Romans 7:6

7:6 the letter of the law (literally the letter): Paul uses the word letter to refer to the law, which was engraved on tablets of stone and consisted of individual letters (see 2:29; 2 Cor 3:5-7).

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

Rom 7:6. Ἀποθανόντες, being dead) So Rom 7:4, ye became dead, said of that party, which corresponds to the wife: comp. Gal 2:19. I have shown in der Antwort wegen des N. T. p. 55. A. 1745, that Chrysostom also read ἀποθανόντες, not ἀποθανόντος.[68]—ᾡ) A plain construction in this sense: we have been set free by death from the law, which held us fast.—κατειχόμεθα) an expressive term; comp. συνέκλεισε, ch. Rom 11:32, ἐφρουρούμεθα, Gal 3:23.—ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος, καὶ οὐ παλαιότητι γράμματος, in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter) We have the same antithesis, ch. Rom 2:29; 2Co 3:6. The letter is not the law considered in itself, inasmuch as, thus considered, it is spiritual and living [instinct with life] Rom 7:14; Act 7:38 [the lively oracles], but in respect of the sinner, to whom it cannot give spirit and life, but leaves him to death, nay even it to a more profound extent hands him over to its power: although he may in the mean time aim at the performance of what the letter and its mere sound command to be done; so that the appearance and the name may still remain, just as a dead hand is still a hand. But the Spirit is given by the Gospel and by faith, and bestows life and newness, 2Co 3:6; comp. Joh 6:63. The words oldness and newness are used here by Paul in relation to the two testaments or covenants, although believers have now for a long time enjoyed the first fruits of the New Testament; and at the present day unbelievers retain the remnants, nay rather the whole substance, of the Old Testament. Observe too, the ἐν, in. is put once, not twice [The Engl. Vers. wrongly supplies in before the oldness. But Beng. That we should not serve the oldness, etc.] We have served oldness not God: comp. Gal 4:9, οἷς, to which [The beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage]; now we serve not newness, but [we serve] God in newness, ch. Rom 6:22.

[68] So also A (B?) C, both Syr. Versions, Memph. The first correction of the Amiatine MS. of Vulg. read ἀποθάνοντες. D (Λ) G fg Vulg. read τοῦ θανάτου [The law of death]. Rec. Text (and B?) ἀποθάνοντος.—ED.

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

Rom_7:6. κατηργ.] See on Rom_7:2.

ἀποθανόντες ἐν ᾧ κατειχ.] dead (see Rom_7:4) to that (neuter) wherein we were held fast. So also Fritzsche and Reiche in his Comm. crit. The construction is consistent and regular, so that τούτῳ is to be understood before ἐν ᾧ (Winer, p. 149 f. [E. T. 203 f.]). That wherein we were held fast (as in a prison), is self-evident according to the text; not as the government of sin (van Hengel, Th. Schott), or as the σάρξ (Hofmann), but as the law, in whose grasp we were. Comp Gal_3:28. Were we with the majority (including Rückert, de Wette, Köllner, Krehl, Philippi, Maier, Winer, Ewald, Bisping, and Reithmayr) to take ἘΝ ᾯ as masculine (and how unnecessarily!), the ἀποθανόντες as modal definition of ΚΑΤΗΡΓ. would have an isolated and forlorn position; we should have expected it behind ΝΥΝῚ ΔΈ.

ὭΣΤΕ ΔΟΥΛΕΎΕΙΝ Κ.Τ.Λ[2]] actual result, which has occurred through our emancipation from the law: so that we (as Christians) are serviceable in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter; that is, so that our relation of service is in a new definite character regulated by spirit, and not in the old constitution which was regulated by literal form. That the δουλεύειν in καινότης πνεύμ. was a service of God, was just as obvious of itself to the consciousness of the readers, as that in παλαιότης γράμμ. it had been a service of sin (Rom_6:20). On account of this self-evident diversity of reference no definition at all is added. On the οὐ in the contrast (not μή) see Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 300.

ἐν indicates the sphere of activity of the δουλεύειν, and is to be understood again along with παλ.; comp Rom_2:29. The qualitatively expressed πνεύματος, meaning in concrete application the Holy Spirit as the efficient principle of the Christian life, and the qualitative γράμματος, characterising the law according to its nature and character as non-living and drawn up in letters, are the specifically heterogeneous factors on which the two contrasted states are dependent. The παλαιότηςin accordance with the nature of the relation in which the law, presenting its demands in the letter but not inwardly operative, stands to the principle of sin in manwas necessarily sinful (not merely in actual abnormality, as Rothe thinks; see Rom_7:7 ff., and comp on Rom_6:14); just as on the other hand the καινότης, on account of the vitally active πνεῦμα, must also necessarily be moral. Where this is contradicted by experience and the behaviour of the Christian is immoral, there the πνεῦμα has ceased to operate, and a καινότης πνεύματος is in fact not present at all. Paul however, disregarding such abnormal phenomena, contemplates the Christian life as it is constituted in accordance with its new, holy, and lofty nature. If it is otherwise, it has fallen away from its specific nature and is a Christian life no longer.

[2] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

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 7:6 . νυνὶ δὲ as things stand, considering what we are as Christians. κατηργήθημεν : cf. Rom 7:2 . We are discharged from the law, by our death to that in which we were held. But what is this? Most expositors, say the law; Philippi even makes τοῦ νόμου the antecedent of ἐν ᾧ , rendering, we have been delivered, by dying, from the law in which we were held. This construction is too artificial to be true; and if we supply τούτῳ with ἀποθανόντες , something vaguer than the law, though involving and involved by it (the old life in the flesh, for instance) must be meant. ὥστε δουλεύειν κ . τ . λ .: “enabling us to serve” (S. and H.): for ὥστε with inf in N.T., see Blass, Gramm. des N.T. Griech. , § 219. ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος κ . τ . λ . = in a new way, which only the possession of the spirit makes possible, not in the old way which alone was possible when we were under the letter of the law. For the Pauline contrast of πνεῦμα and γράμμα , see 2Co 3 ; for οὐ in this expression, see Burton, § 481.

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

Rom_7:6

But now, (νυνὶ de&, opposed to ὅτε of Rom_7:5,) i.e., since our conversion, we were freed from the law; κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, (the same idiom as in Rom_7:2.) How were we thus freed from the law? By death. If ἀποθανόντος, found in the common text, is the true reading, (that having died,) then it is by the death (i.e., the abrogation or satisfaction) of the law that we are thus freed, even as the woman is freed by the death of her husband. But if, as all modern editors agree, ἀποθανόντες (we having died) is the true reading, then it is by our own vicarious death in Christ, our having died with him whose death is a satisfaction to the law, that we are thus delivered. This is in accordance with Rom_7:4, where it is said we died to the law. The apostle says we died (τούτῳ) ἐν ᾧ κατειχόμεθα, (to that) by which we were bound. The law held us under its authority, and, as it were, in bondage; from which bondage we have been redeemed by death. So that, the consequence of this freedom from the law is, we serve (God) in newness of the Spirit, and not (sin) in the oldness of the letter. That is, we serve God in a new and holy state due to the Spirit, which the Spirit has produced, and not sin in, or according to, the old and corrupt state under the law. Newness of the Spirit is that new state of mind of which the Holy Ghost is the author. Oldness of the letter is that old state of which the law is the source, in so far as it was a state of condemnation and enmity to God. That πνεῦμα here is the Holy Spirit, and not the human soul as renewed by the Spirit, may be inferred from the general usage of the New Testament, and from such parallel passages as Gal_3:3; 2Co_3:6, in both of which pneu~ma means the Gospel as the revelation and organ of the Spirit. In the latter passage, the apostle says, the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. There, as here, the letter, γράμμα, is what is written. The law is so designated because the decalogue, its most important part, was originally written on stone, and because the whole law, as revealed to the Jews, was written in the Scriptures, or writings. It was therefore something external, as opposed to what was inward and spiritual. Luthers version of this passage gives the sense in a few words: Als dass wir dienen im neuen Wesen des Geistes, und nicht im alten Wesen des Buchstaben. Believers then are free from the law, by the death of Christ. They are no longer under the old covenant, which said, Do this and live; but are introduced into a new and gracious state, in which they are accepted, not for what they do, but for what has been done for them. Instead of having the legal and slavish spirit which arose from their condition under the law, they have the feelings of children.

Doctrine

1. The leading doctrine of this section is that taught in Rom_7:14 of the preceding chapter, viz., that believers are not under a legal system; and that the consequences of their freedom is not the indulgence of sin, but the service of God, Rom_7:4.

2. This deliverance from the law is not effected by setting the law aside, or by disregarding its demands; but by those demands being satisfied in the person of Christ, Rom_7:4; Rom_10:4.

3. As far as we are concerned, redemption is in order to holiness. We are delivered from the law, that we may be united to Christ; and we are united to Christ, that we may bring forth fruit unto God, Rom_7:4, etc.

4. Legal or self-righteous strivings after holiness can never be successful. The relation in which they place the soul to God is, from its nature, productive of evil, and not of holy feelings, Rom_7:5.

5. Actual freedom from the bondage and penalty of the law is always attended and manifested by a filial temper and obedience, Rom_7:6.

6. The doctrine concerning marriage, which is here incidentally taught, or rather which is assumed as known to Jews and Christians, is, that the marriage contract can only be dissolved by death. The only exception to this rule is given by Christ, Mat_5:32; unless indeed Paul, in 1Co_7:15, recognizes willful and final desertion as a sufficient ground of divorce, Rom_7:2, Rom_7:3.

Remarks

1. As the only way in which we can obtain deliverance from the law is by the death of Christ, the exercise of faith in him is essential to holiness. When we lose our confidence in Christ, we fall under the power of the law, and relapse into sin. Everything depends, therefore, upon our maintaining our union with Christ. Without me ye can do nothing, Rom_7:4.

2. The only evidence of union with Christ is bringing forth fruit unto God, Rom_7:4.

3. As deliverance from the penalty of the law is in order to holiness, it is vain to expect that deliverance, except with a view to the end for which it is granted, Rom_7:4.

4. Conversion is a great change; sensible to him that experiences it, and visible to others. It is a change from a legal and slavish state, to one of filial confidence; manifesting itself by the renunciation of the service of sin, and by devotion to the service of God, Rom_7:6.

5. A contract so lasting as that of marriage, and of which the consequences are so important, should not be entered into lightly, but in the fear of God, Rom_7:2, Rom_7:3.

6. The practice, common in many Protestant countries of Europe, and in many States of this Union, of granting divorces on the ground of cruel treatment, or incompatibility of temper, is in direct contravention of the doctrines and precepts of the Bible on this subject, Rom_7:2, Rom_7:3.

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

By the letter he meaneth the law, in respect of that old condition: for before that our will be framed by the holy Ghost, the law speaketh but to deaf men, and therefore it is dumb and dead to us, as touching the fulfilling of it.

As if he said, The bond which bound us, is dead, and vanished away, insomuch, that sin which held us, hath not now wherewith to hold us.

For this husband is within us.

Satan is an unjust possessor, for he brought us in bondage of sin and himself deceitfully: and yet notwithstanding so long as we are sinners, we sin willingly.

As becometh them, which after the death of their old husband are joined to the spirit: as whom the spirit of God hath made new men.

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

But now--On the same expression, see on Rom 6:22, and compare Jam 1:15.

we are delivered from the law--The word is the same which, in Rom 6:6 and elsewhere, is rendered "destroyed," and is but another way of saying (as in Rom 7:4) that "we were slain to the law by the body of Christ"; language which, though harsh to the ear, is designed and fitted to impress upon the reader the violence of that death of the Cross, by which, as by a deadly wrench, we are "delivered from the law."

that being dead wherein we were held--It is now universally agreed that the true reading here is, "being dead to that wherein we were held." The received reading has no authority whatever, and is inconsistent with the strain of the argument; for the death spoken of, as we have seen, is not the law's, but ours, through union with the crucified Saviour.

that we should--"so as to" or "so that we."

serve in newness of spirit--"in the newness of the spirit."

and not in the oldness of the letter--not in our old way of literal, mechanical obedience to the divine law, as a set of external rules of conduct, and without any reference to the state of our hearts; but in that new way of spiritual obedience which, through union to the risen Saviour, we have learned to render (compare Rom 2:29; Co2 3:6).

False Inferences regarding the Law Repelled (Rom. 7:7-25).

And first, Rom 7:7-13, in the case of the UNREGENERATE.

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 6. But now we are delivered from the law] We, who have believed in Christ Jesus, are delivered from that yoke by which we were bound, which sentenced every transgressor to perdition, but provided no pardon even for the penitent, and no sanctification for those who are weary of their inbred corruptions.

That being dead wherein we were held] To us believers in Christ this commandment is abrogated; we are transferred to another constitution; that law which kills ceases to bind us; it is dead to us who have believed in Christ Jesus, who is the end of the law for justification and salvation to every one that believes.

That we should serve in newness of spirit] We are now brought under a more spiritual dispensation; now we know the spiritual import of all the Mosaic precepts. We see that the law referred to the Gospel, and can only be fulfilled by the Gospel.

The oldness of the letter.] The merely literal rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices are now done away; and the newness of the spirit, the true intent and meaning of all are now fully disclosed; so that we are got from an imperfect state into a state of perfection and excellence. We sought justification and sanctification, pardon and holiness, by the law, and have found that the law could not give them: we have sought these in the Gospel scheme, and we have found them. We serve God now, not according to the old literal sense, but in the true spiritual meaning.

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

6. But now we have been loosed from the law, etc. He pursues the argument derived from the opposite effect of things, — “If the restraint of the law availed so little to bridle the flesh, that it became rather the exciter of sin; then, that we may cease from sin, we must necessarily be freed from the law.” Again, “If we are freed from the bondage of the law for this end, that we may serve God; then, perversely do they act who hence take the liberty to indulge in sin; and falsely do they speak who teach, that by this means loose reins are given to lusts.” Observe, then, that we are then freed from the law, when God emancipates us from its rigid exactions and curse, and endues us with his Spirit, through whom we walk in his ways.

Having died to that, etc. This part contains a reason, or rather, indicates the manner in which we are made free; for the law is so far abrogated with regard to us, that we are not pressed down by its intolerable burden, and that its inexorable rigor does not overwhelm us with a curse. — In newness of spirit; He sets the spirit in opposition to the letter; for before our will is formed according to the will of God by the Holy Spirit, we have in the law nothing but the outward letter, which indeed bridles our external actions, but does not in the least restrain the fury of our lusts. And he ascribes newness to the Spirit, because it succeeds the old man; as the letter is called old, because it perishes through the regeneration of the Spirit.

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.

(6) That being dead.—Our translators seem to have had a false reading here, which is not found in any MS., but arose from an error of Beza and Erasmus in interpreting a comment of Chrysostom’s. The true reading runs thus: “But as it is we were” (not “are”) “delivered from the Law, having died to that wherein we were held.” In the act of our baptism, which united us to Christ, we obtained a release from our old tyrant, the Law.

Wherein we were held.—Oppressed, held in bondage.

That we should serve.—Rather, perhaps, so that we serve; result, not purpose. Our release from one master implied an engagement to another. Our new state is one in which we serve an active living Spirit; our old state was a bondage to the dead and formal letter.

The “Spirit” is here the Holy Spirit, as the animating principle of the new life, and as opposed to a system which proceeds merely by external precepts and requirements.

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

6. now] as the fact stands.

are delivered] Lit., and better, were delivered; by our Representative’s death ideally, and actually through faith in Him.

delivered] Lit. cancelled, abolished. This peculiar expression confirms the remark above on Rom_7:4, that St Paul designedly avoids the idea of the Law’s death, though the metaphor in strictness suggests it. Here, similarly, in strictness, the Law “was cancelled from us;” but we are said to be “cancelled from the Law.”—“From the Law:”—a pregnant phrase=so as to be free from it.

that being dead] i.e. the Law. But a better-supported reading (with a change of one letter only in the Gr.) gives, we being dead to that wherein, &c. This precisely accords with the evident avoidance hitherto of the idea of the Law’s death; for our death (in Christ) to the claim of the Law is thus put where we should expect to read of the death of its claim to us.

we were held] Lit. held down; i.e. from freedom; both as to the claim of the law and as to the consequent influence of sin.

that we should serve] Here the metaphor of marriage gives way to that of bondservice once more. The obedience of the wife is the connecting idea of the two.

newness of spirit] Better, of the Spirit; though the word is without article. The contrast of Spirit and letter has occurred Rom_2:29, (see too Rom_2:27,) and occurs also 2Co_3:6, twice. Comparing those passages, we find that the practical meaning here of “the letter” is the Law (as a covenant), and that of “the Spirit,” the Gospel. The common ground on which they are compared and contrasted is that of Obedience; at which both Law and Gospel ultimately aim. The Law does so “by the letter,” by prescribing its own inexorable terms. The Gospel does so “by the Spirit;” by the Divine plan of Redemption, which brings direct on the soul the influence of “the Spirit of the Son of God,” who “pours out the love of God in the heart” (ch. Rom_5:5). The Gospel thus both intends, and effects, the submission of the will to the will of God; a submission absolute and real; a bondservice. But the bond is now the power of adoring and grateful love.—It will be seen that we take “Spirit” here to mean the Holy Paraclete. The Gr. word rarely, if ever, bears our modern sense of “the spirit of a law, of an institution, &c.” It must here be, then, either the human spirit or the Divine Spirit. And as the idea of “the letter” is that of an objective ruling power, so it is best to explain “the Spirit” as objective also to the man, and therefore here the Divine Spirit.—We may now paraphrase the last words, “so that we might live as bondmen still, but in the sacred novelty of the bondservice which the Holy Ghost constrains, not in the now-obsolete way of the bondservice prescribed by the covenant of merit”.

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.

But now we are delivered from the law,.... From the ministration of it, by Moses; from it, as a covenant of works; from its rigorous exaction; from its curse and condemnation, all this by Christ; and from its being an irritating, provoking law to sin, through the corruption of nature, by the Spirit and grace of Christ; but not from obedience to it, as in the hands of Christ. The Vulgate Latin version, and some copies read, "from the law of death"; and the Ethiopic version renders it, "we are loosed from the law, and are delivered from the former doctrine"; the doctrine of the legal dispensation.

That being dead; not sin, but the law: in what sense believers are dead to the law, and that to them; see Gill on Rom 7:4.

Wherein we were held: as a woman is by the law to her husband, or as persons guilty, who are detained prisoners; so we were "kept under the law, shut up unto the faith", as in a prison, Gal 3:23; Now the saints deliverance from the law through the abrogation of it, that losing its former life, vigour, power, and dominion, is not that they may live a loose licentious life and conversation, but that they

should serve the Lord their God without slavish fear, and with a godly one, acceptably, in righteousness and holiness, all the days of their lives; and their Lord and Master Jesus Christ, who is King of saints, lawgiver in his church, and whose commandments are to be observed from a principle of love, in faith, and to his glory; yea, even the law itself, as held forth by him, as the apostle says in the close of this chapter, "with the mind I myself serve the law of God", Rom 7:25, the manner in which this service is to be, and is performed, is,

in newness of Spirit; under the influences of the Spirit of God, the author of renovation, of the new creature, or new man created in us, in righteousness and true holiness; and from a new heart, and new Spirit, and new principles of life, light, love, and grace, formed in the soul; and by walking in "newness of life", Rom 6:4, or by a new life, walk, and conversation:

and not in the oldness of the letter; not in the outward observance of the law of Moses, which is the "letter"; not indulging the old man, or walking after the dictates of corrupt nature; nor behaving according to the old former course of living: on the whole it may be observed, that a believer without the law, being delivered from it, that being dead to him, and he to that, lives a better life and conversation under the influence of the Spirit of God, than one that is under the law, and the works of it, destitute of the grace of God; the one brings forth "fruit unto death", Rom 7:5, the other serves the Lord, "in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter".

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

6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Ver. 6. Not in the oldness of the letter] That is, not in that old kind of life that we lived under subjection to the law, to the irritation, co-action, and curse of it.

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.

But now - Under the gospel. This verse states the consequences of the gospel, in distinction from the effects of the Law. The way in which this is accomplished, the apostle illustrates more at length in Rom. 8 with which this verse is properly connected. The remainder of Rom. 7 is occupied in illustrating the statement in Rom 7:5, of the effects of the Law; and after having shown that its effects always were to increase crime and distress, he is prepared in Rom. 8 to take up the proposition in this verse, and to show the superiority of the gospel in producing peace.

We are delivered - We who are Christians. Delivered from it as a means of justification, as a source of sanctification, as a bondage to which we were subjected, and which tended to produce pain and death. It does not mean that Christians are freed from it as a rule of duty.

That being dead - Margin, “Being dead to that.” There is a variation here in the manuscripts. Some read it, as in the text, as if the Law was dead; others, as in the margin. as if we were dead. The majority is in favor of the reading as in the margin; and the connection requires us to understand it in this sense. So the Syriac, the Arabic, the Vulgate, AEthiopic. The sentiment here, that we are dead to the Law, is what is expressed in Rom 7:4.

Wherein we were held - That is, as captives, or as slaves. We were held in bondage to it; Rom 7:1.

That we should serve - That we may now serve or obey God.

In newness of spirit - In a new spirit; or in a new and spiritual manner. This is a form of expression implying,

That their service under the gospel was to be of a new kind, differing from that under the former dispensation.

(2)That it was to be of a spiritual nature, as distinguished from that practiced by the Jews; compare 2Co 3:6; Note, Rom 2:28-29.

The worship required under the gospel is uniformly described as that of the spirit and the heart, rather than that of form and ceremony; Joh 4:23, “The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; Phi 3:3.

And not in the oldness of the letter - Not in the old letter. It is implied here in this,

That the form of worship here described pertained to an old dispensation that had now passed away; and, That that was a worship that was in the letter.

To understand this, it is necessary to remember that the Law which prescribed the forms of worship among the Jews, was regarded by the apostle as destitute of that efficacy and power in renewing the heart which he attributed to the gospel. It was a service consisting in external forms and ceremonies; in the offering of sacrifices and of incense, according to the literal requirements of the Law rather than the sincere offering of the heart; 2Co 3:6, “The letter killeth; the spirit giveth life;” Joh 6:63; Heb 10:1-4; Heb 9:9-10. It is not to be denied that there were many holy persons under the Law, and that there were many spiritual offerings presented, but it is at the same time true that the great mass of the people rested in the mere form; and that the service offered was the mere service of the letter, and not of the heart. The main idea is, that the services under the gospel are purely and entirely spiritual, the offering of the heart, and not the service rendered by external forms and rites.

(But the contrast here is not between services required under the legal and gospel dispensations respectively, but between service yielded in the opposite states of nature and grace. In the former state, we are “under the law” though we live in gospel times, and in the latter, we are “delivered from the law” as a covenant of works, or of life, just as pious Jews might be though they lived under the dispensation of Moses. The design of God in delivering us from the Law, is, that we might “serve him in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter,” that is, in such a spiritual way as the new state requires, and from such spiritual motives and aids as it furnishes; and not in the manner we were accustomed to do, under our old condition of subjection to the Law, in which we could yield only an external and forced obedience. “It is evident,” says Prof. Hodge that the clause “in the oldness of the letter is substituted by the apostle, for ‘under the law’ and ‘in the flesh;’ all which he uses to describe the legal and corrupt condition of people, prior to the believing reception of the gospel.”)

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

But now are loosed from the law of death, by which many understand from the law of Moses; so called, because it could not of itself give the life of grace, and occasioned death. Others expound these words, free from the law of death, that is, from sins, which before they had been guilty of, and which made them deserve eternal death. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

But now; i.e. being brought out of our fleshly state.

We are delivered from the law: see the notes on Rom 7:4.

That being dead wherein we were held; the relative is not in the Greek text, but it is well supplied to fill up the sense. The antecedent must be either sin or the law; by both of these we were held or detained whilst unregenerate; but now neither of these have any power to hold us with. Some read it, he being dead; the old man, of which he spake in the foregoing chapter.

That we should serve in newness of spirit; i.e. that we should serve God, or Jesus Christ, our new husband, in true holiness, which is wrought in us by the renewing of the spirit; or serve him in a new spiritual manner.

And not in the oldness of the letter; i.e. not in an outward and ceremonial manner, according to the letter of the law; which service, or way of worship, is now antiquated, and grown out of date. The word oldness insinuates the abolishing thereof, because of insufficiency, Heb 8:13.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. But now we are delivered from the law—Delivered from it as our source of justification as the actuating power of our attainment in holiness, and as a condemning power.

Serve in newness of spirit—As we once served sin with all our heart most freely, so now we serve Christ with all our heart without legal compulsion and freely.

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

But now (meaning, as things are, not at the present time, as is shown by the aorist following) we have been (properly, we were) delivered (kathrghyhmen , the same verb as in ver. 2; see note on that verse) from the Law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. In the word "serve" (douleuein) we observe a resumption of the idea of Rom_6:16, seq., where we were regarded under the aspect of being still bond-servants, though to a new master. There the apostle intimated that he was but speaking humanly in describing our new allegiance to righteousness as bond-service, such as we had once been under. Here he intimates the true character of our new service by the addition of the words, en kainothti pneumatov kai ou palaiothti grammatov . These are characteristic and significant expressions. "Spirit" and "letter" are similarly contrasted. (Rom_2:29 2Co_3:6) "Spiritum literae opponit, quia antequam ad Dei voluntatem voluntas nostra per Spiritum sanctum formats sit, non habemus in Lege nisi externam literam; quae fraenum quidem externis nostris actionibus injicit, concupiscientiae autem nostrae furorem minime cohibet. Novitatem. vero Spiritui attribuit, quia in locum veteris hominis succedit; ut litera vetus dicitur quae interit per Spiritus regenerationem" (Calvin). Otherwise, with regard to newness and oldness, "Vetustatis et novitatis vocabulo Paulus spectat duo testamenta" (Bengel). That the latter idea may have suggested the expressions seems not unlikely from 2Co_3:6-18. (cf. also Heb_8:6-13) For in both these passages the idea of the verse before us enters, and in both the old and new covenants are contrasted with regard to it. It may be enough here to say that the contrast in its essence is between exacted conformity to an external code (which was the characteristic of the old covenant) and inspired allegiance to the Law of God written on the heart (which is the characteristic of the new).

The new spirit of Christian service.

What God creates he creates for a purpose. When he gives life, there is a special career before the living creature; thus the fish is for the water, the bird for the air. When he imparts spiritual renewal, it is with a view to a new spiritual life. In re-creating human natures in the likeness of his own Son, God has it, so to speak, in his purpose that they should serve him, and that in "newness of the spirit.

I CHRISTIANS HAVE A NEW LORD TO SERVE. They are freed from the dominion of sin, from their state of bondage to the tyrant; they are endowed with spiritual liberty. And they are devoted to the personal service of Christ, that they may do his will, advance his cause, promote his glory.

II CHRISTIANS HAVE A NEW MOTIVE TO SERVICE.

1. The ground of their service is redemption, the distinctive fact and doctrine of the new economy.

2. The impulse to their service is grateful love, awakened by the experience of Christ"s redeeming power and grace.

III CHRISTIANS HAVE A NEW LAW OF SERVICE. This law is widely different from the "oldness of the letter." It extends to the spiritual realm, beginning-in fact within, and working outwardly.

IV CHRISTIANS HAVE A NEW EXAMPLE OF SERVICE. In the Lord Jesus they see the Servant of Jehovah, found in fashion as a man, assuming the form, the guise of a servant, ministering unto God and unto man, and in both relations fulfilling a perfect, flawless ministry.

V CHRISTIANS HAVE A NEW POWER FOE SERVICE. This is the help of the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of zeal and holiness, of patience and of devotion.

VI CHRISTIANS HAVE A NEW MANNER OF SERVICE. They are not as the hireling who serves for wages, or as the bondman who serves from fear; but rather as the freedman who serves willingly and gratefully, as the child who serves from love. Christ introduced into the world a new style and tone of service; taught men the dignity and beauty of consecrated ministration. How precious and powerful this impulse and example have proved is known to every student of the history of Christ"s Church.

VII CHRISTIANS HAVE A NEW SCOPE FOR SERVICE.

1. Mutual service is an obligation in the Church springing from mutual love. The great are to serve the lowly, and the lowly the great.

2. Universal service is enjoined upon all who would do the will of the Divine Master. In both directions the service of those for whom Christ died is the service of Christ himself.

VIII CHRISTIANS HAVE A NEW REWARD FOR SERVICE. Nothing adventitious or external attracts those who are in sympathy with him who is at once the Servant and the Lord of all. Of all privileges, that most alluring and dear to their hearts is the favour of their Master, the joy of their Lord.

HOMILIES BY S.R. ALDRIDGE Ver. 6. "Newness of spirit.

The apostle never tires of contrasting the Sinaitic with the gospel dispensation, to the exaltation of the latter. He thinks of the former as a thraldom. "We were holden," that is, cribbed, confined by the Law.

I AN ESSENTIAL TO DELIVERANCE FROM Law.

1. Death must have intervened. Death is the great liberator, exhausting the penalty of the Law, and giving quittance from its captivity. The wife is released from spousal obligations by the death of her husband, and is free, therefore, to enter into a new covenant.

2. The death of Christ affords the necessary liberation. Prior to full obedience and reception of the utmost penalty of Mosaism, a fresh dispensation had been like adultery; but when the Law had been fulfilled to its extreme requirement, the death of the victim abrogated the authority of the Law.

3. The death of Christ is spiritually enacted in his followers. They repeat in essence his crucifixion of sin. His atonement is realized in their heart, and their baptism is the outward emblem of release by death and burial from a covenant of works. "He died unto sin once, but liveth unto God." Henceforth with Christians "the terrors of law and of death can have nothing to do.

II THE EXCELLENCE OF THE NEW CONDITION. We are not set free to please ourselves, but belong to him "who died for us and rose again." We enter into a fresh service.

1. The fact that it is new is a guarantee of improvement. Not everything new is better than the old. Man frequently retrogrades by his changes of custom. But when the alteration is a direct consequence of Divine intervention, there must be an advance. We cannot conceive of God taking a backward step.

2. The new service has the dewy freshness of youth about it. The resurrection-life is an awakening out of sleep, with the vigour of a glad new morning. The Christian sloughs off the old skin, to be attired in a vesture of beauty, and, like the winged butterfly emerging from the chrysalis state, he enters into an enlarged sphere of existence with corresponding capacities.

3. Voluntary service is substituted for compulsion. "Live and do" takes the place of "Do and live." The heart has been won to God, to obedience and holiness, and "love"s labour is light." The renewed spirit delights to exert itself in loving activity. Gratitude is a sweeter and stronger motive than authority.

4. Rules are exchanged for principles. Not the definite limiting letter governs the service, but a code of action which leaves much to be ascertained and applied by the enlightened judgment. It is the obedience of the instructed manhood, not the strict and rigid enforcement of precepts on children in their pupilage. The Law lay as a burden on men"s souls; the gospel is a "reasonable service," clarifying the vision and guiding men as "with the eye" of God. We serve not to gain heaven, but because Christ has opened to us the kingdom of heaven. As pilgrims relieved of a heavy load, we journey joyously to the city of the King. A bird must sing, and a Christian must serve. S.R.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Being dead to that whereby we were held - To our old husband, the law. That we might serve in newness of spirit - In a new, spiritual manner. And not in the oldness of the letter - Not in a bare literal, external way, as we did before.

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

newness

Cf. Rom 2:29; 2Co 3:6. "The letter" is a Paulinism for the law, as "spirit" in these passages is his word for the relationships and powers of new life in Christ Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 3. a series is presented of contrast of law with "spirit," of the old covenant and the new. The contrast is not between two methods of interpretation, literal, and spiritual, but between two methods of divine dealing: one through the law, the other through the Holy Spirit.

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

6. “But we have now been made free from the law, being dead in that in which we were held, So that we serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” This verse answers all questions relative to the actual personal profession of entire sanctification on the part of the Apostle Paul and his associated ministry. The very fact that he is free from the law, and, as he says here, that everything in him antagonistical to the law had been slain, amounts to his clear and unequivocal testimony to the crucifixion of the “old man,” which is the very salient fact of entire sanctification. Paul dictated this letter to Tertius in Corinth, A. D. 58, twenty- one years after he had been sanctified in Arabia, consequently he was prepared to give, as he does in the verse, a clear and unequivocal testimony to that glorious experience.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter . [These verses set forth the change in state and habit which results from our change of husbands, or the different fruitage of our lives, as suggested in Rom_7:4 . As Christians, a different fruitage is expected from that which our lives bore under the law; for before we became Christians, when we were governed by our fleshly nature, the sinful passions--passions which prompted us to gratify them, and which led us to sin if we did gratify them, and which we discovered to be sinful by means of the light of the law--lusted and worked in our bodily members to bring forth the fruit of death: but now we are released from the dominion of our husband (the law), having severed the tie that bound us to him by dying in the person of Christ, our representative, so that now we serve God with our new, regenerated spirit (an inward power), and not in the old-fashioned manner, which was by obedience to a written precept (an external power).]

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.

6. But now we have been delivered from the law. By death. Having died in Christ (6:2–4), we are released from the dominion of the law. See verse 1. So that we should serve in the newness of the spirit. This service of Christ is the new service of those living new lives. It is a spiritual service: “God must be worshiped in spirit and truth.” God's law under the new covenant is “written in the hearts” (Heb. 8:10); hence it is not a bondage, but a free, willing service.

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.

Connecting Statement:

Paul reminds us that God does not make us holy by the law.

we have been released from the law

You can translate this in an active form. AT: "God has released us from the law" (See: Active or Passive)

we

This pronoun refers to Paul and the believers. (See: Inclusive "We")

to that by which we were held

This refers to the law. You can translate this in an active form. AT: "to the law which held us" (See: Active or Passive)

the letter

This refers to the law of Moses. AT: "the law of Moses" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

law

die

servant

Holy Spirit

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

6. κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ νόμου = ἐθανατώθημεν τῷ νόμῳ |[148] Rom 7:2.

[148] | parallel to

ἀποθανόντες ἐν ᾧ κατειχόμεθα = being dead in or to that character in which we were held in a state of subjection; ἀποθανόντες τῷ (or ἐν τῷ) παλαίῳ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐν ᾧ κατ.; cf. Joh 5:4 T. R., the only other instance of the passive in N.T. Cf. Polyb. iv. 51. 1, θεωροῦντες τὸν πατέρα … κατεχόμενον ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ. The old nature was the prison in which we, our true selves, were detained.

ὥστε δουλεύειν = so that we are still servants (pres.) but in newness of spirit etc. Cf. Burton, §§ 369 f.

ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος. ἐν circumstantial. Our service is rendered in a new atmosphere marked by the presence in us of Spirit, i.e. the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus; cf. Rom 8:1.

παλαιότητι γράμματος = the worn-out system which was marked by the dominance of written precepts. Cf. Rom 2:29; 2Co 3:6; S. H. Rom 2:27. The antithesis occurs only in these passages; and contrasts the external law with the internal quickening spirit.

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.

6.] In the fleshly state (before we died with Christ) sinful passions which were by the Law worked in us and brought forth fruit to death: but now that we are dead to the law, we are no longer servants in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit. The Law (ch. 5:20, alluded to again 6:14) was the multiplier of sin To this thought, and the inferences from it, the Apostle now recurs, and contrasts the state under the law in this respect, with that of the believer in Christ. For when we were in the flesh (= virtually, “under the law:” see the antithesis in ver. 6: so almost all Commentators, ancient and modern,—except Beza, Bengel, Reiche, and Thol., who take it to mean the mere fleshly state, in which the Spirit is not yet energizing, and , Calov., Olsh., al., who interpret it of the state of the unregenerate. But how does ἐν τῇ σαρκί denote ‘under the law?’ Some say, on account of its carnality, as more or less Theodoret, Œ, Hammond, Grot., al.: some, on account of the power of sin under the law,—as Chrys., Theophyl., Calv., al.: best of all is it to understand it, with Rückert, Köllner, Meyer, Fritz., De Wette, as pointing to the period before death with Christ, in which we were sensual and sinful: so that ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ εἶναι forms a contrast with θανατωθῆναι. But, as De W. observes, it must not with Fritz. be rendered ‘quum viveremus,’ as this is never the sense of ἐν (τῇ) σαρκὶ (εἶναι),—not even 2Co 10:3: nor, I may add, Php 1:24) the stirrings (‘passions of sins,’ objective gen., which led to sins: not by hendiadys for παθήμ. ἁμαρτωλά, which, as always, destroys the force) of sins, which were by means of the law (the incitements,—not the sins, in this place, though ultimately it was so, the incitement leading to the sin. The full meaning of διὰ τοῦ νόμου must be kept, ‘which were by means of the law:’ i.e. the law occasioned them. Locke argues for the rendering, ‘under the law,’ ‘in the time of the law,’ which would destroy the force of the argument connecting the law with sin, here put so strongly as to require the question of ver. 7) wrought (‘energized:’ not pass., but middle: see note on Gal 5:6) in our members (the instruments of sin, ch. 6:13) to the bringing forth of fruit (see on τοῦ μή ver. 3: the καρποφ. was the final object of their energizing, not the mere result.

In καρποφ. here, the allusion to progeny is very distant, if it exists at all. Meyer makes it refer to an adulterous state, and personifies θάνατος; but this can hardly be) unto death (only a verbal antithesis to τῷ θεῷ:—‘whose end was death’):

6.] But now (opposed to ὅτε, ver. 5) have we been delivered (annulled) from the law, having died (to that) wherein we were held (the reading ἀποθανόντος cannot even be brought into discussion, as it appears to be only a conjecture of Beza’s, arising from a misunderstanding of the text (and of Chrysostom’s commentary, who did not read it),—see the analogy explained on ver. 1: the other reading, τοῦ θανάτου, is a correction to suit ver. 5. So that ἐν ᾧ either refers directly to νόμου, ἀποθανόντες being absolute and parenthetic, or we must understand ἐκείνῳ aft. ἀποθ. I prefer the latter, as suiting better the style of the Apostle and the whole connexion. The omission of the demonstrative pron. probably is occasioned by a desire to give especial prominence to the fact of ἀποθανόντες, or perhaps on account of the prepos. ἀπό in composition, as in ch. 10:14, πῶς οὖν ἐπικαλέσωνται εἰς ὃν οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν;), so that we serve (not ‘should serve,’ as E. V.: the pres. describes the actual state:—understand ‘God’ after serve) in the newness of the Spirit (i.e. of the Holy Spirit of God, who originates and penetrates the Christian life:—the first mention of the Spirit so much spoken of in ch. 8) and not in the oldness of the letter (the law being only a collection of precepts and prohibitions, but the Gospel a service of freedom, ruled by the Spirit, whose presence is liberty), καινότης and παλαιότης are not as in ch. 6:4, καινότητ ζωῆς, attributes of the genitives which follow them, but states in which those genitives are the ruling elements.

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

6. νυνὶ δὲ κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου. ‘But as it is we’ (in our peccant part, the old man) ‘were discharged or annulled from the Law’ (i.e. we had an end put to our relations with the Law; by the death of our old man there was nothing left on which the Law could wreak its vengeance; we were ‘struck with atrophy’ in respect to it: see on ver. 2). πῶς ἡμεῖς κατηργήθημεν; τοῦ κατεχομένου παρὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀνθρώπου παλαιοῦ ἀποθανόντος καὶ ταφέντος Chrys. We observe how Chrys. here practically comes round to the same side as Gif.

The renderings of κατηργήθημεν are rather interesting, and show the difficulty of finding an exact equivalent in other languages: evacuati sumus Tert.; soluti sumus Codd. Clarom. Sangerm. Vulg. (= ‘we were unbounden’ Wic.; ‘we are loosed’ Rhem.); ‘we are delivered’ Tyn. Cran. Genev. AV.; ‘we are discharged’ RV.; nous avons été dégagés Oltr. (Le Nouveau Test., Geneva, 1874); nun aber sind wir für das Gesetz nicht mehr da Weizsäcker (Das Neue Test., Freiburg i. B. 1882, Exo_2).

ἀποθανόντες. AV. apparently read ἀποθανόντος, for which there is no MS. authority, but which seems to be derived by a mistake of Beza following Erasmus from a comment of Chrysostom’s (see Tisch. ad loc.). The Western text (D E F G, codd. ap. Orig.-lat. and most Latins) boldly corrects to τοῦ θανατοῦ, which would go with τοῦ νόμου, and which gives an easier construction, though not a better sense. After ἀποθανόντες we must supply ἑκείνῳ, just as in 6:21 we had to supply ἐκείνων.

ἐν ᾧ κατειχόμεθα. The antecedent of ἐν ᾧ is taken by nearly all commentators as equivalent to τῷ νόμῳ (whether ἐκείνῳ or τούτῳ is regarded as masc. or better neutr.). Gif. argues against referring it to the ‘old state,’ ‘the old man,’ that this is not sufficiently suggested by the context. But wherever ‘death’ is spoken of it is primarily this ‘old state,’ or ‘old man’ which dies, so that the use of the term ἀποθανόντες alone seems enough to suggest it. It was this old sinful state which brought man under the grip of the Law; when the sinful life ceased the Law lost its hold.

ὥστε δουλεύειν: not ‘so that we serve’ (RV. and most commentators), but ‘so as to serve,’ i. e. ‘enabling us to serve.’ The stress is thrown back upon κατηργήθημεν,—we were so completely discharged as to set us free to serve.

The true distinction between ὤστε with infin. and ὥστε with indic., which is not always observed in RV., is well stated by Goodwin, Moods and Tenses, ed. 1889, § 584 (with the quotation from Shilleto, De Fals. Leg. App. in the note), and for N. T. by the late Canon T. S. Evans in the Expos. for 1882, 1:3 ff.: ὥστε with indic. states the definite result which as a matter of fact does follow; ὥστε with infin. states the contemplated result which in the natural course ought to follow. ὥστε with indic. lays stress on the effect; ὥστε with infin. on the cause. Thus in 1Co 1:7 ὥστε ὑστερεῖσθαι = ‘causing or inspiring you to feel behindhand’ (see Sp. Comm. ad loc.); in Mat 13:32 γίνεται δένδρον, ὥστε ἐλθεῖν τὰ πετεινὰ καὶ κατασκηνοῦν = ‘becomes a tree big enough for the birds to come,’ &c. It will be seen that the distinction corresponds to the difference in the general character of the two moods.

ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος … παλαιότητι γράμματος. In each case the gen. is what is called of ‘apposition’: it denotes that in which the newness, or oldness, consists. The essential feature of the new state is that it is one of ‘Spirit’; of the old state, that it is regulated by ‘written Law.’ The period of the Paraclete has succeeded to the period which took its character from the Sinaitic legislation. The Christian life turns on an inspiration from above, not on an elaborate code of commands and prohibitions. A fuller explanation of the καινότης πνεύματος is given in ch. 8.

It is perhaps well to remind the reader who is not careful to check the study of the English versions by the Greek that the opposition between γράμμα and πνεῦμα is not exactly identical with that which we are in the habit of drawing between ‘the letter’ and ‘the spirit’ as the ‘literal’ and ‘spiritual sense’ of a writing. In this antithesis γράμμα is with St. Paul always the Law of Moses, as a written code, while πνεῦμα is the operation of the Holy Spirit characteristic of Christianity (cf. Rom 2:29; 2Co 3:6).

LAW AND SIN

7:7-25. If release from Sin means release from Law, must we then identify Law with Sin? No. Law reveals the sinfulness of Sin, and by this very revelation stirs up the dormant Sin to action. But this is not because the Law itself is evil—on the contrary it is good—but that Sin may be exposed and its guilt aggravated (vv. 7-13).

This is what takes place. I have a double self. But my better self is impotent to prevent me from doing wrong (vv. 14-17). It is equally impotent to make me do right (vv. 18-21). There is thus a constant conflict going on, from which, unaided. I can hope for no deliverance. But, God be thanked, through Christ deliverance comes! (vv. 21-25).

7 I spoke a moment ago of sinful passions working through Law, and of the death to Sin as carrying with it a release from the Law. Does it follow that the Law itself is actually a form of Sin? An intolerable thought! On the contrary it was the Law and nothing else through which I learnt the true nature of Sin. For instance, I knew the sinfulness of covetous or illicit desire only by the Law saying ‘Thou shalt not covet.’ 8But the lurking Sin within me started into activity, and by the help of that express command, provoking to that which it prohibited, led me into all kinds of conscious and sinful covetousness. For without Law to bring it out Sin lies dead—inert and passive. 9And while sin was dead, I—my inner self—was alive, in happy unconsciousness, following my bent with no pangs of conscience excited by Law. But then came this Tenth Commandment; and with its coming Sin awoke to life, while I—sad and tragic contrast—died the living death of sin, precursor of eternal death. 10And the commandment which was given to point men the way to life, this very commandment was found in my case to lead to death. 11For Sin took advantage of it, and by the help of the commandment—at once confronting me with the knowledge of right and provoking me to do that which was wrong—it betrayed me, so that I fell; and the commandment was the weapon with which it slew me. 12The result is that the Law, as a whole, is holy, inasmuch as it proceeds from God: and each single commandment has the like character of holiness, justice, and beneficence. 13Am I then to say that a thing so excellent in itself to me proved fatal? Not for a moment. It was rather the demon Sin which wrought the mischief. And the reason why it was permitted to do so was that it might be shown in its true colours, convicted of being the pernicious thing that it is, by the fact that it made use of a good instrument, Law, to work out upon me the doom of death. For this reason Sin was permitted to have its way, in order that through its perverted use of the Divine commandment it might be seen in all its utter hideousness.

14The blame cannot attach to the Law. For we all know that the Law has its origin from the Spirit of God and derives its character from that Spirit, while I, poor mortal, am made of frail human flesh and blood, sold like any slave in the market into the servitude of Sin. 15It is not the Law, and not my own deliberate self, which is the cause of the evil; because my actions are executed blindly with no proper concurrence of the will. I purpose one way, I act another. I hate a thing, but do it. 16And by this very fact that I hate the thing that I do, my conscience bears testimony to the Law, and recognizes its excellence. 17So that the state of the case is this. It is not I, my true self, who put into act what is repugnant to me, but Sin which has possession of me. 18For I am aware that in me as I appear to the outer world—in this ‘body that does me grievous wrong,’ there dwells (in any permanent and predominating shape) nothing that is good. The will indeed to do good is mine, and I can command it; but the performance I cannot command. 19For the actual thing that I do is not the good that I wish to do; but my moral agency appears in the evil that I wish to avoid. 20But if I thus do what I do not wish to do, then the active force in me, the agent that carries out the act, is not my true self (which is rather seen in the wish to do right), but the tyrant Sin which holds possession of me. 21I find therefore this law—if so it may be called—this stern necessity laid upon me from without, that much as I wish to do what is good, the evil lies at my door. 22For I am a divided being. In my innermost self, the thinking and reasoning part of me, I respond joyfully to the Law of God. 23But then I see a different Law dominating this bodily organism of mine, and making me do its behests. This other Law makes the field in arms against the Law of Reason and Conscience, and drags me away captive in the fetters of Sin, the Power which has such a fatal grip upon my body. 24Unhappy man that I am—torn with a conflict from which there seems to be no issue! This body from which proceed so many sinful impulses; this body which makes itself the instrument of so many acts of sin; this body which is thus dragging me down to death.—How shall I ever get free from it? What Deliverer will come and rescue me from its oppression?

25A Deliverer has come. And I can only thank God, approaching His Presence in humble gratitude, through Him to whom the deliverance is due—Jesus Messiah, our Lord.

Without His intervention—so long as I am left to my own unaided self—the state that I have been describing may be briefly summarized. In this twofold capacity of mine I serve two masters: with my conscience I serve the Law of God; with my bodily organism the Law of Sin.

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

We are delivered [κατηργηθημεν] . Rev., have been discharged, as the woman, ver. 2. See on ch. Rom 3:3.

We were held. Lit., held down. See on ch. Rom 1:18.

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

Vv. 6. “But now we are delivered from the law, being dead to him under whom we were held; so that we serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.”

The contrast between this but now and the when we were of Rom 7:5, corresponds exactly, both as to form and substance, with the contrast between the when ye were and the but now, Rom 6:20; Rom 6:22; only with an application to another domain (that of the law). In the κατηργήθημεν, literally, we were annulled, we again find the form already explained in Rom 7:2, where it was said of the woman deprived of her standing as a married wife by the death of her husband: κατήργηται, she is abolished, she has ceased to be (as a wife). Here, as in the former case, this verb, construed with the preposition ἀπό, from, contains the idea of the most complete deliverance. We have seen in Rom 7:4 that this deliverance resulted from the death undergone in Christ (ye were put to death). It is this last idea which is recalled by the being dead, ἀποθανόντες. The reading of the T. R.: ἀποθανόντος, that under which we were held (the law) being dead, arises, according to Tischendorf, from a mistake of Beza, who followed Erasmus in a false interpretation which he gives of a passage from Chrysostom. In point of fact, as we have seen, the idea of the abolition of the law is foreign to this passage. As to the reading τοῦ θανάτου of the Greco-Latins: “We are delivered from the law of death under which we were held,” it has probably been occasioned by the expression: to bring forth fruit unto death, Rom 7:5; but this qualification of the law is equally foreign to the passage before us.

Could the master, under whom we were held, possibly be, as Hofmann would have it, the flesh, taking the ἐν ᾧ as a neuter pronoun? But the whole context, as well as the parallel passage, Rom 7:4, shows clearly that the subject in question is the law. The antecedent of ἐν ᾧ is the demonstrative pronoun τουτῷ (him, that is to say, the master) understood. The last words: under whom we were..., appear superfluous at first sight; but they are intended to remind us of the example taken from the law, which was the starting point of this demonstration (Rom 7:1-3).

But this liberation does not tend to license. On the contrary, it is to issue in a δουλεύειν, a new servitude of the noblest and most glorious nature, which alone indeed deserves the name of liberty. This term δουλεύειν, to serve, is chosen as alone applicable to the two states about to be characterized.

In newness of spirit, says the apostle; he thus designates the new state into which the Holy Spirit introduces the believer, when He establishes a full harmony between the inclination of the heart and moral obligation; when to do good and renounce self for God has become a joy. With this state, of which he gives us a glimpse, and which he reserves for description (chap. 8), the apostle in closing contrasts the former state. This he puts second, because it is the state which he proposes to describe immediately, Rom 7:7-25. He calls it oldness of the letter: there may be in this expression an allusion to the old man, παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος, Rom 6:6; but anyhow Paul wishes to designate this state as now past for the believer; it is from the viewpoint of his new state that he can characterize it thus. The letter is the moral obligation written in the code, imposing itself on man as a foreign law, and opposed to his inward dispositions. Is it not legitimate (Rom 7:1-4) and advantageous (Rom 7:5-6) to break with such a state, and enter upon the other, as soon as this possibility is presented by God Himself?

The apostle has shown in the first section that the gospel has the power to sanctify, and thereby to put an end at once to the reign of sin and law, which are one and the same state. He proceeds to explain that the law need not be an object of regret, since it is powerless to sanctify. It has therefore no well-founded protest to raise against the judgment which falls on it. Such is the subject of the following section.

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.