Our death with Christ is not a mere theological abstraction—it is the decisive liberation from the crushing burden of trying to earn righteousness through the law. God, in His wisdom, has united us with Christ in His death, and by this union, we have died to the law’s demands and to the tyranny of the sin nature. This is not a secondary matter; it is the very heart of the gospel and the foundation of our assurance before God.
I. Death with Christ: Freedom from the Law’s Demands
Before Christ, the law stood over us as an unyielding taskmaster, demanding a righteousness we could never produce. The more we strove to satisfy its requirements, the more we exposed the impotence of our flesh and the futility of self-effort. Paul’s testimony in Romans 7 is not the story of a man who needs to try harder, but of one who must die to the law entirely.
God’s solution was not to reform the flesh, but to crucify it. By joining us to Christ in His death, God has severed the law’s legal claim over us. We are no longer bound to serve under its impossible standard. This is not a license for lawlessness, but the only path to true righteousness—a righteousness that is not our own, but Christ’s, imputed to us by faith.
“For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.” (Galatians 2:19)
If we reject this death with Christ, we forfeit our freedom and return to a system that can only condemn. To insist on earning righteousness by the law is to deny the sufficiency of Christ’s cross and to place ourselves again under its curse.
II. The Spirit-Empowered Life: No Longer Living by the Flesh
Having died to the law and the sin nature, we are freed from the obligation to live by the flesh. The flesh—our natural capacity, our self-driven effort—can never produce what God requires. But now, the Spirit Himself indwells us, empowering a new kind of life. This is not a call to strive, but an invitation to rest in the finished work of Christ.
To live by faith in Christ is to acknowledge that all our righteousness is found in Him alone. The Spirit’s empowerment is not theoretical; it is the practical means by which we walk in newness of life, free from the endless treadmill of self-justification. We are not left to our own devices, nor are we suspended in uncertainty. The imputed righteousness of Christ is our daily confidence.
- Union with Christ: We have died to the law’s demands and the dominion of sin.
- Spirit Empowerment: The Holy Spirit animates and sustains our walk.
- Imputed Righteousness: Our standing is secure, not by works, but by faith.
- True Freedom: The burden of self-effort is lifted; we are no longer slaves to condemnation.
III. The Fruit of Liberation: Joy, Peace, and Assurance
This liberation is not abstract—it produces tangible fruit. Freed from the law’s condemnation and the futility of self-effort, we experience a life marked by joy, peace, and deep assurance in our relationship with God. The conscience, once plagued by fear and uncertainty, is cleansed. We are no longer haunted by the question, “Have I done enough?” for Christ Himself is our sufficiency.
Most crucially, this assurance transforms our approach to the Bema seat—the judgment seat of Christ. No longer do we shrink back in dread or uncertainty. We run to Him, confident that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). The Bema is not a tribunal of terror for the believer, but the place where Christ’s work in us is openly celebrated.
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1)
What Is Lost If This Truth Is Denied?
To deny our death with Christ as the basis of liberation is to forfeit everything essential to the Christian life. If we return to the law, we abandon the assurance of sonship, the inheritance of the saints, and the joy of a cleansed conscience. We exchange the Spirit’s empowerment for the futility of the flesh, and the certainty of imputed righteousness for the endless anxiety of self-examination. The gospel collapses into a system of works, and the finished work of Christ is rendered of no effect.
This is not a peripheral issue. It is the dividing line between the freedom of the sons of God and the bondage of religious striving. Let us not compromise: our death with Christ is our emancipation from every burden the law and the flesh could ever impose. In Him, we are free indeed.
Keywords: freedom from law, freedom in Christ, grace, law, liberty, righteousness
