We have been Discharged from the Law & we come to Christ for Him to Fulfil it in us

As believers in Christ, we have died to the law in which we were held so that we might be discharged from it; the law defines God as His portrait, exposes man, and subdues man, so that we may come to the Lord with His word and allow Him to do what He said in His word in us. Amen!

Romans chapter 7 is truly a wonderful portion concerning our Christian life and experience; as part of the kernel of the Bible, this chapter shows us how to be on the line of life and not be on the line of death.

One particular matter we see in verse 4 is a funeral and a wedding; this verse tells us that we have been made dead, for the old husband has died to the law so that we may be joined to Christ.

On the negative side, there’s a funeral, a burial, for the old man was put to death through the law through the body of Christ. On the positive side, there’s a wedding, a wonderful union with the Lord in marriage, and we now live and walk in newness of life and serve Him in newness of spirit. Amen!

Thank the Lord that He came as a man to not only express God and make God real to us but even more, to die for us and with us, so that our old man may be put to death. Oh Lord!

Our old man came into being when Satan injected himself into us and sin came into our being. Satan injected his evil thought into us and, as a result, man started to be independent from God, even taking himself as the source.

God used to be man’s source, man’s satisfaction, and man’s everything, and man lived and walked in fellowship with God. But once Satan came in and deceived man, man hid from God and started to be his own person.

The old man is man deciding that he doesn’t need God as his husband but takes himself as the husband.

We are not the old man. The people in the world are the old man, for there’s no regenerated spirit in them, but we as believers in Christ are NOT the old man, for we have Christ as our person in our spirit.

As we live our Christian life today, many times we discover that we live, talk, and behave like the unbelievers around us, simply because we do not exercise our spirit to live according to our spirit. So we need to turn.

We need to exercise to contact the Lord and live in the organic union with Him, so that we may experience a funeral (the death of the old man with Christ) and a wedding (our organic union with the Lord as our dear Husband).

This is our experience day by day. We don’t feel sorry for the old man at the funeral; rather, we are happy that our old man is dead, for we’re now free, discharged from the law, and we can be joined to the Lord to be one with Him organically as our Husband!

The Law Portrays God, Exposes us, and Subdues us for us to Come to Christ and let Him do it in us

Romans 7:6-7 tells us that we have been discharged from the law, for the law is regarding the old man, exposing sin in the old man.

The law decreed by God was something added, not something that was there initially; it was added because of the fall of man.

When God asked the people of Israel through Moses if they could do all that God told them to do, they responded that they would do it. Then, God gave them the law.

The law is given to the old man to expose the old man and show him how unable he is to please God or do what God requires him to do. The law has at least three main functions, as seen in God’s word.

First, the law portrays God and defines Him.

If you read Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, you see a portrait of God, for this is what God is. He is holy, righteous, and glorious, and He is loving and kind. In Lev. 19:2, we are told that we should be holy even as God is holy.

The Lord Jesus issued an even higher commandment when He said that we shall be perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48).

The law is a picture of God; it expresses God, defines God, and explains God. It is futile for us to try to fulfil the law, because we are not God; unless we become the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead, there’s no way for us to fulfil the law.

According to His law, God is holy, perfect, glorious, and righteous, and He is a God of love and light. This is who God is, and the law defines Him.

The second function of the law is to expose us.

In Romans 7:7, Paul says that the law is not sin, yet we know sin when the law comes and shows us what sin is. The law exposes sin.

Until the law came, sin was dormant and we didn’t know we have sin; we did live in sin and committed sins, but it was only when the law came that we realised what sin is. Without the law, sin is dead (v. 8); but when the commandment came, sin revived and we died (v. 9). Wow!

The perfect and wonderful law of God, which expresses and defines God, this holy law came and exposed sin in us. Even more, sin kills us by taking advantage of the commandment (v. 11).

The law shines on us, exposes us, and shows us our sin. God uses the law to expose us and show us that we are sinful, and we realise that the old man cannot fulfil God’s law, no matter how hard he tries.

The third function of the law is to subdue us; after we are exposed by the law, which expresses God, we are subdued. The law subdues man so it can bring us to God.

After we see and receive the law, we agree with it, for it is holy and perfect, and we try to do it; however, we are exposed of our sin, and we realise that in our old man we’re not able to keep it. Even more, the law subdues us.

The rich young man came to the Lord in Matt. 19 and was defeated in his contact with the Lord, for he tried to fulfil all the commandments since he was young; however, he was not subdued. Instead of remaining with the Lord and telling Him that he can’t fulfil this final commandment of selling all and giving to the poor, he went away sorrowful.

We may be like this young rich man: we may try to obey God’s law, we may strive and struggle, and we may be exposed again and again, but we may not come to the Lord for Him to do it in us; we may not be defeated.

On the one hand, we need to be exposed by the law, which expresses what God is, and on the other hand, we need to be subdued by the law so that we come to the Lord.

The Lord has NO intention for us to fulfil the law in ourselves; rather, He wants to expose us and subdue us through the law so that we come to the Lord and allow Him to do it in us. He is simply waiting for us to come to Him in all things and concerning all things.

In Phil. 2:12 Paul commands us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. When we hear such a word, we agree with it, we are exposed that we can’t do it, and we are subdued by the Lord.

So we come to the Lord and open to Him, telling Him that we can’t do it, even though we want to do it, and His word says we should do it. We can’t do it, but we open to the Lord so that He may do it.

Verse 13 continues to say, For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. This is the secret.

God commands us to do something, but it is He who operates in us; we agree with the commandment, we are exposed that we can’t do it, and we are subdued by it, so we come to the Lord for Him to do it.

He is in us, ready to fulfil His commandment in us. If we just open to the Lord and let Him do it in us, He will do it.

We cannot be holy, but He is holy, and He is sanctifying us. We cannot be perfect, but He is perfect, and He is perfecting us. We just need to come to Him.

Then, He will live in us and we will live Him. He will fulfil the law in us as we live in the mingled spirit, for only when we walk according to the spirit can the righteous requirement of the law be fulfilled in us (Rom. 8:4).

We read His word, He shines on us through His word, we are exposed of our inability to do it, and we are subdued; we come to Him, and we let Him do it in us.

It is an active-passive matter, for we come to the Lord and He does it in us, but we take the initiative to open to Him and we just cooperate with Him.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we love Your word. Oh Lord, Your word is pure and holy, and we see You being defined and expressed through Your word. We love You, Lord, and we love to come to Your word to see You and enjoy You. Thank You for shining on us through Your word. Expose us through Your word. May Your word expose us and subdue us. Save us from trying to keep the law in our own efforts. We give up our effort to try to please You or fulfil Your commandments; we simply come to You! Oh Lord, we can’t do what Your word tells us to do! We agree with Your word, we love Your word, and we love You, but we can’t do it, so we come to You! We want to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, so we come to You so that You may operate in us both the willing and the working. Come in, Lord, be our life, and fulfil every requirement in us. We just allow You to do it in us. Do in us what You have spoken in Your word. We acknowledge that we can’t do it, but we want to remain in the organic union with You so that You may do it in us! Hallelujah, the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who walk according to the Spirit in our spirit!

We have Died to the Law in which we were Held so that we may be Discharged from the Law

Romans 7:6 tells us that we have now been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.

Because we begin by being the old man, even being married to the old man who assumed the position of a husband, we are bound by the law, for God gave the law to the old man. But praise the Lord, since the old man has been crucified, we as the regenerated new man are now free from the law of the old man (vv. 2-3; Gal. 2:19)!

The law was not given to the regenerated man, to the wife depending on Christ as the Husband, but to the old man.

The old man has the law given to him because he thinks he’s the head and he can fulfil God’s law. But the old man has been crucified with Christ on the cross, and now we are the new man, the wife of Christ, and as such a one, we have been discharged from the law! Praise the Lord!

What release our Saviour gave us – Christ indeed has set us free from the law! The law doesn’t apply to us, we’re no longer bound by the law, for we are the new man, the regenerated man in Christ and with Christ!

This doesn’t mean that we can live in a lawless way, throwing away the law and not obeying the law.

Rather, as those who have been discharged from the law, we are joined to the Lord, and we come to Him in all things for Him to fulfil the righteous requirements of the law in us as we walk according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:4).

We cannot say that the law is sin; rather, we agree that the law is holy and righteous, for the law expresses and defines God.

However, the law exposes the old man and condemns him, even subdues him; through the law we receive the knowledge of sin, and the old man is put to death with Christ.

Now, as the new man, we are discharged from the law, for we have died to the law in which we were held. The law places many demands and requirements on the fallen man, and in so doing, it identifies sins and leads man to the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20; 4:15; 5:20).

If there were no law, man justifies himself and covers sin, even does not know what sin is, for the law calls sin as sin.

The law is to expose sin and prove to us what is sin; the old man is fully exposed and subdued by the law. Man is both exposed and subdued by the law (3:19).

But praise the Lord, when we sense that the law exposes us, when we come to the Lord in His word and we are exposed and subdued, we need to remember that our old man has been crucified with Christ, and it is Christ who now lives in us (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20)! Amen!

We are no longer debtors to the law, for the old man has been crucified and buried, and now we are in resurrection, a new creation, a person regenerated by God’s life to be joined to Christ as His wife!

We now live in newness of life and serve in newness of spirit, not in oldness of letter. Amen!

This should be our reality today. However, sadly to say, oftentimes we go back to the old husband. We switch from our spirit to our old man, for by default, we’re in the old man. Oh Lord!

We need to be reminded to return to our spirit, return to our Husband in our spirit!

May the Lord have mercy on us that we may see a controlling vision of the tree of life and return to our spirit to enjoy Him as grace.

May we realise that we have been discharged from the law and we are now living to God, even living one with the Lord, for He lives in us and we live Christ!

Lord Jesus, grant us to see a governing and controlling vision of the tree of life so that we may remain on the line of life. May we realise that we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter! Hallelujah, we through the law have died to the law! Praise the Lord, we are no longer debtors to the law to fulfil it: we simply need to remain in the organic union with the Lord for Him to fulfil the law in us! Oh Lord, keep us turning to You! Even as we come to Your word and are exposed and subdued by Your word, keep us coming to You to have life and to live one with You. Live in us today. May Christ live in us and may we live Christ. We open to receive You, enjoy You, and partake of You. Operate in us, Lord, both the willing and the working. We just want to cooperate with You. We love You, Lord Jesus, our dear Husband!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 64, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Chapters 5 through 8 of Romans – the Kernel of the Bible (2025 ICSC), week 4, The New Husband.
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  – The law of God is holy, good, / To practise good it doth command; / Its purpose is to clearly show / That we cannot meet God’s demand. / Yet in our mind there is a law / Which always tries the good to do; / But in our members is a law / Which always doth this law subdue. / The law within our mind is good, / ’Tis of our human life obtained / At our creation from the Lord, / That good behavior be maintained. (Hymns #734 stanzas 1-3)
  – Christ has made me more than conqu’ror, / By His mighty victory, / Now His resurrection power / From my spirit strengthens me! / From the law Christ has delivered, / To its claims I’m ever dead; / Nevermore the law shall bind me, / But by grace I’ll live instead. (Hymns #540 stanza 2 and chorus)
  – Made free! Made free in Jesus: / Joined to the Risen One, / By conflict prayer you triumph, / And claim His victory won. / Freed with His glorious freedom, / Above the darkness rife; / For now the law of sin and death / Is conquered by His life. (Hymns #508 stanza 4)