Romans 7:6

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.

Paul here introduces another illustration of the statement in v. 14 of the preceding chapter that we are not under the Law, but under grace: Or do you not know, brethren, that law has power over a man as long as he lives? He appeals to their knowledge of, their familiarity with, law and legal procedure, especially on the basis of the Mosaic Law. If a person does not want to accept Paul's argument that the believers are free from all legal obligations, there is only one alternative left, namely, to assume that the persons to whom it is directed are ignorant of that great principle according to which all obligations to the Law are terminated with death. The authority and right of the Law with regard to any man extends over his entire life, but not beyond. When a person is dead, there can be neither fulfillment nor transgression of the Law. The apostle, of course, argues entirely from the standpoint of the Law. And he demonstrates and illustrates his general statement by adducing an example, namely, that of the obligation of the marriage-tie. The woman subject to the man, the married woman, is bound to her husband by the law while he lives; but when her husband is dead, the law binding her to her husband, the command concerning the husband, is canceled, to wit, that she is his wife and that of no other man. By her husband's death the legal relation to her husband is invalidated, rendered void, broken off, and she is free, she is no longer bound by that particular rule. And from this presentation it follows that she will be designated as an adulteress if she have become a wife, have entered into relations as a wife, with another man, while her husband is yet living; but the death of her husband gives her freedom from that particular law, in order that she might not be an adulteress if she became the wife of another. That, according to the divine economy, is the object of her freedom from the law, of her being liberated from the special ordinance concerning married women, that she may marry after the death of her husband without becoming guilty of adultery. And it is implied that the man also, by his death, is no longer bound by the law relating to his wife. The institution and ordinance of marriage embraces a mutual obligation and liability, which loses its validity when one of the contracting parties dies.

What the apostle had in mind with this reference to the obligation of the marriage law is brought out in his application: And thus, my brethren, you also have become dead to the Law through the body of Christ, in order that you should become subject to another one, unto Him that was raised from the dead, that we may bear fruit to God. The case of the believers in the New Testament is very similar to that of the married woman just discussed. They are dead to the Law. Christ was put to death, with violence, and they with Him. But by this fact they have been completely severed from any connection with the Law, through the death of Christ, and they now belong to Jesus by virtue of His resurrection. The similarity and the symbolism is clear throughout. Just as death releases every person from the obligation of the Law, so the death of Christ has definitely released us from the liability of the Law, has annulled the Law, in fact. And whereas the believers before their conversion were bound under the Law, they are now, by the death of Christ, liberated from the former obligation and now belong to the resurrected Christ as their rightful Spouse. And the result of this wonderful union is the bringing forth of fruit unto God, the fruit of good works, which are done to the praise and honor of God.

Having thus shown that the believers are freed from the Law by the death of Christ, the apostle proceeds to show the necessity and the consequence of that change: For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, the evil tendencies of sins, which were made operative, set in motion by the Law, were active in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are freed from the Law, the Law being invalidated in our case, by having died unto that in which we were being firmly held, the result being that we serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. This result can and shall be attained in our case. All men, in the state before their conversion, are in the flesh, they are sinful, weak, mortal creatures, with a mind continually directed toward that which is evil, or at best satisfied with an external morality. In that condition, the passions, the affections and desires that dominate man in his unconverted state were operative, active in our members, since our members executed the evil ideas of the heart. And the passions were all the more successful in this because they were incited by the Law. The Law, therefore, in carnal man, serves only to further or increase sin, since it does not remove the passions, but only serves to stir them up. And the object of the passions was, in the final analysis, that we should bring fruit to death. That is ever the tendency of the passions, to be operative and active in actual sins, to bring forth such shameful works as will result finally in death and destruction for the sinner, James 1:15. But through Christ a change has been brought about. The Law has been placed out of commission so far as we are concerned, it no longer has dominion over us. And this has been effected by our having died unto that in which we were being firmly held. By accepting Christ in faith, we have become partakers of His vicarious death, which was a satisfaction to the Law. And therefore we, having died unto our sinful flesh and unto sin, are thereby delivered from the rule of the Law. In our present state, then, in consequence of this freedom from the Law, we serve God in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. In the former condition of man, under the Law, he has only the literal demands of the Law before him, which afford no strength and power for good, hut only stir up all the sinful desires. But in the Christian the new life and being is created and controlled by the Spirit of God. It is the resurrected Christ who through the Holy Spirit works all good things in the Christians, brings forth splendid fruits of sanctification. Note: We Christians have become partakers of all the blessings of Christ's redemption, and thus are freed not only from the curse of the Law, but also from the rule and liability of the Law. The Law, the written Law of Moses, is no longer our lord and master, we are no longer bound by its fetters. As regenerated children of God, as His new creatures, we are bound to His good pleasure and do His will for the sake of our blessed Redeemer. We are governed only by love, led only by grace.