What is the “law of the Spirit of life”?

Explanation:

In Romans 8:2 Paul writes that the law of the Spirit sets us free from the law of sin and death. It is obvious from the preceding context that the law of sin and death is the Mosaic law. So Paul is saying the law of the Spirit sets us free from the Mosaic law. So what is the law of the Spirit of life? Likely, Paul uses a play on words, where νόμος (law) in Romans 8:2a refers to something like principle or authority, while the term in Romans 8:2b refers to the Mosaic law. Thus, Paul uses a clever and memorable play on words to explain that the authority and power of the Spirit set believers free from the enslavement of trying to adhere to the Mosaic law in the power of the flesh.²

Counterargument:

Paul has in fact repeatedly used the term νόμος (law) to refer to the Mosaic law in Romans 7:1–25. One might even suggest that the purpose of Romans 7:1–25 was to explain the role of the law, and even defend it.³ For, as Paul notes in Romans 7:7, the law is not sin. Rather, the law is holy, righteous, good (Romans 7:12), and spiritual (Romans 7:14). Given that Paul would spend so much effort discussing and defending the Mosaic law in Romans 7:1–25, which he refers to with the term νόμος (law), it is unlikely that he would suddenly use the term to refer to something other than the Mosaic law.

Response to counterargument:

This counterargument overlooks the fact that in Romans 7:1–25, Paul does not always use the term νόμος to refer to the Mosaic law. In fact, only a few short verses earlier in Romans 7:21, Paul uses νόμος to denote something like a principle when he says, I find it to be a law [νόμον] that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.⁴ Likewise, in Romans 7:23 Paul uses νόμος to refer to the law of sin, where law is used to denote something like authority.⁵ So it is likely that Paul uses νόμος in the same way in Romans 8:2. That is, the principle or authority of the Spirit sets us free from the Mosaic law, which simply condemns us and leads to death.

Explanation:

We know from Romans 5:1–21 that Paul compares the old epoch of Adam in which all are condemned, with the new epoch of Christ in which salvation is available to all (Romans 5:12). He has also explained that through the work of Christ we are released from the law in order to serve in the new way by the Spirit (Romans 7:6). So Paul is contrasting the old covenant, under the reign of sin that came through Adam and governed by the Mosaic law, with the new covenant, under the reign of Christ’s grace and governed by the Spirit. Of course, we know from Jeremiah 31:31–34 that when the new covenant would be ushered in, God would write his law on their hearts.⁶ And we know from Ezekiel 36:24–32 that when God promises to write his law on their hearts in the new covenant, the law on their hearts is God’s Spirit. For God says that he will put his Spirit within them and cause them to walk by his statutes. In other words, the law of the new covenant is the indwelling power and authority of the Holy Spirit. Given that Paul is referring to the new covenant in Romans 8:2, when he says that the law of the Spirit has set us free, he likely has in mind the power of the Holy Spirit living in believers.⁷

Counterargument:

This argument overlooks the fact that what the Holy Spirit empowers believers in the new covenant to do is maintain the Mosaic law. That is, God says that in the new covenant his laws, as in, the requirements of the Mosaic law, will be written on believers’ hearts. Further, as Ezekial writes, the Spirit enables believers to walk according to God’s statutes. In other words, to be empowered by the Holy Spirit is to be enabled to live by the Mosaic law in the power of the Spirit. And this is what Paul refers to in Romans 8:2. That is, the law of the Spirit of life is living according to the Mosaic law by the power of the Spirit.⁸

Response to counterargument:

In fact, it is not obvious that the phrase the law of the Spirit of life could mean upholding the Mosaic law by the power of the Spirit. If Paul wanted to say that believers are enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit to uphold the law, he would have said this. Instead, he refers to the law of the Spirit of life, which implies that he has in mind a type of law related to the Spirit, as opposed to the law related to Moses.⁹ In other words, the phrase suggests that Paul is contrasting two different laws, the law, or authority, related to the Spirit, and the law, or authority, related to Moses.

The only weakness of this view is that Paul has been focused on the Mosaic law through Romans 7:1–25, so it is possible that he would continue on this theme in Romans 8:1–39 and explain that it is possible to keep the Mosaic law if one is empowered by the Spirit. Still, this weakness is not convincing given that Paul refers not only to the Mosaic law but also to principles or authorities in Romans 7:1–25, so it is not unlikely that he refers to the authority of the Spirit in Romans 8:2.

Explanation:

To understand what Paul means by the law of the Spirit of life, we ought to consider the influence of the immediate context. For then we notice that Paul has referred to the Mosaic law as promising life (Romans 7:10) and as spiritual (Romans 7:14). He also says that the Mosaic law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), but because Paul is inherently sinful, he is unable to keep the law. In other words, Paul has been explaining throughout this section not that there is a problem with the Mosaic law but that there is a problem with humanity’s ability to keep the law because humans are in the flesh. Of course, Paul also says that believers live in the new way of the Spirit, not the written code (Romans 7:6). When we put all of this together, we see that what Paul refers to when he refers to the law of the Spirit is the Mosaic law according to the Spirit. That is, the law of the Spirit of life is living out the Mosaic law under the direction of the Spirit rather than under the direction of the flesh.¹²

Counterargument:

There is a problem with this argument. While it is true that Paul refers to the Mosaic law as spiritual, life-giving, holy, and righteous, he also explains that because of the weakness of the flesh, the righteous requirements of the law cannot be fulfilled by us (Romans 8:3). Importantly, Paul writes that the law cannot be fulfilled in the very next verse, and it is unlikely that Paul would write in Romans 8:2 that the law can be fulfilled in the Spirit and then in Romans 8:3 that the law cannot be fulfilled.¹³ Thus, it is unlikely that when Paul refers to the law of the Spirit in Romans 8:2, he has in mind fulfilling the Mosaic law by the power of the Spirit.

Response to counterargument:

This counterargument overlooks the fact that the problem with the law is not the law itself but with the flesh, which is exactly what Paul explains in Romans 8:3. That is, he writes that God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do (Romans 8:3).¹⁴ If one is empowered by the Spirit, then the weakness of the flesh is avoided, and one can than uphold the law. This is what Paul means when he writes that the law of the Spirit of life sets us free. He means that when believers uphold the law by the power of the Spirit, they are free from the condemnation of the law due to the flesh’s inability to uphold it.

Explanation:

To understand what Paul means by the law of the Spirit, it is important to notice what Old Testament writers say about the Mosaic law. In particular, the writer of Psalm 19:7–11 explains that the law revives the soul. The writer of Psalm 119:1–176 extols the contents of the Mosaic law for 176 verses. Thus, there is a positive role for the Mosaic law. And what Paul explains in Romans 8:2 is that the law is positive when it is obeyed in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.¹⁵ That is, for those who have the Spirit, the law functions positively, which is why the law of the Spirit sets believers free.

Counterargument:

While it is true that the psalmists could detect that the law is good, this view fails to contend with Paul’s wider writings. For, while Paul agrees with the psalmist that the law is good (Romans 7:12), he also teaches that because of the weakness of the flesh, humans are unable to maintain the law. Now, this does not lead Paul to say that we need the Spirit to fulfill the law. Rather, it leads him to say that justification is not by works of the law but is apart from the law by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21–22). In fact, a central theme of Paul’s writings in Romans and Galatians is that we are justified by faith in Christ, not by works of the law (Galatians 2:15–3:14).¹⁶ Given Paul’s insistence that believers are not justified by works of the law, it is unlikely that he would say that the law of the Spirit, as in, maintaining the Mosaic law by the power of the Spirit, sets us free from the Mosaic law in the power of the flesh.

Response to counterargument:

Paul’s theology has in fact room for the law, but only when the law is combined with the Spirit and faith. For example, in Romans 3:31 Paul writes that we do not overthrow the law by faith. Rather, we uphold the law. Likewise in Romans 9:31–32 he explains that the reason the law did not produce righteousness in Israel is that they did not pursue it by faith.¹⁷ So upholding the law by the power of the Spirit is not antithetical to but consistent with Paul’s theology. So, we can see that when believers pursue the law by the power of the Spirit, the law functions positively for them, even reviving the soul, as the psalmist notes.

The weakness of this view is that the phrase the law of the Spirit of life does not obviously mean upholding the law by the power of the Spirit. That is, even if it is possible in Paul’s theology that one can uphold the Mosaic law by the power of the Spirit, the phrase the law of the Spirit of life does not seem to denote this. Rather, if Paul wanted us to understand that by the power of the Holy Spirit one can uphold the Mosaic law, we would expect him to use a clause that made this clear, such as, Living out the law in accordance with the Spirit frees one from living the law according to the flesh which leads to death.