Old Man assumed the Position of a Husband: the Law Exposes his Inability to keep it

In Romans seven, we see how the old man assumes the position of a husband, and how God uses the law to expose his inability to keep it. But praise the Lord, we believers in Christ are regenerated persons and we are married to Christ, our new Husband, and we now live not in the old man but in Christ, with Christ, by Christ, and unto Christ! Lord Jesus, we love You as our dear Husband!

Hi there, welcome to this podcast! The title of this portion of enjoyment is, Old Man assumed the Position of a Husband: the Law Exposes his Inability to keep it. We hope you enjoy the Lord while listening to this portion. We welcome your comments with what touched you from this sharing.

God created us and formed us, and our Maker is our Husband; God is our Husband and we’re His wife, but the old man assumed the position of the husband, so God gave him the law to expose sin and show us the inability of the old man to keep the law or please God. Amen!

This week we come to the topic, The New Husband, mainly based on Romans chapter 7.

As we prayerfully consider Romans chapters 5 through 8, the kernel of the Bible, we see the entire theme of the Bible in a concrete and detailed way.

Life and death are repeatedly mentioned in these four chapters, and these two form two contrasting lines – the line of life and the line of death. Man is in a triangular situation between God and Satan, life and death.

We may think that we’re on the line of life now that we have been regenerated, but what about our daily living? In a practical way, as we live our daily life and take care of so many outward activities necessary for our human existence, do we remain on the line of life?

We all need to admit that so many times we’re not on the line of life but rather, we do things according to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We need to see the vision of the tree of life and realise our shortage of life.

We need to have a thorough change in our concept by strongly seeing the vision of the tree of life and choosing life, choosing to remain on the line of life.

In other words, we need to have a strong seeing that God wants us to enjoy Him as life and partake of Christ as the tree of life, and this should be the primary matter in the church life. Amen!

As we look at chapters five through eight of Romans, we see that we can be in one of two places: either in Adam or in Christ, either in the flesh or in the Spirit.

In the past, we have been in Adam, for we were born in Adam, and even though we may not sin that much outwardly, simply by being in Adam, we’re condemned as sinners unto death.

But through faith in Christ, we are transferred out of Adam into Christ; now we are in Christ through faith in Him.

In a practical way, we need to realise that we can be either in the flesh or in the spirit; if we exercise our spirit and set our mind on the spirit, we are in the spirit, but if we don’t exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, we remain in the flesh.

All that Adam is can be experienced by us as we remain in the flesh, and if we do this, we cannot please God, but rather, we’re under His condemnation.

All that Christ is can be experienced by us in the spirit; when we’re in Christ by being in our mingled spirit, we enjoy God in Christ as the Spirit as our all-inclusive life supply.

God Created Man to be His Wife but the Old Man Assumed the Position of the Husband

Genesis 1:26 tells us that God created us in His image and according to His likeness. Furthermore, Isaiah 54:5 tells us that our Maker, God, is our Husband; He is not only our Creator and our Redeemer, but even more, He is our Husband.

When God originally created man, He intended that man would be His wife; we are created in God’s image and according to His likeness to match Him as His counterpart.

As God’s wife, we need to depend on our Husband, take Him as our Head. This is man’s original condition when he was created.

However, man fell; he fell to Satan’s seduction and deception, and now the fallen man, the old man, assumed the position of a husband. Oh Lord!

God created us originally for us to be His wife, and He would be our Husband. And He does many things to court us and draw us to Himself for us to love Him and be His wife.

However, the fallen man took the position of a husband; he became independent of God and made himself the head. Oh Lord!

Satan’s question, Did God really say, You shall die if you eat of this tree? has injected doubts into man, and now man takes things into his own hands, trying to figure out things, do things, and make things to provide for himself.

We are created to be God’s wife, depending on Him for everything; He wants us to just enjoy Him, partake of Him as life, and live in a loving relationship with Him.

But due to man’s fall, in each one of us, there’s the fallen man, the old man, who declares independence from God.

If we look at the world today, we see that in society, so many wives say, Why must I be under my husband? Am I not equal to him? Why can’t I be the head? Why does he have to be the head? I want to be the head!

In God’s creation, He ordained certain things according to His mind, and He said that the husband is the head of the wife; however, due to man’s fall, the wife wants to be the head. This damages the relationship between husbands and wives, the relationships in society, and the entire world. Oh Lord!

The fallen man has become a strong, ugly husband. If we look at science today and at everything that man does, unless the person doing those things depends on the Lord, everything is a rebellion against God and His ordained order.

Through the fall, man took the self-assumed position of the old man. He assumed the position of a husband. Now, man declares independence from God.

Even as believers in Christ, even though we have been regenerated by God and have Christ as our life in our spirit, so many times we still live in the old man and according to the flesh, and we ignore God or simply do not listen to His speaking within or to the word without. Oh Lord Jesus!

We need to realise that, when we’re apart from God, when we are not in our mingled spirit, we are independent from God, we reject God, and we do not submit to God.

When we are not in the mingled spirit, remaining in the organic union with the Lord, we are just like the people in the world, assuming the position of a husband, not taking God as our Husband. Oh Lord!

May the Lord shine on us and expose the old man with his intention of becoming the husband, and may we return to the Lord as our Husband! Hallelujah, our Maker is our Husband! Amen!

Thank You, Lord, for creating us in Your image and according to Your likeness so that we may be the counterpart of God! Hallelujah, our Maker is our Husband, and Jehovah of hosts is His name. Oh, how we praise You, Lord, for being not only our Creator and our Redeemer but even more, our Husband! Praise the Lord, God is our husband and we are His wife! Amen, Lord, keep us in our spirit today, depending on You for everything. We take You as our Husband. You are our Head. You are our Husband and we are Your wife. We depend on You and take You as our Head. Shine on us, Lord, and expose the old man with his attempt to assume the position of a husband. Keep us turning from our flesh and our self to our spirit. We do not want to declare independence from God; we want to depend on You in all things! We do not want to do anything apart from You. We simply want to remain in the organic union with You so that You may be our Head and our source, and we would depend on You for everything!

God gave the Law to the Old man to Expose him of his Inability to Keep the Law

Because the old man assumed the position of a husband, choosing to be independent from God and even be the husband instead of taking God as his husband, God gave him the law.

The law is not intended for the wife; the wife is under love and grace, for the wife loves the husband and takes him as the head and depends on him for everything.

The law is for the old man – the law is regarding the husband (Rom. 7:2). The old man, thinking he’s the husband and he can do so many things, tries to keep the law.

God never intended for the old man to keep the law; rather, He wants to expose his inability to keep the law.

Today, people make a great mistake thinking that God gave man the law for him to keep it. No! God gave man the law so that man may break it and, by breaking it, be completely exposed!

If we try to keep the law, we will realise that we can’t; the old man cannot fulfil the law. The law was given not for man to keep but for man to break.

Romans 3:20 says that through the law we have the clear knowledge of sin. If we had no law, we would not realise that we sin; when the law comes in, we see how much we sin.

Many times, man lives in a lawless way today, excusing his sinful deeds with favourable terms to describe them and cover for his sins. But when the law comes and identifies sin as sin, he is exposed.

Romans 4:15 further says that, where there’s no law, neither is there transgression. We may think that the law is given so that transgression may be prevented; actually, the law exposes transgression.

For example, the red light is there to expose and rebuke those who do not want to stop at the traffic light. The law of God was given to expose the old man and show him that he is completely unable to fulfil the law of God.

As Romans 5:20 says, the law entered in alongside so that the offense may abound. Oh Lord!

The law didn’t come in so that the offense might be restricted or reduced, but so that the offense may abound!

In our natural concept, our natural thought is that the law of God is given to show us how to live, how to do things, and how to please God.

But actually, the law was given to show us how sinful we are. The law of God exposes us of our sinfulness and our inability to keep the law or please God in our natural man.

The apostle Paul testified that he tried to keep the law, but he was exposed that his natural man cannot do it. We may love the Lord our God, but we may not love Him with all our heart.

We may love our neighbours but not as ourselves. We may not desire other people’s things, but once we see something that we like, we suddenly covet it.

We may not know that all these are sins until the law comes. The Ten Commandments were given to expose man of his sin and his sinful nature.

They are a picture of God, a portrait of God, for man to see, enjoy, behold, be infused with, and be exposed in his old man so that he would run to God, receive God, be filled with God, and live God!

We may say that we may not break the law, we may make up our mind to keep the law, but the old man cannot do it.

We may try to love our neighbour as ourselves, but we can’t, and we may try not to covet others’ things but we will miserably fail. The law entered so that the offense may abound.

Romans 7:7 tells us that we have not known sin except through the law. We do not know that we covet until the law says it is a sin.

The law works so that the offense may abound; the law exposes the offense as a sin. In this way, the law leads us to the knowledge of sin.

But praise the Lord, we believers in Christ do not only have the old man but even more, our old man has been crucified and buried, and we are now a regenerated man!

Through regeneration, we have been brought back to our original position. We are the wife of Christ, for we have been betrothed to Christ to be married to Him (2 Cor. 11:2).

We are learning to depend on Him daily. Yes, the old man is still here with us, and the law exposes the old man’s inability to keep the law; so we run to the Lord in our spirit, live one spirit with Him, depend on Him, and take Him as our everything.

In this way, we are saved from trying to keep the law; we set our mind on our spirit, we live and walk in the spirit, and the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us, for we no longer walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4).

Lord Jesus, cause us to see that the old man cannot fulfil the law of God no matter how much he tries! Oh, may we realise that in ourselves, in our flesh, nothing good dwells. May the law expose our old man of his inability to keep the law and to please God. Praise the Lord, through the law we have the clear knowledge of sin. Hallelujah, the law entered in alongside so that the offense may abound, for we do not know sin except through the law. Oh Lord, save us from trying to keep the law in our old man! Save us from merely agreeing with Your law and doing our best to keep it; keep us turning to You! May we realise that we believers in Christ are regenerated persons who have been brought back to being a genuine wife of Christ! We love You, Lord, and we come to You! We read Your word and we say Amen to Your word! We turn to You in our spirit and we allow You to live in us today! Praise the Lord, we have been betrothed to Christ to be His wife, and the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us as we walk according to the spirit!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Galatians, pp. 177-181, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Chapters 5 through 8 of Romans – the Kernel of the Bible (2025 ICSC), week 4, The New Husband.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The law is for exposing man, a portion from, The Normal Christian Faith, Chapter 14, by Watchman Nee.
  – What does it mean to be saved by Jesus? || CSOC UT Austin.
  – God desiring to be joined to man and to be man’s life, a portion from, God’s Way in Life, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – Avoiding the Influence of Judaism in the Church Today (2) – The Law, via, Living to Him.
  – God Decreeing the Law to Expose the Incapability of the People of Israel in Keeping the Law, via, Life-Study of Job, Chapter 32, by Witness Lee.
  – Romans (Program #37) – Being Freed from Death (2), via, Bible study radio.
  – What is the Flesh? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – One Major Function of the Word of God: To Testify Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, via, Bibles for America blog.
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  – Salvation not being faith with the works of law, a portion from, Gospel of God, The (2 volume set), Chapter 9, by Watchman Nee.
  – How Can We Be Freed from the Law of Sin and Death? More via, Holding to truth in love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Inwardly I want the Lord, / But my conduct hateful is; / Though I would, I cannot change, / O what real bondage ’tis! / By God’s law my sin’s revealed, / But the law of sin doth bind; / Though I struggle to be free, / No release my soul can find. / Many times I fall and rise, / Oft resolve, and often fail; / Craving vict’ry, I retreat, / And my sad defeat bewail. / Truly I am sold to sin / And completely powerless; / There’s no good within my flesh, / All is dark and sinfulness. (Hymns #412 stanzas 2-3)
  – All I have in Adam is but sin and death, / I in Christ inherit life and righteousness; / When in flesh abiding, Adam I express, / But when in the spirit Christ is manifest. / When I am in Adam, though I may not sin, / Unto death, a sinner, sentenced I have been; / When in Christ I need not righteously to act, / I’m already righteous, justified in fact. (Hymns #593 stanzas 1-2)
  – Our old man has been crucified with Christ; / Yes, all we are in oldness He sufficed / To bring to naught upon the cross that He / Himself as our new Husband fully be / Enjoyed by us. / Yes, all our strength of independence died, / For we with Christ were fully crucified. / Now we’re so glad to be His proper wife, / Dependently enjoying Him as life / Forevermore. (Hymns #1140 stanzas 1-2)