Wednesday, January
23, 2019
Now, dear brothers and sisters—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living? For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries. So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. Romans 7:1-6(NLT)
Laws are systems (typically) of
what you may not do. The
Ten Commandments in Exodus are mostly negative statements (i.e. thou
shalt not), and legal, negative statements can only take you so
far. For instance, if the law says thou
shalt not kill, does that mean I can beat my annoying little
brother half to death and, as long as he’s still breathing, I’m still within
the legal limit? Many people think so;
this is why we have so many laws on the books; people find a way to get around
the law’s purpose, and you have to make a new one to clarify the old one.
In ancient times the Pharisees,
teachers of the law, took the basic ten commands, and in time had developed
them into more than 600 commandments, proving there’s very little simplicity in
legalism. If one word will suffice, the legal
mind will find a way to confuse it with a whole dictionary. (Same thing for preachers!)
But the law of God was never
intended to restrict; the law was intended to set a minimum standard to teach
us what the wrong direction looks-like, so our human proclivity to go higher
than minimums, would propel us in a better direction. That direction being that I not only wouldn’t
harm my brother, but begin to care for the little nuisance.
Paul points us to marriage, and
how it is until death us do part.
Once the death occurs, the marriage is still remembered with fondness,
but there is release so the still-living spouse can grieve, but move-on with
living. The Apostle uses this in an analogy
of our marriage relationship with the laws of God. Rather than bind us to an endless chain of
legal decisions, properly understood, the commands of God were designed to show
us where life and death part ways. Once
we find that sweet spot between legalism and license (to do what we want,
rather than what we ought), there is a freedom to live which legalism can’t begin
to conceive.
So…how does this shake-out where
the rubber meets the road? Consider this
example. As a husband, the law tells me
I have certain responsibilities towards my wife. Until she dies I have a responsibility to treat
her fairly, by not beating her, not stealing what’s hers, and supporting the
children of our union financially, as well as keeping the laws of not
endangering their health. Sounds like
the romance of the ages, eh? What kind
of life
is there in that kind of arrangement if I just stick to the minimums, the legal
limits?
On the other hand, if I set the
minimum legal limits aside as too low a standard, and consider myself dead to
that kind of worthless husbandry, I will be free to place my wife at the top of
my interest list. In place of a business
transaction, there is joy, laughter, and a bond of soul-friendship that will
last a lifetime. The world’s view of
pre-nuptial agreements can’t compare with going beyond the letter of the law
all the way to the Spirit of the Law!
For You Today
When you’ve met all the legal
requirements to your parents, spouse, and children, are you satisfied? If not, it’s because you get it, that there’s
life in going beyond serving self…all the way to love, which will make you do
strange and wonderful things!
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