p. 615 | DEAD TO THE LAW by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 25, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 39.

“DEAD TO THE LAW.”

By G.

IN the seventh chapter of Romans, the apostle Paul states explicitly that “the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth.” From this standpoint he goes on to illustrate the effect of the Gospel of Christ. “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, tho she be married to another man.” Rom. 7:2, 3.

From what was the woman set free?—From the law of her dead husband. He being dead, his law could not hold her any longer. The woman represents the sinner, and her husband is the carnal nature. The law of such a husband would be the law of sin; for the carnal mind “is not subject to the law of God.” Then as long as this husband lives, the sinner is subject to his law. But if this husband should die, and the woman (the sinner) be married to another husband, she is bound (or governed) by his law; that is, she become obedient to him. The Scripture injunction is, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” Eph. 5:22–24.

After stating in Romans 7 that the woman whose husband is dead is no longer subject to his law, the apostle makes this application, “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.” Rom. 7:4.

That the first husband is the natural man, is shown in the next verse, “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” This is the marriage, and the result of allegiance to the law of that first husband.

“But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” What is it that is “dead, wherein we were held”?—It is that to which we were married—the flesh, in which were the motions of sins, which wrought in our members, etc. As in Ch. 6:6, 7: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him [Christ], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin.” As “sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4), the one whose “old man” is dead is freed not from the law of God, but from the transgression of the law.

This is made plain as we follow the apostle’s argument in Romans 7. “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Verse 7. Then if Paul could not know sin without the law, how can any one else? He says elsewhere that “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Ch. 3:20. The enemy of souls would be glad to have the law set aside, so that men could not have any means of knowing what sin is.

Our being “dead to the law” and the law’s being dead are two very different propositions. The sinner’s dying to the law is the death of the “old man,” the death of self, the natural man, the first husband. Note that we become “dead to the law by the body of Christ.” The sinner is condemned to death by the law, but Christ died “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.” By faith in Christ the sinner dies in His death. Then as to the demand of the law upon him as a sinner, that has been satisfied; he is dead to the law; but by the same faith he has been raised again to “walk in newness of life,” leaving the old husband, the carnal nature, in the grave.

By the same faith, also, he is married to Christ, and henceforth lives in Him, and in harmony with the law which was transgressed when he lived with the former husband in sin. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, which walk not after the flesh [the old husband], but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:1. This is what the apostle means in Ch. 7:6, where he says, “But now we are delivered from the law.” We are delivered from its condemnation by pardon from the King, and kept free by obedience through faith.

But what does it mean to “serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter”? We must remember that this chapter is addressed “to them that know the law” (verse 1), to them who could appreciate Paul’s individual experience from a Jewish standpoint. Like most of the Jews of his day, Paul had been very zealous for the law, but he knew only the letter; he knew nothing of its spirit. Like his Jewish brethren, he had endeavored to keep the letter of the law by his own efforts. Thus the law was “weak through the flesh,” and the effort to keep it only in the letter, without the Spirit, was simply a work of the flesh, a service of the flesh.

It was no fault of the law that the Jews used it in this way. It is no fault of the Word of God that men misuse it. He does not abolish it and discard it because men misconstrue it, and make of it an instrument of condemnation rather than of salvation. Of what use is the Gospel to men, if they accept only the letter without the spirit?—It is of no more benefit to them than is the letter of the Ten Commandments without the spirit of obedience. A mere profession of the Gospel without the Spirit is just as sinful as a formal obedience of the law without the Spirit. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” The Gospel is a witness against unbelievers just as verily as the law condemns the disobedient. The Gospel is just as “weak through the flesh” as is the law, and it is just as unprofitable to those who will not respond to its gracious invitation. 2 Thess. 1:8.

“The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom. 7:12); it is “spiritual” (verse 14); therefore only by faith in Him who kept it perfectly can its precepts be acceptably observed. The new covenant is the writing of the law of God in the hearts of believers (Jer. 31:31–33; Heb. 8:10), even as it was in the heart of the Saviour (Ps. 40:7, 8). But can the law of God be in the heart of one who believes it is abolished, or proclaims that it is no longer of force? The Lord came “in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin [margin, ‘by a sacrifice for sin’], condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” If we are truly married to Christ, we are bound to Him by the law as long as He liveth. G.