Sanctification – Not Under the Law but Under Grace

by Mike Ratliff

¹ουδεν αρα νυν κατακριμα τοις εν χριστω ιησου ²ο γαρ νομος του πνευματος της ζωης εν χριστω ιησου ηλευθερωσεν σε απο του νομου της αμαρτιας και του θανατου ³το γαρ αδυνατον του νομου εν ω ησθενει δια της σαρκος ο θεος τον εαυτου υιον πεμψας εν ομοιωματι σαρκος αμαρτιας και περι αμαρτιας κατεκρινεν την αμαρτιαν εν τη σαρκι ⁴ινα το δικαιωμα του νομου πληρωθη εν ημιν τοις μη κατα σαρκα περιπατουσιν αλλα κατα πνευμα (Romans 8:1-4 WHNU)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4 ESV)

Those who hold to a from of Christianity that does not honor God and His holiness by their downplaying the necessity of walking in repentance have abandoned humble obedience in favor of self-focused license. I saw a video of some of Brian McLaren’s unbiblical teachings all given one after the other. He has a problem with Penal Substitution. He wants Christians to believe Romans 8:1, but ignore Romans 8:2-4, which explains what Christ did for His people at the Cross and why this is the only way it could be done. This is the danger of ripping scripture out of context. For a proper understanding of Romans 8:1-4 we must also understand Romans 7:1-25.

The first thing we must understand about the nature of God’s Law and our salvation is found in Romans 7:1-6, which explains that Christians have been released from the Law.

Or do you not know, brothers–for I am speaking to those who know the law–that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, 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. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But 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 7:1-6 ESV)

The KJV renders v1 as, “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?” The phrase “hath dominion over” is the Greek word κυριευει. This refers to jurisdiction. No matter how serious a person’s crimes have been, he or she is no longer subject to prosecution or punishment after death. That is why if find it so strange when I read of King Charles II of England, once he was established as king, having Oliver Cromwell’s body dug up and decapitated in revenge for his father’s (Charles I) execution. Also, the Roman Catholics of the 15^th Century had John Wycliffe’s body exhumed, excommunicated, and burned for the crime of publishing a Bible in English. In any case, Paul uses this analogy of a woman’s release from marriage to one man when he dies to show us that Christians have been released from the Law because they have died in the body of Christ. This releases them all from the law from κυριευει them. Why? They belong to another, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has been raised from the dead. This dying in the body of Christ and being resurrected unto this new life in Christ enables Christians to bear fruit for God. They are now enabled to serve in the new way of the Spirit instead of in the Law.

The second thing we must understand about the nature of God’s Law and our salvation is found in Romans 7:7-13, which explains that the Law convicts both unbelievers and believers of sin.

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. (Romans 7:7-13 ESV)

God’s Law teaches us what sin is. Through Paul’s example, we see how insidious the sin that lives within is when we try to keep God’s Law. This enemy within deceives us into believing we should expect life from keeping of the law. This lie tells us that we are acceptable to God because of our own merit and good works. Instead, God’s Law reveals to us His standard of holiness and righteousness and that we are completely incapable of conforming to it. This is why it is critical to preach both the Law and the Gospel together. This is used by God to plow the heart, revealing the truth about our lostness and utter depravity in light of God’s good and perfect Law. Then, as this conviction takes hold, we share the Good News.

The third thing we must understand about the nature of God’s Law and our salvation is found in Romans 7:14-25, which explains that it cannot deliver a believer from sin.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:14-25 ESV)

I had a seminary student berate me one day in a Christian bookstore as we discussed this passage. He was very upset with me for my stance that this passage describes a genuine believer’s desire to obey God’s Law while hating their sin. He was sure it described an unregenerate person. The following is an excerpt from The MacArthur Bible Commentary pp. 1527-1528.

Some interpret this chronicle of Paul’s inner conflict as describing his life before Christ. They point out that Paul describes the person as “sold under sin” (v. 14); as having “nothing good” in him (v.18); as a “wretched man” trapped in a “body of death” (v. 24). Those descriptions seem to contradict the way Paul describes the believer in chapter 6 (cf. vv. 2, 6, 7, 11, 17, 18, 22). However, it is correct to understand Paul here to be speaking about a believer. This person desires to obey God’s Law and hates his sin (vv. 15, 19, 21); he is humble, recognizing that nothing good dwells in his humanness (v. 18); he sees sin in himself, but not as all that is there (vv. 17, 20-22); and he serves Jesus Christ with his mind (v. 25). Paul has already established that none of those attitudes ever describe the unsaved (cf. 1:18-21, 32; 3:10-20). Paul’s use of present tense verbs in verses 14-25 strongly supports the idea that he is describing his life currently as a Christian. For those reasons, it seems certain that chapter 7 describes a believer. However, of those who agree that this is a believer, there is still disagreement. Some see a carnal, fleshly Christian; others a legalistic Christian, frustrated by his feeble attempts in his own power to please God by keeping the Mosaic Law. But the personal pronoun “I” refers to the apostle Paul, a standard of spiritual health and maturity. So in verses 14-25, Paul must be describing all Christians—even the most spiritual and mature—who, when they honestly evaluate themselves against the righteous standard of God’s Law, realize how far short they fall. He does so in a series of four laments (vv. 14-17, 18-20, 21-23, 24, 25).

I agree with this. I have found that my own personal journey to the Celestial City on the narrow, difficult, straight way can be agonizing at times as I see how far I am from the standard of God’s Law. I struggle with humility. I struggle with covetousness. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life all attack me. Because of this, I deeply desire to be free from this body of death and be in the presence of my Lord. However, then I read Romans 8:1-4.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4 ESV)

Paul makes it clear that the requirement of the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The main verb in v4 is “fulfilled.” This is the Greek word πληρωθη. This describes a filling to a full complement, as a net with fish in a completely satisfying way. In other words, this fulfillment of the righteous requirement of the law left nothing undone. There is a participle in this verse as well that is dependant upon this verb. It is περιπατουσιν and is translated in the ESV as “who walk.” It is in present tense and active mood. This means that those who walk according to the Spirit as a way of life, that is with continuous or repeated action, are the same ones in whom God’s righteousness is fulfilled. On the other hand, those who walk according to the flesh as a way of life prove that they are not genuine Christians.

To fully understand what this is saying we must look back at Paul’s entire exposition of our Sanctification, which started in Romans 6. Paul’s personal example in Romans 7 is a very special help to us my brethren because the righteousness in 8:4 is that imputed to all who are in Christ, manifests itself in those who possess it in their walking according to the Spirit. However, as we saw in Romans 7, even Paul felt entirely inadequate in his own Sanctification. This is part of it my brethren. I am convinced that our Sanctification will never bring us to a place of self-satisfaction or to a place of believing that we have attained to ultimate perfection. No, that is not for those in these bodies of death.

Soli Deo Gloria!