The last 4 verses in chapter 7 lead into the first verse of Chapter 8 which reads, 'there is therefore now . . . so we want to go back and say why is there therefore now . . . something.
Paul says, 'I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, that brings me into captivity of the law of sin with my members.' Skipping down to verse 25 he says, 'I serve the law of God with my mind, but the law of sin with the flesh.' There are just two laws he is speaking of here. 1)The law of God after the inward man and 2) another law in the body that wars against the law of God and brings him into captivity.
Then he throws up his hands and says, 'O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?' Notice this who. He is looking for a person. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? He didn't say what, as in what denomination, what ordinance, what ritual, or even what priesthood. He said who. We know who the deliver is. 'I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Sometimes we think the who is us. Ourself is going to deliver us from the body of death. How can a wretched man deliver? He can't. Then his conclusion is, 'with the mind he serves God, with the flesh he serves sin.'
In the next chapter, Paul shows the character of Christ. He calls Christ, in the likeness of sinful flesh. But there was no sin in him and because there was no sin in him, he could deliver us. The scripture does tell us that Christ became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. It's not that he sinned, but for us he became sin, meaning that he was a sin-offering, or a sacrifice for sin.
Going back to verse 1 of chapter 8. 'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ.' What does in Christ mean? It means to walk not after the flesh but to walk after the spirit. Most of us feel condemned by our sin and then we go through a repentance process to seek forgiveness. To not be under condemnation is something different than a repentance process. This is a relationship, that in this relationship there is no condemnation in Jesus. Here we are walking around repenting, thinking about ourselves. We are focused on what we are doing or what we are not doing instead of focusing on being in Christ or he in us through his baptism of the spirit. To be born of the spirit is what it means to be in Christ.
Suppose you are born of the spirit. What are your privileges and benefits in Christ? We turn to Psalms 103 to read our benefits. This is a Psalm of David, 'bless the lord O my soul, and forget not all his benefits who forgives all thine iniquities.' Forgiveness of sin is something that is because it has already been accomplished in Christ. When we come into union with Christ, we have forgiveness of sin.
We've been talking about the two laws. 1) the law of the spirit of life in Christ 2) The law of sin and death. The law of God or the law of the spirit of life in Christ has made me free. Free from what? Free from the law of sin and death. Somehow, we've got to get hooked up with this law of the spirit of life in Christ. And how do we get hooked up with that law of life? It has to do with a relationship in Christ. It has to do with being born of the spirit. It is an anointing as memorable as water baptism- only it is spirit baptism.
Jesus said, 'the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. And when it comes, you've got to stand fast in it. You've heard this scripture, 'stand fast in the liberty Christ has made you free.' Once you have been born again, stand fast in that spirit of life. Don't go back to old ways. You are now of the way! You are a disciple of Christ.
Okay, let's move on. 'For what the law. . .' what law are we talking about here? 'What the law of Moses could not do, in that it was weak in the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.' Paul is not saying that the law is unrighteous because the law was weak through the flesh; he is saying that whatever righteousness there was in the law is fulfilled in us by the spirit of life in his Son.
We are still fighting in the flesh but walking after the spirit. 'For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh, they that are after the spirit mind the things of the spirit.' How many times have you heard someone say, 'mind your business!' What is our business? Our business is to walk after the things of the spirit. Our business is to not walk after the flesh. When we walk after the flesh it means that we are carnally minded, which is spiritual death. The carnal mind is enmity against God. You know what enmity is? Hatred. Coming to yield to God is a war. You know this isn't just a bunch of words on a page. This is a mystery. This is the secret of the gospel of grace. We need to look at it with new eyes. This resonates with the scripture in Jeremiah 31:33. It's a new covenant promise. I will put my law into your mind and write it upon your hearts.
When we are in Christ, we are able to walk after the spirit because he has put his law into our minds and written it upon our hearts. In this way it becomes not something we do, but it is something he has done. Under the old covenant he wrote his law upon tablets of stone by the finger of God, and we are supposed to obey. Under the new covenant he writes his law upon your heart by the spirit of God, and we receive. Thus, walking after the spirit is possible because he put it into our heart. He put it into our minds. It's very similar to the scripture in Ezekiel 36:26. 'I will give you a new heart not after that old stony heart, but a new heart.'
So here we are walking around in the flesh repenting, a little bit, seeking mostly self-glorification, thinking of ourselves and how we can get advantage over someone or something instead of seeking and coming into union with Christ. We read earlier in Chapter 2 about the circumcision of the heart. Paul talks about this new covenant law that reveals the new heart by which we walk after the spirit and by which in Christ we are made free. It's not our repentance that has made us free. What has made us free already, is Christ!
We are not able to make the switch from old covenant to new covenant law and the reason we can't is because of our ignorance of biblical teaching of the new covenant law. So here we have right in front of us, and yet we are blind to it, the words of life. Paul said to the Jews, what is your advantage over the Gentile? And his answer was that you have the oracles of God, you have the written word; you should believe because you've got all the promises that were made under the old covenant that point to Christ. But they couldn't see it, they were in unbelief and so many today are in the same place.
What do you need to do? If you'll just start reading the Epistles, that's the instruction manual to those who are in Christ. The Book of Acts is that period of transition for the early church. The Epistles are the instruction manual on how to come to Christ. It's just so important.