«　WEEK 11　DAY 4　»

　　Rom. 7:4 So then, my brothers, you also have been made dead to the law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God.

　　Ruth, being a woman in Adam in God’s creation and a Moabitess in man’s fall, thus becoming an old man with these two aspects, typifies the church, before her salvation, as men in God’s creation and sinners in man’s fall being “our old man” (Rom. 6:6).

　　Ruth, being the widow of the dead husband, redeemed by Boaz, who cleared the indebtedness of her dead husband for the recovery of the lost right of her dead husband’s property, typifies the church with her old man as her crucified husband (Rom. 7:4a) redeemed by Christ, who cleared away her old man’s sin for the recovery of the lost right of her fallen natural man created by God.

　　Our old man has been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6). Christ’s crucifixion destroyed the fallen part of our old man, but it redeemed the created part. Christ did not redeem the fallen part of our old man; on the contrary, He terminated it. However, He redeemed our created part in order to recover us. Therefore, Christ’s death on the cross terminated the fallen part of our old man and redeemed the part created by God. (Life-study of Ruth, pp. 28-30)

　　Ruth, after being redeemed by Boaz, becoming a new wife to him typifies the church, after being saved, through the regeneration of the church’s natural man, becoming the counterpart of Christ (Rom. 7:4b). Just as the redeemed Ruth became a new wife to Boaz, so the saved and regenerated church has become His new wife, His counterpart, in the organic union with Him.

　　Ruth, [choosing to follow Naomi to the land of Israel and] being united to Boaz, typifies the Gentile sinners being attached to Christ that they may partake of the inheritance of God’s promise (Eph. 3:6).

　　Ruth’s first status was that of a God-created person who was very good (Gen. 1:27, 31). Second, she was a fallen person in Adam who was condemned by God and constituted a sinner before God (Rom. 5:18a, 19a). Third, she became an old man to be, by forsaking God as her Husband, an old husband to herself (Rom. 6:6a; 7:2) who brought her into indebtedness. Fourth, she became a debtor in the sin of her old husband. Fifth, she was a Moabitess, an incestuous Gentile abandoned by God (Deut. 23:3). Sixth, she became one who joined God’s elect, Israel, in partaking of God’s promises (Eph. 2:12-13; 3:6). Seventh, she was redeemed by her kinsman, Boaz, to be a new wife to him, her new husband (Ruth 4:5, 13). Eighth, she was one who kept the line of Christ’s incarnation (Matt. 1:5b). Ninth, she was the great-grandmother of David who brought forth the royal family of the God-ordained government on the earth. Tenth, she became a crucial ancestor of Christ who brought forth Christ, the embodiment of God, to men on earth.

　　We may summarize Ruth’s statuses by saying that she was a natural, God-created person; a fallen, corrupted person; an old wife to an old husband—a person in the old man involved with sin, with indebtedness; a person who joined God’s elect; a redeemed person; a new wife; a person who brought in the royal family of the divine government on earth; and one of the crucial ancestors of Christ who brought Christ to the human race. Stated simply, Ruth was a natural person, a fallen person, a person involved in sin, a redeemed person, a person united to a new husband, and a person who brought Christ to humanity. (Life-study of Ruth, pp. 30, 33-34)

　　Further Reading: Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 2, lsn. 34; CWWL, 1956, vol. 2, “Three Aspects of the Church, Book 1: The Meaning of the Church,” ch. 8; CWWL, Bible Notes & Hymns, vol. 1, pp. 339-343