Can you help me understand Romans 7:1-6?
Let’s read Romans 7:1-6: “Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter” (NJKV).
In Romans 7 the apostle Paul answers a very important question: What relationship does the Christian have to the Law? Of course by “the Law” we mean the Ten Commandments. These verses answer that question, for the Spirit of God teaches us in verse 4 that we “have become dead to the law through the body of Christ,” that is, through Christ’s death on the cross.
The Apostle Paul had already written in chapter 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” What does it mean to be “under the law?” In Romans 7:1 we have the answer to that question for it says “the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives.” The Law that God gave to Moses told men how to live in every area of their lives. The problem is men could not keep the law because of their sinful nature. Verse 5 speaks to this, for it reads, “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.” The Law told us what to do, but instead of producing holiness in us it caused our fallen nature to rebel and we sinned all the more! On top of that the Law condemned us for sinning, so it brought forth “fruit to death.”
In verses 2-4 the apostle gives a simple illustration to show us why we are no longer “under the law.” A married woman is bound to her husband while he lives, but if he dies she is free to remarry. The point is that DEATH BREAKS THE MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIP! Likewise, the believer in Christ is now free from the Law, for THE DEATH OF CHRIST HAS BROKEN OUR RELATIONSHIP TO THE LAW. We see in Romans 6:6-7 that “our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” In Christ’s death on the cross WE HAVE DIED…and so has our relationship to sin and the Law. Sin and the Law no longer have dominion over a dead man, and the result is that “we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
This is a hard lesson to learn, for many believers know that they could never be saved by keeping the Law, but after they are saved they try to keep the Law in order to bear fruit for God. In the rest of chapter 7 Paul goes over the experience he had in trying to please God by keeping the Law, yet the harder he tried, they more he failed! He had to learn the truth of verse 4, “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” It is OUR RELATIONSHIP TO CHRIST WHICH CAUSES US TO BEAR FRUIT TO GOD! Have you learned this valuable lesson? Let’s close by reading the words of the Lord Jesus in John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” (191.7) (DO)