“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2
There are basically two laws that govern the whole of creation, in particular since the fall of man. The first is the law of sin. Why is “sin” a law, an undeniable principle that governs the relationship between God and man, in particular if that law is unrestrained and not broken. What is this law of sin?
David, in Psalm 51, directs our attention to the nature of this law called sin. He writes: “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.” (v.4) Immediately, we see that sin is something against God, in opposition to God, in a flagrant contradiction to God. The fact that “sin” is a law, or dominating principle in the life, is very important to see and to grasp. Why? According to the Bible, sin has “wages,” results, fruits, and a very certain end. Why is this? It is because of the holiness of God, which is the total opposite of it in nature and in application in one’s life or existence. This can be seen in considering what the Bible calls the “goodness of God.” We discover in the first pages of the Bible that God was, is, and forever shall be, “good” in every aspect of His being. He cannot be otherwise, for it is not in His nature to be such. Man was created “good” in His very image, thus, there existed a true communion, or fellowship with God, there being absolutely no dissonance, no friction, no contrariness of thought, act, or disposition. God was holy in that goodness, and man was holy in the reception of that goodness.
When man fell, he did so because he sinned. He failed to meet the perfect standard of God, because he ceased to receive from God all that was good. The essence of sin is that one comes up short, or misses the mark, or target. It is a failure to believe, to receive. Isaiah describes it by writing, “…we have turned every one to his own way.” (53:6) The day that man sinned, he died, for he ceased to receive the life of God, and the fulness of His goodness. History would prove this fact, even to the point that the Apostle Paul would write thousands of years later: “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no not one.” (Romans 3:12) When man died because of sin, he ceased to receive the holy goodness of God, His very life. The wages of such sin would be suffering, and eventual physical and spiritual death. That is, unless Someone would come of his own volition, power, and holiness, and break the power of the law of sin, rendering it ineffective to enslave the soul. This great Emancipator who came did so out of love, and in perfect compliance and obedience to His Father. There would be in the eyes of God no other way for a lost man to be saved from slavery to sin, and the certainty of death, than by a perfect sacrifice for sin, and the provision, not only of a declaration of independence from sin, but the reception of a power infinitely greater than the downward, destructive pull of sin.
The second law in the spiritual life is that of the “Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) This law declares that the law of sin and death has been broken, making the redeemed, saved soul, free from the tyranny, and shackles of sin, and its consequences. It first declares that the saved sinner has died in Christ. Sin only controls that which is living, and not dead. But then this law of the Spirit, declares that the very power of God in Christ has come, to strengthen the sin-afflicted, scared soul, to rise up, and “shake off his guilty fears.” With eyes fixed on Christ, trusting Him alone, he goes freely forth.
Dear Father, Be our liberty today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.