Romans 7
I enjoy the look that passes over people’s
faces when I tell them that my grandma was married three times. There is an
initial look of shock which is quickly hidden over with a casual face, as if to
say, “O, I wasn’t surprised by that at all.” I have to explain that she
outlived her three husbands – one at a time. Even in our culture there seems to
be a latent understanding that when a person gets married it is to be, “till
death do us part.”
It is that understanding of God’s design
for marriage that Paul invokes in Romans 7 speaking of our relationship to God’s
Law as though we were married to it. That marriage is binding as long as the
person lives. But if a spouse dies, the remaining spouse is released and is
free to remarry. Except in this case it is we who have died and are released
from the Law. (This is what Paul said in Romans 6 – that we are baptized into
Christ’s death and into the hope of His resurrection. That’s why baptism is not
a personal commitment on our part, but a gracious gift that God gives us, and
through which He sets us free from sin and death, which are the consequences of
the Law.)
So now we belong to another, because we
have died to the Law through the body of Christ. To whom do we belong? Paul
says it beautifully; we belong, “to Him who has been raised from the dead.” God
has kept his promise in Genesis 3 to separate us from the devil and our sinful
ways by killing us in Christ, and raising us to be the Bride of Christ – the Church,
which is all who believe in Jesus.
But it is not just that we are to die
and rise. Nor are we simply to be freed from the Law and united to Christ. It
was for this purpose that God has given us Jesus’ death and new life; “in order
that we may bear fruit for God.” Now, be clear, this is not a new Law in order
to condemn us. This is much more like a fruit tree. When the conditions and
time are right, it bears fruit. It doesn’t have to be told to. (Can you imagine
someone yelling at his apple tree, “Grow apples!”?)
Living in the Gospel we will bear fruit –
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and the like – in our personal lives. We
will also share our faith so that God’s Word would work in others and they come
to believe in Jesus – the new fruit of people becoming believers.
God, help me bear fruit for I have died in
Christ and live in Him. Amen.
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