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“Let us look at what the Word of God says.”
The central issue in this song is the *dominion* of the law and the way in which that dominion is brought to an end. The key scripture is:
> “Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?
> For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.
> Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.”
> — Romans 7:1–3 (ESV)
And then Paul sets the spiritual result:
> “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
> For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
> — Romans 8:1–2 (ESV)
The song summarizes Paul’s teaching:
> “The law has dominion,
> While we're alive,
> But when death comes,
> We're free to thrive.”
This is not a sentimental idea. It is a legal, covenantal reality in the spiritual realm. Paul is not playing with words. He is explaining how the cross of Jesus Christ legally releases us from the old dominion of the law, sin, and death, and brings us under a new dominion: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
The basic message is this:
### Who is speaking?
The apostle Paul is writing to the believers in Rome, a mixed congregation of Jews and Gentiles. In Romans 7 he addresses specifically those who “know the law” (Romans 7:1). Primarily this refers to Jews who knew the Mosaic Law, but also to Gentiles acquainted with the principles of law.
Paul has been unfolding, step by step, the gospel of righteousness by faith:
### The problem in Romans 7
Many believers understand they must be forgiven of sin. Fewer understand they must be freed from the dominion of sin. Even fewer recognize they must also be freed from the *dominion of the law* as a system of earning righteousness before God.
Paul uses a legal illustration from marriage to explain: a woman is bound to her husband by law as long as he lives. She is not free to belong to another man unless death intervenes. The law binds her to that relationship *until death*.
In the same way, the law has dominion over a man “as long as he lives” (Romans 7:1). The key is not the law dying, but *the person* dying. God’s law does not die. God does not annul His own righteousness. Instead, God terminates our old life in Adam through the cross of Christ, and thus the legal jurisdiction of the law over that old life comes to an end.
Romans 8 then shows the result:
This is the background against which the song’s central thought becomes clear: “The law has dominion, while we're alive, but when death comes, we’re free to thrive.”
### 1. “Dominion” – *Kurieuō* (κυριεύω)
Romans 7:1:
> “The law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.” (ESV)
Literally: “the law *lords it* over a man for as long a time as he lives.”
The verb *kurieuō* means “to be lord of, to rule, to have dominion, to exercise lordship.” It is related to *kurios*—“lord, master.” So we may say:
The law stands over the natural man as lord, demanding perfect obedience and pronouncing condemnation when that obedience is not rendered.
This deepens the lyrics:
> “The law has dominion,
> While we're alive…”
As long as we remain in our old, Adamic life—under the old headship—the law is our legal lord, and it cannot compromise.
### 2. “Law of the Spirit of Life” – *Nomos tou pneumatos tēs zōēs* (νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς)
Romans 8:2:
> “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
Here *nomos* (“law”) means more than “commandment.” It denotes a governing principle, an operative rule, like a law of gravity.
So we have two operative “laws” or “systems of rule”:
1. The old: Law → sin → death → condemnation
2. The new: Spirit → life in Christ → freedom → no condemnation
When the song says:
> “Free to live anew,
> In the Spirit,
> Our life is true.”
It points exactly to this new “law” or order of life in the Spirit. The believer does not become lawless, but comes under a *new* law: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
### Verse 1
> “Now, dear brothers and sisters,
> You who are familiar with the law,
> Don't you know the law applies
> Only while a person is living?”
Paul begins with “brothers”—believers in Christ—especially those “who know the law.” He assumes they *ought* to know this principle: that law applies only to the living.
This is a universal legal truth. Civil law does not pursue a man beyond his death. Once he dies, the jurisdiction of that legal system over him is finished. Paul applies this to God’s law.
Key implication: God does not release us from the law by relaxing its standards or calling sin by another name. He releases us by *ending the life* that was under its condemnation.
Romans 6:6-7:
> “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
> For one who has died has been set free from sin.”
And Romans 7:4 (the verse immediately after Paul’s marriage example):
> “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”
The logic is precise:
1. The law has dominion only while we live in the old nature.
2. God has arranged that our old man is crucified with Christ.
3. Therefore, we have *died* to the law with respect to that old life.
4. Thus, the law’s lordship over that life is ended.
The song echoes this: “Don't you know… the law applies only while a person is living?” Paul rebukes ignorance here. Many believers still relate to God as though they were under the old system: constantly under threat of condemnation, trying to satisfy a law they can never fulfill in their own strength.
### Chorus
> “The law has dominion,
> While we're alive,
> But when death comes,
> We're free to thrive.”
This chorus expresses the core gospel principle concerning law and grace. The pivotal event is *death*. Not our physical death at the end of life, but our judicial, covenantal death in Christ.
Romans 6:3–4:
> “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
> We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead… we too might walk in newness of life.”
We must see:
This is the only basis on which we are free to “thrive”—to bear fruit, to serve God in the new way of the Spirit, not in the old way of the written code (Romans 7:6).
Romans 7:6:
> “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the *new way of the Spirit* and not in the old way of the written code.”
### Verse 2
> “For example, by law,
> A married woman is bound
> To her husband as long as he lives,
> But if he dies, she's released from the law.”
Paul uses concrete marital law to illustrate. The woman is not free to be joined to another man while her husband lives. If she does, she is an adulteress. But when death occurs, her legal status changes completely. She is “released from the law” concerning that relationship.
Spiritually, Paul’s application is:
Important to note: Paul does not say the law died. He says *we* died to the law. The law remains holy, righteous, good (Romans 7:12). But it no longer stands over us as a condemning covenant head.
Romans 7:4 renders the analogy explicit:
> “So, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, *so that you may belong to another,* to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”
You cannot belong to two husbands. You cannot be under two covenant lords. Either:
The purpose is “that we may bear fruit for God.” Real fruitfulness—what the song calls “free to thrive”—only comes after this death to the old relationship.
### Chorus Repeated
> “The law has dominion,
> While we're alive,
> But when death comes,
> We're free to thrive.”
Cross-reference with Romans 8:1–2:
> “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
> For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
Notice the parallel:
To thrive spiritually means:
### Outro
> “Free to thrive,
> Free to live anew,
> In the Spirit,
> Our life is true.”
This sums up Romans 7:6 and Romans 8:1–4.
Romans 7:6:
> “But now we are released from the law… so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit…”
Romans 8:3–4:
> “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son… he condemned sin in the flesh, *in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us,* who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Notice:
So our life “in the Spirit” is the only “true” life. It is the life of the risen Christ imparted to us by the Holy Spirit. We are no longer trying to achieve righteousness from the outside in; instead, the Holy Spirit produces righteousness from the inside out.
This is spiritual warfare as well. Satan is “the accuser of our brothers” (Revelation 12:10), and he uses the law as his weapon. He points to God’s holy standard and our failure, and he demands condemnation.
But when we understand Romans 8:1:
> “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”
we disarm the accuser. His legal ground is removed. We answer him not with our performance, but with our position: “in Christ Jesus,” under the law of the Spirit of life, not under the law of sin and death.
This truth must move from theory to experience. There are clear steps we must take.
### 1. Acknowledge your death with Christ
First, we must accept as fact what God says: that our old man has been crucified with Christ and that we have died to the law through the body of Christ.
Romans 6:11:
> “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
We do not *feel* dead. But God’s Word declares it. Faith begins by agreeing with God’s verdict.
Proclamation of faith is vital. Say, out loud if possible:
You are aligning your mind and your words with God’s legal reality.
### 2. Renounce self-righteousness and legal striving
Second, we must consciously renounce every attempt to earn righteousness by the law, by rules, by religious effort in our own strength.
Galatians 2:19–20:
> “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
> I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…”
Serving God “in the flesh”—under law, in self-effort—produces one of two things:
Neither is the life of the Spirit. We must repent of this legalistic posture and accept that righteousness is a gift of grace, received by faith in Christ alone.
### 3. Yield to the Holy Spirit as the new law of your life
Third, we must submit to the Holy Spirit as the new governing principle—the “law of the Spirit of life.”
Romans 8:5–6:
> “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
> For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
Practically, this means:
The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you (Romans 8:11). He is the power of the new life.
### 4. Proclaim your freedom from condemnation
Fourth, we must actively resist condemnation. When accusations arise—from your own conscience, from other people, or from satanic attack—you must stand on Romans 8:1–2.
Say:
This is part of the “shield of faith” (Ephesians 6:16) by which we quench the fiery darts of the evil one. Many believers live crippled because they do not resist condemnation; they agree with it. You must break that agreement and make a new agreement with the Word of God.
### Proclamation
Say this aloud, thoughtfully, as an act of faith:
> “Through the death of Jesus Christ, I have died to sin and I have died to the law.
> The law had dominion over me only as long as I lived in my old life in Adam.
> My old man was crucified with Christ.
> I have been released from the law, having died to that which held me captive.
> Now I belong to another—to Jesus Christ who has been raised from the dead,
> that I might bear fruit for God.
> I am no longer under the law of sin and death.
> The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free.
> Therefore there is now no condemnation for me, because I am in Christ Jesus.
> I choose to serve God in the new way of the Spirit,
> free to thrive, free to live anew,
> and by the Holy Spirit the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in me.
> This is my position; this is my inheritance; and I receive it by faith,
> in the name of Jesus. Amen.”
### Prayer
“Lord Jesus Christ, I thank You that on the cross You took upon Yourself the full weight of the law’s curse and condemnation that I deserved. I thank You that through Your body given for me, I have died to the law and to sin’s dominion.
Father, I confess that many times I have tried to serve You in my own strength, under a spirit of legalism and condemnation. I repent of trusting in myself, in my efforts, in my attempts to keep rules to earn Your favor. I renounce self-righteousness and every false yoke of bondage.
Holy Spirit, I welcome You as the new law of my life—the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Write God’s Word on my heart. Empower me to walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Teach me to stand in the truth that there is now no condemnation for me in Christ.
I ask You, Lord, to make these truths real in my experience: that I have died with Christ, that I have been released from the law, and that I now belong to the risen Christ to bear fruit for God. Let every accusing voice be silenced by the blood of Jesus and by Your Word.
I thank You that in Christ I am free to thrive, free to live anew, in the Spirit, in true life. I receive this freedom now, by faith, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.”
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