THE DOCTRINE OF

FREEDOM FROM THE LAW

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    One important aspect of justification by faith has to do with the fact that since righteousness is imputed to us apart from the law, we are no longer enslaved to the law. On the contrary, because Christ took our sins upon Himself and died in our place, the law no longer has any claim on us. In the seventh chapter of his epistle to the Romans Paul tells us what that freedom means, while explaining why we needed to be freed from the law. 

AN OVERVIEW

    In chapter six Paul called upon his readers to walk in newness of life, in this chapter he makes it clear that he is not talking about seeking righteousness through the law, or through works (Galatians 3: and 5:4).  In order to get his point across, he first uses the death of a husband to illustrate freedom from the law (verses 1-4), and then describes the struggle with sin in our nature in a way that explains why we cannot keep the law, why the law cannot make us righteous, and why we need to be freed from the law (verses 5-25).

1  Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
    [Comment: These verses make it clear that the freedom that we have in Christ is not a matter of God changing His law, but of Christ freeing us from its dominion. In order to illustrate that truth, Paul draws an analogy between the death of a husband freeing his wife from the law forbidding her to have another husband, and Christ’s death freeing us from the law.]

    The rest of this chapter deals with our struggle with sin, and the reason why we cannot be saved as long as we are under the law. Here Paul cites the struggle with sin in his own life in order to illustrate the struggle with sin that we all have to deal with, and the inability of any of us to live up to the perfection that the law requires (Matthew 5:48). While those who are blind to their own sinfulness think they are righteous if they resist the lusts and desires of the flesh, Paul makes it clear that if we were really righteous we would never have sinful lusts and desires to begin with.

5  For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
6  But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
    [Comment: Notice that Paul says “we were in the flesh” making it clear that for a believer that is in the past (verse 5). The words, “But now we are delivered from the law” then make it clear that being in the flesh goes hand in hand with being under the law, and being delivered from the law (through faith in Christ) goes hand in hand with being in the Spirit.]

7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
8  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
9  For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10  And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
    [Comment: Paul here points out that the problem is not with the law, on the contrary, the law reveals our sin (verse 7). The problem is the deceitfulness of sin in our heart (Jeremiah 17:9). Our heart desires what is evil, while at the same time leading us to rationalize sin and deny our need of forgiveness (Matthew 15:19).]

11  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
12  Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13  Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
    [Comment: Rationalizing sin and denying our need for forgiveness not only destroys the soul (verse 11), but those who know the law, yet harden their heart to its condemnation, are also guilty of rejecting God’s grace (verse 13). Therefore, when our sinful nature causes us to do wrong (even though we do not want to do wrong), instead of rationalizing our sin we need to admit that the law is right in condemning us, and look to Christ for mercy (verses 14-16, Proverbs 28:13).]

18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
    [Comment: I am sure that when Paul penned these words he was thinking of the time in his life when he earnestly sought righteousness by the law, yet wound up being the chief of sinners (1Timothy 1:15, John 2:17). If you have ever made an effort to keep the law, you have probably noticed that the harder you try the more the flesh seems to fight against you. When that happens, God wants us to admit our sinfulness and look to Christ for mercy. However, because of the deceptiveness of sin we are more likely to excuse our shortcomings, water down God’s law, and deceive ourselves than admit the truth (Jeremiah 17:9, John 1:47).]

CONCLUSION

    It was only as I came to understand why my own righteousness is as “filthy rags,” and could say with the Apostle Paul “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing,” that I really understood what it means to be free from the law. Until I arrived at that point, the harder I tried to keep the law the stronger the flesh seemed to become. As a result, I now believe that the more we struggle to make ourselves righteous, the less the Holy Spirit helps us resist the flesh (Galatians 5:16-17). Not because He wants us to sin, but as a way of reminding us of our sinfulness and need to rely on Christ for righteousness (Romans 10:4).