How should we understand Paul's usage of the word "law" in these passages?

Question

Romans 7:23 KJV

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Romans 8:2 KJV

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 3:27 KJV

Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Romans 9:31 KJV

But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

Galatians 6:2 KJV

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Are these to be understood as actual laws (system of rules) such as the Torah? Or are these more of principles/concepts? For example, the law of Christ simply means sincere, Godly love.

If they are a system of rules, then what would be the list of rules for the law of sin and death?

Answer 1

God as Creator of life has only two ways of life: a way based on “give” (love) that leads to eternal life and a way based on “get” (selfishness) that leads to death.

Jesus Christ taught:

“It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

Choice for Israel

God always gives a choice to whoever He calls. For example, when He called Israel as a nation, He told them:

“Behold, I have set before you today life and good and death and evil” (Deut 30:15).

Since God, as a righteous Judge, gives us free will, God will not “force” anyone to choose life and good. That is up to the person called. But God advices:

“I call Heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life, that you may live, you and your seed” (Deut 30:19).

Choice for Adam and Eve

The same God had given the same choice to Adam and Eve in the form of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen 2:9, 16-17).

God gave the same free will to Adam and Eve and hence didn’t “force” them to choose the right Tree. Neither did God prevent them from selecting the wrong tree. But He advised them in a command not to eat of it.

The Way of Giving, Goodness, Blessing and Life

The same Creator God has clearly shown the only way of Life, Blessing, Goodness and Giving, which is “the narrow gate and constricted road” (Matt 7:14) through His spiritual Law.

God’s entire spiritual Law is contained in one word: “Love” (1 Tim 1:5). This love is two-pronged: love towards God (summarized in 4 commandments) and love towards man (summarized in 6 commandments) and nothing is greater than these commandments (Mar 12:30-31). (No wonder, in the entire Scripture that belongs to God, the only part that is written by God Himself is the Ten Commandments).

In the First Covenant/Testament, God wrote these commandments on stone tablets. In the Second Covenant/Testament, the same God wrote these same commandments in the heart and mind of the believers (Heb 10:16 quoting Jer 31:33).

God’s Law is Spiritual

How does God write these commandments in hearts and minds?

“you are Christ's letter, served by us, not having been inscribed by ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not in tablets of stone, but in fleshly tablets of the heart” (2 Cor 3:3).

See, Paul contrasts "ink" with "God's Spirit". So, it is clear that it is through the Holy Spirit that the spiritual Law is written in the mind and heart of a new believer.

When God gives His Holy Spirit to a believer, the latter becomes a spiritual person because God has written His spiritual Law in his mind and heart. He is able to follow God’s Law through the Holy Spirit.

The physical (even if they are of Israel) cannot follow the spiritual (Rom 8:7). The First Covenant was a physical contract. Hence, it was a “ministry of death having been engraved in letters in stone” (2 Cor 3:7) that “kills” (verse 6).

The Second Covenant was a spiritual contract. Hence, it is “the ministry of the Spirit in glory” (verse 8) that “makes alive” (verse 6).

Paul’s Usage of Law

When approached in this way, we would be in a better position to understand Paul when he speaks about law.

The ‘law of the mind’, the ‘law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’, the ‘law of faith’, the ‘law of righteousness’, the ‘law of Christ’ are all the same. They all point to the spiritual Law of God.

• The law of the mind: these are the same commandments written first on stone and secondly on the mind and heart through the Holy Spirit (Heb 10:16). Paul is not talking about the natural mind of an unconverted man but about the spiritual mind of a believer.

• The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus: “the Law is spiritual”, “holy”, “just” and “good” (Rom 7:12,14). The law of Spirit is the same.

• The law of faith: “Do we, then, abolish the Law by this faith? Of course not! Instead, we uphold the Law” (Rom 3:31). Those who have faith will uphold and keep the spiritual law.

• The law of righteousness: “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to whom you obey, whether of sin (disobedience of Law) to death, or obedience (obedience of Law) to righteousness?” (Rom 6:16). Sin is opposite of righteousness and both are in relation to God’s spiritual Law. We obey God means we obey God’s commandments.

• The law of Christ: the law of Christ is interchangeable with the law of God just as the church of God is interchangeable with the church of Christ, so these are the same. “not being without Law of God, but under the law of Christ” (1 Cor 9:21).

So all of these are to be understood as actual laws, the spiritual laws contained in the Ten Commandments. And whatever opposes these are to be understood as the law of sin, flesh and death.

Answer 2

Paul uses the word "law" in various senses in these examples.

• Power. In Romans 7:23 the law of sin (associated with the body) wrestles with the law of the mind (or spirit). Here it means "power." Thus he goes on to bemoan the fact that he is often helpless to overcome the power of sin, which resides in the body. This sense of "law" is continued in Rom. 8:2 where the "law" (power) of the spirit of life has liberated Paul from the law (power) of sin and death. The transition between these two states in indicated in 7:24-25: "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

• Principle. In Romans 3:27 Paul uses law to mean "principle" or "basis." Thus many modern translations (AMP, EXB, RSV, NABRE, etc.) render this passage along the lines of: " By what principle? Of works? No, but by the principle of faith:

• Way - In Romans 9:31, Paul uses the word law to mean "way," "teaching," or "practice." This accords with the idea of Torah as both law and teaching. EHV and NIV use "way" in their translations: "...but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal." (NIV)

• Commandment. In Galatians 6:2 Paul uses yhe "law of Christ" to refer to a "commandment" or "teaching." "Bear ye one another's burdens" is a corollary to the command to love one's neighbor as oneself and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Matthew 7:12)

For additional discussion on the law of faith vs. the law of spirit see this thread.

Answer 3

The question seeks hermeneutic exposition on six Bible texts where Paul speaks of different laws. The only way I see of dealing with them while answering the question that perplexes the OP, namely, "If they are a system of rules, then what would be the list of rules for the law of sin and death?" - is to establish what "the law of sin and death" is, then the contrast that with all the other 'laws' Paul speaks of might be seen.

"The law of sin and death" is constantly being contrasted by Paul with the glorious spiritual freedom from that spiritual law, found only in Christ. It needs to be said from the outset that a full study of everything Paul says about law needs to happen first, for the six texts chosen here only scratch the surface of this topic. Paul writes of 'law' 67 times in the book of Romans alone, and 42 times more in his other letters. However, six texts have been selected out of those 109, so here goes:

Regarding those six verses, the Greek word translated 'law' is nomos, which means "A law, ordinance or custom". That covers a wide range. From nomos, we get antinomianism which means 'against law, without law, lawlessness,' and which includes people who unlawfully abuse law. Paul had a lot to say about the latter, for he waged a constant battle against those who were trying to drag Christians back to law-observance that would have enslaved them to a legal system of law-keeping that could only result in God's condemnation. That is an example of illegal abuse of law.

Once a person has been set free from the law of sin and death, it's like a husband dying and so the wife is released from her legal obligations to him, as her 'head'. Death ends the marriage bond. Such a widow is free to re-marry. So release from the legal bond of sin and death brings freedom to be 'married to Christ' as one's 'head'. But imagine the horror (spiritually speaking) of a person who is still under the law of sin and death, claiming to be 'married' to Christ. That is why Paul was so vigilant to show that people "die to sin" and then become joined in faith to Christ as their legal 'head'.

The law of sin and death is that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). But Paul finishes that sentence by adding, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." See the contrast? This answers the question as to whether the law of sin and death is a list of rules, or not. No. It is not. It is a spiritual principle.

But the OP then goes on to ask if "the law of Christ simply means sincere, Godly love." No, it is far more precise than such a vague idea. It certainly includes sincere love of God, but a whole chapter of a book could be written on what the law of Christ involves (but it does not involve a list of rules!)

Answer 4

Here the "law" in the first instance (Romans 7:23) means the drive and logic of sin. There is a certain regularity and order in sin also. For instance, if one embraces a sin of flattery, the logic of this sin will lead one to an insincere praise of his superior; or if one succumbs to a sin of lewdness, he will logically go to porn-sites or brothels; if one yields to the sin of rage, by the logic of this sin, he will enter into a confrontation. In ancient Greek tragedies this logic was called a power of fate (τυχή), like, for example, in "Medea" of Euripides, Medea is defeated by a sin of vengeance and through the law or logic of this sinful drive she contrives and implements a masterpiece of a plan, albeit a dreadful and evil one.

As to all other instances brought by you, here it is also the logic of grace, not any written or Mosaic law. Now, what is grace? Grace is divine operations. Those features/operations/activities were in God even before the world was created, thus we can call them uncreated operations, such as operation of love, of wisdom, of mercy, of beauty etc. All those operations have their metaphysical, inscrutable logic and man who is led by the grace, by the Holy Spirit breathed in him, will act strangely, by a strange supra-earthly logic, which earthly or natural man cannot understand (1 Cor. 2:14). For instance, the law of Holy Spirit can make it so that a policeman subjects unlawfully (in the perspective of positive state law) to a torture a terrorist who put a bomb in a stadium, because this policeman sees that it is the only means to extract from the bastard the information and to save thus people. This policeman is a law-breaker, but a follower of the inspiration and logic of law of Holy Spirit, of the divine energy/operation of love towards all those innocent people in the stadium, the children especially.

This is actually, what the saint Augustine says: “dilige et quod vis, fac”, or “love and do whatever you wish”, that is to say, any action done under the logic and power of the grace of divine love, even if considered evil and criminal by non-Spirit-led, natural men, is good and praiseworthy sub specie aeternitatis, that is to say, from the perspective of Eternity.

Thus the "law of righteousness", "law of Christ", "law of faith", "law of Holy Spirit" - all stand for the divine operation, divine grace that has a metaphysical, supra-earthly logic and order, to which order a correct and proper Christian man (for there are correct and proper Christian men and incorrect and improper Christian men denying the essence of their Christian calling) gets voluntarily subjected and cooperates with the divine operation, which co-operation is called in Greek συν-εργεία (cf. 1 Cor. 3:9).