But now we have been set free from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we should serve in the newness of Spirit and not in the oldness of letter.
Truth to Learn
We are free to serve God through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Behind the Words
The word translated “set free” is katargeō, which is made up of kata, meaning “down” but used here as an intensifier and argeō, which means “to be idle or inactive.” Katargeō, therefore, means “to become completely ineffective” or “to cease being effective.” As Paul used it here it means “we have been completely set free from the effect of the Law.”
“Held” is from a form of katechō, which is also a compound word. This one is made up of kata, meaning “down” and echō, meaning “to have” or “to hold.” Thus we see that katechō literally means “to be held down.” It is a picture of someone who he being held down on the ground so that they are powerless to do anything.
Meaning Explained
In the previous two chapters Paul has spent considerable time and energy pointing out two things. The first is: before we were saved we were slaves to sin because of the Law. The second is: when we were saved, our sin nature was put to death. That is, we died with Christ. As he has just shown in the past few verses, death releases us from the requirements of the Law. Therefore, this verse is the culmination and summation of the results of these things.
Since we are dead with respect to the Law, like the wife who is free to marry after her husband has died, we are no longer under the dictates of the Law and are free to serve God. We are no longer held down by the Law. We are free from it! Let me say that again. We are free from the Law!
We do not have to keep the Ten Commandments or any other part of the Law in order to be righteous in God’s eyes. In fact, you will remember that Paul told us that we couldn’t obtain righteousness by keeping the Law anyway because no one (except Christ) is able to keep all the Law.
The second half of this verse is really a key statement and I don’t want any of us to miss it. We have been set free from the law to “serve in the newness of Spirit and not in the oldness of letter.” In other words, before we were saved by grace, we were unable to keep the Law and, therefore, could not serve God because the letter of the Law made us sinful and abhorrent to God. But … now that we have been set free from the Law we can serve God in a way that we never could have before – in the spirit of righteousness. That is, since we are righteous in God’s eyes now, He will allow us to serve Him. We have spiritual life which we owe entirely to God. Therefore we should gladly serve Him with the life that He has given us.
Application
When we were saved we were set free from the penalty of our sins. We were also set free from the requirements of the Law and have become free to serve God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Are you serving God right now? If you are, are you doing so out of obligation or are you serving Him out of gratitude for what He has done for you? We should rejoice in our service for Him because we have been set free from bondage to the Law!
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2018 Will Krause. All rights reserved