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Or 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? For 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. Accordingly, 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. Likewise, 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. For 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. But 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. (Romans 7:1-6)
This is a weird illustration Paul is using. He talks about the case of a woman who marries again. Whether this is wrong or right depends entirely on whether death has ended the first marriage. If not, the woman is committing adultery; but if her first husband has died, nobody would dream of questioning the second marriage.
And then Paul turns around and applies it to us! Once upon a time we were the ones who were “married” to God’s law—and it wasn’t such a great marriage, was it? Never any peace, not for a single moment—because our own sinful desires and actions were constantly fighting with God’s law. It wasn’t the law’s fault—I mean, we can all see for ourselves that the commandments are good. But we are not good—not healthy, whole, and happy, the way God made us to be. We are broken people, unable to live by the law. And God knows this.
So He solved it with a death—Jesus’ death. Jesus took our sin, our brokenness, upon Himself, even though He Himself never did anything wrong. And then He took us, the people He loved, along with Him, all the way through His own death and resurrection—so that we could become God’s own beloved children, living in freedom and joy.
And not living alone! Because as Paul says, now that we have died and risen with Jesus, we are remarried—this time, not to the law which made us miserable, but to Jesus, our Savior. He is the One who gave Himself up for us, so that we could live in freedom, serving “in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” Today we do good, not because we “have to,” but because the Holy Spirit is living inside us, making our hearts more and more like our Savior’s. And we delight to make Him happy, because we love Him.
WE PRAY: Lord, I’m glad to belong to You. Teach me what it means to live in Your freedom and love. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
- What kind of a husband do you expect Jesus to be?
- What kind of a marriage do you expect this to be like?
- Is it easier or harder to do good things when you know that your salvation doesn’t depend on your good works—and that Jesus has already handled that, for love of you?
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