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Paul’s Laws

Ten Laws in Romans and Why the Pulpit Lumps Them Into One

One word, ten jobs. Separate them and Romans stops contradicting itself.

When Paul writes the word “law,” which law does he mean — and what goes wrong when every one of them is read as the same law?

Most people know that not every law is the same law. A parking ticket and a robbery charge both count as “breaking the law,” but nobody treats them the same. People know a misdemeanor from a felony. They know the speed limit sign is one law and the fine for speeding is another. And they know that paying the fine does not take the speed limit sign down.

Yet when people read the word “law” in Romans, they treat every one as the same law. Many pulpits read “not under the law” and decide that the commandments of Yahuah (God) are gone. Paul never said that. In Romans he names about ten different laws, and each one does a different job. Once they are separated, Romans stops sounding like it contradicts itself.

Each law opens on its own, with its verses, a short explanation, an everyday picture, and the point it proves. The study reads best with a King James Bible open alongside it, and a printable handout of the whole study is available for home or group study.

Download the printable handout (PDF)

Law 1 of 10

The Law of Yahuah

Romans 3:31 · 7:12, 22, 25 · 8:7 · Psalm 19:7 · Psalm 40:8

This is Yahuah’s own law — His commandments. Paul only speaks well of it. He calls it holy, just, and good (7:12). He says he delights in it (7:22) and serves it with his inward man (7:25). When someone asks whether believing in Messiah cancels this law, Paul answers, “God forbid” — believing actually establishes it, or makes it stand firm (3:31).

So who does not want this law? Paul says it is the flesh — the old, selfish nature — that will not obey it (8:7). David said the same thing a thousand years earlier. Yahuah’s law is perfect and turns a person around (Psalm 19:7), and the one who loves Yahuah carries that law in his heart (Psalm 40:8).

The Picture

The house rules on the refrigerator. They are good rules, written by a good parent, for the good of the family.

The Point

Paul praises, delights in, and keeps this law. Whatever he says is finished, it is not this one.

Law 2 of 10

The Law of the Husband

Romans 7:1–4, 6 · Jeremiah 31:32–33 · Hosea 2:19–20

Paul uses marriage to explain the covenant. A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If he dies, she is free to marry again (7:2–3). Yahuah called Himself Israel’s husband (Jeremiah 31:32), and He promised to betroth His people to Himself forever (Hosea 2:19–20).

Here is the key. In Paul’s example, the law does not die. The believer does — “dead to the law by the body of Messiah” (7:4) — so that he can belong to Messiah and bear good fruit. Many pulpits teach that the law died at the cross. Paul teaches that the believer died to the old charge against him (7:6). And in the new covenant, Yahuah promised to write that same law on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33).

The Picture

When a spouse dies, the marriage ends — but the laws about marriage are still on the books.

The Point

The one who dies in Romans 7 is the believer, in Messiah. The commandments do not die.

Law 3 of 10

The Law of the Inward Man

Romans 7:22–23, 25 · Psalm 1:2 · Psalm 119:11

This is Yahuah’s law as it lives in the heart of a person who wants to do right. Paul calls this person the inward man, and says the inward man delights in Yahuah’s law (7:22) and serves it (7:25). He agrees it is right, even when he fails to do it. Psalm 1:2 describes the same person: his delight is in the law of Yahuah, and he meditates on it day and night. The Psalmist said the same: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11).

The Picture

Agreeing that the speed limit is fair, even on the morning the car went too fast because the kids were late for school.

The Point

Paul’s problem was never the law in his inward man. His problem was something else, living in his body.

Law 4 of 10

The Law of Sin

Romans 7:21, 23, 25 · Genesis 4:7 · Jeremiah 17:9

Paul finds “a law” — a pattern — that whenever he wants to do good, evil is right there with him (7:21). Then he calls it another law (7:23). The Greek word is heteros, which means another of a different kind. Paul is telling the reader plainly: this is not Yahuah’s law. It is a pull inside the flesh that fights against the law of his inward man.

This pull is as old as Cain. Yahuah warned him that sin was crouching at the door, wanting to rule over him (Genesis 4:7). Jeremiah called the heart deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9).

Think about that. Paul did not see one law with two moods. He saw two laws at war.

The Picture

A bad habit — the late-night snacking or the sharp tongue — that keeps winning even when a person knows better.

The Point

Paul calls the law of sin “another law.” Treating it as Yahuah’s law goes against Paul’s own words.

Law 5 of 10

The Law of Sin and Death

Romans 8:2 · 6:23 · 7:9–13 · Ezekiel 18:4 · Genesis 2:17

This is the rule that sin brings death. The wages of sin is death (6:23). It goes all the way back to the garden: “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Ezekiel repeats it: the soul that sins shall die (18:4).

Paul asks whether the good commandment killed him. His answer is no. Sin used the commandment to kill him (7:13). The commandment was meant to bring life (7:10). So the law of sin and death is not the commandments. It is the penalty that sin brings. And this is the law the Spirit sets a believer free from (8:2) — the penalty, not the commandments.

The Picture

The speed limit is one law. The fine for speeding is another. Getting the fine canceled does not take down the speed limit sign.

The Point

Freedom from the law of sin and death is freedom from the penalty. Yahuah’s commandments still stand.

Law 6 of 10

The Law of Works

Romans 3:27–28 · 4:2–5 · Isaiah 64:6

This is the idea that a person can earn a right standing with Yahuah by his own good record. Paul says it leaves room for bragging, and bragging is shut out (3:27). When someone earns something, it is a paycheck, not a gift (4:4). Isaiah had already said that even our best righteous acts are like filthy rags (64:6).

What Paul rejects is not obedience. He rejects obedience used as a payment to get saved. Keeping the commandments was never the ticket in.

The Picture

Telling the judge, “I volunteer at church and help my neighbors, so please drop the charge.” Good deeds do not erase a broken law.

The Point

Good works cannot buy deliverance. That does not stop a saved person from walking in the commandments.

Law 7 of 10

The Law of Faith

Romans 3:27–28, 31 · 4:3, 5 · Genesis 15:6 · Habakkuk 2:4

Faith (pistis) simply means belief and trust. The law of faith is the rule that a person is made right with Yahuah by trusting what He provided, not by his own record (3:28). This is not new. Abraham believed Yahuah, and it was counted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6), which Paul quotes in Romans 4:3. Habakkuk wrote that the just shall live by his faith (2:4), which Paul quotes in Romans 1:17.

Then Paul answers the modern conclusion in the very same breath. Does this law of faith cancel Yahuah’s law? No — it establishes it (3:31). Belief is the way in. It is not a replacement.

The Picture

The judge himself pays the fine in full, out of his own pocket. All that is left is to accept it.

The Point

Belief is how a person comes in. It makes Yahuah’s law stand firm instead of ending it.

Law 8 of 10

The Law of Righteousness

Romans 9:30–32 · 10:3–8 · Deuteronomy 30:11–14

Israel chased after the law of righteousness and did not catch it. Paul gives one reason: they went after it by works, not by belief (9:32). The law was not the problem. Their approach was. They tried to build their own righteousness instead of receiving Yahuah’s (10:3).

Then comes the verse many pulpits misread: Messiah is “the end of the law for righteousness” (10:4). The Greek word for end is telos — the goal, like the finish line in a race. A finish line does not erase the track. It is where the track was leading all along.

Right after that, Paul quotes Moses. In Romans 10:6–8 he uses Deuteronomy 30:11–14, where Moses says the commandment is not too hard and not far away — it is near, in the mouth and in the heart. Paul takes Moses’ words about the commandment and uses them for the message of belief. He saw no war between the two.

The Picture

A runner’s finish line. Reaching it does not mean the race course was a mistake. It means the runner arrived where the course was pointing.

The Point

Israel failed because of how they tried, not because the law was bad. Messiah is the goal of the law, not its grave.

Law 9 of 10

The Law of the Spirit of Life

Romans 8:2–4, 7 · Ezekiel 36:26–27 · Psalm 119:45

This law, in Messiah Yahushua (Jesus), sets the believer free from the law of sin and death (8:2). The Spirit first shows a person that he is under the penalty, then shows him there is a Redeemer, and through belief he receives life.

The next two verses are worth reading slowly. The law could not save because it was weak through the flesh (8:3) — the weakness was in people, not in the law. And the reason for setting people free is this: so that the righteousness of the law can be fulfilled in those who walk by the Spirit (8:4). The flesh would not obey Yahuah’s law (8:7). The new person does. Ezekiel promised exactly this: a new heart, a new spirit, and Yahuah’s Spirit inside, causing His people to walk in His statutes (Ezekiel 36:26–27).

Here is where a believer’s outlook changes. The law stops feeling like a prison and starts feeling like freedom. The Psalmist knew it: “I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts” (Psalm 119:45).

The Picture

The fine is paid, the license is handed back, and the driver pulls away — now glad to keep the speed limit, out of thankfulness instead of fear.

The Point

The Spirit frees a person from the penalty so that the righteousness of the law can be lived out in him.

Law 10 of 10

The Law of Messiah

1 Corinthians 9:21 · Galatians 6:2; 5:14 · John 12:49–50; 15:10 · 1 John 2:6 · Deuteronomy 18:18

Paul says he is “not without law to God, but under the law to Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:21). The Greek word there means “inside the law.” Paul was not lawless. In Galatians he says that carrying one another’s burdens fulfills the law of Messiah (6:2), and that loving a neighbor as oneself fulfills the law (5:14) — a direct quote of Leviticus 19:18.

So what is the law of Messiah? Yahushua answered that Himself. He did not speak on His own. The Father who sent Him told Him what to say (John 12:49–50). He kept His Father’s commandments (John 15:10). Moses had foretold this very thing: Yahuah would raise up a Prophet, put His words in that Prophet’s mouth, and that Prophet would speak everything Yahuah commanded Him (Deuteronomy 18:18). The law of Messiah is Yahuah’s law, lived out perfectly by His Son. He showed the way to walk, and believers are told to walk the same way (1 John 2:6).

Notice what this shows about the Father and the Son. One gives the command. The other receives it and obeys. That is two, not one being in three persons. The law of Messiah is not a second law from a second God. It is the Father’s law, kept by His obedient Son.

The Picture

A son learning the family business by watching his father and doing exactly what his father does.

The Point

The law of Messiah is the Father’s law lived perfectly. It is how a believer walks after being saved — not a new rulebook that replaces Torah.

All Ten, Side by Side

Put the ten side by side and Romans tells a simple story. Yahuah’s law sets the standard. The marriage picture shows the covenant. The inward man agrees with Yahuah’s law, but the law of sin in the flesh breaks it. The law of sin and death hands down the penalty. The law of works tries to earn a way out and fails. The law of faith accepts the payment Yahuah provided. The law of righteousness shows that the goal is reached through Messiah. The law of the Spirit of life sets the person free. And the law of Messiah shows how a free person walks — in the same commandments, now written on the heart.

Lump them together, and Paul seems to argue with himself on every page — calling the law holy and then calling it death, keeping it and then escaping it. Separate them, and every verse fits.

Conclusion

Deliverance is not earned by works. It is received by belief. But belief does not stop there. It shows. A tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 7:16–20). Belief without works is dead (James 2:17). The person who looks into the perfect law of liberty and keeps doing it is the one who is blessed (James 1:25).

Many pulpits teach one law with one outcome: the law is gone. Paul teaches many laws with many outcomes. For those in Messiah, the penalty of death is canceled. Yahuah’s law still stands — made firm by belief, lived out by the Spirit, and walked first by the Son, who never said a word His Father had not given Him. Free from the penalty, never from the commandments.

Download the printable handout (PDF)