I often heard people question why it is important to have pure doctrine. Why does it matter what you believe? It is important because: "The truth and the glory of God are inseparable; it is impossible for us, with the Bible within our reach, to honor God by erroneous opinions. Many claim that it matters not what one believes, if his life is only right. But the life is molded by the faith." Great Controversy, p. 597:2. The way we believe—our doctrines—will eventually affect our life.

The Biblical law regarding marriage is quite simple: "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: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man." Romans 7:1-3.

This law states that a husband and wife are married till death parts them. If one marries while the first is still alive, that second marriage is considered an adulterous relationship.

This is being addressed to those that know the law. But in "the times of ignorance, God" winks at it. Acts 17:30. "If light come and that light is set aside or rejected, then comes condemnation and the frown of God; but before the light comes, there is no sin, for there is no light for them to reject." Vol. 1, Testimonies for the Church, p. 116.

What about those that have the opportunity to know and yet don’t want to hear? Jesus told His hearers the truth on this very subject: "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin." John 15:22.

So "Those who have an opportunity to hear the truth, and yet take no pains to hear or understand it, thinking that if they do not hear, they will not be accountable, will be judged guilty before God the same as if they had heard and rejected. There will be no excuse for those who choose to go in error when they might understand what is truth. In His sufferings and death Jesus has made atonement for all sins of ignorance, but there is no provision made for willful blindness." Vol. 5, Bible Commentary, p. 1145:1.

Some, rather than merely neglecting the opportunities given to hear the truth, intentionally place themselves out of opportunity’s reach, and are acting like the Jewish leaders in the time of Christ. Jesus said of them: "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." John 5:40. "Those who deliberately place themselves where they will not have an opportunity of hearing the truth, will be reckoned among those who have heard the truth, and persistently resisted its evidences." Vol. 5, SDA Bible Commentary, p. 1145:2.

Furthermore, "He who refuses to seek for life, who will not search the Scriptures to see what is truth, lest he should be condemned in his practices, will be left to blindness of mind and to the deceptions of Satan. To the same degree that the penitent and obedient are shielded by God’s love, the impenitent and disobedient will be left to the result of their own ignorance and hardness of heart, because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved." Vol. 1, Selected Messaged, p. 313:2.

From these passages, we see that the law is binding upon all who understand its claims and also upon those who could have understood it if they only took the exertion to do so.

In these verses of Romans 7 we have three participants: the wife, the first husband, and the second husband. This second husband is only considered the second husband legally if the first had died. These verses call the second person only another man if the first husband is yet alive. So then, the very same law that condemns the second relationship while the first husband is alive approves the second marriage when the first husband died.

The next few verses explain the spiritual meaning behind the law: "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 second husband in this relationship is Jesus Christ as He is the One "who is raised from the dead."

The wife represents us as individual Christians: "ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ."

This part is very clear according to these verses. But who is the first husband?

I once attended a Bible study that expounded upon the belief that the first husband is Satan and that we are to leave Satan’s service and be joined unto Christ. This seemed very logical at first; but upon consideration, there was a serious flaw with this reasoning.

Why do I say that? Just stop and think about the way the law reads. A woman can only legally and morally marry the second husband if the first one is dead. If the first husband is still alive, then the second marriage is considered adultery even though the customs of the land may consider it a marriage. Since this is the case, when does Satan die? After the millennium. Can we wait to marry Christ after the millennium? No! It would be too late then for such a change. Who then is the first husband a symbol of?

Romans 7:5 explains the first husband: "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death."

Since Romans seven is only a continuation of chapter six, let us look there to see other ways of describing this first husband which must be dead before we can marry another: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. . . . Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. . . For sin shall not have dominion over you. . . Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Romans 6:6-16.

From these verses we can deduct that the first husband, who in this case needs to be killed, is the controlling power of sin: "For sin shall not have dominion over you."

Notice that the law forbids marriage to Christ so long as the first is living. This is why the rest of Romans seven talks about a person who is torn between thinking and doing: "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." Romans 7:14, 15.

Why is it so? Because Christ will not unite with someone so long as the first husband is alive because the law forbids that. The first husband must be dead, and then Christ can control the life.

How then can the first husband be killed? If a wife kills her husband, the law will condemn her too. So what shall we do in order to be liberated?

Romans 6:18 tells us the way to victory: "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." The only way according to the law that we can be free is through the death of the first husband. Therefore when we are made free [or created free], means that the old man, through the creative power of God, is killed.

How does this take place? "As the sinner, drawn by the power of Christ, approaches the uplifted cross, and prostrates himself before it, there is a new creation. A new heart is given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus." Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 163:0.

How can coming to the cross of Christ kill the old man? We know that the first husband is sin—the power that controlled us. Speaking of Christ on the cross, the Bible says: "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." 2 Corinthians 5:21. "It was not merely the gnawing pangs of hunger which made His sufferings inexpressibly severe, but it was the guilt of the sins of the world which pressed so heavily upon Him. He who knew no sin was made sin for us." Vol. 3, Testimonies for the Church, p. 372:2.

Therefore on Calvary, Christ took the place of the old nature, and was killed for us. He, as the old man nature, voluntarily laid down His life so that we may live. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all thing are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17. This is the real meaning of being born again.

If there was another way legally to avoid the death of the first husband, Christ would have been able to escape. But there was no other way to implement salvation to lost human beings and still be consistent with His own character.

Does that mean that once we are born again—the old man nature was killed and we now marry Christ the second husband—that we will never sin again? "My little children, these thing write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 1 John 2:1. Why is it that we still sin after the old nature is dead?

Many a time, as my wife and I travel down the highway, both of us would see a particular event or thing. As soon as we see it, we turn to each other and say exactly the same thing—and at the same time. Why is this? Because, as with any other marriage, the two partners who are living together tend to act and think like each other as time passes. And so it is with this spiritual relationship. Although the first husband as a controlling power is dead, the wife still has many of the beliefs and actions of the old man. Therefore, it is only safe for her to totally yield to her new husband’s [Christ’s] wishes as he knows what is best for her.

We must have the "I die daily" experience. 1 Corinthians 15:31. Paul explained it to the believers in Galatia in a very profound way: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20. This is the result of a new rightful legitimate relationship with our new husband, Christ Jesus, who will now control our life.

"By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature." The Desire of Ages, p. 391:1.

Have you gotten to know Christ and had a desire to unite with Him. Have you done so but at the same time tried to keep your hold on the old man, the old life of sin? This is nothing less than an adulterous relationship contrary to the spirit and letter of the law. Christ cannot have that.

But there is a solution. We can pray the prayer of David: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10. In your mind, go in prayer to the cross of Calvary and ask the Saviour to destroy your old nature so that you can begin a legitimate relationship with Him today.

Scripture Reading: Galatians 2:20

 2. But this does not include willful ignorance.