We’re now in Romans, chapter 7. Paul has been talking about how Christ has set us free from the law, sin, and death. He’s now about to use a common example to illustrate what he’s been teaching.
Do you not know, brothers — for I am speaking to men who know the law — that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
Romans 7:1-2
Here Paul is speaking to those who know the law. He explains that the law is lord over humans only as long as they’re alive.
Now, using marriage as an example, he explains this truth. The law binds a woman to her living husband. But, if her husband dies, she is loosed from that aspect of the law.
So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
Romans 7:3
Obviously, if her husband lives, and there’s another man in her life, she’s an adulteress. If her husband is dead, then there’s no adultery. Paul is using the example of a married woman. So, what does that have to do with us?
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
Romans 7:4
The point is that we died to the law with Christ, so that we could be married to another. We now belong to Him who was raised from the dead – Jesus Christ. In Christ the old connections are gone.
Look at the wonderful results of this truth.
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
Galatians 2:19
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:11
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Galatians 6:14
What could be better than this? We are declared dead to the law, dead to sin, and dead to the world. According to verses 2 and 3 above in Romans, what does this mean? We now have no connection, no obligation, and the freedom to choose another way of life.
Think about this in the natural. What if a woman’s husband dies? She goes through the grieving process. But then, God brings her another love.
What if she remains devoted to her dead husband? Everyday she places flowers on his grave. She continues to talk to that dead husband as if he’s alive. She still sets a place for him at dinner table.
Is she free? No! Why not? It’s because of her own choice.
Many Christians are just like this. The old connections to the law, sin, and the world are broken in Christ, yet they act as if they were not.
What’s the answer to all of this? Paul will get into it as we continue on in this teaching. You won’t want to miss it.
Question: How is your relationship with Christ similar to a marriage?
© 2021 Nick Zaccardi
The Spirit and the Word 