Rom 7:6

“For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin, which (passions) used to be efficiently caused through the law, (wrought) in our members unto the bearing of fruit to death; but now we have been emancipated from the law, being dead (to that) in which we used to be held, unto the serving of God in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.”

“Some people have wrongly interpreted "the new life of the Spirit" as if it meant that the Spirit himself was new and did not previously exist or teach the prophets of old. Such people do not realize how greatly they are blaspheming! For the same Spirit is in the law as in the gospel. He dwells eternally with the Father and the Son and is eternal just as they are. It is not that he is new but that he makes believers new when he leads them out of their former sins to a new life and a new obedience to the religion of Christ, turning carnal people into spiritual ones.”

“See how he again in this place spares the flesh and the Law. For he does not say that the Law was made of no effect, or that the flesh was made of no effect, but that we were made of no effect (i.e., were delivered). And how were we delivered? Why by the old man, who was held down by sin, being dead and buried. For this is what he sets forth in the words, "being dead to that, wherein we were held." As if he had said, the chain by which we were held down was deadened and broken through, so that that which held down, namely sin, held down no more. But do not fall back or grow listless. For you have been freed with a view to being servants again, though not in the same way, but "in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." Now what does he mean here? for it is necessary to disclose it here, that when we come upon the passage, we may not be perplexed with it. When then Adam sinned (he means), and his body became liable to death and sufferings, it received also many physical losses, and the horse became less active and less obedient. But Christ, when He came, made it more nimble for us through baptism, rousing it with the wing of the Spirit. And for this reason the marks for the race, which they of old time had to run, are not the same as ours. Since then the race was not so easy as it is now. For this reason, He desires them to be clear not from murder only, as He did them of old time, but from anger also; nor is it adultery only that He bids them keep clear of, but even the unchaste look; and to be exempt not from false swearing only, but even from true. And with their friends He orders them to love their enemies also.”

“Now everything has changed, Paul says. We have died to this life and are no longer under any obligation to keep the law. Our life no longer has anything in common with that, because we have been renewed by the power of the Spirit and have become different people. We have crossed over from this present life to life eternal and cannot tolerate any captivity of the flesh.… What is more, we who follow Christ are much better off than those who are governed by the law.”

“So as not to grieve the Jews, he did not say: the law has been abolished, but: "we have been released from it," that is, we have been set free, liberated, died and became dead and motionless with respect to that bond which held us. And this bond is sin; for we were held by it as by a chain. And we died to sin, so that we might "serve God in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." In ancient times virtue was difficult, because Adam received in his mortal body a multitude of natural deficiencies; but now by the grace of Christ in baptism our nature has received help from the Spirit, Who made us new and young and freed us from the oldness and weakness of the letter. Therefore in the time of the law virginity was a rarity, but now in the Church there are thousands who piously lead a virginal life. The same must be said also concerning contempt for death.”

“The third is at but now we are loosed. He shows that this usefulness is acquired by those freed from the slavery of the law, saying, but now we are loosed by the grace of Christ from the law of death, i.e., from the slavery of the law of Moses, which is called the law of death, because it killed violators without mercy (Heb 10:28). Or better, it is called the law of death because if offered the occasion for spiritual death: for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor 3:6). In which law we were detained, as though servants under the law: before faith came we were confined under the law (Gal 3:23). We have been freed in such a way so that we should serve in newness of spirit, i.e., renewed in the spirit through the grace of Christ: a new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you (Ezek 36:26); not in the oldness of the letter, i.e., not according to the old law. Or not in the old written code of sin which the letter of the law could not remove: I have grown weak in the midst of all my foes (Ps 6:7).”

“The law is called the "law of death" because it punishes the guilty and puts sinners to death. It is therefore not evil but righteous. For although evil is inflicted on its victims by the law, the law itself is not evil, because it executes wrath justly. Therefore it is not evil to sinners but just. But to good people it is spiritual. For who would doubt that it is spiritual to forbid sin? But because the law could not save men by forgiving sin the law of faith was given, in order to deliver believers from the power of sin and bring those whom the law had held in death back to life. For to them it is a law of death and it works wrath in them because of sin.Although Paul regards the law as inferior to the law of faith, he does not condemn it.… The law of Moses is not called old because it is evil but because it is out of date and has ceased to function.… The old law was written on tablets of stone, but the law of the Spirit is written spiritually on the tables of the heart that it might be eternal, whereas the letter of the old law is consumed with age. There is another way of understanding the law of the Spirit, which is that, where the former law restrained evil deeds, this law which says that we ought not to sin even in our hearts is called "the law of the Spirit," because it makes the whole person spiritual.”