Freedom to Serve

Through Christ we have died to sin and the weight of the Law, so that in Christ we can fulfill God’s call.

Romans: An Introduction and Commentary (1. The Marriage Analogy (7:1–6) “to be ‘under law’ is to be dominated by sin, and to be ‘under grace’ is to be liberated not only from the dominion of sin but also from the regime of law.” Therefore, to be under grace is to live according to the Spirit; to be under law is to live according to the flesh (Rom. 8:5, 13; Gal. 5)

God’s law forbids sin and prescribes righteousness. If the Law is an reflection of God’s character and a expression of His will, then would painstaking conformity to such a law-code lead one to be able to acquire merit in God’s sight?

Peter wrote in Acts 15:10 “10 “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” in reference to that Law. So, although it is a reflection and expression communicating God’s will, painstaking conformity to it had been proven impossible throughout OT history. Remember from Rom. 3:20 that through the Law comes the knowledge of sin, not the freedom from it. Paul already wrote in Ch. 6 that freedom from sin and freedom from the Law went hand-in-hand.

In chapter 6 Paul illustrated sin in terms of the relation between a slave and his master. Now in chapter 7 verses 1-6 he illustrates freedom from the Law in terms of the relation between a wife and her husband. Just as death breaks the marriage bond, death also breaks a person’s relation to the Law. From the beginning of life, all are in bondage to the Law. As death breaks the bond between a husband and wife, so death — the believer’s death-with-Christ — breaks the bond which formerly yoked him to the Law. Now he is free to enter into union with Christ, a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light (Matt. 11:28-30).

As the question that is asked there in Matt. 11, are you weary and heavy laden under the yoke of sin upon which the light of the Law illuminates? Then come unto Jesus. Find freedom from sin and the Law and live in the newness of the Spirit of God that is in you, for the written code of the Law kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).

The Law and sin rule over us as long as we live (Rom. 7:1-3)

We are born under the rule of God’s Law (v. 1)

++Death is the only escape (v. 2)

++Death frees us to join with another (v. 3)

Choose to be released from the Law through faith in Christ (Rom. 7:4-6)

By faith we die to sin through the body of Christ (v. 4a)

++By faith in Christ we can now bear fruit for God (v. 4b)

++Under the Law, in the flesh we bear the fruit of death (v. 5)

++Under the Law we served alone, but in Christ His Spirit works with us (v. 6)

The full power of the Spirit had departed from Israel with the prophets (Ezekiel 10:18-19) and would only return with the Messiah’s coming (Zech. 12:10, 14:4; Rev. 1:7) but here Paul contrasts that loss for Israel with the old instructions only written on tablets (see Ezek. 36:26–27; cf. Jer. 31:31–34) with the new act of God in the coming of the Spirit into the lives who by faith, die to the Law and live in the work of Christ.

Believers - What Israel lost as they were unable to bear the burden of the Law in sin, God has now gifted to all through the One who could bear the Law, Jesus Christ.

The old way was the Law that was imposed by God upon all, to reveal to all the futility of trying to be good enough to earn God’s favor.

The new way is now the Spirit who is imposed by God upon all who believe, to release the believer from the bondage of the Law and sin and free the believer to serve the Lord through the presence and power of His own Spirit.

Through Christ we have died to sin and the weight of the Law, so that in Christ we can fulfill God’s call.

The saints prove their conversion by their perseverance, and that perseverance comes from a continual supply of divine grace to their souls. The Candle, Volume 27, Sermon #1594 - Matthew 5:15, 16

Charles Spurgeon

"Jesus defeated death so that you can live...If Jesus defeated death, and the empty tomb tells us He did, then there is no dark thing in your heart that He is not also able to defeat." 

Charlie Kirk