For NT Wright, everything pertaining to redemption occurs in Christ — Christ does it all and those who are “in” Christ get it all. What those in Christ get is the Spirit. Those in the Spirit are released from the Law and its condemnation.
What most surprises about Wright’s exegesis Rom 8:2-4 is that those who are “in the Spirit” fulfill the “Torah of the Spirit of life” so that the “just requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us … who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:2, 3-4. This expression challenges the notion that the Christian is “freed” from the Torah. Maybe they are freed from the Torah, but in what way? Can they burn their Torah? Obviously not. So, Wright looks a little more closely at the expressions.
Here’s a key, and he cuts a path into a significant discussion. For may the “law” or Rom 8:2 is rendered with the word “principle.” But, Wright thinks the “law” of Romans 8:2 is the Torah, not a code-word for “principle of life.” It should be translated “Law” and not “a law” or “principle.”
Here’s his controversial claim: “The Torah, then … is the hidden agent of what God has achieved, which is the life of which the Spirit is the personal giver.”
That is, the Spirit give the life the Torah promised and thereby wakes the Torah up.