The apostle Paul tells us in this great epistle of Romans of three laws that he faced in his life.
First, there is the law of God. Its commandments he found to be holy, just, good. But it had no power to save. It could bring condemnation; it could never bring deliverance from the bondage of sin.
Second, there is the law of sin and death. The law of God is good and holy, but it is outside of us, beyond our ability. The law of sin and death is inside us, and it is in direct contrast to the law of God. The apostle explained the conflict in personal testimony: “For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do (Rom. 7:18-19). But here in chapter 8 Paul goes on to tell us of a third law that triumphs over the law that is weak in that it cannot save and the law that is contradictory and hinders the believer’s desire to please God in a life of holiness and power.
The third law Paul calls the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. He opens this chapter of celebration in Romans 8 with a victory statement: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (8:1-5).
Most believers are acquainted with the first two of these three laws. They know that the law of God is good--it is holy, ideal and challenging. But its lack of redemptive power, its inability to deliver them from their dilemma (their bondage to sin) only adds to their sense of failure and frustration.
Back in Romans 7:9-24, Paul described the defeat and despair of Christians who have yet to discover the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. They come to the close of each day with a sense of having failed spiritually. As a revivalist, I meet them at the altars or after the services and hear their confessions: “I am dead, dry, defeated; there’s got to be something more to help me rise above my dilemma.”
