Romans 7:22—8:4 reveals Christ as the Emancipator who by the law of the Spirit of life delivers the wretched man from the law of sin and of death. In 7:24, Paul cries pitifully, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” The answer to Paul’s question is presented in 7:25 and chapter 8. In particular, Paul says in 8:1-2, “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” Paul had no condemnation because he experienced freedom from the law of sin and of death by the law of the Spirit of life.
In 7:7-25 we see three laws. The first law is the law of God, which refers to the written law of God, the Ten Commandments (v. 22). The second law is the law of good in the believer’s mind, that is, in his soul, which derives from the natural human life, that is, from man himself (v. 23). The law of good is in our good human nature created by God; it always desires to do good according to our conscience, which corresponds with the God-created human nature, enabling us to know what God justifies and what He condemns (2:14-15). The third law is the law of sin in the believer’s members (7:23), that is, in his body, which derives from Satan, who as sin dwells in the believer’s flesh. This law is actually sin as a natural principle. Today modern scientists try to discover the natural laws or principles related to certain things. In the same way, nearly two thousand years ago, Paul used the word law in the way of a scientific principle to denote an innate principle of the natural realm. Therefore, chapter 7 reveals three laws: the law of God, which refers to the Ten Commandments; the law of good, which refers to the natural man trying to do good according to his conscience; and the law of sin which makes every law-keeper a wretched man in the body of death and a captive to the law of sin.
Romans 8 then unveils the fourth law, the law of the Spirit of life. With the Spirit of life, there is a living law. This living law is a living person, the Triune God processed in Christ and dwelling within us. The law of the Spirit of life is the Triune God in Christ who has passed through the process of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, and who has entered into us and become not only our life but also our law (vv. 2-3, 10-11, 34). This living person as the law of the Spirit of life frees us from the law of sin and of death in Christ Jesus.
Christ delivers the captive from the law of sin which is in his members. In 7:23 Paul says, “I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members.” Here the law of sin refers to the power to commit sin that arises spontaneously in man, causing man to become a slave of sin (John 8:34). Thus, man has become helpless and is controlled and manipulated by sin, doing many things against his own will. Romans 7:23 shows the warfare that occurs between the law of sin in the members of our body and the law of good in the mind of our soul. The warfare is absolutely a matter of sin in our flesh fighting against the good in our natural being; it is not at all related to our spirit or the Spirit of God.
Moreover, the law of sin, which is in the members of man’s fallen body, the flesh, constantly wars against and defeats the law of good in man’s soul, thereby making man a captive. The law of God always demands that we do good. Whenever the law of God demands us to do good, the law of good in our soul responds, trying to comply with the law of God. Whenever the law of good responds to the law of God and attempts to fulfill the requirements of the law of God, the law of sin in our flesh is aroused. When the law of sin learns that the law of good is responding to the law of God, the law of sin immediately rises up to war against and defeat the law of good and invariably captures us. Thus, we become a captive to the law of sin which is in our members. This is not a doctrine; this is our life-history.