
Romans 7 begins by comparing the Old Law to the New Law through the concept of marriage. Per the Old Testament Law, when a man and a woman join together in marriage, they were bound to one another until death. If a spouse stepped outside of their marriage while the other spouse was still living, the cheating spouse would be considered an adulteress. The law bound them together as one, and death was the only thing that could legally break the marriage.
The relationship between God and his people has always been compared to the covenant of marriage. God’s people in the Old Testament, under the Old Law, were said to be married to God. Isaiah 54:8 states, “For your Maker is your Husband; the LORD of Hosts is his name.” Therefore, we were bound to God and His Word, which was the Law. We were under covenant, and death was the only thing that could have broken our marriage with God.
And that is exactly what broke the covenant. Death, the death of Christ, broke the bond that we had with the Old Law. We believe that the Word was Christ (John 1:1), and we believe that the Old Law was the Word of God given from God to Moses on Mount Sinai. So, if Christ is the Word, and the Law was the Word of God, wouldn't Christ also be the Old Law?
And if the Old Law died on the cross, then per the law, we are no longer married or bound to the Old Law. When our Husband died, we became released from the covenant of the Old Law. Paul states in Romans 7:4, “If her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.”
Therefore, no one has the right to call us an adulteress if we are now married to Christ under the New Covenant marriage. Once our Husband died, we were released. Yet, not only did our Husband die, but we also died. We died to the old man and was created new when our sins were atoned for through our Lord. So, considering that both the Husband and His Bride has died, it stands to reason that the Old Law has been done away with two-times over.
Paul's marriage and law comparison beautifully explains how we were once bound and legally married to the Old Law, but that we are now released from the Old Covenant. All things have been made new. Our Husband rose again, and we became his Bride under a new marital law. Paul also explains that the law was holy, righteous, and good.
If we are to believe that Jesus is the Word of God and that he was perfect, then it stands to reason that the Law was also good and perfect.
Psalms 19:7 confirms that the Law indeed was perfect. It reads, "The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple."But we are not perfect. We could not keep the perfect law then, and we cannot keep the perfect law now. Hebrews 7:19 states, “for the law made nothing perfect, and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.” It wasn’t that the law wasn’t perfect … it just didn’t make us perfect.
So, the Old Law had to die. Though it was perfect, it had to be done away with so that we could reach perfection through the death of Christ. Paul states in Romans 7:14 that although the law is spiritual, he is carnal. If Paul, a man who had the privilege of being caught up into the third heaven was carnal, how much more carnal are we?
“What a wretched man I am!” Paul exclaimed in verse 24. Because of carnality, Paul states that he does what he does not wish to do. He wishes to be spiritual. He wishes to uphold the entire law but cannot because he is not perfect; therefore, he cannot keep a perfect law. Instead, he states that he finds another law at work in him, waging war against the law of his mind and making him a prisoner of the law of sin.
It is the same for us. We fight with so many external sources that we forget that the biggest source of conflict lies within. Though we may face several points of opposition in our lifetime, our most enduring war will always be the war within. But despite the inner war, there is victory!
Chapter 7 ends with Paul questioning who will rescue him from this internal war. He asked who will rescue him from this body that is subject to sin and death. Romans 7:25 reads, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
God through his Son Jesus is the good and perfect solution in this text. Christ is the solution that freed us from attempting to attain what we could not obtain. Instead of straining to gain perfection, God gave us perfection in Christ. His death and resurrection were the perfect solution for His Bride, the church, you and I to join with him in a new marriage without being in breach of the first marriage.
And although we are internally waging war and there seems to be no hope in being rescued from this endless war within, God through his Son Jesus Christ is once again that good and perfect solution. He will save us from our internal war and grant us victory over even ourselves.
Praise God today, and praise God forever more that he is and will always be the Perfect Solution.
Quin Arrington is a wife, mother, and author with books available for purchase at www.amazon.com/author/quinarrington
Thank you for your time and attention. God Bless!
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