THE CROSS and the CHRIST-LIFE -- It is by the work of the Cross that the Spirit deals with Adamic sin in the believer, not by law. When the growing believer struggles against the power of sin he finally learns the futility of his efforts, as set forth in Romans Seven. Subsequently, he sees that in the Lord Jesus he died unto sin's domination (Romans 6:7).
As he learns to reckon himself to have died unto sin and the law (Romans 6:11), he begins to rely upon the Holy Spirit to apply that finished work of the Cross to the old Adamic life within. He is thereby progressively liberated from the power of sin and the law, and has ever-increasing freedom to grow in the life that is Christ (2 Corinthians 4:11).
As for the New Testament "law of Christ," and the commands and exhortations that apply to the believer, his reliance is upon the Holy Spirit for their fulfillment in his life. "All the law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." "The love of God is shed abroad in, our hearts by the Holy Spirit" (Galatians 5:14; Romans 5:5). The Word guides and instructs him as to his dependence upon, his walk in, the Spirit. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2).
The growing believer realizes that "the law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners" (1Timothy 1:9). He learns to abide above in the Lord Jesus at the right hand of the Father, far above and beyond the law's dominion. His life, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, is manifest by the "fruit of the Spirit," not by the works of the law. "The law is not of faith"; it was never meant to produce this fruit, which is Life! (Galatians 3:12).
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