(Editor's Note: The following message was given by Watchman Nee in Denmark in 1938. Part of this message is incorporated in chapter nine of The Normal Christian Life.)
We have seen that in delivering us from sin God did not deal with sin directly, neither did He touch the body of sin; rather, He crucified our old man. The picture in Romans 6 is of a slave and his master. God's way of delivering the slave from the tyranny of his master is not to slay the master, but to kill the slave. The master may still live and be the cruelest of masters, but he can no longer touch the slave, because the slave has been taken out of his way by the cross. The mastery of sin cannot reach the other side of the grave.
In Romans 6 the subject is one of deliverance from sin; in Romans 7 the subject is one of deliverance from the law. Many Christians see the necessity of being delivered from sin, but they fail to see the need for deliverance from the law. In my early years I was told by many teachers that I must be freed from the law, and I read books which taught the same thing, but I did not understand my need for this. It was clear to me that I needed to be delivered from sin, but why I needed to be delivered from the law was beyond my comprehension. Praise the Lord, I see it now! He who makes no mistakes deemed it necessary to deliver us from the law, and now I see that only by being redeemed from the law can we be kept from lapsing into sin again.
What is the meaning of the law? The existence of the law implies that God requires certain things of us. Let us be perfectly clear that there is nothing wrong with the law. Paul said, "The law is holy, and the commandment holy and righteous and good" (Rom. 7:12). There is nothing wrong with the law, but there is something decidedly wrong with us. The demands of the law are righteous, but the persons upon whom the demands are made are unrighteous. The trouble is not that the demands of the law are unjust, but that we are unable to meet them. It may be right for the government to require payment of a thousand kroner [a unit of Danish currency], but I will be wrong if I have only ten kroner to meet the demand.
We are men "sold under sin" (v. 14). Sin has full sway over us. As long as others leave us alone, we seem to be rather fine, but as soon as others ask us to do something, our sinfulness comes to light. If we have a very clumsy servant who just sits still and does nothing, his clumsiness does not show. If he does nothing all day, he will be of little use, but at least he is doing no damage. But if we say to him, "Now come along. Do not idle your time away! Get up and do something!", the trouble will begin immediately. He will knock the chair over as he gets up, stumble over a footstool a few paces further on, and smash some precious dishes when he handles them. If we make no demands upon him, his clumsiness is never noticed, but as soon as we ask him to do anything, his awkwardness is seen at once. The demands were right, but the man was wrong. He was just as clumsy when he was sitting still as when he was working, but our demands made the clumsiness within him, whether he was active or inactive, manifest.
We are sinners by nature. If God asks nothing of us, everything seems to go well. However, as soon as He demands something of us, an occasion is provided for a grand display of our sinfulness. The law makes our weakness manifest. While others let us sit still, we appear to be all right, but whenever they ask us to do anything, we are sure to spoil that thing. If we are entrusted with a second thing, we will spoil that as well. When a holy law is applied to a sinful man, his sinfulness is fully displayed. We have seen both the law's demands and its effect, but what is the meaning of deliverance from the law? If the meaning of the law is the demands of God upon us, then the meaning of deliverance from the law is the deliverance from the demands of God upon us. Deliverance from the law means that God asks us to no longer do anything for Him. In other words, He ceases to make any further demands upon us.
In Romans 6 we see how God delivered us from sin. In Romans 7 we see how He delivered us from the law. In chapter six we are shown the way of deliverance from sin in the picture of a master and his slave. In chapter seven we are shown the way of deliverance from the law in the picture of the two husbands and the wife. The relationship between sin and the sinner is that of a master and his slave; the relationship between the law and the sinner is that of a husband and his wife. Note that in the picture of our deliv- erance from law there is only one woman, while there are two husbands. The woman is in a very difficult position because she can only be the wife of one. Unfortunately, she is married to the less desirable one. Suppose a woman is married to a good man, yet the husband and wife are totally unsuited for each other. On the one hand, he is very particular and accurate to a degree. On the other hand, she is decidedly haphazard. Everything is definite and precise with him, but everything is vague and hazy with her. He wants everything just so, while she simply accepts things as they come. How could there be any happiness in this home? The husband is so exacting! He is always making demands of his wife. Yet there is nothing wrong with him. As a husband he has a right to expect something of her; all of his demands are perfectly legitimate. There is nothing wrong with the man or with his demands. But he has the wrong kind of wife to carry them out. The two cannot get along at all; they are utterly incompatible. The poor woman is in great distress. She is fully aware that she often makes mistakes, but in living with him, it seems as though everything she says and does is wrong. What hope is there for her? If only she were married to another man, everything would be well! He could be no less exacting than her first husband, but instead of just making demands, he could also help her carry them out. He could be very exacting, but also very helpful. She wants to marry him, but her husband is still alive. What can she do? Unless he dies, she cannot legitimately marry another man.
This picture is not drawn by me, but by Paul. The first husband is the law, the second husband is Christ, and we are the woman. The law requires much but offers no help in carrying out its requirements. The Lord requires just as much and even more (Matt. 5:21-39), but He carries out what He requires of us. The law makes demands and leaves us helpless to fulfill them; Christ makes demands, but He fulfills the very demands He makes. There is little wonder that the woman desires to be free from her first husband in order to marry another! But her only hope of release is through the death of her first husband, and he tenaciously holds on to life. There is no prospect of his passing away. "Until heaven and earth pass away, one iota or one serif shall by no means pass away from the law until all come to pass" (v. 18).
The law will continue for all eternity. If the law never passes away, how can we ever be united to Christ? How can we marry a second husband if our first husband refuses to die? There is only one way out. If he will not die, we can die, and if we die then the marriage relationship will be dissolved. This is exactly God's way of deliverance from the law. The most important point to note in the section of Romans 7 is the transition from verse 3 to 4. Verses 1 through 3 show that the husband should die, but in verse 4 we see that it is the woman who dies. The law does not pass away, but we pass away. By death we are freed from the law. Let us clearly realize that the law can never pass away. God's righteous demands remain forever, and if we live, we must meet those demands; but if we die, the law has lost its claim upon us. The law cannot follow us beyond the grave.
The same principle that operates in our deliverance from the law operated in our deliverance from sin. When we die, our old master, sin, continues to live, but his power over us only extends to the grave. Our master could ask us to do a hundred and one things when we were alive, but when we are dead he calls us in vain. We are forever free from his tyranny. This is also true in regard to the law. While the woman lives, she is bound to her husband, but with her death, the marriage bond is dissolved. The law may still make demands, but the power to enforce them reaches only to the grave.
Now the vital question arises: "How do we die?" The preciousness of the Lord's work comes in at this point. "You also have been made dead to the law through the body of Christ" (Rom. 7:4). When Christ died, His body was broken, and since we are members of His body, we were broken as well. When He was crucified, we were crucified with Him. An Old Testament illustration will make this clear. The veil of testimony separated the Holy Place from Holy of Holies, and cherubim were embroidered on the veil, whose faces — of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle — represented the creation. (We have four phases of life — human beings, wild beasts, domestic animals, and birds, that is, the whole living creation.) God dwelt within the veil and man without. Man could look upon the veil, but not within it. The veil symbolized our Lord's flesh, that is, His body (Heb. 10:20). Man could only look upon the outward form of our Lord; he could not see the God who dwelt within. When the Lord Jesus died, the veil was split in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51) so that man could gaze into the Holy of Holies. Since the death of the Lord Jesus, God is no longer veiled; everyone can see Him. What happened to the four faces of the cherubim when the veil was split? God split the veil, and the cherubim were also split in the veil, because they were embroidered on it. It was impossible to split the veil and preserve the cherubim. When the veil was split, the four faces of the cherubim were also split with it. When the Lord died, the whole creation ceased to have any existence in the sight of God.
"So then, my brothers, you also have been made dead to the law through the body of Christ" (Rom. 7:4). The woman's husband may be very well and strong, but if she dies, he can make as many demands as he wants without her being affected in the slightest. Death has set her free from all her husband's claims. We were in the Lord Jesus when He died, and His inclusive death has forever freed us from the law. But our Lord did not remain in the grave; on the third day He rose again. Since He has risen, we have risen as well because we are in Him. Death could not hold Him, and because the experience of His body is our experience, death cannot hold us either. The body of the Lord Jesus speaks not only of His death but also of His resurrection. His resurrection was a bodily resurrection. By the body of Christ we are not only dead to the law but also alive to God.
God's purpose in uniting us to Christ was not merely negative. It was gloriously positive — "that you might be joined to another" (v. 4). Death has dissolved the old marriage rela- tionship so that the woman who has been driven to despair by the constant demands of a husband, who never lifted a little finger to help, is now free to marry the other man, who becomes in her the power for the outworking of every demand.
The issue of this new union is "that we might bear fruit to God" (v. 4). By the body of Christ the foolish, sinful woman has died. By being united to Him in death she is also united to Him in resurrection. In the power of His resurrection life, she bears fruit to God. The risen life of the Lord in her empowers her to meet all the demands that God's holiness makes upon her. The law of God is not annulled, it is perfectly fulfilled, because the risen Lord now lives out His life in her, a life that is always well-pleasing to the Father.
Now that we have settled the doctrinal side of the question, we must come down to the practical issues. What does it mean in our daily life to be delivered from the law? It simply means that henceforth we are not going to do anything for God. We are not going to try to please Him. "What awful heresy!" you may say. But if we try to please God, we are immediately under the law. Being delivered from the law means that we are no longer under obligation to fulfill its demands. I broke the law, the law pronounced a death sentence, the sentence was executed, and now we have been set free from all its claims through death. The law still continues to make demands, but Another fulfills them in us. The law's demands are met, but we ourselves do nothing to meet them. God is satisfied, but it is Another who works in us that which is well-pleasing to Him. Henceforth, we do not have to do anything through our power to serve God. God has said that we must please Him, but we failed to please Him; therefore, He consigned us to the cross. By doing nothing through our own energy to please God, we are admitting that He was justified in proclaiming us fit for the cross. By refusing to do anything in our natural strength, we agree to God's verdict upon our old man, and as we simply remain in the place of death, the Lord manifests His resurrection life in us.
We have discovered a simple formula for Christian living. Whenever the law makes a demand upon us, we should say, "Lord, I cannot do it. Lord, I will not try. Lord, I trust in You to do all that You require in me." When I am tempted to lose my temper, I simply say to the Lord, "Lord, I cannot be patient, and I will not try to be patient, but I trust You to be patient in my stead." Likewise, when I am tempted with pride, I say, "Lord, I cannot be humble, and I refuse to try to be humble, but I trust You to be humble instead of me." This is the real meaning of being delivered from the law and being "joined to another." We know that we cannot be patient, and we know that we cannot be humble, but we still try. Once we see clearly that we are delivered from the law, we will no longer try to fulfill its demands. The weakness of the law is not that it makes demands, but that it can do nothing to supply them. However, the Lord makes demands and supplies us for all the demands that He makes.
What happens when a woman marries? She no longer bears her own name; she bears the name of another, and she shares not only his name but his possessions as well! This is also true of our marriage to Christ. When we belong to Him, all that is His becomes ours, and with His infinite resources at our disposal we are well able to meet His demands. "So then, my brothers, you also have been made dead to the law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God" (v. 4).
