Reading: Romans 8:1-11; Ephesians 1:3-14

In verse 4, Paul says that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.  The law was given to us by God and God is always righteous and good. It was because of our sinful flesh that the law could not bring us life, but only death. But now that we have received the Spirit of life and He lives in us and works in us, and now that we walk according to the Spirit, we are able to meet the righteous requirement of the law. Not because all of a sudden we can do what we could not do before. But because the Spirit gives us what Christ obtained for us. God gives to us what Christ obtained for us, and now it is our own. We can present it to God as our righteousness, and in us the requirement of the law is being met. Our sins are taken away, we received the complete obedience of Christ as if we did it ourselves, there is no reason anymore for us to be condemned. It is as if I had never had or committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me, if only I accept this gift with a believing heart. (LD 23)

So first Christ paid for all our sins, which we committed. Then Christ fulfilled all God’s commandments perfectly and gives it to us as if we did it. And now also we receive the Holy Spirit so that more and more we ourselves are going to do what we could not do when we were in the power of sin.

The Spirit set us free from the power of sin, and with that from the power of death; we are being made able again to do righteousness. To do works which are pleasing to God. We walk through the Spirit. That is a different life. A totally different way of life. We don’t continue in our sins anymore because we are freed from the power of sin. We are going to bear the fruits of holiness.

That is what God has chosen us for and that is what He redeemed us for: to be holy for Him. In Ephesians 1:4 Paul writes:  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

And in Titus 2:14 we read about Jesus Christ: who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

And Paul already wrote in chapter 7:4 : 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. And in verse 6: 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.

Walk in the Spirit. We no longer do what our sinful heart and our sinful desires want us to do. We don’t listen to them anymore but now we do what the Spirit tells us to do. The Bible teaches us what the will of God is and how to live. The Bible is the tool with which the Spirit works. Faith is worked by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word. But now that we have faith, the Holy Spirit continues to work in us through the preaching of the Word.

In 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul writes that All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.. 

For a Christian there is never an end to reading the Bible and learning new things. When the Spirit works in us and leads us on the way of life, then every day we can discover new things and see new sights. Then more and more we start to understand the riches of God’s grace.

It really is a miracle, the law of the Spirit of life. A miracle that we may believe. It is all the work of the Holy Spirit in us. At the same time, it is also our own desire, more and more, so that we are going to want more and more what the Spirit is working in us. That is what is so beautiful with the law of the Spirit of life.

The law of sin and death is all misery. We know what God’s will is, but we don’t do it, and there is no hope for us. But the law of the Spirit of life is, that the Spirit works in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure, as Paul says in Philippians 2. Through the Spirit it is going to be our desire to do what is pleasing to God. And then we may know that God will provide us with all that is good.

There is now no condemnation for us. We don’t need to fear. None will condemn us now! Christ Jesus, He Who died- yes, rather Who was raised – sits at His Father’s side and intercedes for us; He will forsake us never.