Being freed from the law does not mean ignoring the law

Romans 7:1-12

It is 1°C in Otaru this morning, and the sky is clear. It is a beautiful morning where the ridgeline of the mountains stands out remarkably. Even the weekly forecast shows only one day of snow. True spring is near.

Conflicts continue in various parts of the world. It is said that the impact on the economy and food supply may be felt in half a year. However, Christ did not teach us to hate our neighbors. I felt this deeply while reading today's passage.

What the metaphor of marriage tells us

Surprisingly, Paul begins chapter 7 with a metaphor of marriage.

"For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage" (7:2).

A wife is bound by the law while her husband is alive. But if he dies, she is set free. What does this point to?

"Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God" (7:4).

The old relationship with the law ended through the death of Christ. And the purpose is clearly stated here—to "bear fruit for God."

The purpose of being freed from the law is not to live as one pleases. It is to be firmly united with Christ and to bear fruit for God. Freedom is an invitation to a deeper union.

Is the law bad?

A natural question arises here. If the law brings bondage, is the law something bad?

"What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin" (7:7).

The law is not sin. The law is a mirror that teaches us about sin. If there were no commandment "You shall not covet," I would not have known that desire was desire. The law did not create sin, but it revealed sin as sin.

"So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good" (7:12).

The problem is not the law, but the sin that has crept into the gaps of the law.

It is different from ignoring the law

This is the one point that I have felt is most important in this passage of Romans. Being freed from the law and ignoring the law are completely different things.

The law is holy, righteous, and good. The commandment "Love your neighbor" is still alive. When world leaders brandish the logic that it is okay to "hate your neighbor," that is not freedom from the law, but an ignoring of the law. Christ has not given such freedom.

We have been set free from the bondage of the law. However, we have not been set free from the direction the law points to—love for God, love for our neighbor. Rather, in Christ, we are invited to move more deeply in that direction.

"But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." (7:6)

Not bondage to the old written code, but obedience through the new Spirit. This is the essence of liberation from the law. We do not keep the law out of fear, but out of love for Christ. That shift is what Paul is trying to convey.

A morning where the edge of the mountains stands out clearly under a clear sky. No matter how chaotic the world becomes, this direction remains unchanged.

[Prayer] Lord, please engrave the spirit of the law upon my heart today. May I use the freedom I have been granted to love my neighbor. Give me the strength to walk as a seeker of peace, even amidst the conflicts of the world. Amen.

*The Bible is quoted from the New Japanese Bible 2017. *This article was created using AI (Claude, Anthropic) with the author's perspective and editing added. The author takes final responsibility for the content.

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