In God s kingdom it is the very opposite. This is what conversion is all about. A condemned criminal can only be justified from his crime after he has paid the penalty for that crime. In the same way we cannot experience justification in Christ unless we first identify ourselves by faith with the death of Christ on His cross. The word freed in this text in the original is the word justified or acquitted.
Sin is a dual problem.
It is the transgression of the law which condemns the sinner to death. Through the cross of Christ we are delivered from both of these problems. Our death in Christ does not only justify us but it also strikes at the very root of our sin problem. While the cross of Christ liberates us from the condemnation of sin it does not give us the liberty to live as we please. When we accept Christ and Him crucified as our Saviour, we are accepting both salvation from the guilt and punishment of sin as well as salvation from the power and slavery to sin.