Free Grace Women

As soon as it crossed my lips, the question sounded dumb. “But we still have to keep the Ten Commandments, don’t we?” I asked my pastor.

He looked at me with a mixture of love, pity, and conviction. “No, we don’t.” 

What did he just say? I winced inwardly, feeling silly and exposed. Pastor Paul was challenging my tired, inadequate, and cliched belief system. A guilty, liberating thought took shape in me. Could this be true? 

Over the next months and years, God rewired my brain through His Word. I discovered the believer’s freedom not only from the Law of Moses but also from any system of law-keeping for righteousness. The Bible calls these systems “the elementary principles of the world” (Colossians 2:8 NASB). These are principles or systems that humans employ to restrict sinful impulses and promote holiness. These include praying rote prayers, abstaining from food or drink, adopting dress codes, and engaging in mystical practices like Lectio Divina¹. An elementary principle is any activity that exchanges the sufficiency of Christ for the efforts of man in order to be justified or sanctified. A subtle shift from Christ’s work to our own.

Under the patient instruction of my pastor, a supernatural door — a whole new way of living — opened to me. Just as I had received eternal life through faith in Christ, I would go on to maturity through walking by faith in Christ. 

What is the whole new way of living? Work through the following study in Romans 7 to discover the answer. I’ll meet you on the other side.

ROMANS 7:1-12 (NASB1995)

¹ Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? 

² For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. 

³ So then if, while her husband is living, she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man. 

⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 

⁵ For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

⁶ But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

⁸ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.

⁹ I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died;

¹⁰ And this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;

¹¹ For sin taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

¹²So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

QUESTIONS FOR EXPLORATION AND UNDERSTANDING

Verse 1-3:

• What makes a widow’s remarriage permissible, lawful, not adulterous? 
• In verses 2 and 3, what are the rules of marriage?

Verse 4: 

• How are the rules of marriage applied to the believer’s union with Christ?
• What event brought about your death to the Law? 

Verses 5 and 6: 

• What produces fruit for death in a believer?
• What does fruit for death look like? (Galatians 5:19-21)
• What must a believer understand to serve in the newness of the Spirit and not the oldness of the letter?
• What does fruit for God look like? (Galatians 5:22, 23)

Verses 8-12:

• What caused the sin of coveting to rage out of control in Paul’s life? 
• In verse 9, Paul says he was once alive but then he died. What death is he talking about? What caused that death?
• How can the perfect and holy Law of God become an impediment to holiness and an instrument of death for believers? 

In Christ, I am released from law-keeping as a way of life. Checking off lists, engaging in morbid introspection, and comparing myself with others. My focus is Christ, His death, and resurrection. Preoccupied thus with Christ, the Spirit bears fruit for life in me. It seems too good to be true, but I assure you, beloved, it is not. It is a whole new way of living.

When I was a young believer, preachers taught adherence to the Mosaic Law with modern adaptations. Working on the Sabbath (Sunday) was a sin. Never mind that the Mosaic Sabbath was from Friday night to Saturday night. The definition of work varied. 

Those whose jobs required them to work on the “Sabbath” were silently scorned. But the faithful were inconsistent. Working at a restaurant on a Sunday was taboo, but eating in one after church was permitted. Christians consumed their cheeseburgers, debating and agonizing about whether their meal had been a cause of stumbling for the cook. 

The inclination to please God by following lists of rules is strong. But it will result in utter defeat in our Christian experience (Colossians 2:23).

At the height of my sabbatical confusion, my wise husband referred me to Colossians 2. It was as if God had inspired a new chapter of the Bible just for me. Of course, it had been there all the time. I devoured its truth and was set free from the legalism of Sabbath-keeping. That was only the beginning of my journey to freedom.

I studied the Scriptures to learn how to live under the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood—a whole new way of living. Step by step, God set me free from legalism to live by faith in Christ, His finished work on the cross, and His glorious resurrection.

It’s a brand-new year. Why not discover a whole new way of living, of walking with the Lord?

Here are twelve New Testament chapters to help you rewire your mind in 2026. The entire book of Galatians, Romans 5-8; Colossians 2; 2 Corinthians 3. One chapter for every month of 2026. 

• Read the chapter daily for one month.
• Record your questions and insights.
• Memorize one key verse.
• Pray the chapter content back to God.
• Experience transformation!

As you study, ask God to open your eyes to a whole new way of living. He did it for me, and He will do it for you, too. 

---

---

---

---

Introduction to the Eight Freedoms

Freedom from Doubt

Freedom from the Power of Sin

1.  Lectio Divina is a contemplative way of reading the Bible. It dates back to the early centuries of the Christian Church and was established as a monastic practice by Benedict in the 6th century. ↩︎