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The central theme of this song is the contrast between two ways of living before God:
The main scripture is Romans 7:6–7:
> “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in *newness of the Spirit* and not in *oldness of the letter*.
> What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COVET.’”
> — Romans 7:6–7 (NASB)
Here is the core of the message:
The song accurately reflects this:
> “Now we can serve God,
> Not in the old way of the written law,
> But in the new way of the Spirit,
> For we have died to the power.”
This is not a minor adjustment to our religious life. It is a complete change of realm. It is passing from one regime, one government, one principle of living, to another. From the realm where the law exposes sin but cannot deliver us from it, into the realm where the Holy Spirit empowers us to serve God from the heart.
Paul is not teaching lawlessness. He is teaching a new way of obedience—Spirit-empowered obedience, flowing from inner transformation rather than external pressure.
“Scripture interprets scripture.” So we begin with the text itself, and then we allow the rest of the Word of God to illuminate this “new way of the Spirit.”
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Romans is Paul’s great exposition of the gospel. By the time we reach Romans 7, he has already established:
In Romans 6, Paul says:
> “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
> — Romans 6:14
Immediately this raises a question in the Jewish mind: If we are not under law, what is the place of the law? Is the law bad? Is it sinful?
Romans 7 is Paul’s careful explanation of:
1. The real function of the law.
2. Why the law cannot produce righteousness in fallen man.
3. How we are released from the law *as a system* in order to belong to Christ.
In Romans 7:1–4, Paul uses the illustration of marriage. A woman is bound to her husband by the law as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is free to belong to another. Then he applies it to us:
> “…you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”
> — Romans 7:4
Notice:
Then, in verse 5:
> “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.”
The law, when encountered by sinful human nature, did not produce life. It produced increased transgression and death. Not because the law was bad, but because we were in the flesh.
Then Romans 7:6:
> “But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”
Paul anticipates the objection:
> “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be!” (Romans 7:7)
The law is holy. The problem is not the law. The problem is the flesh. The law exposes sin; it cannot deliver from it.
The song’s second verse reflects exactly this question:
> “What shall we say, then?
> Is the law sinful? Certainly not!
> Yet it was the law that showed me my sin,
> For I would never have known.”
That is the voice of Paul. The law is not sin; the law reveals sin.
So the historical setting is this: Paul, a former Pharisee, is explaining to Jews and Gentiles in Rome how the law, good as it is, cannot bring them into the life of God. They must move into an entirely new realm: the life of the Spirit through union with Christ.
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### 1. “Newness of the Spirit” – καινότητι πνεύματος
The phrase in Romans 7:6 is:
> “ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος”
> “in *kainotēti pneumatos*” – “in newness of [the] Spirit”
This is not an upgraded version of the old way. It is a different kind of life altogether. The law worked from the outside in—through “letter.” The Spirit works from the inside out—through life.
The song says:
> “But in the new way of the Spirit,
> For we have died to the power.”
That expression “new way” captures the idea of *kainotēs*—a different order of existence. We are not merely patching the old life with religious rules. The old life was crucified with Christ. We are walking in a new kind of life, animated by the Holy Spirit.
### 2. “Letter” – γράμμα (*gramma*)
In Romans 7:6:
> “…not in oldness of the *letter* (γράμμα).”
Paul is not despising written Scripture. He is contrasting:
This connects with 2 Corinthians 3:6:
> “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
The written commandment, confronted by sinful flesh, brings condemnation and death. The Holy Spirit, writing God’s will on our hearts, brings life.
When the song says:
> “Not in the old way of the written law,
> But in the new way of the Spirit…”
It echoes this contrast between *gramma* and *pneuma*, between external religiosity and internal transformation.
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### Verse 1
> “Now we can serve God,
> Not in the old way of the written law,
> But in the new way of the Spirit,
> For we have died to the power.”
#### “Now we can serve God…”
The key word in Romans 7:6 is “serve”:
> “…so that we *serve* in newness of the Spirit…”
The Greek word is δουλεύω (douleuō) – to serve as a bondservant, to be in slavery to someone. There is a shift of masters:
We must understand: salvation does not free us from serving. It frees us from the wrong master so that we may serve the right one.
Romans 6:22:
> “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome,
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