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"Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body" (Rom. 6: 12).
"Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace"
(Rom. 6: 14).
In these passages we have the operation of the law of sin and death, a law that has
dominion over every one that is "in Adam", a law that reigns in the "mortal body", a law
that is "in the members". Until "this mortal puts on immortality", the presence of that
law of sin and death will be felt. We are not yet freed from its presence or its influence,
but we are freed now from its condemnation. This present freedom is a blessed
anticipation of that future "freedom of the glory of the children of God" when the spirit of
adoption shall give place to actuality, and the members of this mortal body, which have
been the seat and medium of sin, shall be laid aside for ever.
If the "law of sin and death" is that dominion and reign of sin brought in by the
offence and disobedience of Adam, the "law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus" which
sets us free is that reign of grace made possible by the "one righteousness" and the
"obedience of One" Who bears the titles of "The Last Adam" and "The Second Man".
We have already set out the references in Rom. 5: and 6: to the law of sin and death that
issued in our condemnation; we must now set out, in contrast to this, the glorious law of
the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that issues in our freedom from condemnation:--
"The judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto
justification" (Rom. 5: 16).
"By obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Rom. 5: 19).
"Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Christ Jesus our
Lord" (Rom. 5: 21).
In I Cor. 15:, where death and immortality are in view, we read: "The first man,
Adam, was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a life-giving Spirit" (verse 45).
Here, in the risen Christ, we find the "law of the spirit of life". "In Adam" all die; the
law of sin and death operates, and condemnation is inevitable. "In Christ" all are made
alive; the law of the spirit of life operates, and acquittal from condemnation must follow.
It almost seems that God has so worded Rom. 8: 1-4 that there shall be no
possibility of intruding the thought of the believer's sanctification, for the apostle
immediately follows with another explanation. Verses 2 and 3 both commence with the
word "for":--
"FOR the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death" (Rom. 8: 2).
"FOR . . . . . God sending His Son . . . . . condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8: 3).
We are not left in doubt as to the meaning attached to the word "free" in Rom. 8: 2.
In various forms, the word occurs in Romans seven times:--
"Being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (Rom. 6: 18).
"When ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness" (Rom. 6: 20).
"But now being made free from sin" (Rom. 6: 22).