Romans 7:4

4. Wherefore] The word marks transition from the facts to the spiritual inference.

are become dead] Lit., and better, were made dead; a passive verb, suggesting the external, objective work which caused their “death;” viz., the Death of their Representative and Head, the Second Adam.

to the law] To its claim on you as a covenant of salvation.

by the body of Christ] Which was slain for you. No reference to the mystical Body, the Church, (Rom_12:5; 1 Corinthians 10; Eph.; Col.;) is to be sought here. The word “body” is used, instead of “death,” probably to remind the readers that the Lord “took our nature upon Him” expressly in view of His death. (See Heb_2:14.) Meanwhile the truth of the connexion between believers and their Head, their Second Adam, is still full in view. By virtue of it the death of the Lord counts as the death of His brethren, in respect of the claim of the Law upon them—here figured as the claim of one marriage-partner over the other, to be broken only by the death of one of the two.

to another] i.e., another than the Law, now regarded as defunct in respect of its claim on them. Observe that the metaphorical language here is not strictly consistent. In Rom_7:2-3, the death of the husband is contemplated; in Rom_7:4 the death of the wife. The change may be explained partly by St Paul’s desire to avoid an expression so easily misunderstood as the death of the Law (see on Rom_7:6); and partly by the unique character of the spiritual fact illustrated here by a new marriage; viz. the death and resurrection (in her Representative, who now becomes her Husband also,) of the mystical Bride.—The change in the metaphor, whatever its cause, leaves it unchanged as an illustration.—The figure of Marriage, passingly employed here, (and still more so, Gal_4:21-31,) is worked out more fully in Eph_5:23, &c., and in the Revelation. It is largely foreshadowed in O. T.; e.g. in Psalms 45; Canticles; Isaiah 54; Jeremiah 3; and in the many passages where idolatry is pictured by sin against wedlock.

to him who is raised] The Lord’s resurrection is here brought in, because the “death” (in Him) of His people has just been mentioned. The thought suggests both that they are “risen in Him” to the life of peace with God, and that they partake with Him, as their Risen Head, “the power of an endless life.”

fruit] offspring. The metaphor is carried into detail. (See for a parallel of more elaboration, Jas_1:15.) The “offspring” here is, obviously, the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal_5:22), Christian virtues; just as the “offspring” of the former marriage had been acts of sin (Rom_7:4).

unto God] The Father, not Christ. The phrase does not suggest the bearing children to a Husband, but the bearing children to be then dedicated to God. So Hannah bore Samuel “unto God.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_7:4

Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ: that ye should be married to another.

The sinner married to the law--the believer married to the Lord

I. The sinner, before believing, is married to the law.

1. This marriage involves certain obligations that correspond to those that grow out of the conjugal relation. The husband is the head of the wife, and his duty is to live with her, provide for her, and love her; the wifes duty is to be subject to her husband, consulting his will, and acting faithfully for his interests. If the law, then, be the sinners husband, we may say, Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. This is your duty, and it is also your interest. The ten rules of your husbands house are equitable and good, tending as much to promote your own happiness as his honour.

2. This marriage is of the Lord. God has joined the parties together; the marriage was made in heaven. As soon as he is born, the sinner is espoused to the law, yea, before, and there is nothing unfair in placing a sinner under a constitution which is perfectly good. It is just as fair for God to marry the sinner to the law without his consent as to bring him into existence without it. But, in one sense, the sinner has consented. Our first parents consented for themselves and their offspring, and had you been present personally when the covenant was made with them, you could not have refused and been innocent; and had Adam and Eve acted faithfully, the arrangement would have been extolled as wise and good.

3. The chief reason why objections are made is, that it is an unhappy marriage. In the case of unhappy marriages, it is commonly remarked that there is fault on both sides. But this cannot be said of this, for the Husband is uniformly holy, just, and good, and the spouse that faithfully does His will is sure of happiness. But if He be once offended, woe then to the offender; for He will never again be reconciled. Suppose you expostulate, I wish to do Thy will, He will reply, Speak not of wishes, but do it. But I have done it in almost every particular. That is not enough; My will must be altogether done. But I am sorry, and mean to reform. But you cannot now repair the injury you have done. But may I not be forgiven? No--there is no forgiveness in My nature, the soul that sinneth it shall die.

4. But such an unhappy marriage were well dissolved. True, but the marriage is not easily dissolved. It is always a difficult thing to break a marriage. Yet in ordinary eases the wife may desert her husband, or obtain a divorce. But desertion or divorce is impossible in this case. What God has joined together, man cannot and dare not put asunder. The husband, though deeply injured, will not consent to a separation. You may become so depraved as almost to forget that he has any claim upon you. But he will follow you still, and assert his right to you as long as you live. There is only one way of escape, viz., to get married to Him that was raised from the dead. Your second Husband will give ample satisfaction to your first. He will take all your responsibilities on Himself, and deliver you.

II. The believer is married to the Lord. Of the second marriage you may notice, just as of the first, that--

1. It involves certain obligations. The spouse is bound just as before to be subject to her husband in all things. The identical regulations of the first husband are found word for word in the house of the second. If ye love Me, keep My commandments. He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me.

2. It is of the Lord, though it is never consummated without the consent of parties. The believer is espoused to Christ before he is born, but the marriage is not completed until consent is given freely and cordially. But mark the wonders of Christs love! He has provided the Spirit to operate on the heart, and make us willing in the day of His power. He has instituted the Christian ministry and, like Abrahams servant, every minister is bound to go to the intended bride and tell her of the riches and honours of his Masters Son, in order to gain her consent.

3. It is a happy marriage--as happy as the other is miserable. Christ loves that sinner as He loves Himself. No man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it. In having Christ, you have all things--pardon, strength, support, and a title to glory. As Elkanah said to his disconsolate spouse, so Christ says to His--Am not I better to thee than ten sons?

4. It is one that can never be dissolved. Whom Christ espouses, He espouses forever. May the spouse then do as she pleases? No; does a woman feel encouraged to insult her husband because she knows he will not put her away? No; she knows he has various ways of expressing his displeasure, though he does not insist on a Separation. The want of his love, the frown on his face, will be felt by an affectionate woman to be dreadful enough.

III. Before a person can be married to the Lord, his marriage with the law must be dissolved.

1. This is in accordance with both the law of God and of man, and the apostle assumed it as admitted and well known. As long as both you and the law are alive the marriage must stand (Rom_7:1).

2. How, then, is it possible for a sinner to be set at liberty? Only by death. No doubt the death of either party would dissolve it, but the Husband cannot die; He is immortal. It is your death, sinner, that must cut the connection.

3. But how can the spouse that dies be married to another? It is the party that survives, that gets married a second time.

(1) But this spouse dies not personally, but by substitute--by the body of Christ. Being represented by Christ, ye were virtually in His person or body when He died. You admire the generosity of the Armenian prince who proposed to the conqueror to give his life as the ransom of his brides what say you to the generosity of Jesus? The bride was so overcome that she could attend to nothing else. What did you think of Cyrus? said her husband. I never observed him. I was thinking of that man who proposed to give his life for mine. Herein, indeed, is love, and if Christs professed spouse refuse to return the affection, let her be anathema maranatha.

(2) But the believer dies to the law also in spirit--his hope and his self-righteous confidence die. Married to the law he was at one time alive, cherishing the hope of being able to please it, and ultimately to enter glory. But the commandment came, sin revived, and he died. Through the law itself he became dead to the law. Its spirituality, its exceeding breadth and purity, put an end to its legal hopes and dependencies. But observe it is not the law, apart from the body of Christ; but the law as magnified and made honourable in that body. In the Cross we see as never before the awful strength and vengeance of the law. If the spouse is alarmed and reduced to despair when she hears her husbands words, she dies altogether when she beholds his doings. She no longer hopes to appease his anger by her repentance, reformation, promises, or duties.

4. At the very time the spouse becomes dead to the law she becomes united to the Lord. The date of her death is also the date of her marriage; hence there is mourning and rejoicing on the same day. There is a strange mixture of emotions experienced, which it is difficult to describe.

5. Let Gods people, then, realise their privileges, and know that they are free. Some who are professedly married to the Lord, act as if their first marriage remained still in force. But ye are not under the law, but under grace; and when the law comes to you demanding allegiance, and threatening wrath as formerly, refer it at once to the Lord Jesus.

IV. It is only when the first marriage is dissolved and the second contracted that fruit is brought forth unto God.

1. The fruit of the first marriage is unto death (Rom_7:5). The offspring of the first marriage is sin, and as soon as it comes into existence it begins to reign over its own parent, and that unto death. It will murder your precious soul; aye, and your husband will give it authority for this purpose--The strength of sin is the law. He will at last in justice abandon his guilty spouse to her own monster offspring--the fruit of her infidelity; and sin shall hold her in everlasting death.

2. But the fruit of the second marriage is unto God, viz., holiness (chap. 6:22); which has--

(1) Its commencement in genuine repentance.

(2) Its essence in love to God and to His plans.

(3) Its external manifestation in the obedience of the life. (J. Lyon.)

Married to Christ

I. To His memory.

1. When the negroes of the Southern States of America were set free, they were, in many cases, placed in a position of deep misery. Their cry reached the ears of many in the North, and amongst those who went to the rescue was a young man of education, refinement, social position, and wealth, who, soon after commencing his arduous work, sickened and died. Arrangements were made to convey the body to the family sepulchre; but many who had been fed, clothed, instructed and comforted by their deceased friend, entreated that his dust might be allowed to sleep in the scene of his generous labours. The mother consented, and the father; but the consent of another was necessary. Could any wonder if it was but tardily given? At length his betrothed gave her cordial assent, declaring that she would live where her elect husband had died, and by devoting herself to his work, would be married to his memory.

2. More than eighteen centuries ago the Son of God came from heaven to our earth. He went about doing good. He bare our sins in His own body on the tree; He rose again, and ascended into heaven. But there is a remembrance of these things by the writings of the evangelists and apostles. By testimony, the Jesus of the past is with us. The birth at Bethlehem, the teaching, miracles, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, can only be memories. Let us be married to His memory--

(1) By frequently thinking of all that He was, and did, and suffered. We cannot visit Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Calvary, but we can think of them.

(2) By cherishing affections corresponding with such thoughts. Thus thinking, gratitude and love will spring up in our hearts. Let us cherish these plants.

(3) By contentedly living on this earth so long as we have a work of God to do. Christ came to this world, and remained until His work was finished. His memory seems to say, Pray not to be taken out of the world, but ask for help to complete your work.

(4) By working, so far as we can, the works He wrought. He healed, and we may be great healers. He comforted, and the weakest may be a son of consolation. He instructed, and all who have religious knowledge may instruct. He made peace, and a little child may be a peacemaker.

(5) By intelligently and devoutly observing the ordinance of remembrance which He founded (1Co_11:23-25).

II. To the fellowship and the service of the living Christ. The law, as given by Moses, has no claim upon us now. Prescription and exclusive sanctity as to place of worship is dead; human priesthood, carnal sacrifices, ritualism, symbolism, the whole Mosaic economy is dead. Let us then be married to the living Christ--

1. By the nonrecognition of the Mosaic institutes. As they who are married, forsaking all other, cleave to each other as long as both shall live, so the disciple of Jesus must cease to be a disciple of Moses, or refuse to be, if tempted to be.

2. By looking, and continuing to look to Him, for every good thing. All that we really need, the mediation of Jesus Christ can secure.

3. By cherishing and expressing true love for Him. Some appear to be content with knowledge without love, and others reduce their love to mere obligation for redemption from hell. But see 1Co_16:22.

4. By obeying His commandments. Verily, these are not grievous; but if they were, true love would make the yoke easy and the burden light. This is one test which Jesus gave His disciples (Joh_14:15).

5. By recognising Himself in His disciples, and by ministering to His needy ones for His sake.

6. By defending His name and His mission.

7. By devoting ourselves to advance the aim of His mediation--to save the world.

Conclusion:

1. I know of no illustration of marriage to the Saviours memory and mission equal to the example of the Apostle Paul. He describes his own death to the law and marriage to Christ, and his previous marriage to the law and death unto Christ, in Php_3:5-10. Paul knew what he was writing when he wrote the text, and as a wife submits herself to her own husband as her head, is subject to him in everything, reverences him, helps him, makes his cares, joys, honours, and burdens her own, and blends her life with his, so did Paul live for Christ.

2. One motive by which we should be constrained to seek and to cherish union with Jesus Christ is this--that only thereby can we live as Gods children. The reference in the text is to the fruit of marriage. Elsewhere, with another reference, the same truth is presented (Gal_5:22-23; Eph_5:9; Col_1:5-6; Col_1:10). The fruit here named is reconciliation to and oneness with God. It is light in the spirit, love in the heart, and righteousness in the life. It consists of all the fruits of holiness and righteousness and godliness. Peter names them as virtue, etc. (2Pe_1:5-7). John represents them as all included in love. Jesus represents union with Himself as essential to all usefulness (Joh_15:5).

3. All coming short of this is traceable to non-union with Christ. Some religious people marry themselves to a system of theology, and the fruit is pride and bigotry; others to a round of ceremonies, and the fruit is self-deception and hypocrisy; others to what they account the Church, and the fruit is a form of godliness without the power; others to a sect, and the fruit is envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness; others but partially identify themselves with Christ, and the fruit is indecision, confusion, and various evil works. The world, the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life make this union partial; in the degree that it is not entire, there cannot be fruit unto God (Psa_45:10-11). (S. Martin.)

The believers new relations

I. Dead to the law.

1. This imparts release from its--

(1) Condemnation.

(2) Penalty.

(3) Bondage.

2. Is effected by the body of Christ sacrificed for us.

II. Married to Christ.

1. The nature of this union.

2. The honour of it.

3. The result of it. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Make a confidant of the Lord Jesus

Make a confidant of the Lord Jesus--tell Him all. You are married unto Him: play the part of a wife who keeps no secrets back, no trials back, no joys back; tell them all to him. I was in a house yesterday where there was a little child, and it was said to me, He is such a funny child. I asked in what way, and the mother said, Well, if he tumbles down and hurts himself in the kitchen, he will always go upstairs crying and tell somebody, and then he comes down and says, I told somebody; and if he is upstairs he goes down and tells somebody, and when he comes back it is always, I told somebody, and he does not cry any more. Ah! well, I thought, we must tell somebody: it is human nature to want to have sympathy, but if we would always go to Jesus, and tell Him all, and there leave it we might often dismiss the burden, and be refreshed with a grateful song. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 7:4. Wherefore, my brethren — Hence it follows, or by this comparison it appears; ye also — Believing Jews, and much more believing Gentiles; are become dead to the law — Taken off from all hopes of justification by it, and confidence in your obedience to it: and so likewise it has become dead to you, and has no life or efficacy in these respects; by the body of Christ — By the offering up of Christ’s body on the cross; that is, by the merit of his death, by which it evidently appears, that there is no other way of making reconciliation for sin, or of obtaining deliverance from wrath but by that; his death and sufferings having now accomplished the design of the law, and abrogated its authority; and it, therefore, expiring with him. That ye should be married to another — (2Co 11:2;) so that you must now give up yourselves to Christ, as your second husband, that you may be justified by faith in him. The apostle speaks of Christ as the husband of the believing Jews, because he was now become their Lord and head; and he calls him another husband, because they had been formerly, as it were, married to the Mosaic law, and relied on that alone for salvation. And the crucifixion of their old man, or corrupt nature, and their obtaining a new nature, through the death of Christ, was a fit preparation of them for being espoused to Christ. Who is raised from the dead — Who is alive himself, and will bestow spiritual life on those that believe on him, and give up themselves to him; that we should bring forth fruit — Namely, of holiness and good works, Gal 5:22; unto God — To his glory, Mat 5:16; Joh 15:8; Php 1:11. In this passage the union of Christ with his people is represented as a marriage, as it is also Eph 5:31-32; Rev 21:9; Rev 22:17. The apostles probably took that idea from the ancient phraseology concerning the Jews. See on Rom 7:2. But from whatever source it was derived, it is a strong representation of the friendship and endearment which subsists, and to all eternity will subsist, between Christ and believers, and of the happiness which they will derive from his love to them, and from their entire subjection to him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7:4 Christians have died to the power of the law (literally died to the law) and so are no longer bound to it. Paul often refers to the law of Moses as representing the old regime of sin and death, but through union with Christ in his death, believers are set free.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom 7:4. Ὥστε) This word has a stronger meaning than if οὕτως had been used.—ἐθανατώθητε, ye have become dead) which denotes more than ye are dead. The comparison is thus summed up: the husband or wife, by the death of either, is restored to liberty; for in the protasis, the party dying is the husband; in the apodosis, the party dying is that, which corresponds to the wife.—διὰ τοῦ σώματος, by the body) A great mystery. In the expiation [atonement] for sin, why is it that mention generally is made of the body, rather than of the soul of Christ? Ans. The theatre and workshop of sin is our flesh; and for this, it is the holy flesh of the Son of God, which is the remedy.—ἐγερθέντι, who is raised) and so is alive [which the law no longer is to the believer].—καρποφορήσωμεν, we should bring forth fruit) He comes from the second person to the first; fruit corresponds to offspring; for the simile is derived from marriage.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_7:4. Ὥστε] does not express the agreement or the harmony with which what follows connects itself with the preceding (Hofmann), as if Paul had written οὕτως or ὁμοίως. It is rather the common itaque (Vulgate), accordingly, therefore, consequently, which, heading an independent sentence, draws an inference from the preceding, and introduces the actual relation which results from Rom_7:1-3 with respect to Christians, who through the death of Christ are in a position corresponding with that of the wife. This inference lays down that legal marriage relation as type.

καὶ ὑμεῖς] ye also, like the wife in that illustration quoted in Rom_7:2-3, who through the death of her husband is dead to the dominion of the law. In this, in the first instance (for the main stress falls on εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι κ.τ.λ[1534]), lies the point of the inference; analogously with the case of that wife Christians also are dead to the law through the death of Christ, because, in their spiritual union with Him, they have suffered death along with Him. Van Hengel takes καὶ ὑμεῖς in the sense: ye also, like other Christians, which, however, since Rom_7:4 begins the application of what had previously been said of the woman, is neither in harmony with the text nor rendered necessary by the first person καρποφορ.

ἐθανατ. τῷ νόμῳ] ye were rendered dead to the law,[1535] so that over you as dead persons it rules no longer (Rom_7:1). The dative as in Rom_6:2; Rom_6:10. The passive (not ye died) is selected, because this (ethical) death of Christians is fellowship with the death of Christ, which was a violent one. Therefore: διὰ τοῦ σώμ. τ. Χ.] by the fact, that the body of Christ was put to death. The conception of the participation of believers (as respects their inner life and its moral self-consciousness) in the death of their Lord, according to which the putting to death of their Master included their own putting to death, is justly assumed by Paul, after ch. 6, as something present to the consciousness of his readers, and therefore views deviating from this (e. g. that διὰ τ. σώμ. τ. Χ. applies to the atoning sacrificial death, which did away the dominion of the law) are to be rejected as here irrelevant, and not in keeping with the proper sense of ἐθανατ. For that ἐθανατ. τ. νόμῳ is meant to be a mild expression for ὁ νόμος ἐθανατώθη, ἀπέθανεν ὑμῖν (Koppe and Klee, following Calvin, Grotius, and others, also several Fathers; comp on Rom_7:2), is an assumption as gratuitous, as is a contraction of the thought and expression, which Philippi finds, when he at the same time introduces the conception of the putting to death of the law through the body of Christ, which is here alien.

εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι ὑμᾶς ἑτέρῳ] in order to become joined to another (than the law)this is the object which the ἐθανατ. τ. νόμῳ κ.τ.λ[1537] had, and thereby the main point in the declaration introduced by ὥστε, parallel to the ΤΟῦ ΜῊ ΕἾΝΑΙ Κ.Τ.Λ[1538] in Rom_7:3. Paul apprehends the relation of fellowship and dependence of the Christians life to Christas he had prepared the way for doing so in Rom_7:2-3, and as was in keeping with his mode of view elsewhere (2Co_11:2; Eph_5:25 ff.)under the image of a marriage connection, in which the exalted Christ is the husband of His Church that has become independent of the law by dying with Him.

τῷ ἐκ νεκρ. ἐγερθ.] apposition to ἑτέρῳ, in significant historical reference to διὰ τ. σώμ. τ. Χ. For if Christ became through His bodily death our deliverer from the law, we cannot now belong to Him otherwise than as the Risen One for a new and indissoluble union. The importance of this addition in its bearing on the matter in hand lies in the καινότης ζωῆς (Rom_6:3; Rom_6:11; Rom_6:13; Rom_6:22) which, on the very ground of the ethical communion with the Risen One, issues from the new relation. Certainly the death of Christ appears here as the end of a sin-conditioned state of the humanity to be united in Him (Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 354); but this great moral epoch has as its necessary presupposition just the vicarious atoning power of the ἱλαστήριον which was rendered in the death of Jesus; it could not take place without this and without the faith appropriating it, Rom_3:21 ff.; Rom_5:1 ff.

ἵνα καρποφ. τ. Θεῷ] The aim not of ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγερθέντι (Koppe, Th. Schott, Hofmann), but ratherbecause the belonging to is that which conditions the fruit-bearingof the γενέσθαι ὑμᾶς ἑτέρῳ, τῷ ἐκ νεκρ. ἐγ., consequently the final aim of the ἐθανατ. τῷ νόμῳ. There is here (though van Hengel and others call it in question, contrary to the clear connection) a continuation of the figure of marriage with respect to its fruitfulness (Luk_1:42; Psa_127:3, Symm. and Theod. Psa_91:15). The morally holy walk, namely, in its consecration to God is, as it were, the fruit which issues from our fellowship of life with Christ risen from the dead as from a new marriage-union, and which belongs in property to God as the lord-paramount of that union (the supreme ruler of the Messianic theocracy); the bringing forth of fruit takes place for God. The opinion of Reiche and Fritzsche that καρποφ. taken in the sense of the fruit of marriage yields an undignified allegory (the figure therefore is to be taken as borrowed from a field or a tree, which Philippi, Tholuck, and Reithmayr also prefer) is untenable, seeing that the union with Christ, if regarded as a marriage at all, must also necessarily, in accordance with its moral design, be conceived of as a fruitful marriage.[1539]

[1534] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[1535] This is expressed from the Jewish-Christian consciousness, nevertheless it includes indirectly the Gentile-Christians also; for without perfect obedience to the law no man could have attained to salvation, wherefore also obedience to the law was expected on the part of Judaists from the converted Gentiles (Acts 15). As the argument advances, the language of the Apostle becomes communicative, so that he includes himself with his readers, among whom he makes no distinction. Compare Rom_8:15; Gal_3:14; Gal_4:6. By our passage therefore the readers are not indicated as having been, as respects the majority, Jews or at least proselytes.

[1537] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[1538] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[1539] This view is the one perfectly consistent with the context, and should not be superseded by the prudery of modern canons of taste (Fritzshe terms it jejunam et obscoenam). Theodoret already has the right view: καὶ ἐπειδὴ συνάφειαν κ. γάμον τὴν εἰς τὸν κύριον προσηγόρευσε πίστιν, εἰκότως δείκνυσι καὶ τὸν τοῦ γάμου καρπόν. Comp. Theophylact.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 7:4 . ὥστε καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐθανατώθητε τῷ νόμῳ : the inference is drawn rather from the principle than from the example, but καὶ ὑμεῖς means “you as well as the woman in the illustration,” not “you Gentiles as well as I a Jew”. The last, which is Weiss’s interpretation, introduces a violent contrast of which there is not the faintest hint in the context. The meaning of ἐθανατώθητε is fixed by reference to chap. Rom 6:3-6 . The aorist refers to the definite time at which in their baptism the old life (and with it all its legal obligations) came to an end. διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χτοῦ : Weiss rejects as opposed to the context the “dogmatic” reference to the sacrificial death of Christ as a satisfaction for sin; all the words imply, according to him, is that the Christian, in baptism, experiences a ὁμοίωμα of Christ’s death, or as it is put in Rom 6:6 is crucified with Him, and so liberated from every relation to the law. But if Christ’s death had no spiritual content if it were not a death “for our sins” (1Co 15:3 ), a death having the sacrificial character and atoning virtue described in Rom 3:25 f. there would be no reason why a sinful man should be baptised into Christ and His death at all, and in point of fact no one would be baptised. It is because Christ’s death is what it is, a sin-expiating death, that it draws men to Him, and spiritually reproduces in them a reflex or counterpart of His death, with which all their old relations and obligations terminate. The object of this is that they may belong to another, a different person. Paul does not say ἑτέρῳ ἀνδρί : the marriage metaphor is dropped. He is speaking of the experience of Christians one by one, and though Christ is sometimes spoken of as the husband or bridegroom of the Church, there is no Scripture authority for using this metaphor of His relation to the individual soul. Neither is this interpretation favoured by the use of καρποφορήσωμεν ; to interpret this of the fruit of the new marriage is both needless and grotesque. The word is used frequently in the N.T. for the outcome of the Christian life, but never with this association; and a reference to Rom 6:21 shows how natural it is to the Apostle without any such prompting. Even the change from the second person ( ἐθανατώθητε ) to the first ( καρποφορήσωμεν ) shows that he is contemplating the end of the Christian life quite apart from the suggestions of the metaphor. Christ is described as τῷ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγερθέντι , because we can only belong to a living person. τῷ θεῷ is dat comm God is the person interested in this result.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Are become dead [εθανατωθητε] . Rev., more accurately, ye were made dead, put to death; because this ethical death is fellowship with Christ 's death, which was by violence.

Who was raised. An important addition, because it refers to the newness of life which issues from the rising with Christ. See ch. Rom 6:3, 11, 13, 22. Bring forth fruit. The figure of marriage is continued, but the reference is not to be pressed. The real point of analogy is the termination of relations to the old state.

Rom 7:5In the flesh [εν τη σαρκι] . Sarx flesh, occurs in the classics in the physical sense only. Homer commonly uses it in the plural as denoting all the flesh or muscles of the body. Later the singular occurs in the same sense. Paul 's use of this and other psychological terms must be determined largely by the Old - Testament usage as it appears in the Septuagint. 38

1. In the physical sense. The literal flesh. In the Septuagint ta krea flesh (plural) is used where the reference is to the parts of animals slain, and aiJ sarkev, flesh (plural) where the reference is to flesh as the covering of the living body. Hence Paul uses krea in Rom 14:21; 1Co 8:13, of the flesh of sacrificed animals. Compare also the adjective sarkimov fleshy 2Co 3:3; and Eze 11:19; Eze 36:26, Sept.

2. Kindred. Denoting natural or physical relationship, Rom 1:3; Rom 9:3 - 8; Rom 11:14; Gal 4:23, 29; 1Co 10:18; Phl 1:16. This usage forms a transition to the following sense : the whole human body. Flesh is the medium in and through which the natural relationship of man manifests itself. Kindred is conceived as based on community of bodily substance. Therefore :

3. The body itself. The whole being designated by the part, as being its main substance and characteristic, 1Co 6:16; 1Co 7:28; 2Co 4:11; 2Co 7:5; 2Co 10:3; 2Co 12:7. Rom 2:28; Gal 6:13, etc. Paul follows the Septuagint in sometimes using swma body, and sometimes sarx flesh, in this sense, so that the terms occasionally seem to be practically synonymous. Thus 1Co 6:16, 17, where the phrase one body is illustrated and confirmed by one flesh. See Gen 2:24; Eph 5:28, 31, where the two are apparently interchanged. Compare 2Co 4:10, 11; 1Co 5:3, and Col 2:5. Sarx, however, differs from swma in that it can only signify the organism of an earthly, living being consisting of flesh and bones, and cannot denote "either an earthly organism that is not living, or a living organism that is not earthly" (Wendt, in Dickson). Swma not thus limited. Thus it may denote the organism of the plant (1Co 14:37, 38) or the celestial bodies (ver. 40). Hence the two conceptions are related as general and special : swma body, being the material organism apart from any definite matter (not from any sort of matter), sarx, flesh, the definite, earthly, animal organism. The two are synonymons when swma is used, from the context, of an earthly, animal body. Compare Phi 1:22; 2Co 5:1 - 8.

Swma body, and not sarx flesh, is used when the reference is to a metaphorical organism, as the church, Rom 12:4 sqq.; 1Co 10:16; 1Co 12:12 - 27; Eph 1:23; Eph 2:16; Col 1:18, etc.

The sarx is described as mortal (2Co 4:11); subject to infirmity (Gal 4:13; 2Co 12:7); locally limited (Col 2:15); an object of fostering care (Eph 5:29).

Rom 7:4Living beings generally, including their mental nature, and with a correlated notion of weakness and perishableness. Thus the phrase pasa sarx all flesh (Gen 6:12; Isa 49:26; Isa 49:23). This accessory notion of weakness stands in contrast with God. In Paul the phrase all flesh is cited from the Old Testament (Rom 3:20; Gal 2:16) and is used independently (1Co 1:29). In all these instances before God is added. So in Gal 1:16, flesh and blood implies a contrast of human with divine wisdom.

Compare 1Co 14:50; Eph 6:12. This leads up to

Rom 7:5Man "either as a creature in his natural state apart from Christ, or the creaturely side or aspect of the man in Christ." Hence it is correlated with anqrwpov man, 1Co 3:3; Rom 6:19; 2Co 5:17. Compare Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22; Col 3:9; Gal 5:24. Thus the flesh would seem to be interchangeable with the old man.

It has affections and lusts (Gal 5:24); willings (Eph 2:3; Rom 8:6, 7); a mind (Col 2:18); a body (Col 2:11). It is in sharp contrast with pneuma spirit (Gal 3:3, 19; Gal 5:16, 17, 19 - 24; Gal 6:8; Rom 8:4). The flesh and the spirit are thus antagonistic. Sarx flesh, before or in contrast with his reception of the divine element whereby he becomes a new creature in Christ : the whole being of man as it exists and acts apart from the influence of the Spirit. It properly characterizes, therefore, not merely the lower forms of sensual gratification, but all - the highest developments of the life estranged from God, whether physical, intellectual, or aesthetic.

It must be carefully noted :

Rom 7:1That Paul does not identify flesh and sin. Compare, flesh of sin, Rom 8:3. Sec Rom 7:17, 18; 2Co 7:1; Gal 2:20.

Rom 7:2That Paul does not identify sarx with the material body nor associate sin exclusively and predominantly with the body. The flesh is the flesh of the living man animated by the soul [ψυχη] as its principle of life, and is distinctly used as coordinate with anqrwpov man. As in the Old Testament, "it embraces in an emphatic manner the nature of man, mental and corporeal, with its internal distinctions." The spirit as well as the flesh is capable of defilement (2Co 7:1; compare 1Co 7:34). Christian life is to be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Rom 12:2; compare Eph 4:23).

Rom 7:3That Paul does not identify the material side of man with evil. The flesh is not the native seat and source of sin. It is only its organ, and the seat of sin 's manifestation. Matter is not essentially evil. The logical consequence of this would be that no service of God is possible while the material organism remains. See Rom 12:1. The flesh is not necessarily sinful in itself; but as it has existed from the time of the introduction of sin through Adam, it is recognized by Paul as tainted with sin. Jesus appeared in the flesh, and yet was sinless (2Co 5:21).

The motions of sins [τα παθηματα των αμαρτιων] . Motions used in earlier English for emotions or impulses. Thus Bacon : "He that standeth at a stay where others rise, can hardly avoid motions of envy" (" Essay " 14.). The word is nearly synonymous with paqov passion (ch. 1, 26, note). From paqein to suffer; a feeling which the mind undergoes, a passion, desire. Rev., sinful passions : which led to sins.

Did work [ενηργειτο] . Rev., wrought. See 2Co 1:6; 2Co 4:12; Eph 3:20; Gal 5:6; Phi 2:13; Col 1:29. Compare Mr 6:14, and see on power, Joh 1:12.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 4. “So that, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should belong to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit to God.”

Coming to the application, the apostle approaches his readers anew, and more closely, addressing them as: my brethren. It is as if he were to say to them familiarly: Let us see! Now, then, is it not clear to you all?

The conjunction ὥστε, so that, cannot be taken, as some have sought to do, in the sense of likewise, or so then. The natural sense: so that, is perfectly suitable, if only the force of this conjunction is made to bear not exclusively on the following verb: Ye are dead to the law, but on the verb with its entire connection: Ye are dead to the law; that ye should belong to another. It is not the death of believers in Christ crucified whose legitimacy the apostle wished to show by the preceding example taken from the law, but the new union of which this death is the condition.

The same need of drawing close to his readers which suggests the form of address: my brethren, leads him also to use the second person, which is more in keeping with the direct application to which he is now coming.

Ye also: quite like this wife who is dead (as a wife) through her husband’s death, and who thus has the right to marry again.—᾿Εθανατώθητε, ye are dead, or more literally: Ye have been put to death in relation to the law. The first aorist passive here expresses, as usual, the highest degree of passivity. Jesus draws believers as it were violently into communion with Him in His sufferings. This participation in His violent death is not exactly the same in this passage as that spoken of in Rom 7:6 of the preceding chapter. The latter referred to the believer’s death to sin, whereas Paul says here: “Ye are dead to the law.” Christ on the cross died to the law, inasmuch as this punishment set Him free from the jurisdiction of the law, under which He had passed His life, and from the Jewish nationality which had determined the form of His earthly existence (Gal 4:4). The believer who appropriates this death appropriates also the glorious liberty which in the case of Christ was its consequence. Delivered in Him from the law of ordinances (Eph 2:15), he enters with Him into the higher life of communion with God. When Paul says: by the body of Christ, he reminds us that it was this body which formed the bond between Christ and the theocratic nation (Rom 1:3); and that this bond once broken in His case by death, it is also broken in that of believers, who draw their life from Him. There is no reference in this context to the gift of His body as the price of our redemption (Gess).

The application of the idea of death to believers, in the words: Ye are dead to the law, agrees with the observation we have made on the expression κατήργηται, she (the wife) is annulled, has ceased to be (as a wife), at the end of Rom 7:2. As the new husband is a dead and risen Christ, the wife must necessarily be represented as dead (through the death of her first husband, the law), that she may be in a position to be united to Christ as one risen again. It is a marriage, as it were, beyond the tomb. And hence it is that the apostle is not content with saying: “Ye have been put to death in relation to the law; that ye should belong to another,” but adds immediately: “to Him who is raised from the dead.”

We can now understand perfectly how Paul, with this application in view from the beginning, extended the notion of death, which, strictly speaking, applied only to the husband, to the wife, by the term κατήργηται, she is abolished, has ceased to be, Rom 7:2.

It is easy to see that this figure of a marriage between the soul dead in Christ crucified and Christ risen expresses exactly the same idea as we have found already in Rom 6:5, and as was developed in the whole passage Rom 6:6-10; only this idea is resumed here to deduce from it the believer’s enfranchisement in regard to the law. We may therefore thus sum up the contents of these four verses: As by His death Christ entered upon an existence set free from every legal statute and determined by the life of God alone, so we, when we have died to sin, enter with Him into this same life in which, like a remarried widow, we have no other master than this new Spouse and His Spirit.

The object of this new union, says Paul, concluding this development, Rom 7:4, is, that we may bring forth fruit unto God. By this expression he unmistakably continues and completes the figure which he began, namely, that of marriage. The new issue which is to spring from this union between the Risen One and His church is an activity rich in holy works wrought in the service of God (καρποφορῆσαι τῷ Θεῷ, to bear fruit unto God). To reject this view of the figure is to show a prudery which is neither in harmony with the spirit of antiquity, nor with that of the gospel itself. It is, in fine, to put oneself in contradiction to the two following verses, which can leave no doubt as to the apostle’s real meaning.

On what does the that depend? Hofmann and Schott hold that it must be connected solely with the last words: to Him that is raised from the dead, that...; Christ is raised to a celestial life that He might communicate it to us, and render us active in God’s service. But the aim of the resurrection cannot be thus restricted, and the sequel proves that the that depends, as is natural, on the principal idea: that ye should be married to another. It is not the resurrection, it is the union of the believer with the Risen One, which has for its end to give birth to a life of good works. This appears from the following verses, in which the apostle contrasts union with the law, which produced fruits of sin, with union with Christ, which results in the best fruits. What has led Hofmann to this false explanation is the desire to account for the transition from the second person plural: ye have been put to death...ye were married..., to the first: we should bring forth fruit: “He is raised for us, believers, that we should bring forth”...Some commentators, indeed (Meyer, to a certain extent), suppose that the verb in the second person and the pronoun ὑμᾶς (you) were written from the viewpoint of Judeo-Christians; for, it is said, only people formerly subject to the law could become dead in relation to it. The last verb in the first person is, on the contrary, it is said, written from the standpoint of all Christians. But the author of these lines, being himself of Jewish origin, would require to say, and especially when speaking of Judeo-Christians, we, rather than ye. Comp. Gal 3:13, where, speaking in the name of believers of Jewish origin, he says we, to contrast with them afterward, in Rom 7:14, the Gentiles, and in the end to combine both in a final we. The true explanation of the contrast between ye and we in our passage is simpler. At the beginning of this passage, Paul, to get near to his readers, had passed from the didactic tone to the direct address: brethren! It was a way of saying to them: “Understand thoroughly, brethren; it is your own history which was contained beforehand in this legal prescription.” A new and still more urgent apostrophe had followed in Rom 7:4 (my brethren), at the point where from the explanation Paul was passing to the application. And now the application being made by the: Ye became dead, that ye should belong, the didactic tone of the treatise recommenced with the: that we should bring forth fruit, which is true not only of the Roman readers, but of the whole Church; and the first person continues (Rom 7:5-6); comp. Rom 8:12-13 (the inverse change). In Rom 7:6 he also affirms, as well as in Rom 7:4, things which at first sight can only suit believers of Jewish origin: “that (the law) under the power of which we were held.” This is because the apostle does not forget that the experiment of the effects of the law made by the Jews is to the benefit of all mankind. For if the law had continued for the Jews, its maintenance must have issued in extending the reign of the law to the rest of the world; and so it was indeed that Paul’s adversaries understood it (the Judaizing false brethren), so that it is when addressing all believers that he can say: “Ye became dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to the Risen One.” Calvin also says, speaking of every Christian: “From hand to hand, passing from the power of the law, we were given over to Christ.” Apart from Christ, the Gentiles would have no other religious future than subjection to the Jewish law.

The apostle had just proved by the law itself that believers, in consequence of the death which they have undergone, may without unfaithfulness cast off the yoke of the law, and contract a new union with Christ. He now points out the grave reason which they have for using this right and preferring this new union to the previous one. The fruits which shall issue from it will be as excellent as those which proceeded from the former were detestable. This expression: fruits, recalls the conclusion of the preceding passage, Rom 6:20-23, where the moral result of the two servitudes was described. Here the subject is two marriages. The contents of the two Rom 7:5-6 were announced in the last words of Rom 7:4. And first, Rom 7:5 : the first marriage and its fruits.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_7:4

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also have become dead to the law by the body of Christ. As the woman is free from the law by the death of her husband, so ye also (καὶ ὑμεῖς) are freed from the law by the death of Christ. This is the application made by the apostle of the illustration contained in Rom_7:2, Rom_7:3. The law is our first husband; we were bound to satisfy its demands. But the law being dead, (i.e., fulfilled in Christ,) we are free from the obligation of obedience to it as the condition of justification, and are at liberty to accept the gospel. Lex velut maritus fuit, says Calvin, sub cujus jugo detinemur, donec mortua est. Post legis mortem Christus nos assumpsit, id est, a lege solutos adjunxit sibi. Ergo Christo e mortuis suscitato copulati adhaerere ei soli debemus; atque ut aeterna est Christi vita post resurrectionem, ita posthac nullum futurum est divortium. Instead of saying, The law is dead, as the consistency of the figure would demand, the apostle expresses the same idea by saying, Ye are dead to the law, or rather, are slain, put to death, ἐθανατώθητε. This form of expression is probably used because the death of Christ, in which we died, was an act of violence. He was put to death, and we in him. To be slain to the law, means to be freed from the law by death. Death, indeed, not our own, but ours vicariously, as we were crucified in Christ, who died on the cross in our behalf, and in our stead. It is therefore added, by the body of Christ, i.e., by his body as slain. He redeemed us from the law by death; by being a curse, Gal_3:13; by his blood, Eph_1:7, Eph_2:13; by his flesh, Eph_2:15; by the cross, Eph_2:16; by the body of his flesh, Col_1:22. These are all equivalent expressions. They all teach the same doctrine, that Christ bore our sins upon the tree; that his sufferings and death were a satisfaction to justice, and, being so intended and accepted, they effect our deliverance from the penalty of the law. We are therefore free from it. Although the law continues evermore to bind us as rational creatures, it no longer prescribes the conditions of our salvation. It is no longer necessary that we should atone for our own sins, or work out a righteousness such as the law demands. Christ has done that for us. We are thus freed from the law, that we should be married to another, εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι, as expressing the design. The proximate design of our freedom from the law, is our union with Christ; and the design of our union with Christ is, that we should bring forth fruit unto God, that is, that we should be holy. Here, therefore, as in the preceding chapter, the apostle teaches that the law cannot sanctify; that it is necessary we should be delivered from its bondage, and be reconciled to God, before we can be holy. He to whom we are thus united, is said to be he who is raised from the dead. As Christ is spoken of, or referred to as having died, it was appropriate to refer to him as now living. It is to the living and life-giving Son of God that we are united by faith and the indwelling of the Spirit; and therefore it is that we are no longer barren or unfruitful, but are made to bring forth fruit unto God. Sed ultra progreditur apostolus, says Calvin, nempe solutum fuisse legis vinculum, non ut nostro arbitrio vivamus, sicuti mulier vidua sui juris est, dum in coelibatu degit; sed alteri marito nos jam esse devinctos: imo de manu (ut aiunt) in manum a lege ad Christum nos transiisse.

It need hardly be remarked, that the law of which the apostle is here speaking, is not the Mosaic law considered as the Old Testament economy. It is not the doctrine of this or of similar passages, that Christ has merely delivered us from the yoke of Jewish institutions, in order that we may embrace the simpler and more spiritual dispensation of the gospel. The law of which he speaks, is the law which says, The man that doeth these things shall live by them, Rom_10:5; Gal_3:12; that is, which requires perfect obedience as the condition of acceptance. It is that which says, Thou shalt not covet, Rom_7:7; without which sin is dead, Rom_7:8; which is holy, just and good, Rom_7:12; which is spiritual, Rom_7:14, etc. It is that law by whose works the Gentiles cannot be justified, Rom_3:20; from whose curse Christ has redeemed not the Jews only, but also the Gentiles, Gal_3:13, Gal_3:14. It is plain, therefore, that Paul here means by the law, the will of God, as a rule of duty, no matter how revealed. From this law, as prescribing the terms of our acceptance with God, Christ has delivered us. It is the legal system, which says, Do this and live, that Christ has abolished, and introduced another, which says, He that believes shall be saved. Since, however, as remarked above (Rom_6:14), the Old Testament economy, including the Mosaic institutions, was the form in which the law, as law, was ever present to the minds of the apostle and his readers; and since deliverance from the legal system, as such, involved deliverance from that economy, it is not wonderful that reference to that dispensation should often be made; or that Paul should at times express the idea of deliverance from the law, as such, by terms which would seem to express only deliverance from the particular form in which it was so familiar to his readers. So, too, in the epistle to the Galatians, we find him constantly speaking of a return to Judaism as a renunciation of the method of gratuitous justification, and a recurrence to a reliance on the righteousness of works. The reason of this is obvious. The Old Testament dispensation, apart from its evangelical import, which lay, like a secondary sense, beneath the cover of its institutions, was but a reenactment of the legal system. To make, however, as is often done, the whole meaning of the apostle to be, that we are freed from the Jewish law, is not only inconsistent in this place with the context, and irreconcilable with many express declarations of Scripture, but destructive of the whole evangelical character of the doctrine. How small a part of the redemption of Christ is deliverance from the Mosaic institutions! How slight the consolation to a soul, sensible of its exposure to the wrath of God, to be told that the law of Moses no longer condemns us! How void of truth and meaning the doctrine, that deliverance from the law is necessary to holiness, if the law means the Jewish economy merely.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, in the body of Christ, to give us to understand how straight and near that fellowship is betwixt Christ and his members.

He calleth the children, which the wife hath by her husband, fruit.

Which are acceptable to God.

An application of the similitude thus. So, saith he, doth it fare with us: for now we are joined to the spirit as it were to the second husband, by whom we must bring forth new children: we are dead in respect of the first husband, but in respect of the latter we are as it were raised from the dead.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Wherefore . . . ye also are become dead--rather, "were slain."

to the law by the body of Christ--through His slain body. The apostle here departs from his usual word "died," using the more expressive phrase "were slain," to make it clear that he meant their being "crucified with Christ" (as expressed in Rom 6:3-6, and Gal 2:20).

that ye should be married to another, even to him that is--"was."

raised from the dead--to the intent.

that we should bring forth fruit unto God--It has been thought that the apostle should here have said that "the law died to us," not "we to the law," but that purposely inverted the figure, to avoid the harshness to Jewish ears of the death of the law [CHRYSOSTOM, CALVIN, HODGE, PHILIPPI, &c.]. But this is to mistake the apostle's design in employing this figure, which was merely to illustrate the general principle that "death dissolves legal obligation." It was essential to his argument that we, not the law, should be the dying party, since it is we that are "crucified with Christ," and not the law. This death dissolves our marriage obligation to the law, leaving us at liberty to contract a new relation--to be joined to the Risen One, in order to spiritual fruitfulness, to the glory of God [BEZA, OLSHAUSEN, MEYER, ALFORD, &c.]. The confusion, then, is in the expositors, not the text; and it has arisen from not observing that, like Jesus Himself, believers are here viewed as having a double life--the old sin-condemned life, which they lay down with Christ, and the new life of acceptance and holiness to which they rise with their Surety and Head; and all the issues of this new life, in Christian obedience, are regarded as the "fruit" of this blessed union to the Risen One. How such holy fruitfulness was impossible before our union to Christ, is next declared.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren] This is a parallel case. You were once under the law of Moses, and were bound by its injunctions; but now ye are become dead to that law - a modest, inoffensive mode of speech, for, The law, which was once your husband, is dead; God has determined that it shall be no longer in force; so that now, as a woman whose husband is dead is freed from the law of that husband, or from her conjugal vow, and may legally be married to another, so God, who gave the law under which ye have hitherto lived, designed that it should be in force only till the advent of the Messiah; that advent has taken place, the law has consequently ceased, and now ye are called to take on you the yoke of the Gospel, and lay down the yoke of the law; and it is the design of God that you should do so.

That ye should be married to another - who is raised from the dead] As Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth, the object of God in giving the law was to unite you to Christ; and, as he has died, he has not only abolished that law which condemns every transgressor to death, without any hope of a revival, but he has also made that atonement for sin, by his own death, which is represented in the sacrifices prescribed by the law. And as Jesus Christ is risen again from the dead, he has thereby given the fullest proof that by his death he has procured the resurrection of mankind, and made that atonement required by the law. That we should bring forth fruit unto God - we, Jews, who believe in Christ, have, in consequence of our union with him, received the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit; so that we bring forth that fruit of holiness unto God which, without this union, it would be impossible for us to produce. Here is a delicate allusion to the case of a promising and numerous progeny from a legitimate and happy marriage.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Through the body of Christ. Christ, by the glorious victory of the cross, first triumphed over sin; and that he might do this, it was necessary that the handwriting, by which we were held bound, should be cancelled. This handwriting was the law, which, while it continued in force, rendered us bound to serve sin; and hence it is called the power of sin. It was then by cancelling this handwriting that we were delivered through the body of Christ — through his body as fixed to the cross. But the Apostle goes farther, and says, that the bond of the law was destroyed; not that we may live according to our own will, like a widow, who lives as she pleases while single; but that we may be now bound to another husband; nay, that we may pass from hand to hand, as they say, that is, from the law to Christ. He at the same time softens the asperity of the expression, by saying that Christ, in order to join us to his own body, made us free from the yoke of the law. For though Christ subjected himself for a time of his own accord to the law, it is not yet right to say that the law ruled over him. Moreover, he conveys to his own members the liberty which he himself possesses. It is then no wonder that he exempts those from the yoke of the law, whom he unites by a sacred bond to himself, that they may be one body in him.

Even his who has been raised, etc. We have already said, that Christ is substituted for the law, lest any freedom should be pretended without him, or lest any, being not yet dead to the law, should dare to divorce himself from it. But he adopts here a periphrastic sentence to denote the eternity of that life which Christ attained by his resurrection, that Christians might know that this connection is to be perpetual. But of the spiritual marriage between Christ and his Church he speaks more fully in Ephesians 6

That we may bring forth fruit to God. He ever annexes the final cause, lest any should indulge the liberty of their flesh and their own lusts, under the pretense that Christ has delivered them from the bondage of the law; for he has offered us, together with himself, as a sacrifice to the Father, and he regenerates us for this end — that by newness of life we may bring forth fruit unto God: and we know that the fruits which our heavenly Father requires from us are those of holiness and righteousness. It is indeed no abatement to our liberty that we serve God; nay, if we desire to enjoy so great a benefit as there is in Christ, it will not henceforth be right in us to entertain any other thought but that of promoting the glory of God; for which purpose Christ has connected us with himself. We shall otherwise remain the bond-slaves, not only of the law, but also of sin and of death.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(4) Are become dead.—Were rendered dead—somewhat stronger than simply “ye died.”

By the body of Christ—i.e., by the death of the human body of Christ upon the cross. The Christian, as the last chapter has shown, is so united to Christ that whatever has happened to his Master has happened also to him. Christ was put to death upon the cross; he therefore has also been put to death with Him. But why put to death to the Law? Probably all that is meant is simply that the Christian died, and therefore all the relations contracted before that death came to an end. At the same time he entered upon new relations corresponding to his new and risen state.

The argument can hardly be said to have a logical cogency in a controversial sense. It is not, quite strictly speaking, argument at all, but rather emphatic assertion, with all the weight of apostolic authority, and in a graphic illustrative form. The gist of it all is, “You have done with the Law and assumed a new spiritual life in Christ: see that you make this a reality.”

That we should bring forth fruit unto God.—This mystical and ethical union with Christ will not be unproductive; it will have for its fruit a life consecrated to God.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also,.... Here the apostle accommodates the foregoing instance and example to the case in hand, showing, that the saints were not under the law, the power and dominion of it; since that, as when a man is dead, the woman is loosed from that law by which she was bound whilst he lived, that she may lawfully marry another man, and bear children to him without the imputation of adultery; so believers being dead to the law, and the law dead to them, which is all one, they are loosed from it, and may be, and are lawfully married to Christ, that they may bring forth the genuine fruits of good works, not in order to obtain righteousness and life by them, but for the honour and glory of God; in which account may be observed, an assertion that the saints and children of God

are become dead to the law, and that to them, as in Rom 7:6, and can have no more power over them than a law can have over dead persons, or a dead abrogated law can have over living ones. They are represented as "dead to sin", and "dead with Christ", Rom 6:2; and here, "dead to the law", as in Gal 2:19, and consequently cannot be under it; are out of the reach of its power and government, since that only has dominion over a man as long as be lives the law is dead to them; it has no power over them, to threaten and terrify them into obedience to it; nor even rigorously to exact it, or command it in a compulsory way; nor is there any need of all this, since believers delight in it after the inward man, and serve it with their minds freely and willingly; the love of Christ, and not the terrors of the law, constrains them to yield a cheerful obedience to it; it has no power to charge and accuse them, curse or condemn them, or minister death unto them, no, not a corporeal one, as a penal evil, and much less an eternal one. And the way and means by which they become dead to the law, and that to them is,

by the body of Christ; not by Christ, as the body or substance of the ceremonial law; see Col 2:17; since that is not singly designed, but the whole law of Moses; but by "the body of Christ", is either meant Christ himself, Heb 10:10, or rather the human nature of Christ, Heb 10:5, in which the law meets with every thing it can require and demand, as holiness of nature, which is the saints' sanctification in Christ; obedience of life, which is their righteousness; and sufferings of death, which is the penalty the law enjoins, whereby full expiation of sin is made, complete pardon is procured, and eternal redemption obtained; so that the law has nothing more to demand; its mouth is stopped, it is not in its power to curse and damn believers, they are dead to that, and that to them: the reason why the law is become so to them, and they to that, is,

that ye should be married to another; or "that ye should be to another", or "be another's"; that is, that ye should appear to be so in a just and legal way; for they were another's, they were Christ's before by the Father's gift, and were secretly married to him in the everlasting covenant, before he assumed their nature, and in the body of his flesh bore their sins, satisfied law and justice, paid their debts, and so freed them from the power of the law, its curse and condemnation, or any obligation to punishment; all which was done in consequence of his interest in them, and their marriage relation to him; but here respect is had to their open marriage to him in time, the day of their espousals in conversion; to make way for which, the law, their former husband, must be dead, and they dead to that, that so their marriage to Christ might appear lawful and justifiable; who is very fitly described by him,

who is raised from the dead; and is a living husband, and will ever continue so, will never die more; and therefore as the saints can never be loosed from the marriage bond of union between Christ and them, so they can never be loosed from the law of this husband; wherefore though they are dead to the law as a covenant of works, and as ministered by Moses, and are free from any obligation to it, as so considered, yet they are "under the law to Christ", Co1 9:21; under obligation, by the ties of love, to obedience to it, and shall never be loosed from it. The end of being dead to the law, and of being married to Christ, is,

that we should bring forth fruit unto God. The allusion is to children being called "the fruit of the womb", Psa 127:3, and here designs good works, the fruits of righteousness, which are brought forth by persons espoused to Christ, under the influence of the Spirit and grace of God; and they are "unto God", that is, for the honour and glory of God; meaning either Christ the husband of believers, who is God over all blessed for ever; or God the Father, to whose praise and glory they are by Christ; and which is a reason and argument which strongly excites and encourages the saints to the performance of them: and let it be observed, that as children begotten and born in lawful marriage are only true and legitimate, and all before marriage are spurious and illegitimate; so such works only are the true and genuine fruits of righteousness, which are in consequence of a marriage relation to Christ; are done in faith, spring from love, and are directed to the glory of God; and all others, which are done before marriage to Christ, and without faith in him, are like spurious and illegitimate children.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

4 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.

Ver. 4. That we should bring forth fruit] The ministry of the word, saith one, is the bridal bed; wherein God by his Spirit doth communicate with our souls his sweetest favours, and maketh them be conceived with the fruits of righteousness to everlasting life.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore - This verse contains an application of the illustration in the two preceding. The idea there is, that death dissolves a connection from which obligation resulted. This is the single point of the illustration, and consequently there is no need of inquiring whether by the wife the apostle meant to denote the old man, or the Christian, etc. The meaning is, as death dissolves the connection between a wife and her husband, and of course the obligation of the law resulting from that connection, so the death of the Christian to the Law dissolves that connection, so far as the scope of the argument here is concerned, and prepares the way for another union, a union with Christ, from which a new and more efficient obligation results. The design is to show that the new connection would accomplish more important effects than the old.

Ye also are become dead to the law - Notes, Rom 6:3-4, Rom 6:8. The connection between us and the Law is dissolved, so far as the scope of the apostle’s argument is concerned. He does not say that we are dead to it, or released from it as a rule of duty, or as a matter of obligation to obey it; for there neither is, nor can be, any such release, but we are dead to it as a way of justification and sanctification. In the great matter of acceptance with God, we have ceased to rely on the Law, having become dead to it, and having embraced another plan.

By the body of Christ - That is, by his body crucified; or in other words, by his death; compare Eph 2:15, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity,” etc. that is, by his death. Col 1:22, “in the body of his flesh through death,” etc. Col 2:14; 1Pe 2:24, “who bare our sins in his own body on the tree.” The sense, is, therefore, that by the death of Christ as an atoning sacrifice; by his suffering for us what would be sufficient to meet the demands of the Law; by his taking our place, he has released us from the Law as a way of justification; freed us from its penalty; and saved us from its curse. Thus released, we are at liberty to be united to the law of him who has thus bought us with his blood.

That ye should be married to another - That you might be united to another, and come under his law. This is the completion of the illustration in Rom 7:2-3. As the woman that is freed from the law of her husband by his death, when married again comes under the authority of another, so we who are made free from the Law and its curse by the death of Christ, are brought under the new law of fidelity and obedience to him with whom we are thus united. The union of Christ and his people is not unfrequently illustrated by the most tender of all earthly connections, that of a husband and wife, Eph 5:23-30; Rev 21:9. “I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” Rev 19:7.

Even to him who is raised ... - See the force of this explained, Rom 6:8.

That we should bring forth fruit unto God - That we should live a holy life. This is the point and scope of all this illustration. The new connection is such as will make us holy. It is also implied that the tendency of the Law was only to bring forth fruit unto death Rom 7:5, and that the tendency of the gospel is to make man holy and pure; compare Gal 5:22-23.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Dead to the law—As the deceased husband was physically dead to the wife, so the widow was legally dead to the husband; that is, she was emancipated from all subjection or relation to him. Similarly, by the apostle’s varied and flexible use of the word dead, the new Church was dead to the departed law. They were emancipated according to the measure of their life in Christ, and the spontaneity of their active holiness, from all pressure of the law.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thus ye also - Are now as free from the Mosaic law as an husband is, when his wife is dead. By the body of Christ - Offered up; that is, by the merits of his death, that law expiring with him.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

married joined.

Eph 5:31, same Greek word.

Bride (of Christ). 2Co 11:1-3; Joh 3:29; Rev 19:6-8.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God . [While the marriage lasts the husband (law) has headship and control over the wife (mankind). But death breaks the marriage bond, so that both parties are thereby at once released and made free to marry again. Put the Christian occupies the position of the deceased party. He was united to Christ, being in the humanity of Christ; and being thus in Christ, he was, as it were, married to the law, for Christ was born even under law in its strict Mosaic form ( Luk_2:21-27 ; Gal_4:4 ); and lived subject to that law ( Mat_5:17-18 ); and died to the law in the death of the cross ( Col_2:14 ). Now we, being united to Christ in all this, are, in him as our representative, also dead to the law ( Rom_6:6 ; Gal_2:19 ), that we might, as one freed by death from marriage to the law ( Eze_16:8-38 ; Jer_2:2 ; Jer_3:14 ), be at liberty to contract the second marriage with and to the risen Christ, that in this marriage it might be our privilege and obligation not to obey the law, but to bring forth fruit unto God. The Christian, enjoying a resurrection in Christ, derives untold benefit from a well-recognized legal principle. Ordinarily the liberty from law enjoyed by the dead is of no practical value to them; but the Christian rising, in Christ his representative, from the dead, is free from law and espoused to Christ.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are dead to the law. This principle, under the figure of marriage, is applied to those church members who were once under the law of Moses. They were then related to it as a wife to a husband. But in the chapter VI. it has been shown that all disciples of Christ had died, been buried, and risen with him (verses 2–5); hence, having died, they had been released from the law. As new creatures, they could, as those freed from the marriage to law, be espoused to another, even Christ. Christians are so united to Christ, living by vital union with him, being found in him, that whatever was done to him is said to have been done to them in his person, or through his body. The church is spiritually the Body of Christ.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Therefore, my brothers

This relates back to Romans 7:1.

brothers

Here this means fellow Christians, including both men and women.

you were also made dead to the law through the body of Christ

You can translate this in an active form. AT: "you also died to the law when through Christ you died on the cross" (See: Active or Passive)

to him who was raised from the dead

"Raised" here is an idiom for "caused to live again." This can be translated in active form. AT: "to him who was caused to live again" or "to him whom God raised from the dead" or "to him whom God caused to live again" (See: Idiom)

we might produce fruit for God

Here "fruit" is a metaphor for actions that please God. AT: "we might be able to do things pleasing to God" (See: Metaphor)

to bear fruit for death

Here "fruit" is a metaphor for a "result of one's actions" or "outcome of one's actions." AT: "which resulted in spiritual-death" or "the outcome of which was our own spiritual death" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

God

flesh

sin

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

4. ἐθανατώθητε, you were put to death, i.e. your former nature was slain but you yourselves survived to enter upon a new life, free from that law which bound the old nature, but with its own characteristic obligation. ἐθαν. corresponds to κατήργηται of Rom 7:2. See Rom 6:8 n.

διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ χριστοῦ. Cf. Heb 10:10; Col 1:22; 1Pe 2:24, and perhaps 1Co 10:16, apparently the only passages outside Evv. where the pre-resurrection Body is spoken of thus. Both Col. and 1 Pet. are parallel: and 1 Pet. so close that it must depend on this passage. Infra Rom 12:5 = 1Co 12:27, we have the sense of the Body as the form of the Church, developed in Eph 1:23 et passim. In Col. the words τῆς σαρκός are expressly added to mark the distinction.

διὰ τ. ς. Cf. Rom 6:3; Rom 6:8. The thought is that as they were baptised into Christ, they shared the effects of His Death in the Body as well as those of His risen life. N. τοῦ χριστοῦ: the article marks the reference to the historic action.

εἰς τὸ γεν. So that you came to be wedded to another, i.e. than that old nature which was slain.

ἵνα. Closely with ἐγερθέντι.

καρποφορήσωμεν. Sc. under the influence of the new life imparted by the Risen Lord, constituting in each individual a ‘new man’ or character.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4.] So then (inference both from ver. 1, the general fact, and vv. 2, 3, the example), my brethren, ye also (as well as the woman in my example, who is dead to the law of her husband) were slain to the law (crucified, see Gal 2:19, Gal 2:20. The more violent word is used instead of ἀπεθάνετε, to recall the violent death of Christ, in which, and after the manner of which, believers have been put to death to the law and sin,—and the historic aorist to remind them of the great Event by which this was brought about) by means of the (crucified) Body (compare διὰ τῆς προσφορᾶς τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Ἰης. χρ., Heb 10:10) of Christ, that you should become attached to another, (even) to Him who was raised from the dead (alluding both to the comparison in vv. 2, 3, γένηται ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ, and to ch. 6:4, 5, ἵνα ὥσπ. ἠγέρθη χριστὸς κ.τ.λ.), that we should (here strictly final, as Thol., Meyer, De W., &c. Not merely ecbatic, as Fritzsche) bring forth fruit (alluding to καρπόν, ch. 4:22, and at the same time (Luk 1:42) carrying on the similitude of marriage. Not that this latter must be pressed, for there is only an allusion to it: nor on the other hand need the least objection be raised to such an understanding of the words, as any one conversant with St. Paul’s way of speaking on this subject will at once feel: compare 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:30-32) to (dat. commodi, ‘to the honour of’) God.

5,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. ὥστε with indic. introduces a consequences which follows as a matter of fact.

καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐθανατώθητε. We have said that the exact interpretation of the whole passage turns upon this phrase. It is commonly explained as another way of saying ‘You had the Law killed to you.’ So Chrys. ἀκόλουθον ἦν εἰπεῖν, τοῦ νόμου τελευτήσαντος οὐ κρίνεσθε μοιχείας, ἀνδρὶ γενόμενοι ἑτέρῳ. Ἀλλʼ οὐκ εἶπεν οὕτως, ἀλλὰ πῶσ; Ἐθανατώθητε τῷ νόμῳ (cf. Euthym.-Zig.). In favour of this is the parallel κατήργηται ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ ἀνδρός in ver. 2, and κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου in ver. 6. But on the other hand it is strange to speak of the same persons at one moment as ‘killed’ and the next as ‘married again.’ There is therefore a strong attraction in the explanation of Gif., who makes ὑμεῖς = not the whole self but the old self, i.e. the old state of the self which was really ‘crucified with Christ’ (ch. 6:6), and the death of which really leaves the man (= the wife in the allegory) free to contract a new union. This moral death of the Christian to his past also does away with the Law. The Law had its hold upon him only through sin; but in discarding his sins he discards also the pains and penalties which attached to them. Nothing can touch him further. His old heathen or Jewish antecedents have passed away; he is under obligation only to Christ.

καὶ ὑμεῖς. The force of καί here is, ‘You, my readers, as well as the wife in the allegory.’

διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ. The way in which the death of the ‘old man’ is brought about is through the identification of the Christian with the Death of Christ. The Christian takes his place, as it were, with Christ upon the Cross, and there has his old self crucified. The ‘body’ of Christ here meant is the ‘crucified body’: the Christian shares in that crucifixion, and so gets rid of his sinful past. We are thus taken back to the symbolism of the last chapter (6:6), to which St. Paul also throws in an allusion in τῷ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγερθέντι. The two lines of symbolism really run parallel to each other and it is easy to connect them.

ὁ παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος = The Husband:

Crucifixion of the παλ. ἄνθ. = Death of the Husband:

Resurrection = Re-Marriage:

ζῃν, δουλεύειν τῷ Θεῷ = καρποφορεῖν τῷ Θεῷ.

εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι ὑμᾶς ἑτέρῳ. Lips. takes this not of ‘being married to another husband,’ but of ‘joining another master, ’ on the ground that there is no marriage to the Law. This however (1) is unnecessary, because marriage to the ‘old man’ carries with it subjection to the Law, so that the dissolution of the marriage involves release from the Law by a step which is close and inevitable; (2) it is wrong, because of καρποφορῆσαι, which it is clearly forced and against the context to refer, as Lips. does, to anything but the offspring of marriage.

καρποφορήσωμεν τῷ Θεῷ. The natural sequel to the metaphor of ‘Marriage.’ The ‘fruit’ which the Christian, wedded to Christ, is to bear is of course that of a reformed life.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.