The Believer's Freedom from the Law of Sin
Jabez Bunting, D. D. Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. I. THE LEADING TERMS OF THE TEXT. 1. By the "Spirit of life" we are here to understand the Holy Ghost. Men are spiritually dead; the animal and intellectual life remains; but the spiritual life — the life which connects man with, and qualifies him for the enjoyment of God — was extinguished by the fall, and can only be restored by the "Spirit of life." And hence we are said to be "born again" of the Spirit. And as it is His office to restore spiritual life, so He maintains it. All "good" comes from Him and depends on Him. 2. He is called "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." Because — (1) We are indebted to Christ for the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is owing to Christ's meritorious sacrifice that we are enabled and entitled to receive the Spirit. (2) It is the office of Christ to dispense the Spirit. From His "fulness" it is that we are to "receive grace upon grace." II. THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS. By this we are to understand the gospel, applied by the Spirit's power to the hearts of men. The gospel is often called a law — "The perfect law of liberty"; "The isles shall wait for His law"; "The law of Messiah shall go forth from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth." What law ever went forth from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth but the gospel? 1. A law is an enactment or command issuing from supreme authority, fully published and made known, and enforced by sanctions of reward to the obedient, or of punishment against the disobedient. This constitutes, when it is published or made known, the rule of action, the standard of character, and the ground of decision and judgment; this is law in general. The gospel answers to this general definition in every particular. (1) It is an enactment or command. It comes with authority. It is not a statement of historical facts, an exhibition of truth, a collection of promises only; it comes to us with authority, that the facts should be credited, the truths received, the blessings included in the promises sought by us; so it may be said of us that we are God's witnesses that the gospel is a "law." Where there is no knowledge of the gospel there can be no obligation to receive it; but the moment the gospel comes to a man, from that time it becomes binding upon his conscience, and it is at his peril if he neglect or disobey it. (2) It is enforced by sanctions; there is reward to the obedient, punishment for the disobedient. (3) It issues from the highest authority in the universe. (4) It is duly published and made known. Whatever may be said of the condition of those who live in the "dark places of the earth," generally speaking, at least, ignorance of the gospel among ourselves is wilful, and therefore criminal. (5) It constitutes the standard of character and the rule of decision. "God will judge the secrets of all hearts," says Paul, "according to my gospel." 2. But why is it called the Spirit's law? Because it is the instrument by which the Spirit most efficiently operates upon the understanding, the will, the conscience, and the character of the man. By, and with it, he operates with the force and the authority of a law, overcoming and reducing and governing the mind. The power that accomplishes the great work of regeneration is the power of the Spirit; but the instrument He employs is the "Word of truth." III. THE LAW OF SIN AND OF DEATH. 1. By this some understand the moral law considered in its application to fallen man, as the covenant of works. This law, when given to man innocent and holy, in the possession of Divine and spiritual life, was well adapted to his case. But when man became a transgressor, then that which "was ordained unto life" began to operate unto death. It is the "law of sin" to all the unconverted, its very object being to "make sin appear exceeding sinful." By the law is the knowledge of sin. Let a man apply it to his own character, and it will prove, to the conviction of his conscience, that he is a sinner; and, of course, wherever it proves sin it pronounces the sentence of death. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." 2. But others understand (and the general scope of St. Paul's argument is favourable to the opinion) the sinning principle in the nature of fallen man. Wherever this principle of unsubdued enmity to God and holiness exists in the heart, it will manifest itself in outward acts of sin. And these acts become habits, by repetition; and thus sin becomes master. There his law is "a law of death." Wherever there is sin in the root, there is death in the fruit; "the end of these things is death." "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." IV. THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE MAKES US FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH." 1. This is true of the law of sin and death, understood as the covenant of works, the broken moral law. It is in reference to this that the apostle seems to be speaking in ver. 1. Before they were "in Christ," they were condemned by the law for having broken it. But no sooner did they put their souls, by penitence and faith, into the Saviour's bands, than all the mass of transgressions and guilt which rested upon them was removed. And now "there is no condemnation," they are "made free from" the condemnatory demands of the moral law, from the curse of the covenant of works. 2. But true believers are delivered from the sinning principle which contaminates our fallen nature. "Sin shall have no dominion over you." V. PRACTICAL INFERENCES. The salvation of Christ is — 1. Of indispensable necessity. It is, in fact, "the one thing needful"; "our souls without it die." 2. A present salvation. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free." 3. That connected with satisfactory evidence of its existence. St. Paul does not speak as if he were at all doubtful; as if it were a business of mere conjecture or probability, of inference or anticipation. He had a consciousness of his freedom. 4. A personal affair. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free. (Jabez Bunting, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. WEB: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.