Romans Chapter 7:1-6 (WEL)
We Are Not Under the Law But Are Under Jesus
1 Don’t you know, brothers (I’m speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over people as long as they are alive? 2 Consider, the married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives, but if the husband is dead, she is free from the law about the husband. 3 So then, if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be known publicly as an adulteress, but if her husband is dead, she is free from that law so that she is no adulteress even if she is married to another man. 4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law by the body of Christ, so you could be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, and may bring forth fruit for God. 5 When we were in the flesh, sinful passions, [brought out] by the law, worked in every part of our bodies to produce death. 6 But now we have been freed from the law having died to what restrained us so that we would serve in the new way by the Spirit, not in the old way of the written [law].
V1 Don’t you know, brothers (I’m speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over people as long as they are alive?
Those who know the law (Mosaic Law) are the Jews.
Mosaic Law has no effect on dead people, because they cannot obey it.
V2 Consider, the married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives, but if the husband is dead, she is free from the law about the husband.
Paul gives one example of this principle—marriage.
V3 So then, if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be known publicly as an adulteress, but if her husband is dead, she is free from that law so that she is no adulteress even if she is married to another man.
V4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law by the body of Christ, so you could be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, and may bring forth fruit for God.
Paul applies the marriage example to show how believers are now separated from Mosaic Law.
This is a principle and an illustration. The principle is that by faith we are considered married to the Lord Jesus. The ceremony is after the Rapture (Revelation 19:6-9).
Constable:
“Therefore” introduces an application of the illustration to the readers. The believer has not died to the Law (i.e., been freed from its binding authority) because the Law died, but because we died with Christ. We have died to the Mosaic Law (Torah), not to the Old Testament; the Old Testament is still authoritative revelation for the Christian. But the relationship that once existed between the Old Testament believer and the Mosaic Law no longer exists for the Christian. The body of Jesus Christ is the literal body that died on the cross. Paul viewed Jesus again as our representative, as in Rom 5:12-21 and chapter 6, rather than as our substitute, as in Rom 3:25. Since we died with Christ, we no longer have to live according to the commands of the Mosaic Law.”
V5 When we were in the flesh, sinful passions, brought out by the law, worked in every part of our bodies to produce death.
The flesh is the sin nature of our soul and spirit obeying and wanting sinful pleasures (Titus 2:12).
Death is the consequence of our sin.
Death is separation.
Luke 16:22-25 (EHV) Eventually, the beggar died, and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he was in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus at his side. 24 He called out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in misery in this flame.’ 25 “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in misery.
Death Is a separation of body and soul—Isaiah 59:2 and James 2:26. All sinners are born separated from God (spiritually dead), and at physical death, the person’s soul and spirit are separated from the body.
Jesus experienced the separation of body and soul, also—Luke 23:46
Spiritual death is when a person is alive physically but dead spiritually. All of us are born spiritually dead, separated from God. The Lord said to Adam~Don Stewart (https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_106.cfm)
Precept Austin:
“Believers need to understand that there is this remnant of the old flesh nature within our physical bodies of flesh. In contrast to the unregenerate man, believers now have the power when led by the Holy Spirit to say “yes” to God and “no” to the flesh, whereas before our union with Christ in Romans 6 (Ro 6:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11-see notes on Ro 6:1-3; 6:4-5; 6:6-7; 6:8-10; 6:11) took place, we had no choice. Paul teaches clearly that the flesh is opposed to Spirit. The unbeliever can live only in the flesh, but the believer can live in the Spirit but can fall back into living according to the flesh. Paul repeatedly encourages believers to overcome the deeds of the flesh in the only way possible – by living in the Spirit.”
ILLUSTRATION FROM PILGRIM’S PROGRESS – In his Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan describes the Interpreter’s house, which the Pilgrim entered during the course of his journey to the Celestial City. The parlor of the house was completely covered with dust, and when a man took a broom and started to sweep, he and the others in the room began to choke from the great clouds of dust that were stirred up. The more vigorously he swept, the more suffocating the dust became. Then the Interpreter ordered a maid to sprinkle the room with water, with which the dust was quickly washed away. The Interpreter explained to the Pilgrim that the parlor represented the heart of an unsaved man, that the dust was original sin, the man with the broom was the law, and the maid with the water was the gospel. His point was that all the law can do with sin is to stir it up. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can wash it away. (Source is Precept Austin on Romans 7:5).
V6 But now we have been freed from the law having died to what restrained us so that we would serve in the new way by the Spirit, not in the old way of the written [law].
The law mentioned here is Mosaic Law. Paul illustrates by marriage the principle that death releases a person from the law. No one can follow Mosaic Law after they are dead. Since the sin nature is dead and God recreated a new soul and spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17), our spiritual nature (soul and spirit) is no longer subject to Mosaic Law. We are now under the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).
We learn:
- How believers are no longer subject to Mosaic Law.
- We are dead to the Mosaic Law.
- The sin nature is dead as far as our spiritual nature is a new creation.
- Since we have a physical body, it still has sinful desires.
Questions:
- How are we to live if we are dead to Mosaic Law?
- Is your life an example of having the newly created soul and spirit?