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For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
  • BSB For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
  • NKJV For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
  • NASB For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
  • NLT And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The Spirit's law of life in Christ has freed believers from the law of sin and death. The Spirit accomplishes the liberation the struggling self could not.

Overview

Paul explains why there is no condemnation: a new governing power, the Spirit of life in Christ, has set us free. This liberation is from the enslaving principle of sin and the death it brings. What the law could not do, the indwelling Spirit now achieves in the believer.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 23

  • Rom 6:14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
  • 2 Cor 3:17Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
  • Rom 6:18Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
  • 2 Cor 3:6Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
  • Rom 8:10–11And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
  • 1 Cor 15:45And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
  • John 8:36If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
  • John 8:32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
  • Rom 6:22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
  • Rom 7:4Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
  • John 6:63It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
  • John 4:10Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
  • John 7:38–39He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
  • John 4:14But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
  • Gal 5:1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
  • Gal 2:19For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
  • Rom 5:21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
  • Rom 7:21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
  • Ps 51:12Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
  • Rev 22:1And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
  • Rom 7:24–25O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
  • Rom 3:27Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
  • Rev 11:11And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Romans 8:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.

How Romans 8:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.