True Freedom from the Law

In the last message I tried to explain what a law is in general, and also what the difference is between a written law that is put upon man from without, and a living law that reigns in man from within. And in doing so, I hope you could see why the written law of Moses is called “holy, just, and good” by Paul in Romans chapter 7, but also why the same author could say that the Mosaic Law was “weak because of the flesh,” and “unprofitable” because it made nothing perfect. 

The written law was holy, just, and good because it described (in words, commandments, and ceremonies) the righteous nature of God, and the holy relationship that men were to have with Him in Christ. But it was weak and unable to make men perfect because (as Paul says in Galatians 3:21) it could not give to man what it described. It couldn’t impart the LIFE of righteousness that it pointed to in every “jot and tittle.” Shortly in this series we are going to see that the coming of that LIFE and POWER of righteousness is called grace, and we’re going to spend time talking about how grace comes, where it comes, and what it does. “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) But before we get into that, it seems important to talk a little more about the relationship between the law and flesh.

Remember, before there was a written law, there was a law of God’s life and nature and will. This law wasn’t rules or commands that were put upon things from without. It was the unchanging nature and will and love of God governing from within. All things aligned with it. All things obeyed it willingly and happily. And because of this, all things manifested and glorified the goodness and beauty of God. 

It was only AFTER angels and men broke away from the law of God’s life and nature and will, and began to live by another law (the law of sin and death) that God added an outward law of commands and ordinances, with types and shadows and ceremonies representing all that man had lost, and all that God desired to restore. Paul says, “The law was added because of transgressions until the Seed should come.” And this law was added principally for these two reasons: First, to uncover, manifest, and condemn the law of sin that worked and reigned in the heart of fallen man; and second, to point fallen man to the Seed of the Woman (Gen 3:15), the righteousness of God, who is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Galatians 3:16 “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.”

So one of the primary functions of the written law was to manifest and condemn the law of sin and death that reigned in fallen man. In a sense you could say that the law, with all of its written rules and requirements, pointed a finger at multitudes of evil actions, behaviors, thoughts and desires, and said “That is contrary to the nature and righteousness of God!” It pointed at uncleanness, perversion, injustice, selfishness, pride of all kinds, and said, “That is against the law of God’s life!” It was a little like shining a flashlight on an infection or sore on the body, and then saying “I have located a disorder! I have found something wrong, something that shouldn’t be there!” This is the nature of the relationship between the outward law of God and the nature of sin. It has to be that way, because the one is a description and a requirement of God’s righteousness, and the other is the cancer-like self will of fallen man, which is called sin. And this is why, in 2 Corinthians 3:9, the law is called a “ministry of condemnation.” 

The law was a ministry of condemnation because it could not help but condemn sin. In Romans 7:7 Paul says, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law.” In verse 13 he says, “So that sin, through the commandment, might become exceedingly sinful.” In Romans 5:20 Paul says, “The law entered that the offense might abound.” 

Now it is important to understand that this relationship between the law of God and the nature of sin does not suddenly disappear just as soon as a person believes in Jesus. I say this because people today often speak as though they have nothing to do with the condemnation of God’s law, simply because they call themselves Christians, or because they were born after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. 

It is certainly true that God has made a NEW covenant with man through the blood of Christ, and that our relationship with God is no longer taught as rules written on stones, and outward types and shadows and ceremonies that depict spiritual things. It is true that this new covenant involves a union with the Spirit of God through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a new relationship with God in His Spirit, where we can live by His Spirit, walk in His Spirit, and experience the law of the Spirit of His life fulfilling in us the righteous requirements of the written law (Romans 8:2). This is all true and important. HOWEVER, if, after believing in Christ, we continue to walk in the flesh—or perhaps it’s better to say—to whatever measure we continue to walk in the flesh, the law of God that manifests sin is STILL going to point its finger to all forms of sin and uncleanness and say, “THAT is contrary to the life and nature of God! I have located a disorder! Here is something that must die.”

It is true that in the New Covenant grace has come through Jesus Christ, and we’re going to talk about what that grace is and what it does. But one thing that grace does NOT do is change God’s righteous standard, or somehow reconcile God to what is contrary to Him. Sin is sin whether you were born in the days of Moses, or whether you were born in the 21st century. And the righteous law of God that manifests sin is going to continue to manifest sin until “the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:2). In other words, the righteous finger of God is going to point to all things that are contrary to Him, until everything in us has been joyfully brought back under the original law of His perfect life, nature, and Spirit. But wherever a man continues to live in the flesh, there the law still has authority to expose and condemn. 

This, I believe, is exactly what Paul is saying in the first six verses of Romans chapter 7. 

Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Paul begins here by saying that the law has dominion over a man as long as HE lives. This is an important statement. As long as man continues to live his own life, in the flesh, the law retains its dominion, or its right to condemn that fallen, transgressing nature. Paul then compares the relationship between the law and man in the flesh, to the permanent relationship established between a woman and a man in marriage. Just as under the law a woman could not sever or set aside her marriage relationship to her husband, so too a person that is living in flesh cannot break free from the condemnation of the law, because the law has jurisdiction over them, and they are under its authority.

Now the law never dies. But the sinful nature of flesh can die. It can be crucified by the cross of Christ,  which is the power of God, and in that way the soul can be free from both flesh and its condemnation under the law. And this is precisely what Paul declares in the following verses.  He says, while we lived in the flesh, “the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law…” And HOW does he say we have been delivered from the law? “… having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” Do you see what he is saying? While we lived in the flesh, we were inescapably bound to the condemnation of the law. But now, by DYING to the flesh through the cross of Christ, the soul can be joined to Another and bear righteous fruit unto God.

Here’s the point: the only way to be free from the condemnation that is due to the sinful nature of flesh is by DYING to the flesh by the cross of Christ. It is not by being born in the 21st century, after the time of the Old Covenant. It is not by attending church, or merely believing in Christ’s outward coming, death and resurrection. Freedom from the condemnation of the law is by “dying to what we were held by.” It is by an experiential death to the nature that is (and always will be) condemned by the righteous law of God. 

And this is important to understand because so many Christians are trying to claim freedom from the law WITHOUT experiencing freedom from the nature that is condemned by the law. We want to say that the law was for another time and place, but it doesn’t really matter now. We want to say that the historical coming of Christ 2000 years ago did away with the law of God, and now it doesn’t concern us. But “the law has dominion as long as a man lives” in the flesh. The law has always been a “holy, just, and good” (Rom 7:12) description and requirement of God’s righteousness. And wherever or whenever it finds a man living in a contrary nature, that is, living in the fallen fleshly nature of Adam, it has every right to expose and condemn Him. 

And this is why, in the following chapter, Paul says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Rom 8:1) And that, “The righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Rom 8:4) And in verse 12: “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 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. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

We cannot throw off the law until we put off the nature that is condemned by the law. We cannot say that we are dead to the law until we are dead to the sin that is condemned by the law. So long as we are living in the flesh, finding our life and heart and home in the flesh, then we are still bound to the condemnation that is due to the flesh. And if, in this condition, we say we also love Christ, and are also married to Christ, and live by the law of the Spirit of His life, then I believe it is safe to say that there is a measure of adultery going on. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.”

It is a common thing to hear (or to sing!) that Christ has made us free. This is a wonderful truth, and one that I hope will be the genuine experience of every single believer. But let's make sure we understand what this means, and when and how and whether it applies to our condition. If you ask a Christian what exactly Christ has freed us from, many will say something to the effect that we are free from the law so that we can live our lives without fear of condemnation. But this is far from what the Scriptures declare. Christ has not freed us from the law so that we can live our own lives. Christ has freed us from our lives in the flesh (which were “held” and condemned by the law) so that we can live in His Spirit, free from slavery to sin.

Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” Free from what? Just what He says: free from slavery to sin.

True New Covenant freedom is not just a dispensing with Old Covenant rituals and rules and judgments against acts of rebellion. The freedom that Christ offers is a freedom from self and sin by living and abiding in His overcoming Spirit. Paul says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” But where the Spirit of the Lord is NOT, there man is still in his chains. 

And I believe all of this is clearly stated by Christ Himself in the famous Sermon on the Mount, where He says: 

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The law cannot ever be destroyed or abolished, because (once again) it is a written description or outward shadow of heavenly goodness and righteousness, given to man, and demanded of man by God Himself. Every jot and tittle of the written law illustrates, manifests, or requires something that is “holy, righteous, and good” (Rom 7:12). How could Christ destroy this? Why would Christ abolish this? Did God change His mind in the New Covenant about what righteousness is? Did God change His nature and no longer require such righteousness? No, nothing of the kind. Christ did not come to abolish the law, but to FULFILL it! 

But what does this mean? It means that Christ came to bring in, and to BE the righteousness described by the law. He didn’t come because God changed His mind. He came as the fulfillment of what God always had in mind. This is what it means to fulfill the law. The law described something, required something, and pointed to something. That something was the life of God, the righteousness of God, the love of God, the covenant of God, the wisdom of God, the purity of God. That something was Christ Himself. Fulfillment is not destruction, removal, or change. Fulfillment means that every jot and tittle of the law found its reality, realization, and consummation in the arrival of the living Substance. Once again, Galatians 3:19—“What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made.” 

This is a very silly analogy, but perhaps it will illustrate my point. Imagine that a young man has a very clear picture in his head about the woman that he desires to marry. And because he is so certain of what he wants, he fills a journal with all sorts of descriptions and sketches of exactly who she is and what she is like, and then begins to wait for her. In the course of a few years, several women are introduced to him as possible candidates for marriage, but after taking out his journal, and comparing them to what is written, he dismisses them as coming short of what he is expecting. But finally, after a long wait, he meets the girl of his dreams, marries her, and happily discovers that she is the living fulfillment of everything that he had ever written in his journal. 

Now, did the arrival of his wife in any way change his mind? Did it contradict or dismiss or abolish all that he had written in his journal? Of course not. It did not destroy his expectation, it satisfied it. It did not change his description, it fulfilled it. She was the arrival of the substance, the perfect realization of every jot and tittle that was written in his journal. 

In this way Jesus is the fulfillment, the realization, the satisfaction of the law. He didn’t change it, destroy it, or abolish it. He came as the very thing that it was describing in every word. He did not come to teach or provide a way for man to break the law, but rather to fulfill the law, by being filled with, changed and led by His Spirit of righteousness. This is what He meant when He said, “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men to do so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” In other words, this is no freedom to break the law. This is a freedom from sin so that we can fulfill the law. And in this way, “the righteous requirement of the law can be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

And it is for this reason that Jesus ends this section quoted above by saying, “unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” You see, the righteousness of the Pharisees was not the righteousness of the Substance, but just the righteousness of the description. It was the journal and not the wife. It was flesh trying to be holy with a book in its hand. But it was not the living Spirit of Holiness.

And this is why Paul says in Romans 3:21: “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed [testified to] by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God.” Do you see what he is saying? He is saying that the substance of righteousness, the nature of righteousness, the LIFE of righteousness has come apart from the description of righteousness. The wife has come, apart from the journal. And a few verses later in Romans chapter 3 Paul says, “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” Or we could say, “Do we then make void the journal through the coming of the wife? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish what was written in the journal.”

And I say all of this in order to return to my original subject, and to insist that the only way the law loses its right to condemn the sinful nature of flesh in man is according as the PERSON of righteousness, the fulfillment of righteousness, begins to live and reign in the heart. The law has dominion over a man as long as he lives in the flesh. And though it is most certainly true that Christ is the fulfillment of the law, merely saying this, or understanding this, or believing this fact, does not make us free from sin, or free from the reproofs, corrections, or judgments of the righteous requirements of God. Not one jot or tittle will pass from the law until all is fulfilled, and both Christ and His apostles tell us that that fulfillment must be experienced IN us. 

Yes Christ came outwardly. Yes Christ fulfilled the law outwardly. Yes the outward appearing of Christ—who was fully God and fully man—finished the work that God gave Him, offered Himself as a sacrifice, opened a door of redemption, and poured out His Spirit on all flesh. But the One who fulfilled all righteousness in Himself, must now become the fulfillment of all righteous in us. And this becomes our experience only as we put off the old man who grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and put on the new man, who is created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph 4:22-24)

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:3-4)