Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you MIGHT BELONG TO ANOTHER, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

What a powerful imagery is presented here! Just like a woman, once married, is released from her marriage vows upon the death of her husband, so we are released from the requirements of the law — judgment for sin and a life lived under judgment — by the death and resurrection of Jesus. As a wife belonged to her husband, so we belonged to this world and its sinful ways and its leader, the Devil. And we also owned the consequences of our sin, death. And just as a wife is released from her bond through the death of her husband, so we are released from the hold on our hearts that sin had through belief in Jesus and his salvation for us, obtained through great sacrifice. And we are now free to belong to another. We are free to choose to partner in our spiritual life to someone else. If we partner with Jesus, he becomes our Lord and Savior! He becomes the one who we identify with. We take his name spiritually and operate under his protection, and benefit from his love and grace. We also have access to his vast resources and his incredible power.

Thank you, Father, for this insight into “whose I am” and this powerful comparison to marriage. I am yours, all of me. Take me and use me for your purposes today!