“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?” Romans 7:1 (KJV)
As you can see, I haven’t progressed very far since I wrote my first essay in Romans 7 on the word husband. The as long in bold print above is the English translation of the word time in the Koine (Greek) New Testament. Although this form of the word, κρόνον, appears 27 times in the New Testament, this is the only use of the word in the entire book of Romans. And, while I am listing statistics, I counted the word “law” (in various forms) 23 times in chapter 7 alone! This is not to mention 6 more mentions of the word “commandment.” Imagine—30 mentions of law/commands in 25 verses! What do you think a major theme of chapter seven is? But, let’s get started with Strong’s definition of the word time.
#5550 – TIME; κρόνοϛ (khron′-os); of uncertain derivation; a space of time (in general, and thus properly distinguished from #2540, which designates a fixed or special occasion; and from #165, which denotes a particular period) or interval; by extension, an individual opportunity; by implication delay :— + years old, season, space, (x often—) time (—s), (a) while.
Further, (from the Blue Letter Bible), #5550 — TIME (in general), especially viewed in sequence (a succession of moments); time, in duration in the physical — space world, sovereignly apportioned by God to each person.
When I start new subject matter, as in chapter seven’s shift from a long discussion on the feminine as in chapter six, I go into what I call my “gathering mode.” I’ve learned to not assume anything about the up-coming material because I may not be totally wrong, but usually I fall woefully short in my understanding. You might say that I am coming at this new chapter with deep suspicion as to my previous mindset and I have a hunch that you, my dear readers, are guilty of the same. Therefore, I am involving you in my findings and my mostly questionings as we press forward. After all is said and done in this essay, I am doubtful that we will arrive at any hard conclusions.
When I added the word Time to my last essay on the word Husband, my thinking immediately began to get muddied up. I can see that I have a tendency to confuse the now with the future. One of the first issues I encountered has to do with “dying with Christ” and the ensuing idea of being “raised with Christ” while simultaneously becoming the “Bride of Christ.” If you remember, I tackled that issue when I discussed the Law in my #42 essay. What follows may be naive ramblings, but I did promise to include you in my gatherings. In the cause of transparency, these are my childish thoughts.
When I think of dying with Christ and marriage (or, remarriage per Stephen Jones’ teachings) to Christ, I tend to view that event as “out there” or more future rather than as an actual present and spiritual reality. When I think that in the resurrection there will be no marriage or giving in marriage among the Christ-believers, I can’t help but wonder about the overcomers who remain (don’t die) and rise up to meet the Lord in the air, then return to earth to reign with Christ for the 1000 year Kingdom period. In this scenario, what happens to those qualifying overcomers who remain alive and yet married in the physical? Are they suddenly unmarried? Dealing with the here and now, however, is more than enough for me. Let’s think a litttle about those overcomers who will actually reign with Christ on the earth for the 1,000 year Kingdom Age.
I try to envision that 1,000 year time, but my present life situation colors or distorts it for sure. Living in a marriage as a wife was very challenging, but living this last piece of earth-life as a widow has been exceedingly lonely. The thought of continuing for 1,000 years more as a solitary being is painful to contemplate. Shame on you, you might think. You are the bride of Christ! But, the truth is (remember—I’m expressing my childish thoughts) that even though my spiritual reality is as the bride of Christ, my physical reality has a difficult time picturing living a millennium physically alone.
Perhaps it will be more helpful to break these first several verses of chapter seven down into two strict categories, physical then spiritual, and deal with the content on that basis. In verse one we have the statement that the law is binding upon a human only as long as he lives. Verse two advances this idea to marriage. We find that a woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. If and when he dies, her marriage contract is fulfilled or completed and she is free to marry another man with no stigma attached. If, however, while she is married to her first husband, she enters into a love affair with another man, she will be called an adulteress.*
In verse 4, when the emphasis shifts from the woman to the man, we find the words, “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another…” (English Standard Version). It is here that that we begin to see the shift into the spiritual. It will be useful right here to review some information about the Old Covenant vs. the New Covenant. In its simplest form, the Old Covenant which was implemented at Mt. Sinai, represents man making a vow to God—which he promptly broke. The New Covenant is God making a vow to the man, Abraham, to bless all the nations of the earth. This covenant (made with Abraham even before the covenant was made with Moses at Mt. Sinai) was fully legalized and implemented in and through Christ by His death, burial, and resurrection into life eternal.
When I read these first few verses of Romans 7, this is a straight forward assessment about how God’s laws of marriage work in the physical. When Christ enters the picture we need to switch our thinking from the physical dimension to the spiritual. This is also the place where the focus shifts from time to non-time. And, here is where more questions enter the discussion.
What if there is more to the husband than we’ve considered. For instance, just like in chapter six where I belabored that physical Jerusalem, the Old Jerusalem, corresponds to Mother Hagar while the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven, corresponds to Mother Sarah, I wonder if there are parallel husbands or fathers that accord here in chapter seven?
I do not have this matter all sorted out yet, but here are some of the possibilities to factor in as we move forward in chapter seven. I think most of us who have read the first few verses of this chapter have no problem figuring out how the law of the husband works in real time. And, as likely as not, we grasp the idea (this gets harder to sort out) that when we came to genuine faith in Christ, no matter whether we are male or female in the flesh, spiritually we became what is called the bride of Christ. But, now, enter a third thought: who is our “old man” (Romans 6:6) or our “inner man” (Ephesians 3:16)?
Is the “old man” our soul? Who is the soul married to? How do these three—body, soul, spirit—correspond to Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles? Enter “Time” into the mix and it’s easy to understand how our various theological explanations can get twisted in a hurry.
I will not pretend that I have this dilemma figured out, therefore I will simply conclude with these thoughts: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,” (I Cor. 15:22, KJV) and “…the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4 & 20, KJV). Think on these things. We are in for a blessing.
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*“She will be called an adulteress” has stronger meaning than we tend to attach to it in our culture. It bears the idea that she actually takes on an official title. To put it in our modern lingo, it would be like she openly left her husband, set up a new business, and posted a sign that might read, The Hooker Is In or Adulteress for Rent. This is crude, but back in Paul’s day a woman’s errant ways earned her the official title, “Adulteress.”
Happy Thanksgiving Blessings to you all!
Carol Zechlin
Nov. 8, 2019
Deep Delvings 