November 16

Read: Romans 8:1-4

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of [the] sin and death (Romans 8:2).

Deliverance By Christ

Our scripture for today describes “the restoration of holiness, by the Holy Spirit. Sin brings death on the justified, in whom it regains the upper hand, as well as on the unjustified. There is, therefore, only one way of preventing sin from causing us to perish, that is, sin itself must perish.

“The word law occurs in this second verse twice. It does not mean any statute or legislative decree. Godet calls it ‘the controlling power imposing itself on the will.’ Dr. Barnes says it means, ‘the influence.’ Now if we substitute one of these phrases we shall get the meaning of the verse: ‘The influence of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the influence of the sin and the death,’ that is, the moral death that accompanies the sin.

“This is the Apostle’s wonderful testimony of deliverance which he gladly proclaims to others. He believes that the controlling power of the Holy Spirit, which broke the power of the sin over him, can deliver others too. He knows that no mere outward means will be sufficient to emancipate their souls, for he has tried them. No mere intellectual methods will set free the passions and desires that have been captured by the sin principle. It is vain to seek deliverance from a perverted will by any revelation of moral law however emphatic. He has tried them all, and they have miserably failed.

“Nothing can touch the necessities of the case but the incoming Holy Spirit, as a potential indwelling Christ, whose abiding, controlling influence in us can subvert and expel the tendencies to sin. That communicated power must impart life. Nothing short of a Spirit of life, quick and powerful, with an immortal sense of intense energy, will avail to meet the need” (A. M. Hills, The Establishing Grace).