Romans

7:1-6

Arguments in support of the proposition, 1:18-11:36

3. The consequential blessings that flow to the righteous in Christ, 5:1-8:39

vi] Freedom from the law

Now, in 7:1-25, Paul examines the place of the law in the Christian life. First, in 7:1-6, Paul explains that a Christian is no longer "under the law", is "discharged from the law", has "died to the law (ie. we have died with respect to the law, although some commentators argue that it is the law that has died)."

What "law" is Paul speaking about and in what sense is a believer no longer under the law? We can probably discount law in general, and certainly Roman law. As already noted in these studies, the "law" is most likely the Torah, the law of Moses, but seeing that Paul is addressing the heresy of nomism within the Christian fellowship, it is possible that New Testament ethics, in particular the ethic of Jesus (eg. the Sermon on the Mount) has been incorporated into, or at least used to illustrate, the covenant law (the ten commandments etc.). None-the-less, Paul's focus is clearly on the law of Moses, with circumcision as the visible sign of a person's submission to the Sinai covenant.

The more difficult question is to understand in what sense a believer is no longer under the law ("is discharged from the law"). The Reformed/conservative view is the most widely accepted understanding of Paul's teaching. The believer is still under the law as "a rule of life", Calvin, but not under the law as an instrument of divine condemnation for sin, ie. the curse of the law. So, a believer is free from the law in the sense of free from condemnation. Some argue that Paul means free from the law as a mechanism for justification, eg. Stuart's old commentary, 1862 ("A believer is dead to all forms of legalism"), but not even "the weak" (nomist believers / judaizers / members of the circumcision party) would hold that covenant acceptance was established by obedience to the law. A believer "will engage in upright living as the result, but not the cause of his salvation", Morris. New perspective commentators tend to argue that a believer, incorporated in Christ, is no longer under law (the old covenant), but under grace (the new covenant), thus they are no longer bound by Jewish "exclusivism" ("works of the law") to progress sanctification, but rather proceed in the Christian life by the leading of the Spirit, a law written within the heart. See Jewett and Dumbrell for the law as the mechanism of Israel's national sanctification.

We are better served by understanding Paul's argument in the following terms: By being in Christ, "united" to him in his death and resurrection, we are released from (have died to) the conjoined authority of the dominion of sin, 6:15-23 and the law, 7:1-7 (note the parallel statements in these two passages). Paul has defined the law's prime function, its prime authority, in terms of exposing sin, making sin more sinful, and thus enacting the laws curse, to the end that justification (set-right with God) might be seen to rest wholly on faith (Christ's faith/faithfulness and our faith in his faithfulness) and not obedience to the law. Consequently, a believer, united to Christ and therefore justified, is free from the law with respect to this function (the law is no longer needed to expose sin and lead the sinner to God for mercy), and as a consequence, is free from the power of sin (sin stirred up by the law), and therefore free to bear the fruit of right-living, cf. Schreiner 343-344.

Paul's argument at this point strikes at the heart of the nomists ("the weak", 15:1) who regard submission to the law as essential to the Christian walk. The law certainly remains a guide to the Christian life, but for a believer to return to the law as a means of restraining sin and progressing holiness (sanctification) for the appropriation of God's promised blessings, not only inevitably promotes sinful living, but serves also to enact the law's curse. The law cannot sanctify, rather it promotes rebellion and ultimately undermines faith. The truth is that a person stands eternally approved in the sight of God, holy before him, by faith, and in this faith, through the indwelling compelling of the Spirit of Christ, they begin to live out the commands of the law, and this apart from the law.

h "-" - or. Another step in Paul's exposition of justification and the right-living that flows from it. "Dead to sin" = freedom to live for God, Ch. 6, now, "dead to the law" = freedom to live for God.

agnoeite (agnoew) pres. "do you not know" - are you ignorant. "surely you know", Moffatt.

oJ nomoV "the law" - What law? "Mosaic law", Moo; "an objective axiom of political justice that death clears all scores, and that a dead man can no longer be prosecuted or punished", Headlam; "the will of God as a rule of duty, no matter how revealed", Hodge. In this passage, it is difficult to know what "law" Paul has in mind, and even whether he is always using the word with a similar meaning. Is Paul speaking about: i] a principle or axiom; ii] the law of marriage; iii] God's law in general; iv] Mosaic law? The issue is further confused when we try to identify how the "law" relates to Paul's marriage illustration. Note how critical Barrett and Dodd are of Paul's logic here (an anacoluthon?). I suspect that Paul always has in mind the Mosaic law, but as noted above, given that his opponents, "the weak", the law-bound, are believers, Hodge's definition may well be closer to the mark.

kurieuei (kurieuw) pres. "has authority" - lords it over. "Have power over", CEV; "is binding", NRSV.

uJpandroV "a married woman" - A hapax legomenon (once only use in NT). Literally meaning "under the subjection of a man.

dedetai (dew) perf. pas. "is bound" - A very strong word, "legally bound", Phillips.

kathrghtai (katargew) perf. pas. "she is released" - she has been released, annulled, nullified. The obligations associated with marriage have been fully set aside. "His legal claims over her disappears", Phillips.

tou nomou tou androV "the law of marriage" - the law of the husband. A "husband-type law", a law that binds a wife to a husband.

ean + subj. "if" - Forming conditional clauses, 3rd. class, where the condition is possibly true, "if as may be the case ..." "If she marries another ......, "if her husband dies ......"

genhtai andri eJterw/ "she marries another man" - she becomes another man's. Not necessarily marriage, "if she gives herself to another", JB.

zwntoV (zaw) pres. part. "while .... alive" - living. Participle treated as forming a temporal clause.

wJste "so" - An inferential particle, "and so, accordingly ..."

uJmeiV efanatwqhte (qanatow) aor. pas. "you [also] died" - you were put to death. Given the marriage illustration, there is debate as to whether we die to the law, so Morris, or the law dies to us. Either way, it is God who puts to death such that we are "released from the claims of the law." For the justified person, the law no longer has the authority to expose and accentuate sin for the purpose of activating repentance and faith. Of course, "released from the law" doesn't mean released to sin. The law still retains its secondary function of guiding right-living.

dia tou swmatoV tou Cristou "through the body of Christ" - Christ's death on our behalf; "you have become part of the crucified body of Christ", Barclay. Some take "the body of Christ" to mean the church, but this is unlikely.

eiV to genesqai uJmaV "that you might belong" - for you to be joined. The preposition with the articular infinitive forms either a purpose, or result clause. Result seems best; the consequence of the cross is union with Christ. Possibly carrying the sense "married", ie. married to Christ, but certainly "belonging" to Christ.

iJna + subj. "in order that" - Expressing purpose, "that we might be useful in the service of God", TEV, but probably a bit stronger, reflecting Paul's point that a person "in Christ" is free from the law, and therefore tends toward righteous-living rather than licentiousness.

tw/ qew "to God" - A dative of advantage, so possibly "for God's glory."

gar "for" - Expressing cause / reason. Paul further explains his "marriage" illustration.

hJmen "we" - The "we" certainly refers to believers, but Paul often has in mind Jewish believers. Paul often uses "we" to refer to Israelites who were once under the law of Moses, but who are now "released" from it. None-the-less, all believers, who have some sense of "the will of God as rule and duty", can be included in his argument.

en th/ sarki/ "controlled by the sinful nature" - in the flesh. The term has numerous meanings ranging from "being merely human" to "human weakness that succumbs to temptations", as NIV. The term here best describes fallen humanity inclined to sin, "living in accordance with our lower nature", Williams.

ta paqhmata (a) "the [sinful] passions" - the passions, strong desires. The word normally means "suffering", but here an equivalent of pathos.

twn aJmartiwn (a) "sinful" - of sins. Possibly an objective genitive, "the passions that produce sins", but better a genitive of quality, adjectival, "sinful desires", "sinful cravings", Moffatt

dia + gen. "aroused by [the law]" - through, by means of. Here "efficient cause", BAGD. The law doesn't just expose sin (Chrysostom), but rather arouses it, makes it more sinful. "The law incited them (the sins) to work", Barclay. Note JB "quite unsubdued by the law." It is often argued that the law restrains sin, but this is doubtful, and is certainly not the point here.

enhrgeito (energew) imperf. "were at work" - were working. Imperfect indicating a constant activity.

en toiV melesin (oV) "in [our] bodies" - in members, bodily parts. Here the self; emotional, physical.... "in our nature", Phillips.

nuni de "but now" - Possibly a logical development in the argument, but a temporal move seems best, "but a new situation has arisen", Barclay.

apoqanonteV en wJ "by dying to what" - having died [to that] in/by which. Note that the NIV alters the word order of the sentence which may contain an ellipsis (the omitted word "to that"). Moo suggests "but we have been released from the law, dying to that in which we were held captive", Again, our problem rests with who or what does the "dying". Those who have the believer dying to the law through their death in Christ, argue for an ellipsis to make sense of the passage. Of course, if the law dies to us, then the passage makes sense in its own right. Lit. "but now, we have been released (aor. pas.) from the law having died (aor. part. [it] having died, eg. temporal "when it died"), by/in (pos. instrumental, "by") which we were being held."

kateicomeqa (katecw) imperf. pas. "once bound us" - we were being held, confined, restrained. Imperfect indicates an ongoing confinement. Crucial to our understanding of this passage is the identification of the old marriage partner, that which "once bound us". There are three possibilities: i] the law, ii] the power of sin, iii] the "old man of sin", ie. our sinful nature. Paul may be speaking of our "sinful nature" cf. Rom.7:18, 8:3-4, although in line with v4, it is more likely that the law is that which confined us.

kathrghqhmen (katargew) aor. pas. "we have been released" - we were released. Discharged from the law's impost, "are done with", Moffatt.

wJste + inf. "so that" - This construction will normally introduce a consecutive (consequence, result) clause, as in the NIV. It may, on rare occasions, form a final (purpose) clause. "So that we can serve ...", Moffatt.

pneumatoV (a atoV) gen. "of the Spirit" - The genitive here, as with "of the written code", may be epexegetic where "Spirit" explains the substance of the "newness", or it may express source/origin. Possibly not the Holy Spirit, so, "in the new spiritual way", JB, but unlikely. Paul is speaking of the new way of living which derives from the indwelling compelling of the Holy Spirit.

Romans introduction.

lectionarystudies.com