7:1 "Those who know law"--the article "the"before "law"is absent in the Greek text--were Paul's Roman readers. They lived in the capital of the empire where officials debated, enacted, and enforced laws. They of all people were very familiar with law and legal matters.
They would not have argued Paul's point that law has authority only over living people. We can 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 (cf. 6:14).
7:2-3 These verses illustrate the truth of the principle stated in verse 1. Paul's example was especially true in Jewish life where the Mosaic Law did not permit a woman to divorce her husband. In the illustration the wife represents the believer and the husband the Law.
"As a woman whose husband has died is free to marry another, so also are believers, since they have died to the law, free to belong to Christ."209
7:4 "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.210The relationship that once existed between the believer and the Law no longer exists. The body of Jesus Christ is the literal body that died on the cross. Paul viewed Jesus again as our representative as in 5:12-21 and chapter 6 rather than as our substitute as in 3:25. Since we died with Christ we no longer have to live according to the Mosaic Law.
Every believer not only died with Christ but also arose with Him (6:14). Thus God has joined us to Christ. The phrase "might be joined to another"does not imply that our union is only a possibility. God did unite us with Christ (6:5). The result of our union should be fruit-bearing (cf. John 15:1-6; Gal. 5:23-23).
7:5 This is the first use of the term "the flesh"(NASB) in the ethical sense in Romans. As mentioned previously, it refers to our human nature, which is sinful. The NIV translators interpreted it as "sinful human nature."The description itself does not indicate whether the people in view are saved or unsaved since both have the flesh and operate by employing it. Here the context suggests that Paul had pre-conversion days in mind in this verse. Just as union with Christ can result in fruit (v. 4), so did life in the flesh. The works of the sinful nature eventually produce death. The Law aroused sinful passions by prohibiting them. Forbidden fruit is the sweetest kind in the mouth, but it often produces a stomachache (cf. Gen. 3).
7:6 Paul summarized verses 1-5 here. We died to the Law just as we died to sin (6:5). The same Greek word (katargeo) occurs in both verses. Christ's death as our representative changed (lit. rendered idle) our relationship to both entities. It is as though God shifted the transmissions of our lives into neutral gear. Now something else drives our lives, namely the Holy Spirit. Sin and the Law no longer drive us forward, though we can engage those powers if we choose to do so and take back control of our lives from God.
The contrast between the Spirit and the letter raises a question about whether Paul meant the Holy Spirit or the spirit of the Law (cf. 2:27-29). Both meanings are true so he could have intended either one or both. The definite article "the"is not in the Greek text. On the one hand, the spirit of the Mosaic Law restated by Christ and the apostles is what we are responsible to obey (6:13-19) rather than the letter of the Mosaic Law. On the other hand, we serve with the enablement of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which most Old Testament believers did not possess.211"Newness"or "new"(Gr. kainoteti) suggests something fresh rather than something recent. Our service is more recent, but Paul stressed the superiority, freshness, and vitality of the believer's relationship to God having experienced union with Christ.
Perhaps the Holy Spirit was Paul's primary referent since he developed the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life in chapter 8. Spirit and flesh probably refer to the new and old covenants.212The verse, of course, is saying nothing about the non-literal as contrasted with the literal interpretation of Scripture.
Paul did not say, "We have been released from the ceremonial part of the Law."The Mosaic Law was a unified code that contained moral, religious, and civil regulations that regulated the life of the Israelites (Exod. 20--Num. 10). God has terminated the whole code as a regulator of believers' lives (cf. 10:4). Christians have received a new code that Paul called the Law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). It contains some of the same commandments as the old Mosaic Code including nine of the Ten Commandments.213Nevertheless it is a new code. Thus Paul could say that God has released us from "the Law"of Moses. The Law of Christ consists of the teachings of Jesus Christ that He communicated during His earthly ministry that are in the New Testament. It also consists of teachings that He gave through His apostles and prophets following His ascension to heaven.214This is one of several passages that reveal that as Christians we have no obligation to keep the Law of Moses (cf. 10:4; 14:17; Mark 7:18-19; John 1:17; Acts 10:12; 1 Cor. 8:8; 2 Cor. 3:7-11; Heb. 7:12; 9:10; Gal. 3:24; 4:9-11; 5:1).215
