What God Hath Joined Together

    A second ceremonial law that relates to marriage is found in Deuteronomy 22:22: "If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel." This law demanded the death penalty for a man and woman who were discovered in an adulterous relationship. Dramatic judgment of those who commit adultery was the literal, earthly application of this command.

    The heavenly meaning for Gospel application of this command is found in the New Testament, where this command points to an awesome spiritual marriage. This marriage is revealed in Romans 7:1-4:

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? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the laws by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

    In a spiritual sense every one in the human race is automatically married to the law of God. This marriage is not the result of man’s desire. Rather, it is a marriage in which God has joined two parties together into an indissolvable union. These two parties are the human being on the one hand and the law of God on the other hand. Because God has joined these two together, no man can break the union. No matter how we might wish we were free from our spiritual marriage to the law of God, we cannot be freed from it.

    It is a marriage between a perfect husband and a very imperfect wife. The husband, the law of God, is absolutely blameless. The wife, however, is the human being, and she is altogether adulterous. We know that the law of God is the husband because Romans 7:1 declares that the law has dominion over the man. In any marriage, the husband is the head of the wife and the wife is to be submissive to the husband.

    Therefore, within this spiritual marriage, we humans are to submit obediently to the law of God, which is our spiritual husband. Every time we commit a sin we are engaging in spiritual adultery. We are being unfaithful to our spiritual husband, the law of God.

    The law of God, as the husband, cannot divorce the adulterous wife because what God has joined together cannot be put asunder by man. God takes this

principle so seriously that even a perfect husband, the law of God, cannot become separated from the adulterous wife (each human) to which it is married.

    Spiritual adultery is in view in James 4:4: "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." In this verse, God is clearly speaking of the adulterous nature of mankind. Men are adulterers and women are adulteresses because they live in spiritual fornication in relationship to the law of God to which they are spiritually married. Jesus makes reference to the adulterous condition of the human race in Mark 8:38:

Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

    The adulterous and sinful generation of which He speaks includes the human race throughout time. The kingdom of Satan, to which all of the unsaved of the world belong, is described as the great whore in Revelation 17. Because of man’s sinfulness, he is living adulterously as a harlot. Each sinful act is an act of spiritual adultery.

    However, even though the law of God, as the husband, cannot divorce the fornicating wife, the human race, there is a way that this terrible marriage can be ended. Because of fornication, the wife deserves to die. Only if she dies can this marriage be brought to an end.

    Because the husband is absolutely just and holy, it (the law of God) will bring accusation against the adulterous wife, demanding her death. It is this death that was anticipated in the ceremonial law of Deuteronomy 22:22.

adultery (John 8:1-11). According to Deuteronomy 22:22, she should have been stoned, but Jesus, who is eternal God, nullified that command by telling the woman to sin no more.

    The spiritual meaning of Deuteronomy 22:22 continues throughout time (Romans 7:1-4). The recognition of this spiritual situation points to our intense need for the Savior.

ONLY DEATH CAN END THE HUMAN MARRIAGE

    The word "bound" in Romans 7:2 is important; it is the Greek word "deo." It connotes being "shackled together." For example, in Mark 5:3 it is translated "bind" and in verse 4 as "bound." Mark 5:3-4:

Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

    In Acts 12:6 we read of Peter in prison, "bound with two chains." The word "deo" is found many times in the Bible and is always used in the sense of someone who is tied or shackled. God uses this word to describe the wife’s relationship to her husband. This is seen in Romans 7:2, and also in I Corinthians 7:39:"The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord."

    In I Corinthians 7:27 we read, "Art thou bound unto a wife?" The binding or shackling of the wife to the husband can be broken only by the death of the husband as Romans 7:2-3 plainly teaches. She is bound to him as long as he lives.

HOW TO BECOME FREE FROM OUR MARRIAGE TO THE LAW OF GOD

    The Bible has a glorious teaching that shows how we can end the spiritual application of this ceremonial law. In Romans 7:4 God gives the way of escape:

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

    What does we have "become dead to the law by the body of Christ" mean? The death required by our spiritual husband, the law of God, is eternal damnation, and this is precisely the death Jesus endured when He took our sins upon Himself. In the atonement He was found guilty with our sins and God poured out His wrath upon Him as punishment for those sins. That punishment equaled the punishment we endure if we had to spend eternity in hell.