For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
All Commentaries on Romans 8:2 Go To Romans 8
John Chrysostom
AD 407
“The law of the Spirit of life” is just a way of saying “the Spirit. “ For as he calls sin the “law of sin,” so he also calls the Spirit the “law of the Spirit.” But Paul also called the law of Moses “spiritual.” What is the difference? It is great! For the law of Moses was spiritual, but here we are dealing with the law of the Spirit…. The law of Moses was merely given by the Spirit, but this one gives those who receive it a large measure of the Spirit himself. This is why Paul called it the law of life, in opposition to the law of sin, not to the law of Moses. For when he says that it freed him from the law of sin and death, it is not the law of Moses which he has in mind, because he never calls it the law of sin. In any case, how could he have done so since he had called it “just and holy” on so many other occasions, and destructive of sin as well? Rather, the law of sin is the force which wars against the law of the mind. The grace of the Spirit put a stop to that war by slaying sin and making the contest light for us, putting a victor’s crown on our heads at the beginning and then drawing us into the struggle with enough help to win it. Then, as he always does Paul turns from the Spirit to the Son and the Father, showing that we are dependent on the entire Trinity.
