Released From Law's Bondage

November 6th, 2024
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Nov 6, 2024

Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

“But now” signifies a stark turn of events from the past to the present. Formerly, these Christians in Rome (indicative of Christians of all ages) were led by their flesh. Their fleshly desires brought them many sufferings. After all, every sin has earthly consequences attached to it. These Christians, prior to conversion, were continually led to break the Law which forbade these sins, yet at times they sought to keep the Law. Like all today, they thought that their occasional obedience to the Mosaic Law, or occasional obedience to state laws, would buy them favor with God in the end. Their lives, therefore, showed outward evidence through their “members” (arms, legs, eyes, ears, etc.) that they bore fruit for death even though they believed that their occasional obedience to the Law was somehow gaining them favor with God.

The transformed lives of Paul’s audience, along with Paul’s and all true Christians in every age, were different, for after coming to faith in Christ, all “have been released from the Law.” Once again, the verb tense is aorist (past, completed action) and the voice is passive where the subject of the sentence (believers) is being acted upon rather than doing the action itself. In other words, God alone acts upon believers to release them from the Law. As Paul later tells the Roman Christians (and all Christians of all ages), “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him” (Rom. 8:9). True Christians, therefore, “serve in the newness of the Spirit.”

Note the result of being released from the Law in v. 6, signified by the aorist participle “having died.” What all Christians die to is that which formerly “bound” them—Law. The verb “bound” is the Greek imperfect tense, signifying endless past action. This means that one’s birth into Adam’s sin (cf. 5:12-14), the original sin of humanity, is a birth into the captivity of sin—a bondage from which only God can grant release. Paul has already stated in his illustration of marriage (7:2-3) that death to the Law is the only way one can be united to grace in Christ. So, release from the Law’s bondage by God means death to the belief that works of the Law can save. The release from this bondage of false belief results in new service to God through the “newness of the Spirit,” no longer a legalistic service to God but one of loving obedience.

The verb “serve” (Gr. douleuō) in reference to the new service Christians give to Christ after being released from the bondage of the Law, does not describe the voluntary service of a laborer looking for work. All, of course, are free to pick and choose what they do and who they work for. Paul’s use of “serve” is one of slavery, referring to the service of a bond-slave. And a bond-slave had only one obligation: to obey and comply with the will of his master. The image, therefore, is of God setting captives free from Law, through faith in Christ, from one slave-owner (sin) to another (God). And the one set free through faith in Christ is now God’s bond-slave.

Food for Thought

The bond-slave’s new service to Christ, having been freed from the lie that obedience to the Law brings salvation, is in the “newness of the Spirit…not in oldness of the letter,” or OT Laws. To be sure, those laws still reflect the holiness of God and His standards for human behavior, but they are unattainable for salvation. The new way of service to God for Christians, even the way the saints of the OT served, comes from being led by the Spirit of God who leads His people down paths of righteousness. And since the Holy Spirit inspired the words of the men who walked with Christ and who penned the words of the Bible (2 Peter 1:20-21), the Spirit speaks through them explicitly. So we can read Scripture and know for sure who and what to obey.