She needs a Savior
After a shipwreck in the middle of the Ocean, a female survivor is stranded in the waters. She has no food and no drinking water. She also does not know where she is. Imagine her in the vastness of the ocean how small and insignificant she must feel. She can swim, but she would not know where. No amount of swimming could save her. The nearest land is who knows where. The boat's staff sent a distress signal before the ship sank. Her only hope is that someone hears the signal answers it and comes to her rescue. She knows that without being rescued her only fate is death. When she no longer has the energy to swim she will drown. Of course, the fact that she is immersed in salt water and exposed to the sun does not help her chances of survival. Staying in one place can be dangerous, but swimming away may lessen her opportunity to be discovered by the rescuers. It is indeed a dilemma.
Now, let us say that the rescuers do find her (before she dies) she still has to consent to be saved. When the rescuers come, she must do as they say. Ignoring them or fighting against them will not help them rescue her. The mere presence of the rescuer will not save her.
The woman at the beginning of Romans 7 is in a similar situation. As long as she is married to her current husband, she will die. Let us read this passage,
Romans 7:1 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?
Romans 7:2 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.
Romans 7:3 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.
Romans 7:4 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 7:5 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.
Romans 7:6 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.
The woman may be willing to stay in her current situation until she meets a new man. There is something about the new man that makes her see the reality of her present condition. She realizes that if she remains in her current marriage, she will end up dying eternally. She needs someone to be rescued. The only way she can escape eternal death is to be the with the new man. But, how can she do this without breaking the law? That is her dilemma.
The woman is bound to her husband until he dies. So, to be free and continue to live he must die. So, now she wants to leave her current husband but cannot do it legally. Divorce is out of the question because that would be adultery. Killing the current husband is also not an option because that would be murder. The new man gives her a third solution. She goes into Him, He dies, and she dies with Him since she is inside Him. He will be resurrected and since she is in Him, she will be resurrected with Him. The previous thought is what Paul is talking about in Romans 6: 3 – 7,
Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Romans 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
When the couple - who are now they are two in one - dies, they are freed from Sin. Therefore, when they are resurrected the Law can no longer bind them to the "old man" or "body of Sin." They are now under grace, not under the law. They can now be married legally. How does this relate to us? We are the woman in need of rescuing. The issue is we cannot save ourselves. It does not matter how much we try we cannot do it. Jesus is our only rescuer. Only He can save us. He has already saved us in Himself. But, for this salvation to become a reality in us we must consent to be saved by Him. Ignoring Him or fighting against him will not help Him save you. The mere presence of Christ will not save you.
| RR |
