| ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ( O ) REDEMPTION VIA THE BODY OF CHRIST, NOT THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST 1. Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2. 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. 3. 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, though she be married to another man. 4. 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. - Romans 7:1-4 The apostle Paul discusses the law of marriage and the means by which the wife is able to have freedom from that law. In discussing this matter, Paul provides an illustration in order to demostrate the means by which mankind is made free from the law, that is to say dead to the law. The avenue of freedom to which Paul is illustrating and focusing on is death. Specifically physical death, not spiritual death. A married woman is bound to her husband. That is to say, the married woman, the wife, cannot lawfully marry another man while her husband remains living otherwise she is guilty of adultery. In the law of marriage there is a boundary which the wife cannot lawfully pass and remain innocent. However, if the husband of the wife dies then she is free from the law of marriage. She is free from the boundary which held her to the husband. And thus is lawfully and justifiably able to marry another man. Physical death of the husband eliminates and makes void the law and boundary of marriage and thus frees the woman. So it is with mankind. We were once bound to the law of sin and death because of our sinful nature. But a death occurred, that is to say a physical death, which made that law and boundary void and invalid and thus resulted in obtaining freedom for sinful mankind. The death which accomplished this task was the physical death of Jesus Christ. The body of Jesus Christ died and in doing so provided freedom to all mankind. A wife is not loosed from the law and boundary of marriage if her husband is spiritually dead. Only the physical death of the husband will loose the bounds of marriage thus providing freedom to the wife to lawfully and justifiably marry another man. So it is in regard to the freedom which Jesus Christ obtained for sinful mankind. A spiritual death of Jesus Christ never bought and obtained freedom from sin and death for mankind. But in truth, the physical death of Jesus Christ bought and obtained the freedom for mankind. Therefore, as the apostle writes in verse 4 of Romans chapter 7, we are dead to the law by the body, not the Spirit, of Christ. The illustrated reference which Paul uses further proves that Jesus Christ did not die spiritually for mankinds� sins but rather died physically only. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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