Romans and Galatians in context—and what actually died at the cross

In our first post, we asked:

We went back to Creation and saw that God creates, God rests, God blesses, and God sanctifies.

Then we asked whether human authority ever claimed the right to change what God had sanctified.

We examined the New Testament and asked whether the apostles ever taught Christians to keep Sunday instead.

We listened to Jesus and asked whether He abolished the Sabbath.

And then we confronted His statement:

Now we arrive at Paul.

And this is where we need to be completely honest.

Because Paul says some things that, at first glance, sound like the law has been abolished.

So let's not explain those verses away.

Let's read them.

Paul Says We Are “Not Under the Law”

Romans 6:14 says:

There it is.

If we stopped reading right there, we might conclude:

The law is finished.

But Paul doesn't stop there.

A few chapters earlier he asks the very question we should be asking:

And his answer is emphatic:

How can both statements be true?

Not under the law.

Yet:

Faith establishes the law.

That deserves an explanation.

Maybe the Problem Isn't the Law

Paul makes that distinction unmistakable in Romans 7.

He says:

Think about that.

If Paul meant:

why would he describe it as:

holy?

righteous?

good?

Paul's problem isn't God's law.

His problem is sinful humanity.

The law can reveal righteousness.

But it cannot create righteousness in a sinner.

The Law Can Tell You What Is Wrong. It Cannot Make You Right.

Paul illustrates this with coveting:

The commandment tells Paul what sin is.

But knowing what sin is doesn't give Paul the power to stop sinning.

The law diagnoses the disease.

It doesn't provide the cure.

That's where Christ enters.

And this is precisely the distinction Jack Sequeira emphasizes in his Romans material: the law is holy and spiritual; the problem is sinful humanity trying to meet the law's righteous demands apart from Christ.

So What Does It Mean to Be “Dead to the Law”?

Now we come to one of Paul's strongest statements:

And:

Those are not words we should soften.

Paul really does say:

dead to the law.

delivered from the law.

But notice something absolutely crucial:

What does Paul say happened?

That takes us somewhere completely different from:

Paul doesn't say the law died.

He says, "We died."

What Died?

This is where our earlier Gospel study becomes important.

Paul says:

Christ entered humanity.

He became the Second Adam.

He represented humanity.

And therefore His death was not merely something God did instead of humanity.

Humanity died in Christ.

That is corporate solidarity.

So when Paul says:

we shouldn't automatically hear:

Paul is describing what happened to us in Christ.

And that changes everything.

The Law Was Never the Savior

This is where justification by faith becomes central.

Paul has already said:

Why?

Because the law cannot give life.

Paul says exactly that in Galatians:

There it is.

The law cannot give life.

That's not a defect in the law.

It's simply not what the law was designed to do.

Christ gives life.

So What Does “Not Under Law” Mean?

It cannot mean:

Paul has already called the law holy, righteous, and good.

Instead, the context points toward something much deeper:

We are no longer under the law as a system of condemnation and self-justification.

We are no longer trying to establish our own righteousness before God through our performance.

That is slavery.

That is legalism.

And Paul says:

You have been delivered from it.

Not so that you can live lawlessly.

But so that you can belong to Christ.

Romans 8 Gives Us the Answer

Paul moves from Romans 7 into Romans 8.

And what does he say?

Wait.

If the law had simply disappeared, why would Paul speak about its righteous requirement being fulfilled in believers?

Something has changed.

But it isn't God's standard of righteousness.

The relationship has changed.

We are no longer trying to produce righteousness in order to be accepted.

Christ is our righteousness.

And then His Spirit produces righteous living in us.

This Is the Difference Between Legalism and the Gospel

Legalism says:

The Gospel says:

Legalism makes obedience the root.

The Gospel makes Christ the root and obedience the fruit.

That's why righteousness by faith doesn't destroy the law.

It puts the law back in its proper place.

The law is not your Savior.

Christ is.

What About Romans 10:4?

Now we come to another verse often used to say the law is finished:

But look at the last words:

“for righteousness.”

Paul is talking about how righteousness is obtained.

And the immediate context makes that unmistakable.

Romans 10:3 says:

That's the problem.

Self-established righteousness.

Then Paul says:

Christ brings an end to the futile attempt to obtain righteousness through the law.

Christ is the answer.

Not because God's law was defective.

Because humanity's attempt to use it as a ladder to heaven was doomed from the beginning.

And Now Galatians Makes More Sense

Paul tells the Galatians:

We shouldn't isolate that sentence.

The entire letter is dealing with a crisis involving how righteousness is obtained.

Paul's question isn't:

His concern is:

That's why he asks:

That's the issue.

Spirit or flesh.

Christ or self.

Faith or self-reliance.

Now Come Back to the Sabbath

And this is where our entire investigation comes full circle.

Remember our first post?

God created.

God rested.

God blessed.

God sanctified.

And the Sabbath became a sign pointing to:

So if I keep the Sabbath thinking:

I've completely misunderstood the Gospel.

But if I understand Sabbath as pointing toward the Creator who sanctifies, then it becomes profoundly consistent with righteousness by faith.

The Sabbath says:

The Gospel says:

The Sabbath says:

The Gospel says:

The Sabbath says:

The Gospel says:

So Did Paul Teach That the Law Was Finished?

Paul absolutely teaches that believers are dead to the law.

He teaches that we are released from the law.

He teaches that we are not under law but under grace.

We shouldn't soften those statements.

But Paul also says:

The law is holy.

The commandment is righteous.

The law is good.

Faith establishes the law.

The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit.

So perhaps the better question isn't:

Perhaps it is:

“What did God accomplish in Christ that changed our relationship to the law?”

And that question brings us directly into the next layer of our investigation.

Because there are two passages that seem, at first glance, to settle the Sabbath question:

Colossians 2.

and:

Galatians 4.

If Paul says:

what exactly does he mean?

Are those the weekly Sabbath?

Are they ceremonial Sabbaths?

What does “shadow” mean?

And why does Paul put food, drink, festivals, new moons, and sabbaths together?

We are not going to guess.

We're going to read the entire argument.

Next: What About Colossians 2 and the “Sabbaths”?

One layer at a time. 🔥