The law binds marital relationship between husband and wife. A wife of a living husband will be accused as adulteress, if she marries another man. This wife is however free to marry another man, if her husband is dead (Romans 7.3). Paul’s logic is interestingly genius. Paul exactly knew that Torah is a perfect and spotless ‘husband.’ Paul was himself previously a devout Jew. But Paul also realized that Torah is not able to save his dying ‘wife’ who is lying down hopelessly on the ground in a deep dark valley.
Since Torah is good and perfect, it cannot die. No one is
authoritative to abolish and cancel the law. Jesus himself said some two
thousand years ago, ‘I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law’
(Matthew 5.17-18). Who will then be able to save this dying ‘wife’? Her destiny
is eternal punishment and death. The only way to save her and to transform her
destiny is to break the binding marital law between her and her 'husband.' If the likelihood for the ‘husband’ to die is zero, then the ‘wife’
is the one who has to die (Romans 7.4).
Who is the ‘wife’? We were the ‘wife’ of the law, but we are
now the bride of Christ. Paul did not here talk of the church as the bride of
Christ, but of individual Christian as the bride of Christ: what a wonderful
imagery? Through the body of Christ believers in Christ are dead to the law. Since one party is dead,
the marital law is broken. The imagery is far from easy. Paul did lucidly
explain in Romans 6.1-14, that the transformation from our old sinful life to
our new life in Christ involves death and resurrection.
The dying and hopeless ‘wife’ is now saved by and through
the suffering body of Christ. The ‘wife’ is dead to her first ‘husband’ and she
lives for her new ‘husband.’ Believers in Christ are dead to the law but now
live for Christ (Romans 6.11).
Paul continued the discussion by bringing up two crucial
themes. The first theme is to
contrast between the old and the new life by analyzing the ‘fruit’ of or the
purpose of life. Our old life was set for death. In other words, the ultimate
goal of our old life is death. The new life is different because it was set for
God alone. The ultimate goal of our new life in Christ is to have eternal
fellowship with God. Therefore, although both ‘husbands’ are good, holy and
perfect, the ending of each story is different. The bride of the law is set for
death, while the bride of Christ is set for eternal life.
The second
important theme points not to the final destination of our life, but to
the way we live our life here and now. Those who live under the law tend to be legalistic.
Thankfulness and sincerity are absent in a legalistic way of life. The dominant
motives in a legalistic way of life are three: self-justification,
self-centered, and self-congratulation. The new marriage requires new way of living. Believers in Christ should serve the
lord in the newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter (read:
legalistic way of life). Christians are called to serve God in the spirit of
love and excellence. We live for God because we love God. We love God because God first
loved us by reaching us out and transforming our fatal destiny into a blessed
life of salvation. Paul later elaborated this new life in spirit in Romans
chapter 8.
What shall we say? We are redeemed and freed from our old
‘husband’ to serve as the bride of Christ. We are now secured and set for a
glorious eternal life prepared by God alone. we need to be careful however, the security
of our salvation does not free us to continue live in our old legalistic way of
life. We are now called to serve the lord in the newness of spirit.
Lastly, the ‘divorce’ from the old ‘husband’ and the ‘remarriage’
with the new ‘husband’ are made possible only through the precious cross of Christ. Though salvation is offered to us freely by God's grace alone, it is costly. The body of Christ is literally broken and his precious blood is literally poured for us to grant us an extraordinary status as the bride of Christ. Be
thankful!
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