When we are delivered from the power of sin, we no longer serve sin as slaves. Romans 6:6 says that “our old man has been crucified with Him...that we should no longer serve sin as slaves.” Since our sinning old man has been crucified and has died with the Lord Jesus, we are spontaneously freed from sin and no longer serve sin as slaves (Rom. 6:6-7). We escape the penalty of sin through the Lord’s vicarious death on the cross; we are freed from the domination of sin through our co-death with the Lord on the cross. Hence, the Lord’s cross has delivered us and set us free from these two aspects of sin.
When we are delivered and set free from the power of sin, we are also set free from sin. Romans 6:14 says, “For sin shall not lord it over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Sin lords it over man through the law, for without law sin is dead, but when the law comes, sin revives (Rom. 7:8-9). Before we were saved, the more we tried to keep the law by ourselves, the more we sensed that sin was lording it over us, making it impossible for us to be freed from its power. After we are saved, the Lord’s salvation causes us to have the divine life, to be joined to the Lord, and to be crucified with Him. Therefore, we no longer keep the law of God by ourselves, but we enjoy the grace of God by the divine life. Thus, we no longer live under law but under grace, and sin can no longer lord it over us. Hence, we are delivered from the power of sin—we are freed from sin (Rom. 6:14, 18, 22).
One reason that God gave the law was to guard His chosen people until Christ came (Gal. 3:23). When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, come of a woman, come under law, that He might redeem those under law, that they might receive the sonship and become the sons of God (Gal. 4:4-5). Therefore, Christ’s redemption has redeemed us not only out of the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13) but also out of the custody of the law, bringing us into the divine sonship to enjoy the divine life and obtain the real freedom.
We were also under the domination and bondage of the law (Rom. 7:1-2). However, Christ has brought us with Him into His death on the cross that we might die to the law. Hence, we are discharged from the law and are not required to answer to the law any longer. This is because the law lords it over a man only while he lives, but when he dies he is freed from the domination of the law. Furthermore, Christ has also brought us with Him into His resurrection that we may receive His life and enjoy God’s grace forever. Hence, we are not under law but under grace (Rom. 6:14); that is, we are not being controlled under law, but we are enjoying freedom under grace.
Christ has set us free from the bondage of law, that is, from the yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 says, “For freedom Christ has set us free;...do not be again entangled with a yoke of slavery.” Freedom here denotes freedom from the slavery of law. We were under law, entangled with a yoke of slavery, the bondage of law. Through His redeeming death and life-imparting resurrection, Christ has set us free, delivering us from the enslaving yoke of the law that we may enjoy freedom.
Since we have been set free from the enslaving yoke of the law, we are no longer slaves but sons (Gal. 4:7). As slaves under law, we were without freedom. But when we receive Jesus, the Son of God, as our Savior, the Spirit of God’s Son comes into us to impart the divine life to us and make us the sons of God. Hence, we are no longer under law as slaves to ordinances, bound by letters; we are under grace as sons in life, enjoying freedom in life. This freedom includes liberation from obligation, that is, liberation from the obligation of the law and its ordinances, practices, and regulations; satisfaction because of an adequate supply and support; true rest; and the enjoyment of Christ, the enjoyment of all that He is. Since we have such a freedom, we are no longer under any kind of enslavement, much less under the domination of law.
God’s salvation sets us free not only from the law and its bondage but also from the labor and burden of the law. In Matthew 11:28 the Lord Jesus says, “Come to Me all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” This promise was spoken especially to those who were trying to keep the law. The labor here refers in particular to the labor of striving to keep the commandments of the law and religious regulations, and it also refers to the labor of carrying out any work and responsibility. Whoever labors thus is always heavily burdened. The Lord is calling this kind of people to come to Him for rest, that is, to enjoy rest by being set free from labor and burden under the law and religion or under any work and responsibility.