God sets His child free from sin, both legally and practically. His child’s life, prayers and efforts are filled with the Spirit’s power. This is a major message of Romans chapters 6 through 8. Because of these truths, Romans 8:4 can speak of the “requirement of the law” being fulfilled in us who walk by the Spirit.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)
Christianity does not ignore the law’s enduring principles. Instead those principles are more than fulfilled through Jesus.
First, Jesus was the sacrifice that removed sin. God used Jesus’ death to condemn every sin of every person on earth. The rule that sin must result in death—as just discussed in Romans 7—no longer applies to those in Christ. Now there is “no condemnation” for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
Second, Jesus’ death released us into a new realm. We now live “in Christ” (Romans 8:1, 2, 39), which is to say a so, “in the Spirit” (Romans 8:9). In this better realm of freedom a new law applies—the law of the Spirit of life in Christ (Romans 8:2).
Third, the Spirit now works effectively in us to fulfill “the righteous requirement of the Law” (Romans 8:4). Our new relationship leads to new behavior.
- By the Spirit we put to death sinful activity (Romans 8:13).
- The Spirit leads us (Romans 8:14).
- The Spirit testifies to our true status as children and heirs of God (Romans 8:16-17).
- The Spirit empowers our prayers (Romans 8:16).