Romans 7:4 – Dead To the Law By Christ

Romans 7:4

^“4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God” (NLT).

We are dead to the power of the law. Isn’t the law good? Yes, but “And the strength of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56). The law has no power to help me overcome. In fact, it empowers me to sin. The law just provides punishment for violation. The law is impossible to keep. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3).

^“24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Galatians 3:24-25). The purpose of the law was to show us of our sinful nature. Jesus made it even more impossible to keep when He went from actions to thinking a violation of the law.

Doesn’t the law restrain us from sin? Does 65 miles an hour on a sign keep you from going 70? Does the death penalty keep people from murder? Does the 6^th commandment prevent murder? The law only pronounces guilt and punishes. The Old Covenant law has been replaced by the New Covenant built on a whole different system.

^“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). It can’t be said any more clearly. We are not under the bondage of the Old Covenant law. We are set free from the law of sin and death. We are no longer under the schoolmaster. We are now children of God. We are truly free.

That means we are free to bring forth a harvest of good fruit. We are free to allow Jesus to work His love through us to a world which seriously needs to know Him.