The Scripture declares, “For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men” (Proverbs 23:27–28).

The “strange woman” of Verse 27 refers to an Israelite who has gone over to a foreign religion. In effect, the Holy Spirit says here that she is committing spiritual adultery. Presently, every Believer who makes something other than Christ and the Cross the object of his faith is committing spiritual adultery.

The Spirit makes this plain through Paul, who writes, “Know ye not, brethren, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?” and again, “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another” (Romans 7:1, 4).

The analogy is striking. A woman bound to a husband cannot belong to another while he lives, else she is called an adulteress. So it is in the Spirit. To be joined to Christ and yet cling to law as the means of righteousness is to attempt two unions at once.

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). There are not many grounds upon which a believer may stand. There are only two. Grace or law. Faith or works. Life in the Spirit or bondage in the flesh. If one does not understand the Cross as it pertains to sanctification, then the default is always law, and law brings failure, for “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Galatians 2:16).

The law is not evil, for “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). Yet it was never given to give life. It was given to reveal sin. It demands righteousness but supplies none.

It commands holiness but imparts no power. Therefore Christ came, and “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:4). In His death, the demands of the broken law were fully satisfied. In His resurrection, new life is given to all who believe.
Thus the believer is not lawless, but no longer under law. “I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God” (Galatians 2:19). Dead to its penalty. Dead to its dominion. Dead to striving in the flesh to produce what only the Spirit can bring forth. Now joined to Christ, the risen One, that we “should bring forth fruit unto God” (Romans 7:4).

But here is the danger.

When the believer turns again to law, whether the law of Moses or the rules and systems of men, he places himself under a yoke that Christ has already fulfilled. He looks away from the finished work and begins to trust in performance, discipline, structure, or voice. And in that turning, subtle though it may be, there is a departure of faith. “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel” (Galatians 1:6).

This is why the warning stands.

To be joined to Christ and yet to seek righteousness, victory, or sanctification through anything else is to introduce another dependence. Another source. Another confidence. “For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:21). And again, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ… ye might well bear with him” (2 Corinthians 11:3–4).

The life of the believer is not sustained by methods, not secured by effort, not perfected by law. It is Christ. Always Christ. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). The Cross is not only the doorway, it is the way. Not only the beginning, but the continuing ground of victory.

To turn from that is to step toward the ditch, toward the narrow pit, toward that subtle place where trust shifts and fruit withers. But to remain in Him, to abide in the finished work, is to walk in freedom, to bring forth fruit, and to live unto God.
Grace, not Law