Romans 7

The seventh commandment says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Simply stated, this is the law of God concerning marriage. If we were to put more words of explanation together on this matter, we might say something like this: "Marriage is a binding lifelong covenant commitment between a man and a woman. It is the only possible moral relationship for the enjoyment of one-flesh intimacy. Aside from the death of one of the parties, there is no way out of a marriage covenant without serious sin and significant consequences." If a man is still alive, and his wife lives with another man, she is counted as an adulteress. She has violated the seventh commandment. This is the law of marriage. But if her husband dies, she is freed from her covenant commitment, and can marry again without being considered immoral. The law is binding upon them as a married couple only as long as they both live.

Israel was married to the old system of the Law. But now, in the death of Christ, something has happened. The Law has died as a covenantal arrangement. The people of God are free to be united with another husband, the Son God, Jesus Christ. We belong to Him. We are to bear fruit for God through our new husband, our resurrected Savior. This contrast between the two husbands is worthy of our consideration. We cannot speak against our first husband, the Law, but that covenantal system could not bring forth the fruit of life for us. Our new Husband is very fruitful, and we are bearing good fruit in our association with Him. God has told us to be fruitful and multiply. Now, in Christ, we are bearing fruit that will last for eternal life.

The Law is a very interesting system. It cannot be criticized, yet it cannot bring life. Like sin, it can be said to hold us captive, but sin is evil, while the Law is not evil at all. Despite all of the perfection of the Law, it only brings to us a knowledge of our fault, and we are undone by it. The Law speaks to me in words that cannot be criticized. It says, "Thou shalt not covet." Now I have an intimate awareness of what covetousness is, because the sin nature of my flesh rises up within me when I hear the Law, and I give birth to transgression, which has no place in the world of eternal blessing.

Before the system of the written Law came through Moses, Israel was alive in the promise of God. That promise did not go away when the Law came through Moses, but it was somewhat obscured by the mounting awareness of sin that came through the written commandment. The commandment promised life upon the condition of obedience, but it could not defeat the sin nature within the covenant people. That sin nature seized upon the commandment as an opportunity to bring forth the fruit of unrighteousness and death within the life of Israel, and the people were undone. The Law proved to be a burden that our fathers could not bear; not that the Law can be charged with the fault of the law-breaker. It was the sin within the people of God that brought forth death. Sin used the Law for its own destructive purposes, and it did so with great and deadly effect.

But the promise of God did not die. God had a purpose in the Law. Sin did increase, and the slavery of sin was all the more obvious. No matter how much Old Testament Israel under the Law applauded the Law with her mind, sin within her was a mighty enemy. She could never have found life through the Law, because in a contest between a mind that applauds the Law and the flesh that rejoices in evil, the flesh would always eventually win. This was the case for Old Testament Israel as a covenant people, and it is the case in any individual even now. We need a much stronger help than our mind applauding what is right. We need Christ by His Spirit at work within us, putting to death the enemy of the flesh.

It is not enough that we agree with the Law that it is good. We need power from on high to do what God loves. This power does not come from the Law, but from Christ, from the gospel of the cross and the resurrection, and from the Spirit of Christ at work within the church. Without these powerful allies we will only continue to do what we hate. Without these great and victorious warriors battling on our behalf, our existence will only be wretched. We may agree with the Law that it is good, but we will still be enslaved to sin. This flesh is still a continuing trouble for the true believer, but thanks be to God, Christ Jesus our Lord is at work within us, and through Him we have the victory.

Let there be no doubt within the church that this strong Savior, the Husband of His people, lives forever. His cross has dealt a decisive blow in this great battle for resurrection glory, and He will certainly deliver His people from this body of death that continues to give us a palpable struggle within every individual and within the body of Christ as a whole spiritual community. Though we feel the wretchedness of the warfare in and around us now, the victory of our great Husband is a certain reality that encourages and empowers us in the service of our Lord.