Made Free from the Law of Sin and Death

"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2).

If I have in my hand a piece of steel and release my hold upon it it becomes subject to the law of gravitation and falls to the ground, nor has it any power in itself by which it can release itself from that law. But is there no way by which it can be set free from the law that holds it? There is. Bring the influence of a powerful magnet to bear upon it, and at once it is released from the law of gravitation by the operation of the law of magnetic attraction.

So, the whole bent of our fallen nature is downward, and the struggles described in Romans 7 prove that, no matter how strong our desires after the good, we have no power of ourselves by which we may release ourselves from the law of sin and death.

But a new power intervenes on our behalf: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. He is set on high as the object of our faith, having been raised from the dead. He is there also, as the object of our hearts, having borne all our condemnation in death, and as we turn from our sinful, wretched self to Himself we feel the upward pull of the mighty magnetism that is in Him. But there is in the steel a nature that answers to the magnet; formerly there was nothing in us that answered to Christ, but now, in the infinite grace of God, there has not only been given to us a perfect object for our faith and love in Christ Jesus, but a subjective state has been produced within us which answers truly and without variation to the attraction of Christ, as the steel to the magnet. This state has been brought about by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who, identifying Himself with believers, henceforward becomes characteristic of them so that to them it can be said, "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you."

The possession of a new life, and the power of it in the Spirit enables us to rise up out of the sphere of sin and death in which men are held as in the grip of a giant, to Christ, whom we love, and to the sphere of life of which He is the eternally blessed centre. Thus are we "set free."