From Romans: The Indwelling Christ and the Law of the Spirit
Orientation
The Christian life often feels like an inner war between what we know is right and what we find ourselves doing, leading to frustration and a sense of captivity.
- We delight in God's law in our inner man, yet feel a different principle at work in our members.
- This conflict produces a sense of wretchedness and a cry for deliverance.
- This is not a sign of failure, but a divinely orchestrated crisis meant to bring us to the end of self-reliance.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:22-24)
— Romans 7:22-24
Clarification
This inner conflict is not resolved by trying harder or by better self-discipline, but by a higher, liberating principle.
- The 'law of sin' is a dominating principle of failure, not just individual bad actions.
- The 'law of the mind' agreeing with God's law cannot overcome the law of sin, creating the crisis.
- Deliverance comes not from within ourselves, but from a new source of life operating in us.
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)
— Romans 8:2
Structure
The believer's life is governed by the systematic principle of union with Christ in His death and resurrection.
- We are united with Christ in His death; our old man was crucified with Him.
- We are united with Christ in His resurrection, raised to walk in newness of life.
- This union is the foundational reality that makes us a new creation and defines how the Christian life operates.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (Romans 6:4-5)
— Romans 6:4-5
Weight-Bearing Prose
Paul’s revelation in Romans 6-8 presents the indwelling Christ as the answer to the crisis of Romans 7. The ‘law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’ is not a new demand but a new, higher operating principle. It liberates by virtue of what Christ is as life within the believer. This is the core of Pauline theology: our identification with Christ’s death and resurrection is not metaphorical but a real, legal union that changes our state. The old ‘I’ was crucified with Christ; the believer now lives as a new creation. This union answers fundamental questions: it distinguishes the Church (the Body of Christ) from Israel, explains Christ’s present heavenly ministry as our life, defines salvation as liberation from the law of sin and death, and shows justification as the basis for this participatory union. To miss this is to reduce Christianity to self-effort and law-keeping, forfeiting the deliverance God has provided in His Son.
Integration
The tension you feel is not a sign you are failing. It is the necessary backdrop against which God reveals His deliverance. Your cry, ‘Who shall deliver me?’ finds its answer not in your resolve, but in a Person: the risen Christ dwelling in you by the Spirit. The law of the Spirit of life is Christ Himself operating as your life. Your assurance rests here, in His finished work and your union with Him. You are not called to manufacture this life, but to recognize it as your present reality. Christ is your righteousness, your sanctification, and your life. This is your anchor. The pressure is off; the deliverance is accomplished. Rest in the fact that He who began this good work in you is Himself the one who carries it to completion.