What did God have to do under the law, according to the two-marriage illustration?
Under the law, God had to say 'thou shalt' and 'thou shalt not,' issuing commandments and rules. The two-marriage illustration shows an arranged marriage without love requires lists of demands. Likewise, the law operated by commandment, not love; only when grace comes does love become the key.
Les explains that in the illustration of two marriages, the first is an arranged marriage with no love, romance, or courtship. The wife puts a list of rules and regulations on the refrigerator door, and the husband responds with his own list. That is legalism and law. In the spiritual realm, under law God had to say 'thou shalt' and 'thou shalt not'; love was not the key, commandment was. The Old Testament has very little love. But in grace, it is love, love, love. The law was given because where no law is, there is no transgression, and it is of faith that it might be by grace.