Does the phrase “requirement of the law” imply a return to the law of Moses as the covenant over us? Already, in the previous chapter, Paul has firmly insisted that Jesus’ death has caused us to die to the law. Since we have been released from the law, we are now married to a new husband, to Jesus, who was raised from death. The Spirit has inspired Paul to say,
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:6)
We serve in the new way, not the old way.
No, we do not serve in the oldness of the letter (Romans 7:6). The Spirit does not impose the written code of the law with its many details. (If He did, we would all return to Judaism’s priests, animal sacrifices and temple arrangements.) Instead, the Spirit fulfills in us His enduring principles that found expression in the law.
Actually, such principles existed long before the law. As an example, think about the sin of murder.
- Murder already was wrong when Cain thought of killing Abel. God warned him against it and punished it with a curse (Genesis 4:3-12).
- Murder was wrong before the flood when the earth was “filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11). The flood cleansed the earth of all such sinners.
- Murder was wrong after the flood when God pronounced this formal law about murder:
For your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image. (Genesis 9:5-6)
- Murder was still wrong when God said in the Ten Commandments, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).
- Murder remains wrong in the New Testament (Matthew 5:21-22; 15:19; 19:18; Romans 1:29; James 5:1-6; 1 Peter 4:15; 1 John 3:15).
Would you agree that the principle “murder is wrong” continues through all ages and all covenants? That principle’s most famous statement is in the Ten Commandments. Today, when we do not murder, we fulfill that requirement of the law of Moses (and also of previous laws long before Moses). But that does not suggest a return to slavery under the law (any more than it implies a return to systems before Moses). It simply means that the principle expressed by the law finds its best expression in Christ and in true Christians. Better than at any time in the past, all of the enduring good of the law can now be fulfilled. Why? Not because of our goodness, but because we now enjoy the righteousness of Christ Himself and the power of His Holy Spirit.