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Romans 7:4
Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
As we began looking yesterday at God’s true purpose for His law, we saw that we were in a dead-end relationship with it. Paul reminded us of the elementary fact that everyone is naturally under the authority of the law, required to obey its every tenet. And everyone utterly fails to do so. The law, therefore, does not save us but condemns us. Only death can “free” us from the law’s lordship, but, of course, such “freedom” is worthless, for if we pass from life to death still under the condemnation of the law, we are lost forever.
So what hope is there? Ironically, as Paul’s illustration in verses 2–3 pointed out, death is indeed the answer. Just as a husband’s death frees his wife to marry again without incurring the legal guilt of an adulteress, so the death of Christ frees us from the dominion of the law and brings us into a new relationship both to Him and to His law. By His death He took the penalty for all our violations of the law, so that all our condemnation is taken away—past, present, and future (Rom. 8:1). Then, when God justifies us, the righteousness of Christ is credited to our account, the righteousness we could not earn by complete obedience to the law. The wonderful, underlying truth here is that, as Dr. James M. Boice puts it, “the law is not abrogated by the manner in which God has saved us in Christ, but rather . . . the law has been both honored and satisfied.” In other words, God did not lower His standard to free us from the law’s dominion. He poured out His righteous wrath against all the guilt we had incurred, except that it fell on Christ, not us. And in the person of Christ, a living man compiled a record of complete obedience to the law, a record that is now credited to each of us, so that God sees full legal compliance when He examines our records. Paul therefore can say that those who have faith in Jesus have become “dead to the law through the body of Christ.”
Paul then reminds us of the end for which God has done these marvelous things—that we might be united to Christ and bear fruit to God. What is this fruit? Paul already has made clear that it is holiness (Rom. 6:22). Having been “married” to Christ, we now are able to keep the law, for He gives us His Holy Spirit to enable us to obey God’s righteous requirements. The law no longer condemns us but instead guides us in the way God would have us live.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Despite being “dead to the law,” Christians usually are more sensitive to their failings in regard to the law than unbelievers. However, this is as it should be, for the desire of a believer is to please his Master, and he feels shame when he fails to do so. Let your awareness of your sins drive you to repentance and to praise for the grace that saved you.
For Further Study
- Psalm 119:5–6
- Zephaniah 3:5
- Ephesians 5:25–27
- Philippians 1:20
- 1 John 2:28