Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the
law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman
who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But
if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if,
while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an
adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is
no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you
also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be
married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear
fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were
aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now
we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so
that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the
letter. – Romans 7.1-6
Using
the picture of a divorced woman being bound to her husband until he dies and
then is free to marry another Paul further illustrates that in Christ we have a
new spouse.
The
Jews were married to the law. We are married to Christ. We are not bound to the
oldness of the letter. Now we are bound to the newness of the spirit.
Jesus
talked about He came to fulfil the law. He said the law alone binds because in
the spirit we have life.
How
does that play out in my everyday life? It means that I am not bound by a
ticklist or a bunch of dos and don’ts. It means that I am not bound by a bunch
of laws.
That
sounds great, but now I have what is in some ways a tougher challenge. Now I am
bound to the spirit. When Jesus described what that means it seems even
tougher. The law said we can’t commit adultery. Jesus says we aren’t to even
think about it. The law says we cannot kill. The spirit says that if we are
truly in the spirit we won’t even hate because hate is the same as murder.
It
isn’t as easy as a ticklist. Anybody could do that. It is a matter of yielding
to the Holy Spirit when deciding what to do in our lives. That means we need to
pray and study the scriptures and seek godly discernment.
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