Released from the Law

In his sermon "Released from the Law," based on Romans 7:1–6, Pastor Robert McNutt explains Paul's illustration of marriage as a metaphor for the believer's relationship to the law. Just as a wife is no longer bound to her husband after his death, so believers are released from the law through union with Christ's death. McNutt emphasizes that the law's dominion only extends to the living, and spiritual death in Christ frees the believer to be united to Christ in new life. This freedom does not abolish the moral law, but enables believers to truly fulfill it by the Spirit. The purpose of this release is not antinomianism but fruitfulness: just as marriage was instituted for multiplication, so too is salvation designed to produce spiritual fruit. The sermon closes with a call for unbelievers to come under grace by trusting in Christ's finished work, and for believers to remember they are empowered to bear fruit by the Spirit because they are no longer under the condemning power of the law.