Freed from the Law

Romans 7:1-6

¹Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?

²For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.

³Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

⁴Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

⁵For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

⁶But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

God has blessed me with over 36 years of marriage to Cliff. On my wedding day though, there was a moment when my dad offered me an out. Yup – as we were standing at the back of the sanctuary, waiting to walk down the aisle, he told me I could still get out of this. I’m still not sure whether he said it in jest or in all seriousness. Maybe a bit of both, but after I went down that aisle and committed myself the options were gone. Dad had always raised me with the idea that “divorce is not an option.” So once I said “I do”, I would until death parted us. So far, so good. We will celebrate 37 years together in 2015.

Paul uses marriage as an illustration to make a fairly complex idea come to light. God established the Law for several reasons. It keeps all of mankind inside of a unified standard for behavior. Even unbelievers know that murder, stealing, and adultery are wrong. The Law also shows us that we are in desperate need of a Savior for it mirrors back our sin to us by illuminating God’s standards and our lack of keeping those standards. And the Law makes clear the way that God would have His children live, setting forth a lifestyle that is pleasing to Him. The Law holds power over us and since we are sinners that power leads ultimately to death for the Law condemns. Here is where Paul’s illustration comes into play. When a person is married, the laws of marriage are over their lives. They are committed to that one person until one of the partners dies. It is only through death that a marriage is dissolved. Such is our situation in regards to the Law. Only through death am I freed from Law’s power to condemn me.

But now comes the incredibly Good News. I don’t have to actually die in order to appropriate that freedom from the Law’s negative power over me. Jesus did that for me. Because of my baptism into Christ, His death was my death. The Law still serves the three purposes I cited earlier but it does not have the power to send me to hell. The Accuser’s voice cannot be heard over the blood of Jesus. And the freedom doesn’t only apply to what will happen after my body dies (unless Jesus returns before my physical death). The freedom applies to my everyday life. I am now free to live as a new creation. My life on this earth takes on a whole new meaning and I have God given purpose and joy. While the concept that I died with Christ is a tough one to grasp I am grateful that my understanding of it in no way impacts my appropriation of this blessing. To God alone belongs the glory.