You are not under the law, but under grace

Romans 6:1-18 (TNIV) -

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—

7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

My thoughts -

What does it mean to not be under the law but under grace? The way I think of it is this: The law is predominantly what you should not do. There are rules, and you should not break them. When you do break them you need to be forgiven. Repeat this cycle for your entire life. Do something. Break the law. Repent. Repeat.

Now, Jesus summed the law up in Matthew 22 as "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Grace enables us to do that. Grace empowers us to do that. If what we do shows our love for God and our love for our neighbor then it isn't sin. Instead of focusing on what not to do and our obligation not to do it and our punishment when we fail Jesus breaks this cycle and demands that we love. Not be legalistic, just love.

So we are dead to sin. It's not that we can't do bad things, or that we shouldn't do them (though we shouldn't). It's that grace has empowered us to live a better way. We are dead to that old way and alive in Christ.