Romans 7:1–6 — Why Did We Die to the Law?
Romans 6 ended with a contrast:
“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
— Romans 6:23
Now Paul turns again to the Law.
This is not a new subject.
The Law has been part of Paul's argument almost from the beginning of Romans.
But now Paul wants to explain something that may have sounded surprising:
What does it mean to say that Christians are no longer under the Law?
Paul begins with an illustration everyone could understand.
Marriage.
The Law Has Authority While a Person Lives
Paul writes:
“Or do you not know, brothers — for I am speaking to those who know the law — that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?”
— Romans 7:1
Then he illustrates the point:
“For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.”
— Romans 7:2
Paul's basic point is simple.
Death changes a legal relationship.
While both marriage partners live, the marriage bond remains.
But when one dies, that bond no longer holds the surviving spouse.
Paul is not primarily teaching about marriage here.
Marriage is the illustration.
His real subject is our relationship to the Law.
Don't Make the Illustration Do Too Much
This is an important Bible-study principle.
Illustrations usually make a particular point.
If we try to make every detail correspond to something, we can easily make an illustration say more than its author intended.
Paul's point is:
Death ends the former binding relationship.
That is what he wants us to carry into the next verse.
“You Also Have Died to the Law”
Now Paul applies the illustration:
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ.”
— Romans 7:4
Notice carefully who dies in Paul's application.
Paul does not say the Law died.
He says:
“you also have died to the law.”
That connects directly with Romans 6.
There Paul said Christians had died to sin through their union with Christ.
Now he says they have died to the Law:
“through the body of Christ.”
Death has changed the relationship.
But Death Is Not the End of the Story
Why have they died to the Law?
Paul continues:
“so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead.”
— Romans 7:4
There is the purpose.
They have not been released from the old relationship so they can belong to nobody.
They now belong to Christ.
And notice how Paul identifies Christ:
“him who has been raised from the dead.”
Once again, death and resurrection are at the center of Paul's thinking.
Romans 6:
We died with Christ so that we might walk in newness of life.
Romans 7:
We died to the Law so that we might belong to the risen Christ.
Why Do We Belong to Christ?
Paul adds another purpose:
“in order that we may bear fruit for God.”
— Romans 7:4
That is important.
Being released from the Law does not mean:
“Now it doesn't matter how we live.”
Paul has already rejected that idea repeatedly.
We belong to Christ:
“in order that we may bear fruit for God.”
Grace produces a changed life.
Freedom from the Law is not freedom from God.
It is freedom to belong to Christ.
What Was Happening Before?
Paul describes the former situation:
“For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.”
— Romans 7:5
Notice the word fruit again.
There are two kinds of fruit in this passage.
Under the old condition:
fruit for death.
Now, belonging to Christ:
fruit for God.
Paul will explain the relationship between sin and the Law much more carefully in the rest of Romans 7.
And he will make something very clear:
The problem is not that God's Law is sinful.
The problem is what sin does with the commandment.
We should let Paul explain that before drawing conclusions.
“But Now”
Then comes another of Paul's great transition phrases:
“But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive…”
— Romans 7:6
But now.
Something has changed.
Paul says these Christians have been:
released from the Law.
How?
By ignoring it?
By declaring it bad?
No.
By death.
They have died to the former relationship through Christ.
And that makes a new kind of service possible.
The Old Way and the New Way
Paul ends:
“so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”
— Romans 7:6
Notice that Paul still talks about serving.
Romans 6 said Christians had become servants of God.
Romans 7 says they now serve:
“in the new way of the Spirit.”
Freedom from the Law does not mean freedom from service.
It means the nature of the relationship has changed.
They do not belong to the old written-code arrangement.
They belong to the risen Christ.
And they serve through the Spirit.
Paul will develop that thought much more fully in Romans 8.
Is Paul Saying the Law Was Bad?
That question almost demands to be asked.
If sinful passions were aroused by the Law…
If Christians have died to the Law…
If they have been released from the Law…
Was the Law itself the problem?
Paul knows someone will ask exactly that.
In the very next verse he says:
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin?”
And his answer will again be:
“By no means!”
So we should not make Romans 7:1–6 say something Paul immediately denies in Romans 7:7.
The Law was not evil.
Something else was wrong.
And Paul is about to explain what it was.
Notice the Movement of Paul's Argument
Look at what Paul has been doing since Romans 6.
In Romans 6:1–14:
Dead to sin.
Alive to God.
In Romans 6:15–23:
Freed from slavery to sin.
Now servants of God.
And now in Romans 7:1–6:
Dead to the Law.
Now belonging to Christ.
Paul is describing a transfer.
From an old realm to a new one.
From sin to God.
From death to life.
From the old written code to the new way of the Spirit.
And at the center of every change stands Jesus Christ.
What Does “Not Under Law” Mean?
Romans 6:14 said:
“You are not under law but under grace.”
Romans 7 helps us understand that statement.
Paul does not mean:
God no longer cares about right and wrong.
He does not mean:
Christians are free to sin.
Romans 6 has already ruled those ideas out.
Instead, Paul describes a change in covenant relationship.
We have died to the Law.
We belong to Christ.
And now we serve:
“in the new way of the Spirit.”
That is much richer than simply saying:
“There aren't any rules anymore.”
That is not Paul's argument.
Read Paul Before Reading a System Into Paul
Romans 7:1–6 can easily be pulled into debates about the Law.
But Paul's basic movement is not difficult to see.
Death changes a relationship.
Through Christ, believers have died to the Law.
Why?
Not so they can live however they please.
Paul gives us two reasons:
so that we may belong to the risen Christ
and:
so that we may bear fruit for God.
Then he tells us how we now serve:
“in the new way of the Spirit.”
Paul is preparing us for something important.
But before he explains life in the Spirit, he must answer another question:
If we needed to be released from the Law, does that mean the Law itself was sinful?
Romans 7:7 begins Paul's answer.
Before You Leave
Read Romans 7:1–6 for yourself.
Then ask:
According to Paul, what did we die to?
Whom do we now belong to?
Why do we belong to Him?
Paul answers all three:
We died to the Law.
We belong to the risen Christ.
And we belong to Him:
“in order that we may bear fruit for God.”
Then keep reading.
Because Paul's next question is exactly the one we might be asking:
“Is the law sin?”
Let Paul answer before we do.
TEXT B4 TRADITION
Read First. Conclude Later.
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