Bible Studies

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"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:2


I'm sure there are more pleasant things to write about than sin and death but can there be anything more needful to sinners than to know and understand the consequences of a law that will condemn them if they are not set free from the penalty of that law?

God is Holy and just. He must punish sin and you and I have sinned. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

Now consider that "the law of sin and death" is none other than the ten commandments. Every man is under this law when he is born into this world. We are under a covenant of works. If our works are good and perfect then we measure up to God's standard but if we break even one of these commandments we sin and forfeit eternal life.

Every man must answer to God for every one of these broken commandments. The law is do this and live. Keep the commandments and you shall have eteranl life. Break them and you shall die. The death that God has in view is ETERNAL DEATH.

"For the wages of sin is DEATH; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

Have you tried keeping the ten commandments? It's not long before you realize that you are a miserable failure at this attempt. You may not have shed innocent blood and so you think you're innocent of murder but God teaches us that if you hate somebody in your heart you are guilty of murder already. Matthew 5:22

"Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." 1 John 3:15

Have you ever committed adultery? You may clear yourself of this charge by thinking you've been faithful to your dear wife and your marriage covenant but if a man looks upon a woman other than his wife with lust in his heart then Jesus says you've committed adultery already with her.

"But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Matthew 5:28

Now this is how Jesus defines the sin of adultery. By this definition I'd say most men are guilty before God. God looks at the heart and not just the outward act. Men look on the outward appearance but God looks deeper to the heart and thoughts and judges accordingly.

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Hebrews 4:12

You see God knows not only ALL our thoughts but He also knows our motivations. Since by nature we are all under the "law of sin and death" we are condemned and the wrath of God abides on us. Jesus said, only the pure in heart shall see God." Matthew 5:

Do we have pure hearts? No. Read what Jeremiah says about the human heart in Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

We must have pure hearts if we would be saved and yet this is impossible seeing that by nature our hearts are wicked and full of evil imaginations.

Now this "law of sin and death" is bondage to the unbeliever.
Take the most moral person you ever knew and put him or her under the right set of circumstances and push that person too far who is under the stress of financial or job, or health related pressures and you'll see somebody explode by sinful actions. Jesus never did but we do because we have it inside us to sin. Sin may lay dormant like a sleeping dog but at last it rises up with the right provocation breaks loose and snaps at its neighbors like a vicious animal.

One reason many have never realized their bondage to sin may be because they've never tried to get free of it. You may have wallowed like a pig in sin for so long that your conscience has become seared and your heart hardened so that you think you are no worse than others who do similar acts but God doesn't grade on a curve my friend. God's standard is His Holy law and by that law you shall be judged.

Let me illustrate how this bondage to the law works. Suppose there's a junk yard dog that is heavily chained. The dog is asleep and so he doesn't realize his bondage. Later we may notice the dog eating his food, still chained, but as the food is close to the kennel his chain is not a bother and the dog is thus still unconscious of his bondage. But suppose the owner of the dog, who, forgetting the chain, calls the dog. The animal leaps up like a coiled spring to reach his master. What happens? All his efforts are vain, and now for the first time this dog feels the restraint of his chain. It is the same with sin. Try to get free, and you feel your bond­age.

Before conversion a man thinks he is okay as he is. If he gets along with most people and stays out of trouble he thinks himself a good person until God's Spirit convinces him of his guilty, sin and misery by the righteous law of God.

The law is good if a man uses it lawfully. Tim 1:8. The right use of the law is not for justification "for by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified."

Yes, it is the law of God that shows us our sin and it is sin that God says brings death. Now it is plain from experience that nobody is perfect. Nobody can remain sinless but all have broken the law of God. What shall we say about this? Is the law sin? God forbid said Paul. "For by the law is the knowledge of sin." Paul said, he wouldn't have known sin but by the law: "for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thous shall not covet." Romans 7:7

Paul said "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." Romans 7:9

Every man thinks himself good for awhile until such time as sin breaks forth like a powerful stream of water breaking through the dam wall and the water gushes forth in every direction.

The law is like a dam in that it stops the flow of sin for a while until sin breaks forth vehemently. The law can not make us perfect but only reveals our imperfections. It restrains sin but can not stop it.

This is what caused the apostle Paul to cry out "Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this bondage of death." Romans 7:24

Paul felt the wickedness of his sin and rebellion and you must also or else you will continue to trust in your own self and own self-righteousness instead of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Christ kept the law perfectly and it is His perfect law keeping that we need imputed to our account in order to stand before a holy God on Judgment Day. If we have Christ's righteousness then who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Romans 8:33

Nobody.

The law of sin and death brings condemnation to all who are guilty of breaking any of the commandments. Romans 8:1 says
this condemnation does not rest on those who are in Christ Jesus. These are said to walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. To walk in the Spirit you must have the Holy Spirit because "if any man have not the Spirit he is none of His." "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Romans 8:9

Matthew Henry says of the "law of sin and death" involves "both the guilt and power of sin--from the course of the law, and the dominion of the flesh. We are under another covenant, another master, another husband, under the law of the Spirit, the law that gives the Spirit, spiritual life to qualify us for eternal. The foundation of this freedom is laid in Christ's undertaking for us, of which he speaks of which he speaks v. 3, God sending his own Son. Observe, When the law failed, God provided another method. Christ comes to do that which the law could not do. Moses brought the children of Israel to the borders of Canaan, and then died, and left them there; but Joshua did that which Moses could not do, and put them in possession of Canaan. Thus what the law could not do Christ did."

May we praise our gracious and merciful Father in heaven for sending His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver us from the law of sin and death by paying the penalty for all our sins and keeping the law perfectly so that we might not have to die eternally.

We can know our sins are forgiven if we repent and turn from all our sins and obey the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. Then and only then can we have a heart purified by faith and cleansed and ready to meet the Lord after we lay down these bodies in death.





Carlton Pruitt ministers the gospel to the Los Angeles area. Formerly a Hollywood actor (SAG member)and junk removal expert he now spends most of his time studying the scriptures, writing articles, hymns and poems and doing street preaching. See his videos on http://www.youtube.com Type LAStreetPreacher in the search bar. CONTACT at [email protected]

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