Knocked up by Jesus?

Now that I have your attention…

No, this post isn’t about some nut job that thinks Jesus impregnated them. Nor is it intended to be a disrespectful title for what is a very Biblically based blog posting. It’s the phrase that came to mind as I read the first part of Romans 7 the other day. Romans 7 is usually famous for the “Romans 7 shuffle” which is the last half of the chapter. “The thing I don’t want to do, that I do. The thing I want do to, I don’t do. Do be do be do.” (OK, that last part was Frank Sinatra). Take a look at the first half and you will see what I mean by “knocked up by Jesus.”

In the first three verses, Paul begins by comparing our relationship with the Law to a woman whose husband has died. You have to think 1st century Jewish here. When we get married today, people say “as long as we both shall live” but over half of them don’t mean it. In the ancient Jewish mind, a woman who was married, got divorced, and remarried was committing adultery because her fist husband was still alive. That is what is so significant in Paul’s argument here. If a woman’s husband died, she was free from all of the Laws that connected her to her husband. She was no longer bound to him or those Laws. Because he died, she was free to remarry.

In verse 4, Paul makes the connection to those who are in Christ. Whether we knew it or not, before we became Christians we were married to the Law and all it’s consequences. Now that we are Christians, the Law is dead to us. This means that we are free to be married to another; to Jesus. This isn’t the only place Paul uses this picture of followers being the bride of Christ (see Ephesians 5). It’s a picture of our relationship, of our intimacy, of our commitment to Him. Jesus is alive, or else we’d be married to a dead guy. Ick. So the Law is dead to us, it no longer holds power over us to condemn us of sin, and we are now remarried to Jesus. He is our main Man. But look at what Paul says at the end of verse 4. “That we should bear fruit to God.” What does that mean? I’m glad you asked. I’m glad I asked!

The context here for the usage of the word “fruit” is marriage. A student of the Bible should instantly flash back to the beginning, to Genesis. What was God’s command to Adam and Eve, the first married couple? “Be fruitful and multiply.” (Genesis 1:28.) What does this mean? Get pregnant and have kids. What does it mean to bear fruit to God? Get pregnant and have kids. Knocked up by Jesus. Obviously I’m speaking figuratively or spiritually, as is Paul. He is trying to communicate a point, a principle.
The picture is reproduction. Reproduction involves intimacy. Again, the context of the illustration is marriage. Closeness. Openness. Letting another see you and experience you as you also see and experience them. Is that language to personal? Making you uncomfortable? As close and personal as you may be with your husband or wife, it is only a shadow of what we can be, what we are supposed to have, with the Lord. If your marriage sucks then you probably don’t have a positive mental image of what all this means. That is unfortunate. But let’s keep moving, shall we?

In verse 5 Paul points out what we used to have when we were married to the Law in our flesh. Look at the overt sexual innuendo Paul uses. “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.” Passion. Arousal. Members. In case you didn’t know, Rome was a very sexually screwed up culture. Much worse than we are here in America. The picture here is a horny person who will have sex with anything that moves. I believe the term in we used in college was a “horn dog.” That’s what we were before we came to Christ. Ever thought about it like that? I hadn’t until I just reread this passage. The result, the fruit, the kids, the offspring was death. Spiritual death, disease and decay for ourselves and those around us, that always had real, physical consequences. STDs. Drugs. Jail. Divorce. Abuse. That’s what we were, that’s what we had when we were married to our ex.

Verse 6 tells us that we have been delivered from that. The Law is dead to us. We have died to it. It has died to us. It no longer holds any condemning authority over us. We aren’t married to it anymore. We are married to Jesus. The result of our intimate relationship with Him is offspring. In our previous marriage we produced death. In this one we produce life. That is supposed to be our fruit.

To continue in the theme we must examine ourselves. How is your marriage to Jesus doing? Are you warm, open, and receptive to Him, or are you frigid? Do you go on dates with Him or do you have to constantly reschedule? When you are out and about do you introduce Him to others? Imagine being out with your spouse and you run into some people from work or something. Your wife is right there with you. Would you introduce the group to your wife and your wife to the group? Of course you would. It’s the same thing with Jesus. He is with you 24/7. He watches your movies and TV shows with you. He listens to your music with you. He hears the conversations you have and the thoughts you think.

Does that make you nervous? If it does, you can fix it. He will never leave you nor forsake you. (Matthew 28:19-20.) Fall in love with Jesus. Develop that intimate relationship with Him. It’s what He made you for. Go on, I dare you…

If you are still married to the Law, if you are not a Christian and you want out of that marriage but you don’t know what to do, head on over to this website and it will get you started.

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