DEAD TO THE LAW

"Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." (Romans 7:1-4).

Devotion 13 of 17

NEWNESS OF SPIRIT VERSUS OLDNESS OF THE LETTER

Legalists are afraid to speak of the insufficiency of "the letter of the Law." They imagine that by so doing, the necessity for holiness is lessened. Nothing could be more distant from the truth! The deficiency of "the letter" of the Law is not found in the scope of information thereby made known. "The Law" was not "weak" because of what it said, but because of those to whom it spoke. It was, as the Spirit witnesses, "weak through the flesh" (Rom 8:3). The enormity of the principle of sin is seen in this; it weakened what was holy, and just, and good!

The first covenant was based upon human achievement, and remained unmoved until a "sure foundation" was in place. At the point the "new covenant" was inaugurated, the first one became "old." By this, we mean it began to vanish away as a basis for righteousness. This is expressly stated in the eighth chapter of Hebrews. The Spirit affirms the covenant promised by Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34) has been put into place. That covenant was instituted because the first one was not satisfactory. As it is written, "For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another" (Heb 8:7, NIV). Keep in mind, what was "wrong" with the "first covenant" was not found in its requirements, but in the people to whom they applied.

The new covenant, based upon the achievement of Jesus, includes marvelous provisions. Unlike the old covenant, the laws of God would be inscribed upon the hearts and minds of the people, not on tables of stone (Heb 8:10). This is another way of saying their nature would be changed--they would be "born again." Rather than having a heart contrary to God's Law, they would be harmonious with it. What a marvelous achievement!

Too, the people would, by nature, be the people of God, and God would be their God by choice (8:10b). Everyone in the covenant would have a living acquaintance with God--they would all "know Him" (8:11). This knowledge, or spiritual intimacy, would be experienced from the least to the greatest, the novice to the elder! Because of Christ's atoning death, God would "forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more" (8:12).

The existence of the new covenant is what makes the first covenant "old." As it is written, "By calling this covenant 'new,' He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear" (8:13, NIV).

What does all of this mean? It means believers now serve God as those who have been reconciled. They keep laws with which they agree, and which they love. They have a refreshing acquaintance with the Lord, for which they willingly abandon all competing interests. Their sins, even though they appeared monumental, have been cast into the sea of forgetfulness, and are remembered no more by the God to Whom they have been reconciled. Such people serve God on a different basis than that of Law. They are not basically wayward! They are a "new creation" in Christ Jesus, and the "old" for them has passed away, being replaced by the "new" (2 Cor 5:17).

We no longer come to God on the basis of "the old," or "the letter," as though we were under the old covenant--and were unreconciled. We serve the Lord with a new principle, the principle of life. We have been gloriously delivered from a system that addressed alienated people to one that addresses reconciled ones. Here is the Word of the Lord. "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter" (Rom 7:6 KJV).

Those who attempt to bind rules and regulations upon us, as though we had no heart for the things of God, are not our friends! With all of their secret tips to living, they have overlooked that the law of Almighty God is written upon our hearts! We "love" God's Law, and "serve" it with our minds--the essential us (Psa 119:97; Rom 7:25).

Serving God in "newness of Spirit" is not trying avoid what you want to do, but entering into what you really desire to do. It is being freed from the weight of a guilty conscience, and the wretchedness of a corrupt heart! If you speak to or lead the people of God, address them as those who have been reconciled to God! If they have deficiencies, appeal to them to approach God through Christ with the expectation of being received. Do not speak to them as though they were the enemies of God, dominated by wayward inclinations. Those that do such things only perpetuate spiritual mediocrity!

PRAYER POINT: Father, thank Your through Jesus for providing a way to Yourself that is filled with goodness and satisfaction, and has enabled me to be willing.

-- Tomorrow: THE LAW IS NOT SIN --