"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 7v1
Paul begins this great subject by underlining the authority of the law. He makes three points: firstly that those under the law are ruled by the law (the law has dominion): secondly that this dominion is in force for the duration of life: and thirdly that the breaking of the law carries penalties.
We are all aware of this order of things in every day life. No society could function without the existence of laws. We know from the moment we are born we are under the law of the land, that we are subservient to it, and if we break it we will be punished. This is true in the business sense or in the context of marriage (which is the illustration he raises here) and in the criminal sense; we know that if we break contracts or covenants or social responsibilities in all these areas there will be penalties and this situation continues for the whole of life. The point that Paul is making here is that death cancels all contracts, they are only in force for life, or until the termination of the contract. It is rather interesting that Paul raises the example of marriage as being fundamental to this principle of law. The marriage in Paul's day was seen to be for life, and broken only by death. The fact that a modern world has chosen to change that situation, brings us outwith the jurisdiction of Divine law which ruled back then, and it is extremely doubtful whether we are better off for it, not to mention the penal consequences to come. There are penalties for breaking the law in terms of compensation if terminated prematurely. This is the bedrock principal by which we live in a civilised society.
There were penalties for breaking the law, the ultimate of which was death. They used to talk about "cutting a covenant." This was the old way of making a binding agreement between two parties. What happened was they took an animal, killed it and divided it into two; those making the covenant were then asked to pass between the separated halves of the dead animal with the pronouncement "so shall be done to the one who breaks this covenant." This practice may be seen to be barbaric in a modern world, but it was effective back then, and for sure covenants made were binding instead of the loose arrangements we have today.
Since the subject matter before us is to do with morality and the things of God, everything is on God's terms and He is not interested in the deviant laws of men. God's terms are clearly stated in Hebrews chapter 2 " the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward." Hebrews 2v2 This is the Divine standard, whether we think of the law of Moses given to Israel or the common law of conscience given to everyone of us, breaking the law will mean consequences because we are answerable to God in His world. Lawbreakers will pay for every transgression for eternity, this is the biblical standard and it is as well if we face up to it. This is why the gospel of grace is so important, in that all of us are lawbreakers by birth and also by life. The penalty is death, and not just physical death, but eternal death. the example raised here is saying that based on God's view of marriage, if a woman marries another man while her husband is still alive she shall be called an adulteress, the penalty of which is death; only in Christ can this be avoided which is illustrated in the case of the woman taken in adultery, to whom Jesus said "neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more." This illustrates perfectly that only the grace of God in Christ will deliver us from the consequences of a broken law.
The apostle Paul stated "the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and the disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and profane, for murderers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for abusers of themselves with mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God." 1st Timothy 1v9-11
Under this heading of the authority of law we either accept God's forgiveness in the gospel or face the penal consequences of a broken law. In eternity, beyond the grave, it is only God's estimate that will count, and we are as well to find it out before we are called to the other side.
Tomorrow d.v. we consider the annulment of the law.
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