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Because of the Cross, You Died to the Law

This is the third blog post of an Easter week series which has been focused on our co-crucifixion with Christ and what all we died to when we died with Him. 

In the first post, we discovered that because of the cross, you (your old self) died. 

In the second post, we learned that because of the cross, you died to the power of sin.

Here’s another thing you died to when you were crucified with Christ.

BECAUSE OF THE CROSS, YOU DIED TO THE LAW

What???  I thought we were supposed to live out God’s laws!  Why would we die to the law?

Well, the simple answer is that even though the law is good, it has fulfilled its function in our lives.  The law was given to highlight our sin and point us to our need for a Savior.

Paul reveals this in Galatians 3:24-25.

24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Because humanity could not live up to the standard of fulfilling the law, Jesus came to fulfill it for us (Matthew 5:17).  Now that He has fulfilled it, we have been released from the law.  We have died to law, and now Christ dwells in us and expresses His life through us.

Here’s the way Paul states it in Romans 7:4.

4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

Paul couldn’t be any clearer here as he says, “you also died to the law.”  Jesus had to fulfill it for us, and separate us from it, so that He could unite Himself to us and produce His fruit through us.

Steve McVey in his book, Grace Walk, writes this,

DON’T TRY TO LIVE BY THE LAW

If we have died to the law, then we certainly should not try to live the Christian life by trying to obey the law.

If Jesus fulfilled it for us, and then put Himself in us, we have His life being expressed through us.  He will lead us in His ways.  He will empower us to carry them out. 

This Easter, know that you have been crucified with Christ and are dead to the law. 

Focus on Christ.  Walk by faith that He is living in you and through you.  Experience His Life and His fruit being produced through you that could never be produced on your own by following the law.

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