05/03/2026

 

Samuel Clifford

 

“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?” (Romans 7:1 KJV)

 

“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?” (Romans‬ ‭7‬:‭1‬ ‭NASB)

 

Romans 7:1-6 relates to Romans 6:14, the intervening verses (6:15-23) being a digression raised by the question in 6:15. Paul stated in 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14 KJV). The statement that Christ in His death is no-longer “under the law” (6:14) should not have surprised Paul’s readers because they were men who “know the law.” (Many try to say that this means this audience was completely Jewish, however, Gentiles also knew the principle that the Law has dominion (kyrieuei, “rules as lord”; cf. 6:9, 14). We should be able to anticipate where Paul would go with his argument since he earlier explained the believer’s death with Christ. Since we have died with Christ, law has no authority over us (Romans 6:14).

 

“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.” (Romans 7:2-3 KJV)

 

“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. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; 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.” (Romans‬ ‭7‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭NASB)

 

Paul, in verses 2-3, illustrates his point beautifully by marriage. A married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. This was true in both the Jewish Law and Roman Law. However, if her husband dies, then she is released from the law of marriage (lit., “from the law of the man”). Paul then continues the illustration by stating that if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, then she is an adulteress. Conversely, on the death of her husband she is free from that marriage and thus is not an adulteress is she marries 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.” (Romans 7:4 KJV)

 

“Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.” (‭‭Romans‬ ‭7‬:‭4‬ ‭NASB)

 

“Wherefore” introduces an application on the illustration to Paul’s readers. “You also died” (lit., “you were put to death,” as was true of Jesus) “to the Law.” Just as believers have “died to sin (6:2) and so is “set free from sin” (6:18, 22), so we also died to the Law and have been separated from it (6:14, cf. Galatians 2:9). As a wife is no longer married to her husband when he dies, so a Christian is no longer under the Law. This separation was “through the body of Christ,” that is, because of Christ’s death on the cross. Paul viewed Jesus as our representative as he had earlier in 5:12-21. The relationship that once existed between the Old Testament believer and the Mosaic Law no longer exists for Christians.

 

As a result, Christians belong to another, “to Him who is raised from the dead” (cf. Romans 6:4, 9). This is Jesus. In a sense believers are united to Him as His bride (Ephesians 5:25). God’s purpose in all this is so that we may bear fruit to God (Ephesians 2:10-11).

 

“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.” (Romans 7:5 KJV)

 

“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.” (‭‭Romans‬ ‭7‬:‭5‬ ‭NASB)

 

“Flesh” (sarx) often means sin nature; cf. Romans 7:18, 25). Here the context suggests that Paul had pre-conversion days in mind in this verse. The Law aroused “motions” sin. The Law, by its prohibition, aroused sinful passions, as explained in 7:7-13. In this sense, Gentiles were “under” the law as well. Consequently, their progeny was not “fruit to God” (v. 4) but “fruit to death.” Sin, Paul repeatedly affirmed, leads to death (5:15, 17, 21; 6:16, 21, 23; 7:10-11, 13).

 

“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 7:6 KJV)

 

“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.”

(‭‭Romans‬ ‭7‬:‭6‬ ‭NASB)

 

Here, Paul summarizes verses 1-5. “But now,” being identified with Christ, believers are released “delivered” from the Law. Like a widow released from marital obligations, so believers are released from the Law. The purpose of this release from the Law, is so that we may serve in the “newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” This word “spirit” contrasts with the written document, the Law. The thought is that believers do not live by the “oldness” of the Law, but by the ne