Change in Our Relationship to the Law

Paul on the Spirit in Romans (4)

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8.2

Those who are in Christ have the Spirit of God, and walk in Him. In the Spirit, by virtue of His life-giving power, our relationship to the Law of God is changed. No longer does the Law threaten and oppress us by holding death and judgment over our heads. Now, because we are in Christ Jesus, no condemnation awaits us and we are free to embrace the Law as the source of life and uprightness (Lev. 18.1-5).

The Spirit Himself teaches us the Law, and empowers us to obey it, so that we might truly live (Ezek. 36.26, 27). And He adjusts the Law, in certain ways, to make it more conformable to the purposes of grace and the Kingdom (cf. 1 Cor. 5, etc.).

In the Spirit, therefore, we can eagerly learn and submit to the holy and righteous and good Law (Rom. 7.12) and grow in life eternal as we do. The Law does not threaten the believer with judgment and death; the Spirit has freed us from that. Instead, the Law is established as the "law of the Spirit of life" for all who believe in Jesus Christ. And while some today may teach that "Law" and "Spirit" and "life" have no business in the same sentence, Paul clearly differs.

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