Wednesday

Related Verses
Rom. 7:3-4
3 So then if, while the husband is living, she is joined to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
4 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.

Gal. 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Gal. 3:27
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Eph. 5:23, 32
23 For a husband is head of the wife as also Christ is Head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the Body.
32 This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.

Col. 3:4
4 When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.

Related Reading
Our old man has been crucified to the law through the body of Christ that we might marry another husband, Christ, who has been raised from among the dead. In Romans 7:4b, Paul says, “That you might be joined to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God.” This joining indicates that in our new status as a wife, we have an organic union in person, name, life, and existence with Christ in His resurrection. Now we are married to Christ, our new Husband. In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul also tells us that he has betrothed the believers to one husband, Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3062-3063)

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Since Christ is our Husband, we must depend on Him and take Him as our Head (Eph. 5:23). 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. God’s intention is to bring us back to Himself and to cause us to place our full trust in Him. No longer should we live by ourselves but by Christ. We must let Christ live for us. We should live no longer by ourselves, act by ourselves, or be anything in ourselves. We must be completely 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.

Christ is not only our Head—He is also our person. We must even take Christ as our life (Col. 3:4). 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. Therefore, we are fully under grace, no longer under law in any way. The law has nothing to do with us, and we have nothing to do with the law. “For I through law have died to law” (Gal. 2:19). Now in grace we are alive to God.

When a person believes and is baptized into the Triune God, he becomes involved with another person, that is, he marries another person, Christ. Before he believes and is baptized, he is involved with only one person, for he has only himself as his person, that is, his old man. However, once he believes and is baptized into the Triune God, he becomes involved with another person—the divine person who is our Redeemer, Reconciler, and Life-Savior. This wonderful person, God, became involved with us through the death and resurrection of Christ. In His death, we as the old man died, and in His resurrection, we as the regenerated new man were raised with Him. Since our old man has been crucified with Christ, we are freed from the law, which was given to the old man, and we are living to God. This is a great change.

According to their experience, many regenerated and baptized believers can testify to this change. Before a person believes into the Lord, he lives by the old man under the law. After he believes and is baptized, something within him begins to regulate him not to live in the old way. This inward regulation is, on the one hand, death to his old way of living and, on the other hand, the living of his regenerated new man, that is, his living to God. Since his old man has been crucified with Christ, he is freed from the law. Therefore, he now becomes a person who lives no longer to the law but to God. This marvelous change indicates that he has died to the law and now lives to the living God. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3063-3064)

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 300