The Law of the Spirit of Life

Having declared at the end of the 7^th chapter that Christ has set him free from his predicament of his body waging a war against the law of mind and becoming a prisoner of the law of sin, Paul in chapter 8 gets into the empowerment of the believers, including himself, by the Spirit of God.

Paul first declares that there is no condemnation for those in Christ. This is made in the language of a law court. Condemnation would mean a punishment pronounced by a court following a sentence. It is the penal servitude. For those who are in Christ, there is no punishment. Verse 1

The whole human race is on a death row. But God declared us ‘not guilty,’ because of Christ. We have been acquitted in the case against us. We have been acquitted from two things, from the guilt of the past sins and delivered from the present power of sin. We have been offered freedom from sin and have been left scot free.

Thus, we have a new position in Christ. Those who believe in Christ as their Saviour, will not come into judgment of God, with respect to sin. Such people have been totally absolved from their crimes and sins, committed in the past.

In the next few verses Paul explains how this came to be.  

Through Christ, the law of the Spirit of Life, has set Paul free from the law of sin and death. Verse 2. Not only Paul, but all those who believe in Christ. In this chapter, Paul mentions the Holy Spirit many times over.

The Spirit of Life is the life lived in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God and Christ, who was active in the creation of the world in the very beginning, Genesis 1:1, and who was given to us as Helper and Counsellor, after the Ascension of Christ. John 14:26

Spirit is a supernatural power and the strong breath of Yahweh, the Lord God Almighty. When the Spirit comes to man, it is a supernatural phenomenon, a divine element breaking into human life, empowering them. Act 2:1-4 describes the inauguration of a new age, a power from the very God, imparting the power to the believers to live after the pattern of Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the power behind the rebirth or being born-again of every believer, as Jesus would tell Nicodemus in John 3:5-6.  The Holy Spirit is the one who will convict the world of its sins. John 16:8. He gives us the power we need to live the Christian life.

 This law of the Spirit, which has come to us through Jesus Christ, has set us free from the law of sin and death. The wages of sin is death Romans 6:23 and if humanity were to revel in sin, it will definitely lead us to death and destruction once and for ever. At this juncture comes a new deliverance, through Jesus Christ.

Paul further explains that what the law was powerless to do, because it’s cause was weakened by the sinful nature of human beings, God did by sending His Son. The law could point out to us what is wrong and what is correct, but it could never give us the power to not do the wrong things. It was powerless to empower us.

Especially so, as it was weakened by the sinful nature of man, the ‘flesh.’ This sinful human nature has a vulnerability to sin. ‘Flesh’ refers to the lower side and the corrupt side of the human nature.

To deal with this weakness of ‘flesh,’ which rendered man weak to counter sin, God sent His Own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. Verse 3. Jesus, who is sinless, took the form of human nature to deal with the sin in human nature. Man was created in God’s image Genesis 1:27, and Jesus was the glory and image of God. Hebrew 1:3.

Jesus was offered as a sin offering to God for our sins. He died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. In the Old Testament times animal sacrifice was offered at the Temple continually. Blood had to be shed to procure forgiveness of sins, according to the law. Leviticus 17:11. “It is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”

These sacrifices were pointer to the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ on the cross, for animal blood is not sufficient to take away sin. Hebrew 10:4.

By offering Jesus as a sacrifice, God condemned sin in sinful man. Christ entered the realm or sphere of ‘flesh,’ which sin had claimed as its jurisdiction or territory. Sin pressed this claim against Christ and lost the case, because Jesus met sin head long and refused to bow down to it or be enticed by it. Matthew 4:1-11.

Sin stood condemned in the place of man, for man had been redeemed by Christ in His sinless form in His human sojourn on earth. Sin had lost the case. Jesus achieved this as a representative of mankind. And therefore, those who are in Christ are no longer condemned.

Liberation of humankind from sin is the work of God. It can never be done by human effort or by adhering to the law. God did what the law couldn’t do. Sin was the master and man a slave to it, and a prisoner. But in Christ, the slave found a new master and was set free from the prison.

Sin was condemned and not us, so that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us. Verse 4. The righteous requirements of law cried death to any violator for the law. To atone these sins, God introduced the Old Testament animal sacrifice, so that the shed blood will atone the sins. But is Christ, in the blood He shed on the cross, every righteous requirement of law is fully met on our behalf.

With that taken care of, now we live not according to the old sinful nature, but according to the Spirit. In Spirit, we are empowered to live a life modelled by Christ, which on our own strength or the strength of law we cannot do.

Does this new life empowered by the Spirit mean anything to you?

Are you washed in the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross?

Can you say, there is no condemnation for you in the eyes of God?

Are you free in Christ?

Ponder these thoughts and questions in your mind and choose to live a life of freedom in Christ, free of sin and death.