So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ … But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. Romans 7:4-6
“You also died to the law.” This sentence is past tense. It happens when we accept Christ. No longer do we live by the law—a list of rights and wrongs, we have been released from this legalistic way of living. Now, there are no rules, as Paul says, “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’?” (Colossians 2:20-21).
We no longer belong to the world. The reason we’re able to live a righteous life without rules is because we belong to Christ. “That you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead.” (Romans 8:4). Our behaviour is determined by who we belong to. If we’re committed to Christ we can live “in the new way of the Spirit” that is by being in tune with God’s spirit who writes his laws on our hearts.
Furthermore, Paul also points out that the rules of the world, “lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” (Colossians 2:23). There’s no sense trying to strengthen our inadequate will power. We don’t have the ability to live righteous lives without God’s enabling.
So let’s acknowledge that we belong to Christ and allow him to teach us the “new way of the Spirit.”
