Romans 7:1-6

Espousal to Christ. Paul returns to his paradox about Law and Grace (Romans 6:14 f.) and illustrates it by marriage, Christ now standing for Grace.

Romans 7:1. Wedlock binds while the husband lives; on his death the wife is free for another union.

Romans 7:4 a. You are the wife in this case; the law the first husband, the risen Christ the second; the new marriage presupposes a discharge from the old (Romans 7:6). In the expression that she should not be an adulteress, Paul tacitly repudiates the charge of apostasy brought against Jewish Christians (cf. James 4:4 RV, Jeremiah 2:2; Hosea 2:2 ff., etc.).

Romans 7:4 b - Romans 7:6. The difference in the offspring shows how much happier and better the second marriage is than the first: wedded to the law, our carnal nature bore fruit for death; now, we bear fruit to God (cf. Galatians 5:22 f.), with the result that we serve (cf. Romans 6:18) in newness of spirit (cf. Romans 6:4), not in the oldness of the letter. The old system worked by external rule; the new by internal principle. Paul takes liberties with his simile: in the figure, the husband dies; in the application, the wifeyou were put to death as regards the law through the (dying) body of Christ (Romans 7:4); so again in Romans 7:6, where the AV, mistakenly, removes the incongruity. For the Christian believer dies with his Redeemer, to share His heavenly life (Romans 6:2). The death of either partner dissolves the prior union (cf. Galatians 6:14).