What Christian can disagree with these basic statements?
- All men will be judged by the law, and condemned miserably for their constant failure of it.
- This absolute standard holds except for those who have been completely separated from the law by the work of Christ.
Don’t we all agree on this? We’re in great trouble with no way out. Only Christ can save us. Without Him, we are doomed by the law.
For professing Christians, there should be nothing controversial here. And Paul the apostle feels a great necessity to press this point on the Roman believers. How can he do that? What will he say to cement in their minds these most basic, unquestionable truths? Is there a basic metaphor that everyone could immediately relate to? A picture cannot be easily forgotten, or misunderstood—it’s worth a thousand words.
God is a Rock—unshakeable, unmoved, eternal. He is a Shepherd—full of love for His sheep. Wisdom is a prudent young lady—making life wonderful and pleasing for a young man who listens.
What does Paul use with the Romans? Marriage: We had been married to the law. “The law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives” (Rom. 7:1). How can I understand this “dominion” (KJV) or this “jurisdiction” (NASB)? The Holy Spirit uses marriage, and no woman can be separated from her marriage except by death (Rom. 7:2). The first words of 7:3 are logical consequences: “So then.” It logically follows that if a woman cannot be free from her husband without death, then she cannot be remarried without death either.
Based on that, you were made to die to the Law so that you might be married to another, even Jesus Christ. You could not have been joined to Christ without having been freed from your first union.
Are there two ways to be freed? Are there multiple possible options whereby a man can come out from under condemnation? Is there any Savior beside our Lord? Did He not take the title Lord because He is the exclusive Way, Truth, and Life?
How could you press these truths on new believers? Very simply by showing them the picture of marriage, but only if marriage has no options for divorce.
It is very common to allow Christians to divorce if their spouse was unfaithful according to Matt. 5:32 or 19:9. But Romans 7:1-4 is a very clear passage that should be used to interpret the less clear phrase recorded by Matthew.
Regarding divorce and remarriage, I cannot think of a clearer statement in Scripture than Romans 7:1-4. We all agree with Paul’s theology and illustration in that passage. If we allow believers to divorce, what happens to his main point? Can we say there is only salvation from the law through Christ except for some other cases? May it never be. If Christ alone is our watchword, then the permanence of marriage is a picture of that doctrine.
In the question of divorce and remarriage, there are difficult passages (actually only two difficulties and they are phrases such as “except for fornication”), but the clear should interpret the obscure. The use of marriage to communicate the exclusive power of Christ alone to save from our union to the law in Romans 7:1-4 is a very clear passage.
