Romans 7:1-6: Part 2

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? 2 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. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 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)

A Bad Marriage. So what is the deal with Paul’s opening example of marriage? My guess is that this marriage is a bad one. That was not exactly an uncommon occurrence, and still isn’t. But in a culture where parents chose the spouse of their children, there were certainly plenty of Abigails legally bound to Nabals (see 1 Samuel 25). And here Paul points out that so long as the dud husband is alive, the wife has no choice but to be his wife. Prenups, no fault divorce, even divorce for that matter were virtually none existent for women.

Til Death Do Us Part. Sinners and the law make a bad marriage. They would completely bomb on the Newlywed Game. They are tragically incompatible. The law isn’t sleeping around on us; it just makes a really bad spouse. We may or may not be sleeping around on the law, but regardless we need a better marriage. However, apart from death we are legally bound to the law. We are faced with only two choices. One we try our best to stay faithful to the law, or two we run off with someone else.

A Bad Spouse. So why does the law make such a bad spouse? Living with the law is like living with a husband who perpetually points out your mistakes, uncovers your shame, and exposes your deepest flaws. And it does all that without a shred of mercy. So the law undresses our faults, and when we reply, “Okay, so I’m screwed up. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me” the law doesn’t just shrug and walk away. No, the law looks directly into our eyes and says, “I can’t do that . . . (long awkward pause). I can only give you what you deserve. I can only damn you.” Mercy simply isn’t part its repertoire.

Bad Fruit. So when messed up people are bound to the law, they end up conceiving some bad offspring. Demands without grace produces guilt and shame, which in turn produces isolation, anger, bitterness, hopelessness, fear, and pride. But again there is nothing wrong with the law itself. In reality, the law is nothing more than wedding vows. Wedding vows are great at forming the proper context of a lifelong relationship, but it is impossible to have a relationship with vows. Our main problem is that we are separated from the true spouse. We are simply left with vows. The damning, condemning vows that speak nothing but obligation, that give us no hope for redemption, that never speak a word of forgiveness.

The True Husband. Our hope is not in keeping the vows. Even if we do really good at adhering to them, we still don’t have the husband. Yet unless the vows are kept there can be no marriage. So Paul says that the answer to this dilemma is that in Christ we can die to the law. We can be set free from its legal obligation. Not that the obligation has vanished. Far from it. But the true husband has come. He has kept the vows on our behalf. He has died under the law’s cursed damnation. And only in our new relationship with him can we hear the most blessed words ever spoken to the guilt-ridden, “I forgive you.”