Romans 7:4–6 (CJB) “Thus, my brothers, you have been made dead with regard to the Torah through the Messiah’s body, so that you may belong to someone else, namely, the one who has been raised from the dead, in order for us to bear fruit for God… so that we are serving in the new way provided by the Spirit and not in the old way of outwardly following the letter of the law.”

Paul is not diminishing God’s Law—he is clarifying its purpose.

The Torah was never broken.
We were.

The Law is holy, righteous, and good, but it exposed a fatal problem in us: our nature gravitates toward disobedience. The Law demands perfect obedience, yet our flesh produces rebellion. The result is not life—but condemnation.

That is why Paul says we “died with regard to the Torah through the Messiah’s body.”

Jesus perfectly obeyed the Law where we could not.
Jesus absorbed the Law’s penalty where we deserved judgment.
Jesus was raised to prove the Father accepted His sacrifice.

Now, those who trust in Christ are no longer under the Law as a system of condemnation. We are no longer trying to earn God’s favor. We have been joined—married, as Paul implies—to the risen Christ.

And that union has a purpose:

“In order for us to bear fruit for God.”

Grace is not freedom from obedience.
Grace is freedom for fruitfulness.

Paul contrasts two ways of living:

• The old way: outward conformity, fear-driven obedience, rule-keeping that inflames sin rather than conquers it

• The new way: Spirit-empowered obedience flowing from love, gratitude, and transformation

This changes everything.

We don’t give because we must—we give because we’re free.
We don’t forgive because we’re forced—we forgive because we’ve been forgiven.
We don’t obey to avoid punishment—we obey because we belong to Christ.

The Law once exposed our inability.
The Spirit now supplies our power.

This is the law of love—the love that sent the Son, the love that held Him on the cross, and the love that now lives in us by the Holy Spirit.

And this love produces visible fruit.

Not talk.
Not appearances.
But lives that increasingly look like Jesus.

Run Today’s Play: Don’t measure your faith by what you avoid.
Measure it by what your life is producing.

Ask yourself today:

• Am I obeying God out of fear—or out of love?

• Is my life bearing fruit that points others to Jesus?

• Am I relying on rules to restrain sin, or on the Spirit to transform my desires?

Die daily to self-reliance.
Live fully surrendered to Christ.
Walk in step with the Spirit.

You were not freed from the Law to live for yourself.
You were freed to belong to Jesus—and to bear fruit for God.