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Paul talks in Romans 7 about the Jews, who used to be under the Law of Moses, becoming 'dead to the Law' and becoming united with Christ. There are other phrases he uses, such as dead in sin and dead to sin. If we understand these clearly, it will help us with a practical understanding of the Gospel and the way we ought to live now.

Since we have all been born in the family of the original parents, Adam and Eve, who chose to sin against God and got disconnected and distant from God, later on we were all born 'dead in sin' – disconnected and distant from God (Ep.2:1). This means that from birth our nature was sinful; our inclinations were towards sin, and we sinned as a result of that. Then we heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and responded to it by humbling ourselves before God, confessing our sins and wishing to stop sinning. God then caused us to be born again through a work of the Holy Spirit inside us, and we received a new heart and a new spirit that had a hatred for sin and a desire to be pleasing to God (Ez.36:26,27). This was how we became 'dead to sin' (Ro.6:11).

People who don't know God make up different rules for behaviour or rituals by which they hope to please God. These become a kind of law for each religion. The Law of Moses was given by God Himself to the people of Israel to define certain boundaries for their behaviour by which they could distinguish themselves from the other nations around them. Those who are religious minded among all the different religions believe that it is by keeping their laws as well as they can that can make them acceptable to God. In other words, for them, salvation is by the keeping of laws.

But when we come to the one and only God who created the universe including us, we realise that He is perfect in an infinite way, and no matter how anyone tries to keep laws, no one can meet all the requirements of His laws. So, actually, seeking salvation through keeping of laws is a non-starter! The reason behind God giving Israel the ten commandments was to illustrate this through their failure.

When that fact became evident that no one could save himself by trying to keep the Law (Ro.3:19,20), God revealed His plan of salvation for all mankind – through grace. Here God recognises man's inability to keep the Law, and waits for man to acknowledge that he has, in fact, failed. Then God forgives such people, as a gift of unmerited favour towards them, instead of as something they have earned (Ep.2:8,9).

To be 'dead to the Law' is to have a recognition and acknowledgement that we do not rely on that way of salvation any more, of keeping the Law in order to attain to salvation. Then we become 'alive to God' when God causes us to be born again and to be connected back with Him in a Father-child relationship. When the Holy Spirit opens our heart and mind to be gripped by this truth, and it sinks in, we can overcome the temptation that comes to us because of habit, to rely on our own merit!

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