- Paul goes on to talk more about the role of Jewish law.
- He says that the law only applies to people who are alive, but that Christians are dead to the world and dead to the law. Thus, they don't have to obey all those fussy rules anymore. Sweet!
- It's kind of like when a man and woman get married—they have to stay faithful to each other. But if the husband dies, all bets are off.
- Now the wife can remarry and it's a-okay with everyone.
- Plus, she gets double wedding presents.
- Basically, Paul's saying that because of Jesus, Jewish law is dead. Christians have remarried and belong with God now. He's their dream guy.
- Before all that, we were slaves to the law and sin, but now we're free to run barefoot in a meadow with the Holy Spirit. How exhilarating.
- Now, wait just a second, Paul… it sounds like you're saying Jewish law is sinful.
- Oh no, Paul explains. You're misunderstanding!
- Okay, we're listening…
- The law isn't sinful, but it does point out all kinds of sin to us… making that sin look oh-so delicious.
- See, if no one had ever said, "Don't steal stuff," would we have even thought of stealing? Um, Paul, you're losing us.
- Look, the law is good, Paul says. Don't get him wrong. It's doing its best, but really it can't hold a candle to the power of sin. Ooooh, what's the power of sin?
- Well, it just means that sin has major pull over people. We may try to follow the law and do good things, but we just keep getting drawn back towards doing bad things. Blame it on the sin. See, we're just weak, sad little mortal beings who can't help but do bad things. And sin usually looks pretty good to us.But the good news is, there's someone who can get us off this crazy merry-go-round of sin. You guessed it—it's Jesus! It's always Jesus.