Romans 7:1-6: "Dead to the Law"

It is no wonder that Paul returns to justify his stand that we are no longer under the law, but under grace. Since Moses gave the Law in the Old Testament, the Jewish people have been told to keep its statutes. Reading through the OT, you can find thousands of references for the reverence and perfection of God's Law. And now, Paul was going around telling the Jews that the Law cannot save, it is only through grace. The single document that has been held up so high, and had been perverted to declare salvation on all who obeyed it for so long, is all of a sudden null and void in the eyes of the Jews according to Paul. Paul returns to this issue to help better explain why, "by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin" (Ron. 3:19-20).

Paul again begins this section with a statement that should be clearly understood by Christians. He again reiterates the point that this should be common knowledge to a believer, and if it is not understood, you are probably not a Christian. He begins, "Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?" He addresses his Jewish brethren, and upholds their understanding for the law. MacArthur writes, "He may be emphasizing this term to assure Jewish believers of his sensitivity to their deep concern about his seeming denigration of the Mosaic law". By "law" in this verse, Paul is referring to any law, whether it be God's law or human law. Paul points out that as long as someone is alive, the law is binding over them. However, if that person dies, he is no longer bound to that law.

Paul now moves to an analogy to help further explain the point that a man is only bound to the law while he is alive, and released, once he is dead. He uses the analogy of marriage to help explain his point, "For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband". This is not a comment on marriage, so much as it is a simple illustration. Paul is using the 'law of marriage' to show that a woman is bound and obligated to stay with only her husband under the marriage covenant. However, if the husband were to die, the wife is no longer under that marriage covenant, and is free to marry again. He further explains, "So then if, while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress." The wife is bound to the husband as long as they are both living, otherwise, she has transgressed their covenant and is considered an adulteress. Therefore, the condition of whether her remarrying is considered a sin or not, is whether she is bound by the law or not. And this is conditioned on whether the husband is still alive or not. Continuing, Paul writes, "but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man". Paul simply states the other side and explains that she is justified in marrying another man if she is no longer under the obligation of her covenant with him because of his death. MacArthur writes, "Paul is calling attention to the fact that marriage laws are binding only as long as both partners are alive. Being joined to another man while her husband is alive makes a woman an adulteress, an offender against the law. But to be joined in marriage to another man after her husband dies is perfect legal and acceptable."

Paul now gets to his point in this section. The application of this analogy is, "Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead". Just as a woman is freed to join another if her husband passes, Christians, by God's grace are considered dead to the Law and are no longer under it's power. Obedience to the law was never God's way of salvation, and when we believe in Christ we are no longer under it's curse, but instead, saved by grace. MacArthur explains, "Through the body of Christ, who suffered the penalty of death on their behalf, believers are freed from their relationship to the law, just as a widow is freed from her relationship to her former husband. And like that widow, believers are free to be joined to another husband, as it were, to Jesus Christ, Him who was raised from the dead. Salvation brings a complete change of spiritual relationship, just as remarriage after the death of a spouse brings a complete change of marital relationship". And all this is done in order that we might, "bear fruit for God". A changed and transformed life, dead to the Law and now alive to Christ, will bear fruit to God. A Christian's life will line up with the law because of his desire to be obedient to Christ, however, he is no longer under the curse of the Law.

Contrasting this new relationship, Paul reminds us of what our old lives were like before Christ, "For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death". While we were still unregenerate and dead in sins, our natural inclination was to serve our passions. Paul explains that these passions were "aroused by the Law". By this, Paul shows us that since sin was our master, before conversion, all we could do was do what we knew was wrong. The only way we know what is right and what is wrong is because of the Law. So in an indirect way, it is the Law that was arousing us to obey our sinful nature. Our sinful nature was bent towards unrighteousness and death. This was the way of our old lives, but Grace be to God, as Paul mentioned earlier, that we are now freed from the Law and from sin and now are bent to bear fruits of righteousness.

He makes this clear in v.6 as he writes, "But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter". The beautiful contrast of our old life in v.5, makes our new standing even that more amazing. MacArthur writes, "As Paul has just pointed out, 'the law has jurisdiction over a person [only] as long as he lives' (v.1). Therefore, when a person dies, he is discharged of all legal liabilities and penalties. Because we, as believers, died in Jesus Christ when He paid our sin debt on Calvary, we were thereby released from our moral and spiritual liabilities and penalties under God's Law." When we are released of this and live in Christ, we will then "serve in newness of the Spirit". This is yet another evidence of a transformed life. A believer will now serve in a way that he could never have before salvation. "Serve" in this context "refers exclusively to the service of a bondslave, whose sole purpose for existence is to obey the will of his master".

Paul's main point with this section is that, as Christians, we are no longer under the curse of the Law, but just as a widow is free to remarry, we are now able, because of Christ, to serve Him in a new relationship. We learn that this new relationship is free from the bondage of sin and the Law, and allows us the freedom to serve Him and bear righteous fruit. How much more should we be grateful for all we now have in Christ??