“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.!” | Romans 6: 1-4

While marrying a young couple yesterday, I asked them if they would promise to honor and love one another, “till death alone shall part you.” We believers were married to the law in the sense that we were bound and responsible to honor it. We were “under the law,” and though sinful and incapable of honoring it, it was nonetheless our duty before God to do so perfectly. Paul uses this beautiful comparison to show what our relationship is now to the law, and to the son of God.

Being dead to the law, we are married to Christ, and yet not considered “adulterers.” In other words, we have no requirement to honour the law, and yet are guiltless before the law.

Free from the law O happy condition, Jesus hath bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law and killed by the fall, Christ hath redeemed us, once for all.

It may seem extreme to you that I would say, we have no requirement to honor the law, but think about it believer. If we are responsible to honor God’s law, then we must inhabit Hell forever. Christ honored it for us, and paid our sin debt, and we add nothing to what He has done for us. Nothing.

This does not mean we do not respect the law, and even try to obey it both outwardly and inwardly, but we have found that what we would, we do not, we cannot. Paul even says we “delight in the law of God, after the inward man,” but understand. We are dead to the law for righteousness, and we are married to Another.

We cannot, do not, shall not honor the law with our works, though we do desire to and strive to, but our Husband did, and we are one with Him as man and wife are said to be before God, one flesh. We bring forth fruit unto God because our works, just like our persons, are accepted “in the Beloved.” Let us praise Him both now and forever, our Husband, our Beloved, the Lover of our souls and Him Whom our soul loveth.

~ Pastor Chris Cunningham

Click here to listen to the message “Run After Love”

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FreeGraceRadio.com Bulletin Article date: 1 August, 2008 | Previous post date: n/a | Danville, Kentuky