Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 6:12-14
The Roman Empire allowed many of the countries and territories they conquered to retain much of their existing legal system rather than forcing them to abandon their old laws completely. This was one of the innovations that allowed them to keep the peace across a sprawling region. Yet if at any point there was a conflict between Roman and local law, the Roman law always took precedence. Paul took advantage of his right as a Roman citizen to avoid a trial in Jerusalem that was only being held as a way for his enemies to kill him. “For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Caesar” (Acts 25:11).
Every person is born into this world as a subject to the law of sin. The lost have no ability or even desire to escape from the dominion of sin over us. But when we are saved, we become subject to a new and higher law that takes precedence over the old law. Just as a plane can overcome the law of gravity by the law of flight, we can live victoriously over the sin that once held us captive. What we could never accomplish on our own is made possible by the grace of God freely extended to us through Jesus Christ. The old nature is still present with us. The law of sin is still active in the world. But now the only time we obey that law is when we choose to do so. Sin no longer has the power to compel our obedience.
