The Law

“The law is spiritual, but I am carnal . . . .” Rom. 7:14. There is a common, widespread belief that the law is something evil, something to preferably be liberated from as quickly as possible. But the Scriptures say that the law is holy and the commandment holy, just, and good. Rom. 7:12. When a person wants to be set free from what is holy, just, and good, it is evident that they love what is profane and unjust more than the holy and just law that passes judgment over such a life and way of living. However, those who are unjust and ungodly will never be set free from the law and its curse, because it was given precisely for their sake.

The only way we can be freed from experiencing the law as a law is to become as holy and just as the law. Then its judgment is taken away, and we ourselves become a law. But this does not happen instantly. We died to the law (to its curse) through the body of Christ (Rom. 7:4), but we did not die to the spirit of the law—the spirit that is holy, just, and good. The law is the will of God, which could never be fully carried out because of the weakness of the flesh—the indwelling sin. However, what the law could not do as a law, “God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh.” Rom. 8:3. God made Christ like us in order to thereby destroy sin in the flesh. After we have been united with Christ in the body of His flesh, we are set free from the curse of the law, and we become partakers of the law of the Spirit. The purpose and goal of this law is to destroy sin in the flesh, or in other words, the destruction of the body of sin. Rom. 6:6. The law in the body of Christ made a way directly into the sanctuary. When we become partakers with Christ in this law, sin will also be attacked in our mortal flesh. We share with Christ in His sufferings, and our inner, sinful nature is constantly delivered into death so that the life of Christ can be manifested in our mortal flesh. During this entire inner process within the body, the curse of the law is taken away. We have come under the law of Christ, and its purpose is to open a new and living way through the veil—that is, His flesh. Within this body is a vast land; there is so much room in the person of Christ that we can walk in Him.

There are those who claim to be free from the law as soon as they find that the condemnation in their conscience has been taken away. People even believe that they have come to a place where Romans 7 no longer applies to their life. They have renounced it, claiming that from now on, they will be found in Romans 8. If we examine this a little more closely, we will find that the reason they make this deduction is because they “feel” like they have been freed from the “curse of the law.”

However, are we perfect once the curse of the law has been removed? Even though we can have a perfect attitude, this does not mean that our life is perfect. When it comes to running in this race, I don’t think it would be easy for us to keep up with Paul; but even he had to say that he had not yet attained, nor was already perfected. Phil. 3:12. Even though his conscience was pure and free from the curse, he was not perfect. And if he was not perfect, then neither were all his works perfect. But if works could be found in him that had to be judged as imperfect, they must have been rooted in something. Since they could not have been rooted in the Spirit, they must have been rooted in sin in the flesh. Thus Paul could have a pure conscience even though neither his works nor his life were perfect. However, I do not believe that Paul loved the works he did that were not according to God’s will. No, he hated them. By the grace of God, I also have tasted of the gift of the Holy Spirit, but in spite of that, I frequently do things that I hate. Why do we hate them? Because of the light of the Spirit. If I do what I hate, then I agree with what Paul writes in Romans 7. Some people might say, “I never do what I hate.” What a miserable state to be in. May God free us from such deception. A humble person will always find something to judge in themself. Even Rom. 8:13 expresses it in this way: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

What are these deeds of the body that must be put to death by the Spirit, which we continue to experience even though we find ourselves in Romans 8? How do they work? The deeds of the body that are described in Romans 8 are explained and laid out in Rom. 7:23. “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Both you and I are taken captive by the law of sin in our members, and we frequently do things that we absolutely did not intend to do. These are referred to as “deeds of the body,” which are to be put to death by the Spirit. Because of the weakness of the flesh, we were unable to stop them before they came out; therefore, we must put them to death after they have come forth. These deeds of the body must not be confused with the works of the flesh, which are manifest sins. Gal. 5:19.

If I do what I hate—what I do not want to do—it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I hate it and God hates it, so we agree on that point. Therefore, there is no condemnation for these deeds—as long as we put them to death by the Spirit. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” I do not cling to the deeds of the body. On the contrary, I put them to death; therefore I am free. All sin in the world comes through lust. When lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. This sin leads to death and must not be confused with the deeds of the body.

“Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” Ps. 32:2.