Justin Taylor, in his article, “An Interview with the Apostle Paul on The Law, Life, and Death”, addresses an ongoing point of confusion for many Christians I meet. What relationship do New Covenant believers have with the Old Covenant? Confusion over this matter produces all sorts of pastoral issues; from guilt to lack of assurance; from a drive for perfection to self-righteousness - and on and on and on it goes. Following is an excerpt from the article. Make sure to read it all.
Those who know the law.
The law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.
Well, since they’re alive it sounds like they are still bound to the law. But maybe I’m misunderstanding. Can you give an example of this principle from everyday life?
Sure. A married woman is bound to her husband while he lives.
You gave the initial principle as “the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives,” which had one person and a law. But now you’ve introduced two persons, bound to each other by a common law. I think I’m tracking with you. So when does that “binding” cease to exist?
If her husband dies, then she is released from the law of marriage.
And what happens if she is unfaithful while she is bound to her husband and under the law of marriage?
If she lives with another man while her husband is still alive, she will be called an adulteress.
But she’s not bound if she becomes a widow?
If her husband dies, then she is free from the law of marriage.
And if she is free from the marriage law, then she is free to join to a new man?
If her husband is dead and she remarries, then she is not an adulteress.
This marriage-law-divorce-remarriage stuff is helpful in illustrating your point: “The law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.” So what’s the upshot with regard to Christians and the law?
We have died to the law.
How did we die to the law?
We died to the law through the body of Christ.
For what purpose did we die to the law?
We died to the law so that we would belong to another—to him who has been raised from the dead.
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I can track with this until the discussion referencing that we were alive before the law. What does this refer to? Adam and Eve before sin? Us before we recognize the law which gives name to our sin? Thoughts?