The Believer Becomes Dead to the Law

If one is to come into real liberty in the Lord and be released from the futile striving to attain by his own effort what by faith he may obtain as God’s gift, he must apprehend this second reversal in his relationships. In light of his own experience, Paul expounds this truth quite fully in Romans 7. As a sinner, Paul tried to become righteous by keeping the Law of God. He had failed utterly and had come to Christ as his Savior that he might be made righteous in Him. But in Romans 7, as a saint, he tried to become holy by attempting to keep God’s Law in his own strength. He had learned that his own efforts could not save him, but he still had to learn that he could not be sanctified in that way.

The Law is holy and demands of man both perfect righteousness and perfect holiness, but it cannot give anyone the power to be righteous or holy. So, when one realizes the holy nature of God’s Law and its rightful demand for the holiness of life, the attempt is made to live such a life in one’s own strength. It is this that Paul is telling us in Romans 6 and 7 that we neither can do nor need to try to do. He tells us this in three different statements, each unfolding a distinct phase of this truth.

First, the saint in the new sphere is under a distinctly different regime from the sinner in the old sphere. He is no longer under Law but under grace.

Romans 6:14

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

Second, the believer has come under the regime of grace through his union with the Lord Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection. So now, under grace, he fully shares Christ’s relationship to the Law. In His incarnate life, Christ Jesus, as the representative Man, met every demand of the Law both for righteousness and holiness. In His death, as the sinner’s Savior, He met every claim of the Law for righteousness against the sinner, and in His resurrection, as the Head of the new creation, He met every claim of the Law for holiness against the saint. The Law has no further claim against the believer for righteousness or holiness, for every claim has been fully satisfied.

Third, the believer is, therefore, dead to the Law.

Romans 7:4

“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”

Galatians 2:19

“For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.”

It is the function of grace to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. It is the work of grace to undo the work of sin. Sin made us unholy; grace makes us holy. Grace always operates through Jesus Christ, who dwells within us in the perfection of His own holiness through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Does this not show us how needless and futile our efforts to compel ourselves to live well pleasing to God, to achieve victory over sin through good resolutions or willpower, and to live a holy life through legal bondage to certain principles or practices? The way of sanctification is as simple as the way of salvation. As Christ is our Savior, so He is our sanctification. Our part is to believe and to receive.

Holiness is a gift, and a gift is not “attained” but “obtained.” Christ Himself is our holiness. Holiness does not come as a result of “works” but is a “fruit.” Becoming “servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness” (Romans 6:22).

Becoming “dead to the law” does not give any Christian the license to sin; far from it. His death to the Law is accomplished only through his marriage union with the Holy One Himself so that he may “bring forth fruit unto God” and live wholly unto Him for one definite, distinct purpose. It is for the one purpose of enabling him to do the will of God in every department of his life.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for our salvation. You have fulfilled all that the law required of us. We are now dead to the law and free to live wholly to God.