THE NEW LAW OF FREEDOM

THE NEW LAW OF FREEDOM

There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.² For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me^[a] free from the law of sin and death.{Romans 8:1-2 GNT}

We all know the obvious fact that the Law of Moses condemned all men and made the whole world guilty of sin. The wages of that sin is death. Therefore the Law of Moses is also called the law of sin and death. It was a law that held us hostage in bondage to sin and killed us spiritually when we faulted it. The children of Israel were enslaved all their lives to this law of sin and death. They served under the prison of sin because of their flesh, their human nature. This is how Apostle Paul explained the plight with our human nature because of the law of sin and death:

¹⁴ We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin.¹⁵ I do not understand what I do; for I don't do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate. ¹⁶ Since what I do is what I don't want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right. ¹⁷ So I am not really the one who does this thing; rather it is the sin that lives in me. ¹⁸ I know that good does not live in me—that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it. ¹⁹ I don't do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. ²⁰ If I do what I don't want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me.

²¹ So I find that this law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have. ²² My inner being delights in the law of God. ²³ But I see a different law at work in my body—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body. ²⁴ What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ!

This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin. {Romans 7:14-25 GNT}

 I know some of you can relate to this fight between the spirit and the body. You have done things you knew were wrong to do. You even cried when you sinned and swore never to repeat the same again only to find out that you even did worse the next time you were tempted. I have been there before and I know you have also. I even said to God once “If I do this again, just kill me. I would rather die than to keep disobeying you” My dear friends, I said that because I trusted in myself and believed so much in my ability not to sin again. What do you think happened after then? It is not what you think. The next time I stood before my temptation, I was as weak as a man whose hands and legs were chained. My spirit was quoting some scriptures which were countered immediately by my flesh. I struggled between my will and His will. I did worse than I ever did before. 

What I didn’t know was that I needed help, I needed grace to come rescue me from myself. My body was about to destroy me. If you are going through the same struggle that Brother Paul and I went through, I’ve got good news for you. Christ is available to rescue you from yourself so that you will no longer serve the law of sin and death.

Christ came to rescue us from that slavery to the law of sin and death by destroying sin in the flesh and to set us free from the fear of death.

¹⁴ Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death, ¹⁵ and in this way set free those who were slaves all their lives because of their fear of death. 

¹⁶ For it is clear that it is not the angels that he helps. Instead, he helps the descendants of Abraham. ¹⁷ This means that he had to become like his people in every way, in order to be their faithful and merciful High Priest in his service to God, so that the people's sins would be forgiven. ¹⁸ And now he can help those who are tempted, because he himself was tempted and suffered. {Hebrews 2:14-18 GNT}

Now he that has the power over death has been destroyed. The devil has been destroyed and we have been set free from the slavery of the fear of death. Christ took our nature so that He can become our faithful High Priest and so our sins are forgiven. Whenever we are tempted, He helps us out. He is the High Priest who is touched by the feelings of our infirmity and makes intercession for us.

What the Law of Moses could not do, God had to send Jesus to do for us by giving us a new law. This law is called the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It is this new law of freedom that has set us free from the law of sin and death.

There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.² For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me^[a] free from the law of sin and death. ³ What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin. ⁴ God did this so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit, and not according to human nature. 

⁵ Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants. ⁶ To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace. ⁷ And so people become enemies of God when they are controlled by their human nature; for they do not obey God's law, and in fact they cannot obey it. ⁸ Those who obey their human nature cannot please God.

⁹ But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to—if, in fact, God's Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you^[b] because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin. ¹¹ If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you. 

¹² So then, my friends, we have an obligation, but it is not to live as our human nature wants us to. ¹³ For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live. ¹⁴ Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children. ¹⁵ For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, “Father! my Father!” ¹⁶ God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children. ¹⁷ Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory.{Romans 8:2-17 GNT}

With this new law there is no condemnation for us. This righteous demands of the law is fulfilled in us by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us. We no longer live according to our human nature but according to the Spirit of God. The Spirit tells us what God wants us to do.

 We are now under the control of the Spirit and are no longer slaves to what our human nature wants. To be controlled by our human nature will make us enemies of God and that will result to death. To have life and peace, we must allow the Spirit control us. That is why you must be born again and be filled with the Spirit of God.

 Without the Spirit of Christ in you, you don’t belong to Him. The Spirit of God in us is Life for us because we have been made righteous even though our body dies because of sin. But glory to God who also gives life to our mortal bodies by His Spirit who lives in us.

We no longer owe the flesh any debt to obey its desires but we owe the spirit our lives to live by His lead and directions. We are no longer under the law of sin and death if we allow the Spirit lead us.

¹⁶ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.¹⁷ For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. {Galatians 5:16-18 ESV}

²² That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

²³ And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

²⁴ And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. {Ephesians 4:22-24}

How do I put on this new man who is righteous and holy like God? Watch out for the next article.