Not Under the Law

Romans 8:1-4 – Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.  For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Why won’t the law work as a way of righteousness?  Because my flesh is weak.

Galatians 2:16-3:3:

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law (doing) but through faith (believing) in Jesus Christ (and what He did for us), that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law, since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.

My right standing with God is not based on me doing what is right; it is based on my faith in Jesus who did it for me.

Romans 5:18-19 – Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.  For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

I was made righteous by His obedience not my own.

Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Gal 3:3)

I was put in right standing with God not by doing but by believing; I am not perfected by doing but by believing and acting on what I believe.

WILL POWER IS NOT ENOUGH!

Romans 8 – …so that the commandment of the Law may find fulfillment in us, whose conduct, no longer under the control of our lower nature, is directed by the Spirit… by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body…

Galatians 5:22-25 – If we walk in the Spirit, the deeds or fruit we produce fulfill the requirements of the law.

  1. 16-19 – Walk by the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that you may not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

If we try hard to keep the law, or to fulfill God’s requirements or keep any other code of conduct, we produce the works of the flesh (5:19-21, 16-18; Romans 7:7-25) and find we cannot do what we want no matter how much we desire or how hard we strive at it.

We find ourselves to be under the curse of the law.

Galatians 3:10 – For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.

  1. 3:13 – Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

Galatians 5:3-4 – If you try to be justified by the Law, you automatically cut yourself off from the power of Christ; you put yourself outside the range of His grace, and you will end up in Romans 7.

Galatians 2:21 – I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.

Galatians 5:25 – If the Spirit is our source of life, let the Spirit also direct our course…  If you are guided by the Spirit, you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.  Those led by the Spirit are not under the law.

Romans 8:14 – For all who are moved by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

  1. 8:3-4 – 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.

Phillips:

Romans 1:17 – Salvation is a process begun and continued by faith.  The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall life by faith.

Galatians 3:3 – Surely you can’t be so stupid so as to think that you begin your spiritual life in the Spirit and then complete it by reverting to physical observances?

Romans 5:12 – Sin and death passed to all… and no one could break it, for no one was himself free from sin.  Death held sway… even over those whose sin was quite unlike Adam’s.  (Sin is not an act but a nature – not disobedience to a rule or law but an inward controlling force).

5:17 – For if one man’s offence meant that men should be slaves to death all their lives, it is a far greater thing that through another man, Jesus Christ, men by their acceptance of His more than sufficient grace and righteousness should live their lives victoriously.

…One act of righteousness presents all men freely acquitted in the sight of God.

…Just as He was raised from the dead by that splendid revelation of the Father’s power, so we too might rise to life on a new plane altogether.

8:13 – You cut the nerve of your instinctive actions by obeying the Spirit.

Romans 7:10 – The commandment intended to bring life brought death.

2 Corinthians 3:6The letter kills; the Spirit gives life.

John 6:63 – It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

Romans 7:7-13 – What shall we say then?  Is the law sin?  Certainly not!  On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law.  For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet.   But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire.  For apart from the law sin was dead.

I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.  And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.  Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.  Has then what is good become death to me?  Certainly not!  But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

Romans 5:20-21 – Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.  But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

  1. 17 – For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Galatians 5:16-18 – I say then: walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The law must be out of the way for us to effectively fulfill God’s requirements.

Romans 8 1-14 as well as the above passage in Galatians show the way out.

  1. 8:2 – The law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death (as described above).

6:14 – Sin shall not be your master because you are not under law but grace – (but if you try to life by law, try to live up to any kind of written code, even though you are under grace) sin will be your master.

7:6 – I am released from the law to serve in the new way of the Spirit not in the old way of the written code.

8:3 – God did what the law couldn’t do because of the weakness of the flesh.  He condemned sin in the flesh.  Any written code we try to live up to will come up against the problem of the flesh, the stumbling stone of the Gospel, trying to accomplish it by “doing” rather than “believing.”  It absolutely can’t be done in the flesh; otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die.

Galatians 2:19-3:3 – For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.  O foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?  This only I want to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Romans 8:4 – In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the flesh (even in trying to do right and live up to God’s requirements) but according to the Spirit.

  1. 8 – So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

8:10-16 – And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  For if you live according to the flesh (remember, this includes even trying to do good and fulfill God’s requirements by will power – Romans 7:10 2 Corinthians 3:6) 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.  For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

The body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.  He will give life also to my mortal body through His Spirit who lives in me.  Because of this, I have no obligation to do what my flesh wants.  By the Spirit I put to death the deeds of the body.  I am led and empowered in this by the Spirit of God.  And it doesn’t work through fear or guilt – only through a living relationship, a daily, moment-by-moment fellowship with God through his Spirit.  And as we received Jesus through faith, we live the life in the flesh through faith also.

It is not by trying to obey the letter of what God requires that I am able to do it.  The letter kills – because no matter how much I desire to do it, the flesh will always cause me to fall short.  The new way of life is accepting His full acceptance of me through faith and His blood and enjoying a living, daily relationship with God through His Spirit.

When an area of my flesh keeps doing what I don’t want, the way to fix it is to go to the Lord, expecting His wisdom and to be led by His Spirit in that living relationship as to what to do to put the flesh to death.  And He not only gives the wisdom but empowers me by His life inside of me, quickening my mortal body, so that I find the ability to finally do what I desire and He requires.  And faith makes this all work as in all our dealings with God.

Thank God, I am released from the law to serve in the new way of the Spirit rather than the old way of the letter!

Galatians 3:13 – Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law – the curse of not being able to continue in all the law, of not finding ourselves able to do what we want but instead doing the things we hate.

3:10 – For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.

Deuteronomy 27:26 – Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law.  And all the people shall say, “Amen!”

Jesus solved the weakness of the law – which was the flesh – by condemning sin in the flesh.  Now His requirements can be met in us who live according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4).

Romans 3: 20-22 – By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.  Now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, righteousness through faith in Jesus to all who believe.

Galatians 5:3-4 – And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.  You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

A Christian can live with Christ as having no effect on him.  How?  By relying on the law and trying to live by it, by trying to complete in the flesh the salvation that was begun in the Spirit through faith and should be completed in the Spirit by faith.  God’s whole plan works by grace through faith!  Any other way is doomed to failure.

Hebrews 7:18-19– For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God….

I have a better hope through which I draw near to God.  All the law does is make me more and more aware of how short I fall – and in turn, this separates me from God.  That God for His new way where I am welcome and invited to draw near through the blood every day of my life – whether I am having a struggle with sin, victory, whatever.

Purpose of the Law:

The purpose of the law is given in Romans 3:20; 4:15; 5:13; Galatians 2:16; 3:17, 19-27.

Romans 3: 20-22 – By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.  Now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, righteousness through faith in Jesus to all who believe.

Romans 4:15 – because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

Romans 5:13 – For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

Romans 7:5-11 – 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.  What shall we say then?  Is the law sin?  Certainly not!  On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law.  For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”  But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire.  For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.  And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

Galatians 2:16 – knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Galatians 3:17-19 – And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.  For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.  What purpose then does the law serve?  It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made.

Galatians 5:21-25 – Is the law then against the promises of God?  Certainly not!  For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.  But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.  But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.  Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Acts 15 – This is where a question came up of the gentiles having to obey the law.  What they came up with at the end is that they abstain from meat offered to idols (which was later allowed) and to refrain from immorality.

Matthew 22:35-40 – And one of their number, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him. Teacher, which kind of commandment is great and important (the principal kind) in the Law? [Some commandments are light—which are heavy?] And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. These two commandments sum up and upon them depend all the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:12 – Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

John 13:34 – A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

John 15:12 – This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

Romans 13:8-10 – Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery , You shall not murder , You shall not steal , You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Galatians 5:14 – For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

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