Matins Devotion: January 16, 2025

Romans 7:1-20

When Paul gives us this marriage analogy to understand our relationship with the Law, it’s a bit of a dangerous analogy. It’s very useful, but we must be careful not to misunderstand or misconstrue it. So if you flesh out that analogy a bit, it’s as if Paul is saying “once you were a married woman bound to a husband you could not please, a husband whose demands you couldn’t meet, a husband whose love you couldn’t earn. But now that husband is dead and you are free to marry another, free to belong to a husband who already cherishes you, who has already clothed you in His favor.”

So this is a useful analogy if we understand the two husbands to be the Law and the Gospel, the former making demands that you can’t reach, and the second clothing you in forgiveness and mercy. But, of course, we shouldn’t draw the conclusion that the first husband was the God of the Old Testament and the second is the God of the New Testament or anything of that nature. That would be an ancient heresy known as Marcionism.

No, the truth is that Christ has always been the bridegroom of His church, and His church has, in a sense, existed since the days of Eden. Man has always been saved by grace through faith. But God gave the Law to show us how miserable and joyless and impossible our union with Christ would have been if the Law were all we had. If our union were rooted in us keeping the commandments we couldn’t keep, we never would have known peace. But when the Bridegroom died for His church, He set her free from the Law. And now He has opened our eyes to see the truth. There are no longer any impossible standards before you. There is no favor that is out of your reach. Now the Bridegroom has made His church perfect and pure and holy. Now He has clothed her in His perfection, His purity, His holiness, His tireless love. And He always will.