Romanos 8:2

‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and of death.'

Here we have an explanation of the deliverance by ‘Jesus Christ our LORD' in Romanos 7:25. It was wrought by ‘the law of the Spirit' (paralleling ‘the law of my mind' - Romanos 7:23), ‘of life in Christ Jesus'. As a consequence of the ‘law (effective power, principle) of the Spirit' acting upon him in contrast to ‘the law (the effective power, principle) of sin', Paul (‘me') has been ‘made free'. He had found himself ‘brought into captivity by the law of sin in his members' (Romanos 7:23) at those times when ‘his flesh' caused his members to serve the law of sin. But now he is seen as being ‘made free from the law of sin and death' as a result of the work of ‘the Spirit, of life in Christ Jesus'. He is partially ‘made free' from his captivity to it at the present, although sadly discovering that sin will go on seeking to make him captive, and sometimes succeeding. But best of all he will one day be made free from it totally at the resurrection (Romanos 8:11). ‘Has made me free' has in mind the potential fulfilment of the hope (he will actually not be freed from the possibility of death until the resurrection). Thus the imparting of Christ's life by the Spirit potentially annuls the power of sin and death. In consequence his ‘serving of the Law of God with his mind' (Romanos 7:25) results in his members serving the Law of God, with him in his higher nature in the main fulfilling it (no one, not even the most righteous, fulfils it totally for its demands are too high for someone who still has within them the fleshly disposition), although sometimes failing because of the flesh. Note the addition of ‘death' so as to contrast with ‘life'. The struggle between what was spiritual and what was fleshly (Romanos 7:14) still continued.

‘Of life in Christ Jesus.' It is through His life, imparted to us through our response of faith, that we are made free. As we have seen this is the theme of the whole of Romanos 5:1 to Romanos 8:4 (and indeed beyond), that ‘life' or ‘eternal life' has come to us through our LORD Jesus Christ. See Romanos 5:10; Romanos 5:17; Romanos 5:21; Romanos 6:4; Romanos 6:8; Romanos 6:11; Romanos 6:23; Romanos 7:4; Romanos 7:24 (by inference). Paul knows that the law of sin and death within him has been countered and defeated by the law of the Spirit through the power of Christ's death and resurrection, something Paul had already experiencing to some extent, and wanted to experience even more (Filipenses 3:10). But the final triumph of ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' will take place when our mortal bodies are ‘made alive' by Him Who raised Christ Jesus from the dead (Romanos 8:11).

‘The law of sin and death.' Some have sought to equate this with the Law of Moses, but in a passage where the Law is described as ‘spiritual' (Romanos 7:14) and ‘holy and righteous and good' (Romanos 7:12) it is hardly likely that Paul would call it the law of sin and death, and the Law is never said to kill (see Romanos 7:13). It is sin which takes advantage of the Law so as to kill (Romanos 7:11). Indeed in Romanos 7:23 the Law of God is seen as in opposition to ‘the law of sin in my members'. How then can it be identified with it? Thus this does not refer to the Law of Moses.

Note that it is at this stage that Paul ceases to speak autobiographically and again reverts to ‘us'. He has not openly included the Roman Christians in Romanos 7:14 to Romanos 8:2, he has left it for them to consider the matter in the light of his own experience, but he certainly wants to include them openly in the final conclusion.