February 22 Click on verses for Full Scripture

previous - - - - - - - - - - next

Today's Pathway: Romans 7:1-5 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

In Romans 7 Paul talks further about the Christian being free from the law. In today's text he gives two illustrations to show that the believer is no longer under the law. First, in verse 1, he states that the law only has authority as long as a man is alive. This should be an obvious point, for a man in a coffin really doesn't have to worry about what the law says to him! And because Paul spent so much time in Romans 6 showing that the believer has been crucified with Christ and is now "dead to sin" (6:2), he is showing in the clearest possible way that we have also died to the law as a rule of life.

Beginning in verse 2 Paul uses marriage as a second illustration. According to the law, when a woman got married she was supposed to stay married to her husband for as long as he was alive. By the way, this principle is still valid. Though divorce and remarriage has become much more prevalent and acceptable even in Bible-preaching churches today, it is still a violation of Christ's teaching concerning the permanency of marriage (Matthew 19). So the wife was to remain married to her husband while he lived, but if he were to pass away she was no longer bound to him, but was free to marry someone else. According to verse 3, if a divorce took place and the woman married another man she was to be referred to as an adulteress. This is because she was supposed to be bound to one husband, but had instead chosen to bind herself to another at the same time. Of course, as it states above, if her husband had died she was not an adulteress, but was free to remarry legally.

Paul uses this in verse 4 to prove his point. We were married to the law before salvation. However, when we died with Christ the law became dead to us. Once that occurred, we were free to be married to Christ. What Paul is saying is this: just like a woman can't legally be married to two different men at the same time, so a human being can not "legally" be married to both the law and Christ at the same time. We are either under law or under grace. And to be under grace is far better! First, it is better to be married to Christ than to be married to the law. George Zeller wrote,

"The law is a terrible husband -- strict, inflexible, stern, rigid, demanding and unbending. The Lord is a wonderful husband -- merciful, gracious, and He, by His power and life, enables me to please Him."