1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Romans 7:1-3
Paul opens Chapter 7 with a legal principle everyone would’ve understood: the law only binds a person while they’re alive. Then he uses marriage to illustrate it. A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If she joins herself to another man while her husband is still alive, she’s called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she’s free to marry another—no guilt, no law-breaking.
Now, here’s where it gets personal. Before Christ, I was bound to the law. It was my “husband,” in a sense—my covenant partner. But the law couldn’t save me. It could only expose my sin. And if I tried to join myself to Christ while still bound to the law, it would be spiritual adultery. I’d be trying to live under two covenants at once—one of works, one of grace. That doesn’t work. The law had to die—or more accurately, I had to die to the law through Christ—so I could belong fully to Him.
APPLICATION
Today, I don’t try to mix grace with performance. I’ve died to the law. I’m not cheating on grace by running back to self-effort. I belong to Jesus now, and that covenant is secure. I don’t live in fear of breaking rules—I live in the freedom of being loved.