The Power to Live Free of Sin

The key words in chapter eight are spirit and life revealing what will be emphasized as the letter continues. The term law is used indicating the power, control, and authority principle most dominating a person's life. Before being saved that principle was sin. After being saved that principle is the Spirit of God.

It takes death to be freed from sin. The power and control of sin is broken when faith is placed in Christ's death, burial and resurrection. The term law is used in reference to what the Spirit does in the believer's life through that faith in Christ.

The believer being in union with Christ by faith lives in a new realm of existence. It is the Spirit of God who gives the new life lived out in this new realm of Christ. Living in the realm of Christ is to be walking by the Spirit who is the new power, control, and authority in the believer's life. The Spirit dominates the new life, having freed the believer from the control of sin, and then leading the believer in pursuit of a life of righteousness and holiness.