Watchman Nee, a Chinese preacher imprisoned the last twenty years of his life, taught that the first four verses of Romans 7 tell a story about a woman and two men. The first man is this woman’s husband and he is unquestionably perfect. She is far from perfect and, try though she might, she can never fully please him. Oh to be married to the second man, who also is perfect but with a difference… He is full of grace and mercy. If the first husband died, she could marry the second, but there is no chance of him dying. The first man will never pass away. What a hopeless situation!
There is one other way the woman can be released from her first husband… if she dies. And that, says the apostle Paul, is what has happened to all who are in Christ. The first husband represents the Law… exact, perfect, and eternal. The second husband is Jesus… perfect, eternal, and fulfilling the Law completely. We are the woman… human, imperfect, and in great need of help. Married to the Law, we could never measure up. But when Christ died, we died… for we are in Him. “For we know our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” (Rom 6:6-7)
And since He rose, we also have been given new life. “We were buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with Him in his resurrection.” (Rom 6:5-6) As resurrected children we are given a new Husband. “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” (Rom 7:4-6)
What a plan! God knew our incapabilities and provided everything we need in Jesus. And now He lives in us! He is the very righteousness of God; He is our righteousness. We now live by faith in this risen One who loves us and gave himself for us. Hallelujah!
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20