MSB ROM Chapter 7

Release from the Law

(Galatians 3:15–25)

Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know [the] law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? 2 For instance a married woman is bound by law to [her] husband as long as he lives. But if [her] husband dies, she is released from the law of [marriage]. 3 So then, if she is [joined] to another man [while her] husband is [still] alive, she is called an adulteress; but if [her] husband dies, she is free from that law [and] is not an adulteress [if she marries] another man.

4 

Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to [Him who] was raised from [the] dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5 For when we [lived] according to the flesh, the sinful passions [aroused] by the law were at work in our bodies, vvv vvv bearing fruit for death. 6 But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

7 

God’s Law Is Holy

What then shall we say? [Is] the law sin? vvv Certainly not! Indeed, vvv I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. vvv For vvv I would not have been aware of coveting if the law {had} not said, vvv“Do not covet.”[fn] 8 But sin, seizing [its] opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from [the] law, sin [is] dead.

9 

Once I was alive apart from [the] law; but [when] the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life [actually brought] death. 11 For sin, seizing [its] opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through [the commandment] put [me] to death.

12 

So then, the law [is] holy, and the commandment [is] holy, righteous, and good.

13 

Struggling with Sin

{Has} that which[fn] [is] good, then, become death to me? vvv Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what [was] good, so that through the commandment sin might become vvv utterly sinful.

14 

We know that [the] law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 vvv I do not understand what I do. For what I want [to do], vvv I do not do. But what I hate, I do. 16 And if I do what vvv I do not want [to do], I admit that the law [is] good. 17 In that case, {it is} no longer I who do it, but [it is] sin living in me [ that does it ].

18 

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but [I] cannot discover [how to carry it out].[fn] 19 For vvv I do not do [the] good I want [to do]. Instead, I keep on doing [the] evil vvv I do not want [to do]. 20 And if I do what vvv I do not want, [it is] no longer I who do it, but [it is] sin living in me [ that does it ].

21 

So [this is] the principle I have discovered When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in [my] inner being I delight in God’s law. 23 But I see another law [ at work ] in my body, warring against the law of my mind and vvv holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within vvv vvv [me].[fn]

24 

[What a] wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 I thank God[fn] through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with [my] mind I serve [the] law of God, but [with my] flesh [I serve the] law of sin.