To Whom Are You Married?

To Whom Are You Married?

“For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.” Rom. 7:2.

The question is: To whom are you married? As long as you live by your own works, you are the wife of the law. People assume that they are free from the law, yet they are ignorant of the reality that they are its slaves. Consider a person who has been saved from the burden of sin that has weighed him down for a long time. He reads in the Scriptures about what is required of those who are saved. If he is indifferent and settles down in some religious assembly, he will remain a son of the bondwoman all his life—without even being aware of it. He will never get to know the law properly—despite the fact that he is married to it. The situation is quite different for a person who is restless and searching. He can’t relent until he has found rest. He, too, slaves away under the law, but he slaves with all his heart. He does not give up. He longs to keep the law, to walk in purity and to have a good conscience, because he knows well what it means to live in sin and to be its slave. The more he strives, the more is required of him. Despite the fact that things look black, he keeps trying, only to fall short once again. All this happens because he is still in the flesh and has not yet received light over the fact that no good thing dwells in his flesh.

True, he is aware of a number of Scriptures about his flesh being corrupt, but as long as he has not experienced liberation from his flesh, he lives in the flesh just as naturally as a fish lives in water. Despite all his knowledge about liberty, he is married to the law. Anyone who shows respect of persons is not married to Christ but to the law. The liar is married to the law that says, “You shall not lie.” The one who borrows from his neighbor without paying him back loves himself more than his neighbor. He is married to the law that says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” A person who does many good deeds but cannot manage to keep them hidden from others, but rather reveals them at opportune times, has not done his works for Christ. If that had been the case, he would not have accepted or sought honor from men for the things he has done, but because he reveals his works, he gets honor. Christ’s words then become applicable to him: “How can you believe, who receive honor from one another?” Faith has nothing to do with the law. So anyone who cannot believe is left with only the law. He is married to it. He does not serve in the newness of the Spirit, but in the oldness of the letter.

When the Word of God is spoken, one person hears the words as the letter of the law, while for another the very same words are spirit and life. It all depends on the individual’s relationship with Christ.

When a person, through the law, has died to the law and has married another man—Christ—that person becomes an adulteress if she, like the Galatians, once again lives according to the law. The husband, Christ, is alive, and as long as the husband is alive, the wife must not marry another. That would be adultery. Since the man, Christ, cannot die, neither can His wife. If it were the case that they could die, then life would not be eternal. But now the husband, Christ, and His bride are destined to have eternal life, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”