Romans 8:2, when correctly read, is a most blessed passage of Scripture. To get the sense we should place a dash between the words “Spirit” and “of.” Thus it would read: “For the law of the Spirit — of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
When a sinner places his trust in Christ as Savior he is justified before the bar of God, because Christ’s death and righteousness are imputed to him. This is a judicial matter.
But at the same moment something else happens: the Spirit regenerates and gives new life (Tit. 3:5). This is a law, an inexorable, unchangeable law. The sinner who sincerely places his trust in Christ as Savior is given life by the Holy Spirit. It is always so; it is never otherwise.
I John 5:12 says: “He that hath the Son hath life….” John 3:36 says that “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” and Col. 3:3 declares that the believer’s life is “hid with Christ in God.”
Thus the Apostle could say: “The law of the Spirit, [that of] life in Christ, hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Adam forfeited his life by sin, but the believer’s new life can never be forfeited, for this life is nothing less than the life of Christ, in whom the believer now stands perfect and complete before God.
It is a law, a fixed unchangeable law, that sin brings forth death (Rom. 5:12; 6:23; et al). This is called “the law of sin and death,” but the believer has already died for sin in Christ and has been given new life by the Spirit. Thus “the law of the Spirit,” that of “life in Christ,” has made the simplest believer “free from the law of sin and death.”
Thank God for “the law of the Spirit,” everlasting life through the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins.
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.