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“Let us look at what the Word of God says.”
> “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)
The central theme here is the transition from the old way of the written law to the new way of the Spirit. The song expresses what Paul is teaching in Romans: the believer is brought into a new kind of service, a new kind of life, and a new kind of relationship with God—not by abolishing God’s righteousness, but by changing the power by which we live.
The lyrics declare:
> “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 superficial change of religious style. It is a change of covenant, a change of inner nature, and a change of spiritual government over our lives. It is the difference between bondage and liberty, between external compulsion and internal transformation.
Romans 7:6–7 raises three central questions that this teaching will address:
1. What does it mean to be released from the law?
2. What is this new way of the Spirit?
3. If we are released from the law, is the law sinful or irrelevant?
The entire spiritual life of the believer depends on understanding this correctly. If we misunderstand it, we fall either into legalism on one side or lawlessness on the other. The Spirit of God does not lead into either. He leads into the righteousness of God fulfilled in us (Romans 8:4).
The epistle to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul to a mixed congregation of Jews and Gentiles in Rome. Paul is dealing with a crucial problem: How are sinners made righteous before a holy God? And further: How do righteous people then live?
Chapters 1–3 show that all have sinned—Gentiles without the Law and Jews under the Law.
Chapters 4–5 explain that we are justified by faith, based on what Christ has done.
Chapter 6 explains that through union with Christ we have died to sin and risen to newness of life.
In chapter 7, Paul addresses a very specific issue: What is the relationship of the believer to the Law of Moses?
Romans 7:1–6 uses the illustration of marriage. A woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. When he dies, she is released and free to be joined to another. Paul applies this picture:
> “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
This is the backdrop of verse 6:
> “But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound…”
Paul is not addressing pagans without any knowledge of God. He is addressing especially those who had looked to the Law as the means of righteousness. There was a serious misunderstanding among some Jewish believers: they believed that Christ was an addition to Moses, rather than the fulfillment and culmination of Moses.
Paul is careful, however, to protect the character of the Law. The Law is not sinful. It is not evil. It is not the enemy. He anticipates the objection:
> “What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful?” (Romans 7:7, NIV)
> “Certainly not!” (Greek: mē genoito – “May it never be!”)
The problem is not the Law. The problem is sin in man, and the Law, though holy and good, exposes sin but does not deliver from sin.
So Paul places us in a threefold relationship:
1. The Law – holy, righteous, and good.
2. Sin – using the Law as an opportunity to condemn and inflame rebellion.
3. The Believer in Christ – dead to the Law as a system of relating to God, alive in the Spirit.
The song echoes these themes: the old way, the new way, and the internal work of the Spirit drawing our hearts.
### 1. “Released” – *katargēthēmen* (κατηργήθημεν)
> “But now we have been released from the law…”
> — Romans 7:6
The Greek verb *katargeō* means to render inoperative, to make idle, to put out of activity, to nullify the controlling power of.
Paul is not saying the Law is destroyed as if it never existed, nor that it is meaningless. Rather, its role as a binding legal authority over the believer has been rendered inoperative. The believer is no longer under the Law as a covenant system.
This is crucial:
So when the lyrics say:
> “For we have died to the power.”
This lines up exactly with *katargēthēmen*—we have been released from that which once held us as a legal power, a condemning authority, a system we could not fulfill.
### 2. “Serve” – *douleuō* (δουλεύω)
> “…so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”
> — Romans 7:6
*Douleuō* means to serve as a bond-servant, to be under someone’s authority. There is no neutral ground. In Romans, you serve either:
So Paul is not saying that in Christ we become independent. No. We are changed in whom we serve and how we serve. We are no longer slaves under a written code we cannot keep, but willing bond-servants under the Spirit’s life and power.
### 3. “Newness of the Spirit” – *kainotēti pneumatos* (καινότητι πνεύματος)
The word *kainotēs* does not mean “new” in time only, but new in kind, new in quality, of a different order. The “new way of the Spirit” is not just an updated version of the Law system. It is a different mode of existence.
The song’s phrase:
> “In the new way,
> Our hearts are drawn.”
accurately reflects the idea: this “newness” is heart-transformation, not mere rule-compliance.
### 4. “Law” – *nomos* (νόμος)
When Paul says:
> “Is the law sinful? Certainly not!” (Romans 7:7)
He is referring primarily to the Mosaic Law, especially in its moral dimension, including the Ten Commandments. In verse 7 he cites:
> “You shall not covet” – from Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:21.
The Law is God’s holy standard, but its role is diagnostic, not therapeutic. It shows sin; it does not heal from sin. This is central to Paul’s argument and central to understanding the song’s focus on the new way of the Spirit.
### Verse 1: “Now we can serve God…”
> “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 verse is a direct restatement of Romans 7:6.
1. “Now we can serve God…”
Romans 7:6: “…so that we serve…”
We were not previously free to truly serve God.
Only after death with Christ—death to sin and death to the Law—are we free to serve God acceptably.
Hebrews 9:14:
> “…how much more will the blood of Christ… cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
2. “Not in the old way of the written law…”
This is “oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:6). “Letter” refers to the external written code. It can tell you what is right, but it cannot supply the life to do what is right.
2 Corinthians 3:6:
> “…for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
The letter kills because it pronounces judgment without providing power. It declares what God demands, but does not enable you to meet that demand.
3. “But in the new way of the Spirit…”
This is “newness of the Spirit.” The Spirit does two things:
Ezekiel 36:27:
> “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes…”
4. “For we have died to the power.”
We died to the power of sin (Romans 6:2, 6–7).
We died to the Law as the controlling system (Romans 7:4, 6).
Sin used the Law like a weapon (Romans 7:11). The Law was good, but sin exploited it. When we die with Christ, that weapon is taken out of the enemy’s hand. The Law no longer stands over us as a condemning judge. In Christ, its righteous requirement is fulfilled in us (Romans 8:4), not against us.
### Chorus: “The Spirit leads…”
> “The Spirit leads,
> The old is gone,
> In the new way,
> Our hearts are drawn.”
This chorus reflects the core truth of Romans 8, which naturally follows Romans 7:
Romans 8:14:
> “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
#### 1. “The Spirit leads”
The Christian life is not self-directed moralism. It is Spirit-led obedience.
Galatians 5:18:
> “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.”
Notice the same relationship: to be led by the Spirit is to be not under Law as a condemning system. The Spirit does not lead you into sin; He leads you into the righteousness that the Law described but could not produce.
#### 2. “The old is gone”
This echoes 2 Corinthians 5:17:
> “The old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
“The old” is:
Romans 6:6:
> “…our old self was crucified with Him…”
The death of the “old” is not just an improvement. It is execution. God does not patch up the old nature. He ends it in the cross and brings in a new creation in Christ.
#### 3. “In the new way, our hearts are drawn”
Under the Law, Israel often obeyed externally while their hearts were far away.
Isaiah 29:13 (quoted by Jesus in Matthew 15:8):
> “This people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service,
> But they remove their hearts far from Me…”
The Spirit changes this entirely. He draws the heart. He changes desires. He does not merely restrain outward behavior; He reshapes the inner person.
Philippians 2:13:
> “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
That is “our hearts are drawn.” God works in the will itself.
### Verse 2: “What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful?”
> “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.”
This is almost a verbatim echo of Romans 7:7.
Paul defends the character of the Law:
> “On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law…”
The role of the Law can be described in three key ways:
1. The Law reveals sin
2. The Law defines sin more exactly
3. The Law provokes sin in the unregenerate heart
So the lyrics are accurate:
> “Yet it was the law that showed me my sin,
> For I would never have known.”
Without the Law, sin is present, but it is not clearly recognized as such. With the Law, the sin is exposed. This is necessary. You cannot be delivered from what you will not acknowledge.
The Spirit uses the Law to bring conviction, but not to keep you in bondage. He exposes, then leads you to Christ, then writes God’s will on your heart.
### Outro: “In Spirit we live, in truth we find…”
> “In Spirit we live,
> In truth we find,
> The new way of life,
> In Christ's own mind.”
This connects directly with several New Testament themes.
1. “In Spirit we live”
Galatians 5:25:
> “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
Romans 8:10:
> “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
Our life is no longer sourced in human effort, religious self-improvement, or adherence to external regulation. It is sourced in the indwelling Holy Spirit.
2. “In truth we find”
John 4:23–24:
> “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…”
The new way is marked by reality, not pretense. Under the Law, hypocritical observance was possible: outward conformity with inner rebellion. Under the Spirit, such hypocrisy is exposed. He is the “Spirit of truth” (John 16:13).
3. “The new way of life, in Christ’s own mind”
1 Corinthians 2:16:
> “But we have the mind of Christ.”
Romans 12:2:
> “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
The Spirit not only changes behavior; He renews the mind to think as Christ thinks. This is the deepest level of deliverance: when your thoughts, motives, and judgments are brought under the Lordship of Christ.
This “new way of life” is thus:
This is what it means to move out of the old way of the written Law and into the new way of the Spirit.
To move from theory to experience, there must be a definite response in our lives. I will outline four practical steps.
### 1. We must accept our death with Christ to sin and to the Law.
Romans 6:11:
> “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 7:4:
> “You also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ…”
This is not a feeling. It is a fact revealed by God. We must reckon it true and align our confession with it.
Proclamation 1:
“I was crucified with Christ. In Him, I died to sin and I died to the Law. I am no longer under their dominion.”
The more you say this in faith, the more the Holy Spirit makes it real in your experience.
### 2. We must renounce self-righteousness and legalism.
Philippians 3:9:
> “…and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ…”
Legalism is not just keeping rules. Legalism is trusting in rule-keeping as the basis of acceptance with God.
We must explicitly say to God: “I renounce any trust in my own efforts, my religious performance, my ability to keep rules. My righteousness is Christ alone.”
Where there is deep-rooted legalism, there is often a need for repentance and sometimes deliverance from a religious spirit that binds and condemns.
### 3. We must choose to be led by the Holy Spirit daily.
Romans 8:14:
> “All who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
This leading is not vague or mystical. The Spirit leads us primarily through:
You can simply pray daily: “Holy Spirit, I submit to Your leadership today. I choose to walk in the new way of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter.”
Then obey His promptings—especially in matters of forgiveness, repentance, humility, and obedience to the Word.
Proclamation 2:
“I am led by the Spirit of God. I do not walk under the oldness of the letter. The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus governs my steps.”
### 4. We must allow the Spirit to write God’s law on our hearts.
Hebrews 8:10:
> “I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts.”
This is a process. It involves:
Proclamation 3:
“God is writing His law on my heart and in my mind. By His Spirit, I delight to do His will.”
### 5. We must shift from condemnation to Spirit-filled repentance and faith.
Romans 8:1:
> “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Under the Law, failure leads to condemnation. Under the Spirit, failure leads to conviction, repentance, cleansing, and restoration.
When you fall, do not sit under the Law’s verdict. Run to Christ, confess your sin, receive cleansing (1 John 1:9), and stand again in the righteousness of Christ.
Proclamation 4:
“I do not live under condemnation. When I sin, I confess, and the blood of Jesus cleanses me. I walk on in the righteousness of God in Christ.”
In this way, the new way of the Spirit becomes a daily, practical reality, not a mere doctrine.
### Proclamation
Say this aloud, thoughtfully, in faith:
> “Through the body of Christ, I have died to the Law and to the power of sin.
> I have been released from the old way of the written code.
> Now I serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
> The Spirit of God leads me; the old has gone and the new has come.
> God’s laws are being written on my heart and mind.
> I live in the Spirit and I walk in truth.
> The mind of Christ governs my thoughts, my desires, and my decisions.
> I am not under condemnation.
> The righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in me as I walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
> This is my portion in Christ Jesus. Amen.”
### Prayer
“Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for the new way of the Spirit. I renounce every trust in my own righteousness, in my own effort, and in the old way of the written law. I accept my death with Christ to sin and to the Law, and I yield myself to the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit, write God’s laws on my heart. Lead me into all truth. Expose every hidden sin, every legalistic attitude, every religious bondage that keeps me from the liberty of Christ. Deliver me from condemnation and fill me with the assurance of righteousness by faith.
Lord Jesus, bring my mind under Your Lordship. Let me think Your thoughts, love what You love, and hate what You hate. Cause me to walk in the newness of life You purchased for me. Let my life bear fruit to God, not by my strength, but by Your Spirit within me.
I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.”
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