Dead to the Law, Married to Another

Introduction:

Chapter 6 is about our sanctification. It plots the course of our initial union with Christ, our death, burial and resurrection. We learn that SINCE those realities are true, that we are to behave in accordance with them. The illustration Paul gives to demonstrate our relationship to sin formerly, is a Master/Slave dynamic. Just as the slave must obey its master, so to we who were formerly slaves of sin, must obey our new master, that being to God Rom 6:16-18 .

Romans 6:16–18 KJV 1900

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

We were also shown that in addition to our servitude to one master, there are consequences or end results. Each path bears its own unique kind of fruit Rom 6:19-22

Romans 6:19–22 KJV 1900

I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

So the fruit that we bore when we were still in the flesh, when we weren’t redeemed, was sin. And the end result of sin is death. On the contrary, when we die to sin, and raised from the dead with Christ, when were redeemed, we begin to bear righteous fruit. That righteous fruit leads to holiness, or sanctification, and the end of that is everlasting life. Not as a consequence, but as the inevitable end of the new path that were on.

Lastly, we see essentially, the sum of the entire chapter wrapped up in one statement in Rom 6:23

Romans 6:23 KJV 1900

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The wages or reward or paycheck due to us for our sin, is death and hell. The opposite of that is not a reward or paycheck for our righteousness, but rather a free gift offered to us by God. That gift being his own son, Jesus Christ, and to all who believe on him, eternal life. Two realites, two masters, two kinds of fruits, and two destinies.

The Statement (Rom 7:1)

Paul begins here again with a statement of, “Know ye not”. In other words, what I am about to say, you should know this, its common knowledge. He presents to us a introductiory statement, That the law has domionion over a man as long as he is alive. The word dominion, again is the same word used in the previous chapter, and it refers to ruling over, Lording over the gentiles luke 16. This does not necessarily need to only refer to mosaic law. As long as we are citizens of America, we are bound by its laws. But in reference to the Law of God, the whole world is under it, excluding Christians. The whole world is condemned by it. Rom 3:19

Romans 3:19 KJV 1900

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

The Symbol (Rom 7:2-3)

Chapter 7 really is a continuation of some of his previous claims. Namely, being Rom 6:14-15 “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”

He previously used the illustration of a Master and his slave to demonstrate the new position we are in, and how we to behave and yield. Now, Paul will explain what it means to not be under the law, to be in a new relationship and in union with Jesus Christ. This he’ll do with the picture of Marriage.

Marriage is a physical union of two persons. The two come together, and become one with another and cleave to one other, forming one unit, and one family. This can only be broken “GENERALLY SPEAKING” through death. This is a simple illustration to teach us about what it means to be under grace and not the law. He’s not discussion marriage and divorce as a topic but instead using marriage and separation as an illustration. Death generally speaking is the only means in which a person is released or loosed from the binding that a marriage produces.

If a man and woman come together to be married, they are bound to each other for as long as they live in marriage. If, well lets say the woman because thats what Paul uses, If the woman goes and marries another person while her former husband is alive, she is committing adultery. If however, her husband is dead, she is loosed from the marriage. She is released, or otherwise translated discharged. My mind immideatly goes to my own discharge from the Marine Corps. When you are discharged from the military, you are released from the duties, obligations, customs, laws, all of it. You are free to walk and talk on a cell phone simultaneously. You are free to grow a beard. You are free to chew gum. Back to the symbol Paul uses, in regards to the death of a spouse, as unwanted as that may be, she is no longer bound by the marriage, because death has broken the marriage, thus making her free from the marriage and free to remarry. If she does remarry, she is not considered an adulterer, even though in previous scenario, she hasn’t done anything different. Again, because upon death, death disannuls the marriage, thus releasing the other party from the marriage. You’ll see why exactly Paul uses this symbol of all symbols as its a perfect illustration.

The Application (Rom 7:4)

Are Become Dead = Put to death, Made to die

We are become dead to the law. What does that mean? It means we have been separated, we have been freed from bondage, free from the law of (in the sense of the law of the husband). We have died to the law in the same way that when a husband dies it free’s the woman to remarry.

How do we become dead to the law? By the body of Christ. How does the body of Christ accomplish this? Because as Rom 6:3 says if you have been baptized or immersed into Christ, you too have been immersed into his death. And as Rom 6:4 says were also buried as he was buried, and as he rose we too have risen. Rom 6:6 says our old man was crucified with him. So again, how does the body of Christ make us to die to the law? Because in our union with Christ, we truly, historically and spiritually were nailed to the cross with Christ. He was dying for our sin, and we simultaneously were dying to sin. He was dying for us to fulfill the righteous requirement of the law on our behalf, and we were dying to bondage of the law over us.

Why? So that we would be married to another, to him that was raised from the dead. But why did we have to die first? Well, for the same reason that the woman can not marry another until her husband is dead. Because if she marries another, while her husband who she first married is alive, she is in sin and is an adulteress, generally speaking. Thus dying to the law, becoming dead to the law, then enables us to be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead.

For what purpose? That we should bring forth fruit unto God. John 15:5 were reminded that only in abiding in Christ, can we bear fruit. We also know from Rom 6:22 that we must be free from the tyranny of sin and be enslaved to God to bear fruit which leads to holiness. We honor God by bearing much fruit for him, and by fulfilling the good deeds in which he has called us to complete. Eph 2:10. The purpose then in our dying to the law, is to be free to marry another, to be united with him who was raised from dead for the purpose of bringing forth fruit unto God.

Now at first glance, you may see an apparent mistake. In the illustration it was the Husband that died. The woman is not free to remarry while her husband is alive, but if her husband is deceased, she can remarry. The woman is a picture of us. We are not free to be united to Christ, to be under grace, while we are united or married to the law. But if the husband is dead we are free to remarry, correct? But in the application who is it that is dying? You. Ye. You are become dead, you have been made to die to the law. So whats happening? If were the wife in the illustartion, and we are the ones who died, how can we remarry? We can not remarry while dead, we are dead. But if and since we died in Christ, were raised then, to walk in newness of life, and now we can be remarried, or united with Christ.

To clarify, if we are woman, and the Husband is a picture of the law, notice that it is that is dying and not the law. This is because the law does not die. The law does not lose its purpose simply because we are no longer married to it. The law still shuts the mouth of the whole entire world as it brings them into condemnation and exposes their sin. And wonderfully, the law still functions as the schoolmaster disciplinarian that while condemning those who break it, points them to Jesus Christ, who offers them forgiveness. It points them to the one who is calling them to marriage and unification. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17.

As a side note, Interestingly, we aren't dying to the law, and being raised to freedom to do what we please. We are dying to our marriage of the law, being raised from the dead TO BE married to another, to him who was raised from the dead. I may have mentioned this before, but we are never truly liberated to total freedom to do as we please. As Moses relayed the words of God to Pharoah saying “Let my people go, (to be free to do whatever they please? No) that they may serve me”. Identically, we are married to the law, we then are made to die to the law, to be raised to.... marry another. We are discharged from one branch of service, and immediately conscripted into another.

The Alteration (Rom 7:5-6)

‌Motions = Passions, day to day sinful living.

The sinful passions, or motions of sins in us, were by the law. By the law in the sense that they operated in close proximity to the law. 1 Cor 15:56 reminds us that the strength of Sin is the Law. When there is no law, there is no sin. When the law of God is presented, our sinful predisposition is to not obey it. When we were in the flesh, while we were unconverted, the desires of our members was to give in to sin, to bear the fruit of sin, which is Death. (NEXT VERSE). Romans 7:6

Romans 7:6 KJV 1900

But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Delivered = Loosed, form of the same word.

Wiersbe translates it this way. that being dead wherein we were held = Having died to that by which we were constrained

Now that we are dead to the law, this leads us to the only conclusion we can come too, that being that we are delivered from the law. The law cannot exercise dominion or authority over us as it previously did. Simply put the law has no power over a dead man, which we were. There’s not much a dead man can do, other than be dead, and vote for democrats. We are delivered by death, from the law. Again, to do as we please? No. To serve in newness of Spirit. In the past, when we were in the flesh, even when we knew the Laws of God and strived to keep them, there is a difference between that kind of service and the service were called to now. Pulling back from Rom 6:13 were called to yield our members as instruments or weapons of righteousness. In Rom 6:19 were called to yield our members as slaves to righteousness and holiness. The reason we can now do this as opposed to before is because now we are serving in newness of Spirit. Spirit here, though not capitalized is referring to the Holy Spirit. And its by the Holy Spirit that we are enabled now to keep the commandments. Formerly, the commandments were written on stone tablets, But now Gods commands are written in our very hearts. Previously, we tried to obey the commands in the oldness of the letter, but now we do service in the Newness of the Spirit.

Questions:

What is the authority and purpose of the law?

Why does Paul use marriage as an illustration to help us understand our relation to the law?

What is different now in your service to God, compared to before you were Born again? Perhaps speak on the affect of this difference has had on you?