Verses 4, “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” Since Jesus' death, we are no longer under the law, but under grace. Rather than being slaves to sin leading to death, we are to be slaves to holiness with an expectation to bear fruit of righteousness. Verses 5-6, “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” When we profess to be followers of Christ, there must be evidence of our faith in Him. We know that faith without works is dead religion...which is useless. It does you no good in that it will not save you, and it does those around you no good because you aren't being an effective witness by saying one thing and doing another.
Verses 7-12, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet.' But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.” There is nothing wrong with the law, it is the human race that is flawed. Through Adam sin entered, and death as a result. It is our nature to do the things we are not supposed to do. Eve ate the forbidden fruit after God said they must not eat. Her desire to eat from that tree was manipulated by Satan, and she was deceived into disobeying God's command.
When we are told not to do something, it becomes the exact thing that we want to do. Verses 21-24, “I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Unless there is death, the law of sin is alive in us, which is why we are called to crucify our flesh. Baptism is a sign of our old man dying and becoming alive in Christ. But even saved, we struggle with doing what is right. Left on our own, there would have been no hope for us, but we have a Deliverer who will deliver us from the bondage of sin. What the law couldn't do, Jesus came in the flesh to do, which is why we owe Him everything.
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