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    Married to Christ
    Married to Christ
    Married to Christ
    Ebook152 pages3 hours

    Married to Christ

    By Milton J Fletcher

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    Examine the foundation of union with Christs death and resurrection as a source of salvation. Explain the idea that as ordinary death alters legal relationships, death in Christ alters the believers legal obligations. The penalty that the law exacts is death, but those who have died through union with Christ have already suffered this penalty; the law has no authority to condemn them further. Discuss the law of marriage when one partner dies, the law governing the relationship ceases to apply, and remarriage is not sin. Convey that believers rose to new life through union with Christ in the resurrection, and are free to belong to Christ for the purpose of bearing fruit to God. Illustrate that the old Adamic marriage to the law ceased to exist; believers are no longer under law, but are released from it. Describe the new marriage, an entry in to a new life dominated by the Holy Spirit, who gives new power to fulfill the holy laws of God.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateOct 1, 2012
    ISBN9781449765705
    Married to Christ
    Author

    Milton J Fletcher

    Milton James Fletcher is an ordained minister. His credentials are Doctor of Theology, Doctor of Ministry, and Doctor of Christian Counseling from Andersonville Theological Seminary. Milton & his wife, Ruby loves the Lord.

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      Book preview

      Married to Christ - Milton J Fletcher

      Married

      to

      Christ

      Milton J Fletcher

      logoBlackwTN.ai

      Copyright © 2012 by Milton J Fletcher

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      1-(866) 928-1240

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-6569-9 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-6570-5 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2012915820

      WestBow Press rev. date: 09/28/2012

      Contents

      Introduction

      Chapter 1      Married to Christ

      Chapter 2      Christ or the law

      Chapter 3      Remarriage

      Chapter 4      Christ is the end of the law

      Chapter 5      Under grace

      Chapter 6      Conflict in sanctification

      Chapter 7      Motive for obedience – law or love

      Chapter 8      Relation of believers to the law and to Christ

      Chapter 9      Delivered from under the law

      Chapter 10      Freed from the requirements of the law

      Chapter 11      Released from the law and joined to Christ

      Chapter 12      Relation between husband and wife

      Conclusion

      Bibliography

      Appendix:      Related scriptures on grace

      Introduction

      A man married to his wife is a legal transaction. He has a marriage license that meets all legal conditions and satisfies the law of the land. He get a certain kind of comfort knowing that they were married legally and that no one can bring a charge against them. But while all of this is true, necessary and good, if it was all there was to his marriage he would be very unhappy. A paper certificate cannot show him affection, speak to him, embrace him, or have fellowship with him. By that transaction, he was brought into union with a person, without the marriage license he wouldn’t be married, but he didn’t marry the license.

      God used the marriage union to teach us something about the relationship of his elect to Christ. In our union with Christ there is a legal satisfaction of all that would hinder us from being joined to the family of the holy God. We are naturally part of Adam’s family and under the curse of the law for having broken it. Apostle Paul said, 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 who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God (Romans 7:4).

      The everlasting covenant is the wedding agreement in which God the Father chose believers and gave them to Christ. On the cross Christ died, that he might make us without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing but holy and without blemish, as a bride adorned for her husband.

      According to Gary Shepard, in an article on Sovereign Grace, the Holy Spirit came to him through the preaching of the gospel that announced this good news and gave him new birth, causing him to fall in love with the Lord Jesus; that legal union brought about a living union between him, and the lover of his soul. Shepard also said, I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine and as he is, so are we in this world. One thing I know, all who are legally married to Christ, are happily and personally married to Christ. By faith, believers are not married to the benefits and privileges of Christ primarily, but to Christ himself.

      The Bible tells us, that we cannot be married to Christ and married to the law at the same time. To be married to the law mean to owe a debt to God’s law and justice, one, which we cannot pay, because we are sinners (Romans 3:10-20). To be married to Christ, is to have that debt paid in full by Christ, our substitute and surety, as he obeyed the law’s precepts perfectly, and as he satisfied its demand of justice for our sins. Therefore, the body of Christ cannot marry us to Christ, until we are dead to the law, and we cannot be dead to the law, but by his substitution, obedience, and death to establish righteousness for us.

      All who believe in him, who have sought and found salvation based on his righteousness alone are dead to the law and married to Christ. 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 who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God (Romans 7:4).

      One of the reasons for our marriage to Christ, and freed from and becoming dead to the law is that we should bring forth fruit unto God, as opposed to fruit unto death. Fruit unto God, refers to the works and efforts of justified sinners, those who are married to Christ, and dead to the law, aimed at obeying God’s commandments, aimed at pleasing God, in our personal character and conduct .

      Fruit unto God is that which proceeds from our personal character, and conduct, aimed at perfect conformity to Christ. Fruit unto God, is the works and efforts of believers, and our works and efforts are not good enough to save us, keep us, make holy and fit and qualified, nor are they good enough to earn God’s favor and blessings, nor can they make us more certain for heaven.

      Christ attained all of these, and we are partakers of these blessings of grace as we become dead to the law and married to him. Fruit unto God, is pleasing to God, as it is the fruit of faith, that honors God, exalts Christ, and excludes boasting in believers. They are motivated by the assurance of salvation, based on the righteousness of Christ.

      Chapter 1

      Married to Christ

      Apostle Paul, in Romans 7:1-3 explains that the state of being married to Christ, which is language to describe the believer’s oneness with Christ, in the view of God’s law and justice, has substance. It is not some kind of romantic boast of a relationship with God, apart from sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth. He used an earthly example, to illustrate the truth, and used the law concerning marriage, to teach and highlight the phrase not under the law, dead to the lawanddelivered from the law.

      A wife becomes free from the law of marriage, not at the expense of the law, and not by diminishing the law. She becomes free from the law, by satisfaction to the law, in the death of her husband. Her personal character and conduct, whether good or bad, could not contribute in any way, to her being set free from that law. Nothing but the death of her husband would satisfy that law. His death demands her freedom, in full accordance with that same law. Believers become dead to the law, by complete and perfect satisfaction to all its demands, both precept and penalty. We have endured its curse, and obeyed it perfectly, in the person of Christ, our substitute.

      The body of Christ is the ground upon which believers become dead to the law. In our name and in our nature, Christ established a perfect righteousness, by his obedience unto death. His death or the sacrifice upon the altar of his deity, honored, established, magnified, and satisfied God’s holy law. There could have been no consideration, or contribution from our suffering, or obedience to satisfy the law. Nothing but the death of Christ, as our surety and representative, could affect believers becoming dead to the law in paying the full penalty of God’s law and justice against our sin. The death of Christ was a death that answered the law’s demands without us.

      Now the law can demand no more of him by way of payment to its penalty. Therefore, it can demand no more of them whom he represented. We are no longer married to the law. Apart from the righteousness, which he established, we would have to remain forever married to the law, under the law as servants of sin, under its curse, owing a debt we cannot pay. Justified sinners are married to Christ, and he has accepted the full responsibility of our whole salvation, according to God’s purpose, and promise whereby he is glorified.

      Married to Christ, means many things: sins paid for; righteousness imputed (Revelation 19:8, Isaiah 61:10, Matthew 22:11), free from the law. We are as completely, and as blamelessly free, from the covenant of the law, as Christ himself is (I John 4:17). This established the absolute certainty of grace, and glory hereafter for every sinner, who comes unto God, pleading the merits, of the imputed righteousness of Christ, as the only ground of salvation. Apostle Paul speaks of works, which resulted from our marriage relationship with Christ. These are works done in faith, which spring from love, and the only true and genuine fruit of righteousness. Before we are married to Christ, and become dead to the law, no work, or service is recognized, as fruit unto God.

      A new way of life

      Apostle Paul explained, that being married to Christ, results in a completely new way of life, beyond the realm of natural man. He described it, by contrasting the believer’s life, before justifying faith, before married to Christ, to life after justifying faith, after married to Christ. Before justifying faith, we are justified, we came out of false religion, false worship. After justifying faith, based on the imputed righteousness of Christ, we are delivered from the law; delivered from the debt, we owed God’s law precept and penalty.

      We are no longer held in a state of death, dead in trespasses and sin, void of a righteousness that answers the demands of God’s law. Now we serve the true and living God, in newness of spirit, motivated by the absolute certainty of salvation, based on the imputed righteousness of Christ, according to God’s promise. The newness of spirit is opposed to the oldness of the letter. The term oldness of the letter has to do with going about to establish a righteousness before God, by seeking to obey every known commandment, and seeking to avoid every recognized sin (Romans 7:6). This proved that the fruit unto death mentioned in Romans 7:5, was motivated by the law, not acts of open immorality and rebellion, but all efforts at religion and morality aimed at saving believers, keeping believers saved, removing God’s wrath, gaining God’s favor, and/or recommending us unto God.

      A sinner is either under grace, married to Christ free from the law, justified, or under the law, married to the law free from righteousness, and condemned. He cannot be both at the same time. We are married to Christ, and that union can never be dissolved. We are married to Christ, clothed in the wedding garment of his imputed righteousness, and never divorced from him.

      The law

      The biblical law regarding marriage, "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;

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