Devotionals

Why We Had to Die to the Letter of the Law

by Michael Edwards 
08/18/26
Free to Share

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

God set believers free from the law and caused us to die to it for a vital reason: the law could never save us or produce the life He desired. It was holy, but it was powerless against the weakness of our flesh.

Paul explains the problem clearly: “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3 NASB). The law exposed sin and stirred it up putting us under condemnation, but it could not conquer it. “But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead” (Romans 7:8 NASB). The more the law commanded, the more sin rose up in rebellion. Every sin committed under the law increased the condemnation we were under.

The law also brought a curse. “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them’” (Galatians 3:10 NASB). One failure placed a person under the full weight of condemnation. “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56 NASB). As long as we remained under the law of sin and death, sin retained its power to dominate and kill.

That is why God had to set us free, crucify our flesh with Christ. “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4 NASB). We died to the law so we could be married to Christ. “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:6 NASB).

The importance of this truth is enormous. Only by dying to the law could we be freed from its dominion and enter the New Covenant of grace. “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14 NASB). “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:2 NASB). Now there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1 NASB). Now the Spirit produces the fruit the law demanded but could never create: love, joy, peace, and all that fulfills the heart of God (Galatians 5:22-23 NASB).

8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. 9 For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law. Rom 13:8-10 NASB

God freed us from the law so we could live in the power of the Spirit, bear lasting fruit, and walk in the freedom Jesus purchased with His blood. The old husband is dead. We are joined to Christ. Stay in that freedom.

Many more New Covenant Bible Studies HERE. Jesus poured out His blood for the New Covenant of grace and truth, replacing the Old Covenant law of Moses. Believers are exclusively under the New Covenant, the last will and testament of Jesus that began after the cross. And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood." Luke 22:20