Prior to believing in the Lord, everyone is bound by the law. How can one break away from it? It can only be done through death. Once we are dead, we break away. God condemned sin in Christ’s flesh. We have died in Christ and broken away from the law. We are like the woman, and our flesh is like the husband. Once we are dead, we break away from the flesh. The requirement of the law, at most, is death. No matter how many sins a sinner has committed, the law can, at most, sentence him to die once. Once he is dead, everything is ended. Once we die, we break away from the law.

On the other hand, the verse says, “If the husband dies, she is discharged from the law regarding the husband” (7:2). This refers to severing our relationship with the law. Severing our relationship with the law is likened to death. The first part of the sentence emphasizes death; the second part emphasizes severing.

This section also shows us two pictures. One picture is that through the body of Christ, we are dead to the law and have completely broken away from it. On the day the Lord died, we died also. Therefore, we can say to the law, “I am not under the law.” The other picture is that now we can remarry. At one time the flesh was our master, but now we can remarry. Now we belong to the Christ who has resurrected from the dead, and we can bear fruit to God. Therefore, today no Christian is under the law.

If someone says, “We should keep the law; we should keep the Sabbath,” we should realize that if we attempt to keep one commandment of the law, we are saying that Christ did not die for us. We are overthrowing the work of Christ. Compare Romans 6:14 with 3:19. Romans 6:14 says, “For sin will not lord it over you, for you are not under the law but under grace.” This says that the believers are not under the law. Romans 3:19 says, “Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may fall under the judgment of God.” This says that the law speaks to those who are under the law. Since we are not under the law, the words in the law are not directed toward us.

Why did Paul write Galatians in addition to the book of Romans? The book of Romans tells us that sinners cannot be justified by keeping the law. Galatians tells us that saints cannot be sanctified by keeping the law. Sinners are not saved by doing good. But this is not all; saints cannot be sanctified by doing good. Just as we began through grace, we must be perfected through grace. We cannot be justified through faith and then try to become holy by keeping the law. Justification is by the Holy Spirit, and sanctification is also by the Holy Spirit. The way of entry is the way of completion. God only works according to one principle. Why can wool not be woven together with linen? (Deut. 22:11). Wool comes from the shedding of blood, while linen comes from man’s planting. What is done by God is God’s work; what is done by man is man’s work. God will not mix His work with man’s work.

What does “not under the law” mean? “Not under the law” does not mean lawlessness or ungodliness. The Bible says, “For sin will not lord it over you, for you are not under the law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). We are not under the law because we are under grace. Since we are under grace, sin cannot lord it over us. We should pay attention to this verse. Sin cannot have dominion over whoever is not under the law. However, we cannot be uninhibited to do anything we want to.

What does it mean to be “under grace”? Let us read Romans 11:6: “But if by grace, it is no longer out of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.” “Under grace” means we do not have to depend on our own doing. What does it mean to be “under the law”? It means we do it by ourselves. Yet the more we try to do good, the more we cannot do it. Being under grace is having the Lord Jesus do it, while being under the law is doing it ourselves. To be under grace is for God to operate within us until sin can no longer be our master. To be under the law is for sin to lord it over us because we cannot overcome sin. If we are under grace, we have the grace of God working within us. Can sin compete with the grace of God? Of course not.

The Lord who died on the cross for us is living in us. The same One who bore our sins on the cross is now in us causing us to overcome sin. The law was but a command of God, but grace is God’s power. The law commands us to do something, but grace empowers us to do it. Not being under the law, but being under grace, means that the resurrected Christ is living in us and enabling us to overcome.

Christ is the end of the law because He has satisfied all the requirements that the law has on man.

First, Christ ended the law in His living. For the moment, we will not mention the Lord Jesus as God but consider Him only as a man. In the whole world, the Lord Jesus is the only man who has ever completely followed the law. There were none before Him nor any after Him who did this. He has such a qualification. He is the end of the law.

Second, Christ’s death ended the law. The ultimate, consummate requirement of the law is nothing other than death. Suppose a person breaks the law of the nation. He deserves death and is executed. Once this person is executed, the law of the land can no longer require anything more. The requirement of the law extends only up to death. Once a man is dead, everything is settled. The law says that those who do not keep the law have to die. The Lord Jesus died and ended the law.

The end means the final point. Once it is the end, what more can you add? What more needs to be done? Therefore, every Christian can thank and praise God that Christ has ended the law.
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