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Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Introduction Romans 6:15 – “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? Being saved doesn’t mean that you are free from having a master. If we are under grace, then God is our master, and we want to do as He instructs us to do.

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Married to Another (verses 1-4) When we get married, we take vows. We promise to honor and cherish each other as long as we both shall live. But, what if one of the marriage partners were to die?

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Married to Another (verses 1-4) The law binds only those that are living. CAN’T GET PULLED OVER FOR SPEEDING IF YOU’RE ALREADY DEAD

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Married to Another (verses 1-4) Death breaks the power of sin. Death also breaks the power of the law.

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Married to Another (verses 1-4) While it is the husband’s death that frees the wife to remarry, in our case, it is our death that frees us to remarry. The law has not died. We have died, and therefore our marriage to the law is over. We have no obligation to the law since we have died.

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Married to Another (verses 1-4) To be a Christian is to fall in love with Jesus and to enter into a legal, yet personal, relationship as comprehensive as marriage.

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Married to Another (verses 1-4) When you get married, no part of your life goes unaffected.

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Married to Another (verses 1-4) Marriage does entail a significant loss of freedom or independence. Marriage also has the opportunity for love, intimacy, acceptance, and security that you cannot have as a single person.

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Married to Another (verses 1-4) Paul gives us the ultimate answer on how Christians live. We are not “under the law,” in that we don’t obey the law out of fear of rejection. We no longer use the law as a means to salvation, a way of acceptance or access to God, a ladder up to Him. Jesus perfect life and death are the ladder up to God, and we are accepted in Him.

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Two Covenants The original covenant that God made with man is sometimes called the “creation covenant.” We call it the “covenant of works.” We have seen the stark contrast between the first Adam and the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, like the first Adam, was put to the test and subjected to probation. He died for our sin; He lived for our righteousness.

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Two Covenants The covenant of grace refers to the promise God gave immediately after the fall of Adam and Eve. Rather than bring promised death as a result of violating His covenant, He promised a redemption that would come through the seed of Eve. The promise of the covenant of grace is that we will be redeemed not because we keep the law. We will be redeemed through the one who did keep the law.

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Two Covenants The covenant of grace refers to the promise God gave immediately after the fall of Adam and Eve. We are justified through the works of Jesus alone, who alone kept the terms of the covenant of works.

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Pleasing Christ (verses 5-6) So, does the Christian ignore the moral law of God then? Not at all We are no longer under the law We are married to it We are married to Christ; we are seeking to please Him, and so the law’s precepts are ways to honor the One we love. We live to please the one to whom we are married.

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Pleasing Christ (verses 5-6) Our death in “the body of Christ” has changed everything. We are slaves to God – how could we, and why would we sin? We belong to Christ as His bride, knowing that He died for us – how could we, and why would we, not live to please Him? Why would we not live out lives of loving gratitude towards Him?

Married to christ: Romans 7:1-6 Pleasing Christ (verses 5-6) Ultimately, our identity, our relationship with God, that is the ultimate answer to Paul’s question in Romans 6:15. It is knowing who you are in Christ that causes you to say, deep in your heart: “Will I live in this moment as though I am a slave to sin, married to the law?”

Union to christ: Romans 6:1-14