the risen Christ. Let us not cavil about a broken law, but let each of us make sure for ourselves that our justification before God is on the basis of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, wherein the grace of God meets us in all our sins, forgives us our trespasses and brings us into favor in God’s beloved Son.

Footnote:
¹ “The law of sin and death” as Paul states here has troubled commentators, especially those concerned with removing the concept of law from Christianity and making it a system of “faith alone.” Nevertheless, Paul uses exactly the same word that previously was applied to the Mosaic institution, offering proof that there are indeed rules, regulations, commandments, and ordinances connected with faith “in Christ” that are in the fullest sense of that word, “the law of God.” The new system of Christianity is here called “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus;” and, although a law of liberty, deliverance, and freedom from bondage, the requirements of it can not be ignored, but must be observed. This is not an isolated reference to Christianity in which such terminology is discovered. Paul himself wrote of certain people who were spoken of as “without law,” that is, without Moses’ law; but of the same people, Paul said they were “under law to Christ” (1 Cor. 9:21). Thus, freedom from Moses’ law does not mean freedom from the higher law “in Christ.” All people are under obligation to obey Christ. Paul called such obligations “the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2); James called them “the perfect law of liberty” (James 1:25), “the royal law” (James 2:8), and “the law of liberty” (James 2:12). Thus, the very gospel itself is “a law” that mortals are required to observe and obey upon pain of eternal condemnation if they neglect, refuse, or fail to do so (1 Peter 4:17; 2 Thess. 1:8, 9). Any and all of the commandments of Jesus Christ are components of that “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” which Paul mentioned here. That the commandments of Jesus Christ are actually endowed with binding and legal status as the irrevocable law of God appears in the words of the Master himself, and in that very portion of the scriptures usually recognized as the very constitution of Christianity. Christ said, “Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:19). If then Christianity is, at least in part, a system of law, what about the question of legalism? Who is a legalist? A legalist is one who obeys the rules and regulations of Christianity, at least to some extent, and then falls into the error of supposing that he has thereby merited salvation, and as a result of such error develops an attitude of self-righteousness similar to that of the ancient Pharisees. Never in a million years could it be correct to define a legalist as one who shall “do and teach” the commandments of Christ, for Jesus said of such a person as that, that he “shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” The practical use of the term “legalist” today is as an epithet hurled at persons who reject the heresy of salvation by “faith only.” There are two laws in view in this verse, the law of Moses from which people have been liberated through Christ, and “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” the latter being synonymous with what might be called the law of the gospel of Christ. There is a sharp contrast between these two laws, one being called the law of sin and death, the other being referred to as the law of the Spirit of life. Although both systems are quite properly referred to by the Holy Spirit himself as “law,” the difference between them is the difference between noon and midnight. On the very first day that the law of Moses went into effect, three thousand souls disobeyed it and were put to death (Exo. 32:28); on the very first day the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus went into effect, three thousand souls heard the word of God, believed in Christ, repented of their sins and were baptized for the remission of sins, thus being saved (Acts 2:37-47). Three thousand died at the unveiling of the law of Moses; three thousand were saved at the unveiling of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.