Prepare: Is there any way a wife can be freed while her husband is still alive?
Read: Romans 7:1-6
The analogy of marriage: Paul urges the Jewish believers to ponder on their new union with Christ as something unique. He was aware of their commitment to the Mosaic law due to the covenant with God through Moses. How can they follow Christ when they are bound by the Law of Moses?
Paul knew well that Jews were bound to live with their laws. But Paul comes out with a unique interpretation to a familiar analogy, the analogy of marriage. In a marriage relationship, a wife is not free to break the marriage bond. Death of her husband is the only means for her to be relieved from the relationship. Paul introduces a remarkable way for the wife to be relived from her husband-that is the death of the wife. Paul wants the Jewish Christians to realize that when they accept Christ, they die not only to their self and sin but also to the law and thereby they are freed from the Mosaic law to live for Christ.
Paul, a true apostle of Gentiles: Whenever the Jewish Christians confronted the Gentile Christians to first become followers of Judaism, Paul defied their counsel. For Paul, Gentile Christians have nothing to do with the law of Moses. It was not to invalidate the law, rather he was sure that the grace of Christ is far superior to fulfill the requirements of the law.
Respond: Father God, I thank You for the freedom that the Spirit gives me in Christ.
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