The regenerated man, having the old man crucified, is now free from the law of the old man (Rom. 7:3, 4, 6; Gal. 2:19). The law was given to the old man, but the old man, the old husband, is dead. Since my old husband is dead, I, as his wife, am discharged from his law. Paul says that the law of the husband governs the wife as long as her husband lives. However, when the husband dies, the wife is free. Our old husband was our old man. Now we are the regenerated new man. Since the law was given to the old husband and since he died on the cross, we are discharged from his law. This is why we are no longer under the law.
Now we are married to Christ, our new husband. We have seen that Romans 7:4 says that we are married to Christ, “even Him Who has been raised from among the dead.” In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul also says that he has espoused us to one husband, Christ. Christ is our new husband.
As regenerated beings, both male and female believers are a part of the wife. Since Christ is our husband we must depend on Him and take Him as our Head (Eph. 5:23). If we do this, we will bear fruit in resurrection to God (7:4) and serve the Lord in newness of spirit (7:6). We will no longer be in the flesh, but in the newness of the spirit.
The deep thought here corresponds to the depth of God’s justification seen in the example of Abraham. In God’s justification He called His chosen people out from everything other than God back to Himself. He called them out of their fallen state back to Himself, that His called and chosen people should not depend upon themselves for their living, but depend upon God for everything. This means that as they come back to God they take Him as their husband. To take God as our husband means to terminate all that we are, have, and do and to trust in God for everything. Taking Christ as our husband also means that we believe in Christ. No longer should we live by ourselves but by Christ. We must let Christ live for us. Hence, the deep thought in Romans 7:1-6 corresponds to the deep thought concerning justification in Romans 4: God’s intention is to bring us back to Himself and cause us to place our full trust in Him. No longer should we live by ourselves, act by ourselves, or be anything in ourselves. We must be totally terminated, and our head must be completely covered. We are no longer the husband. We, as the old man, have been crucified. Christ is now our husband.
In any wedding ceremony the bride’s head is always covered. Thus, at a wedding there are two persons but just one head. The wife’s head is covered by the husband, and the husband is the head. What has become of the wife? She is no longer independent. She has been reduced to being nobody in herself. Do you like to hear this? I do. I do not like to hear it because I am a husband, but because I am a part of the wife. I have been completely nullified and I am nobody. Christ is my husband and my head. I have no head of my own. My head has been covered.
Christ is not only my head—He is also my person. The wives must take their husbands as their person, not only as their head. We must even take Christ as our life. Christ is our husband, our head, our person, and our life. We have been terminated and have become nobody. Christ lives in us and for us. I have been fully called out of everything else and called into Him. I believe in Him and put my whole trust in Him. Christ is everything to me. He is my husband, my head, my person, and my life. Therefore, I am fully under grace, no longer under law in any way. The law has nothing to do with me, and I have nothing to do with the law. “Through the law I am dead to the law” (Gal. 2:19). Now in grace I am alive to God.
Are you still loaded with all the old teachings which command you to do so many things? Whenever you try to do anything on your own, it means that you, as the old man once again, are turning to Hagar. All you can produce is Ishmael. Do not join yourself to Hagar, divorce her. Put her aside and tell her that you have nothing to do with her. Then, as the new man, come to Sarah, the grace of God, and in union with her you will produce Isaac, Christ. You will experience Christ and enjoy Him. This is not only correct doctrinally but wonderfully true according to our experience.
Let us consider Galatians 4:21-26 a little further. In this passage Paul allegorizes Hagar and Sarah as two covenants: Hagar as the covenant of the law and Sarah as the covenant of grace. By this we can understand that Hagar typifies the covenant of law and that Sarah typifies the covenant of grace. Thus, Ishmael was produced by the work of the law, and Isaac was brought forth by grace. Galatians 4:31 says, “So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” This means that we are not children of the law, but children of grace. Therefore, if we go to Hagar we turn to the law, but if we come to Sarah we turn to grace. We all must come to Sarah and be under grace that we may experience Christ more and more.