In Romans 7:22-23, Paul said that he delighted in obeying God's law, but contrasted that with the law of sin, which held him captive. If Romans 7:5-6 were referring to God's law, then that would mean that Paul delighted in stirring up sinful passions in order to bear fruit unto death and in being held captive, which is absurd, but rather it is the law of sin that he described as holding him captive.
In John 1:16, it says grace upon grace, so the grace of Christ was added upon the grace of the Mosaic Law. Verse 17 does not contain the word "but", so both are listed as examples of grace.
Graciousness and righteousness have always been compatible character traits of the same God, which he expressed throughout both the NT and the OT. For example, in Psalms 119:29, David wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey the Mosaic Law, so the Mosaic Covenant was also based on grace, while in Jeremiah 31:33, the New Covenant still involves following God's law, so it is also based on law.
Hebrews 8:6-13 does not describe the problem that God found as being with His law, but rather the problem that he found was with the people for not keeping it, so He established the New Covenant where he would put His law in our minds and write it on our hears so that this time we would obey it (Hebrews 8:10). So while the Mosaic Covenant has become obsolete, God's eternal law did not become obsolete along with it.
Sin is the transgression of God's law, so being set free from sin is living in obedience to God's law.
Jesus set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to the Mosaic Law, he did not hypocritically preach something other than what He practiced, and he did not establish the New Covenant in order to undermine anything that he spent his ministry teaching by word or by example, but rather the New Covenant still involves following the same law (Jeremiah 31:33). In wouldn't make sense to think that the New Covenant involves refusing to follow anything that Jesus taught.
Your responses here are scripturally refuted by Paul's teaching that the new covenant is
by GRACE, THROUGH FAITH, ... and explicitly
NOT OF WORKS.
Ephesians 2
8 For
BY GRACE are ye saved THROUGH FAITH; and that
not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9
NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
TO PERFORM GOOD WORKS, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Your salvation formulation has WORKS in the
wrong place in the NEW COVENANT ... we are saved
by GRACE through FAITH, ... and explicitly
NOT BY WORKS, ... but
to perform WORKS.
The SAVING comes
BEFORE any WORKS, ... which is perfectly consistent biblically ... since
it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God (in any way)
without FAITH.
OTOH, ...
FAITH ... pleases God ... and is counted for RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Romans 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say?
“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Your line of thought is EXACTLY why the letter was written to the HEBREW believers ... because they were tempted to
GO BACK to the following of the MOSAIC LAW to access God's salvation. The letter clearly shows that following the MOSAIC LAW is futile as a way of accessing God's salvation ... because we cannot sufficiently attain perfection (God's behavior standard) in the keeping of the Law.
James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend on one point, he is guilty of all.
Also, the LAW was not given to SAVE US, ... it was given to
TEACH US ... to
SHOW US our failure and weakness in following and meeting God's expectations. Such recognition can then
LEAD US to the true source of God's salvation ...
JESUS CHRIST, through Whom salvation is gifted to ALL who believe on His name.
Galatians 3:24 "Wherefore
the LAW was
our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be
JUSTIFIED BY FAITH."
John 1
10 He (Christ) was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13
Which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God.
For believers in Christ,
the LAW has done what it was purposed to do (i.e. to bring us to Christ), ... and we can now
go on to
follow God in the SPIRIT.
Galatians 5
16 But I say,
walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
P.S. Every good Bible student knows that the general expression
"The Law" always refers to the Mosaic Law. So much so that any use of the phraseology to mean any other law ... is
CLEARLY delineated in scripture. So, ... as you say ... "the law of sin" ...