from its harsh dominion (verse 18) and cause the fruit of righteousness to grow in our lives (verses 22, 23). So the enjoyment of Christian liberty depends on the Holy Spirit. True, it is Christ who sets us free. But without the continuing, directing, sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit our liberty is bound to degenerate into licence. The theme of this paragraph may be divided into two and entitled ‘the fact of Christian conflict’ and ‘the way of Christian victory’.