Delivered from the Law

In Romans 7:1-6 Paul describes the scenario of a woman who is “loosed from the law to her husband.” He concludes his illustration by stating, “Now we are delivered from the law.” Some people have used this passage to say that Christians do not need to keep God’s law. But in fact, the story teaches the exact opposite.

In the illustration, Paul explains that “the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.”

“Wherefore,” Paul concludes, “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.”

To keep us from misunderstanding his point, Paul prefaced the story by declaring that “the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth.” That is clear. Even in the illustration he affirms that “if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress.” These facts show that Paul considered the commandments to be still binding.

Furthermore, notice that even the death of the husband does not change the law. Even after the man dies, the law still says the same thing it always said about remarriage. The law has not changed, only the woman’s relation to it. The woman is freed from the law, not because of any annulling of the law, but because there is no law against remarriage after a spouse’s death.

So it is with the one who has the power of Christ in his life. He is delivered from the law because he no longer violates the law. The law has not changed. It still requires just what it always did. But the Christian has changed. His life now exhibits the fruit of the Spirit: “Love, joy, peace, . . . against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22, 23).

The problem of being “in the flesh” (Romans 7:5) lies in “the motions of sins” which are defined by the law. The problem is not the law, but sin (verses 7-13). Here is the point. We are “delivered from the law” when we become “dead to that wherein we were held” (verse 6, margin). Since it was sin which held us, only death to sin (Romans 6:2) can deliver us from the law. By experiencing such death to sin we are enabled to serve the law “in newness of the spirit” (Romans 7:6).