Gracious God pour out a rich blessing on the life of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
One gets the idea that Paul was up against some very hard-headed and hard-minded traditionalists when it came to changing their views on things related to their Christian life. Hmm, we don't have those in the church anymore, do we? You would think Paul was suggesting changing the color of the carpet in the sanctuary! In today's passage, Romans 7:1-6, we find Paul's teaching about the Gospel:
1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only during that person's lifetime? 2 Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. 4 In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.
Paul asks, "Who are you married to? The Law or Christ?" It's a valid question and a good question. It's as if to say, "Who are you living for? The Law or Christ Jesus? Such was the hold of the Law on some people that Paul had to use the illustration about marriage. And you ask, why was Paul so set on setting people free? Paul saw the need and place for the Law. He was trained in it, in fact the first part of his career, he served the Law and was even a Pharisee when it came to the Law. But that all changed on that dusty Damascus Road when the Risen Lord Jesus knocked him off his high horse and Paul experienced a near-life experience. Jesus revealed to him all that He needed Paul to do for the sake of Christ's Kingdom. Part of that revelation was to set people free from the restraints of the Law and its hold on traditions and customs, and to get people to live an inviting life that would bless people and allow others, new converts, to come to the fullness of life. Paul knew the Law had served to show humanity what was right and wrong; now people needed to see the love behind the Law. God gave the Law out of love and out of concern for how people would live without the Law, but once God gave Jesus, God gave the fullness of life beyond the Law.
You and I are free to know God's love and to share that with others. We still do need to share what we know to be eternal truths when it comes to right living, but we do it in a positive, encouraging way that leads to people coming to the possibilities of living a life in Jesus.
PRAYER: Loving God, set me free from all that has had me bound to just traditions and customs and other restraints; free me for joyful obedience to You so that my life may sing a tune that attracts others to You. I ask this in Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
