Released from the Law

I will say that this morning I was certainly not looking to learn about contract, but as should be known to me, God provides what we need and leads us down the path He needs us to go.

As I read in Romans 7 this morning I am in the passage titled “Released from the Law”. Here Paul is lining out the law and how it pertains to the Christian. I was led here as I am studying the word “marriage” and verse two and three references the law of marriage as pertains to when one is released from that law, at death.

“²For a married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. ³Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.” – Romans 7:2-3 (ESV)

As I look into these verses, I see that the law is only really in effect as long as we are alive in this world. Of course I am speaking to the written law of this world. I am held to the law of the land that I am in. I am accountable to that law in all aspects.

But I am not, as a follower of Christ, only bound by the law of the land. I was released from the law of the land when Christ died for my sins and I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. With my salvation, I died to the world and am living the life with and according to Christ.

“⁶But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” – Romans 7:6 (ESV)

I have written on these verses a couple of times before and with those, I have written the following in the margin of Bible:

“Our Christ-like actions do not require the written law to be in line with the right thing.”

What a statement of fact as to being released from the law. I am to be focused on following the lead of Christ and in doing so I will be acting at a rate that is greater than the law of the land. In doing so, I should have extremely minimal difficulties with the authorities as pertains to the law of the land. If I do something that is contrary to the law of the land, but in doing so maintain the law of God, then I have done nothing wrong in the eyes of God. I am still accountable to the law of the land I live in, but accept that freely as I know that ultimately I have obeyed the law of God and that is the law for which I do not wish to be released.

I am bound by the law. Which law is determined by where I find myself. If I am of this world, I am of the law of this world. But as a follower of Christ I have been released from the law of this world, thanks to the death and resurrection of Christ and am now bound by the law according to God.

What laws are you finding yourself bound to? Are you holding on to the law of the land? What if you accepted the salvation provided by Christ and lived as released from the law of the land to follow the law according to God?