Romans 7:1-6

"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.
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.
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.
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."
Romans 7:1-6


Rather long today, but I wanted to include the whole thing.  As you can see, the comparison here is to an earthly marriage... when you die, the marriage is over, and you are free to marry again.  It is interesting to me that they compare sin to marriage, that we are, in a very real way, married to our sins, and that is one thing that baptism signifies... our death and re-birth, so that we are free of that marriage to sin, and in our new life we can be married again, which it talks about in verse three... a symbolic marriage to Christ.  I wouldn't take it literally and become a nun, but it is just as real as the marriage to sin... now we have a bond to something else, something better.  We no longer serve the old law (of sin), since we have died and are free of it... and in our re-birth we are free to serve the new law (of Christ, or righteousness).  The imagery seemed kind of dramatic to me at first, but after thinking about it, I don't think that it is dramatic at all.  Death, sometimes, seems to be what is necessary for us to let go of some things... and the kind of commitment that is present in the best of marriages is the kind of commitment that we need to the gospel.  God, as always, teaches us things by relating them to things that are important to us.  I also think that it is interesting the way that death provides us a kind of freedom in this analogy.  I think that it does in reality as well, but usually we just think of the horror of death... when, no matter how painful, being free of our sins is worth experiencing death... and the promise of rebirth is right behind it, softening the blow.  We have to have that dramatic change in our lives, dying to sin, and living anew to God... and it is that dramatic, and it is that kind of unbreakable bond that we need to make a marriage last.  Interesting stuff to think about today. :)