Dead to the Law by the Body of Christ

Key Passage: Romans 7:1–4

Romans VerseQuest Commentary
Essay 42: Dead to the Law by the Body of Christ
Text: Romans 7:1–4

Introduction

Romans 7:1–4 says, “Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For 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, 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.” Paul now moves from Romans 6 into Romans 7, and he does not change subjects as much as he sharpens the knife. Romans 6 showed the believer’s changed relationship to sin. Romans 7 shows the believer’s changed relationship to the law. The saved man is not only dead to sin; he is dead to the law by the body of Christ. That statement is not a suggestion, not a denominational preference, not a preacher’s hobby horse, and not a side note for advanced students. It is a direct declaration of the Holy Ghost through Paul.

The passage uses a marriage illustration because the matter involves dominion, binding authority, legal relationship, death, release, and union with another. Paul says the law has dominion over a man as long as he liveth. He then points to a woman bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. If she is joined to another man while her husband lives, she is called an adulteress. But if the husband is dead, she is free from that law and no adulteress though married to another. Then Paul applies the illustration: “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ.” The believer is not sneaking away from the law like a runaway wife in the night. Death has occurred. The legal bond has been broken. The believer is now joined to another—Christ raised from the dead.

This passage cuts the throat of the idea that the Christian life is saved by grace but governed by Moses. That hybrid religion is one of the devil’s favorite contraptions: Christ for justification, Moses for sanctification; Calvary to get you out of hell, Sinai to keep you in line; blood for pardon, stone tables for power. Paul will have none of it. The believer is dead to the law by the body of Christ and married to the risen Lord so that fruit may be brought forth unto God. Law can define sin, expose sin, condemn sin, and provoke sin, but it cannot produce spiritual fruit unto God in a dead sinner. Fruit comes from union with life, and the believer is joined to Him who is raised from the dead. You do not get living fruit from a stone tablet. You get living fruit from a living Christ.

Chapter One: The Law Hath Dominion as Long as He Liveth

Paul begins, “Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?” He is speaking to people who understand the basic principle of law. Law has authority over a living man within its jurisdiction. A dead man cannot be fined for speeding, summoned for jury duty, drafted into military service, charged with unpaid taxes, or ordered to appear in court. Death ends legal dominion. Paul is not arguing that the law is evil. He is arguing that law’s dominion operates only while the man lives under it. That is the door through which his entire illustration walks.

The word “dominion” matters because Paul has been dealing with mastership throughout Romans 6. Sin shall not have dominion over you because ye are not under the law but under grace. Now he shows the believer’s deliverance from the dominion of the law. The law, as a covenant system, had authority over those under it. It commanded, prohibited, exposed, judged, condemned, and held the guilty accountable. It did not negotiate with the flesh. It did not pat Adam on the head and say, “You are doing your best.” It said, “Thou shalt,” “Thou shalt not,” and “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” The law was not a life coach. It was a holy standard with a death sentence attached to failure.

Paul’s question, “Know ye not,” implies that believers ought to understand this. Yet the modern church is full of people who do not. Some think law is the way to salvation. Others think law is the way to keep salvation. Others think law is the way to spiritual power. They drag believers back to Sinai, bolt the Christian to Moses, and then wonder why the flesh either rebels or becomes proud. The law has dominion as long as a man lives, but Romans 6 has already said the believer died with Christ. If death has occurred, then the old legal dominion is not still the believer’s master. The law cannot chase a dead man into resurrection ground and demand rent.

Chapter Two: The Marriage Illustration

Paul says, “For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth.” He now uses marriage to illustrate binding authority. The woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives. That bond is real, lawful, and recognized by God. Paul is not giving a full treatise on every marriage question in the Bible. He is using the simplest legal principle of marriage: death dissolves the bond. As long as the husband lives, the woman is bound. When death occurs, she is loosed. That is the point of the illustration, and a man who misses that point is usually trying to smuggle Moses back into the Christian life under a tarp.

The illustration is brilliant because marriage involves exclusive union. A woman cannot be lawfully married to two husbands at the same time. She cannot keep the first husband for legal security and take another for personal happiness. She cannot divide herself between two rival claims and call it faithfulness. Paul is showing that the believer cannot belong to the law as covenant master and to the risen Christ as husband at the same time. The law had a proper place and rightful function, but the believer’s death with Christ ends that old relationship. To try to live under law and under Christ as co-husbands is spiritual confusion dressed in religious language.

This is why “law and grace” must be rightly divided. The issue is not whether the law was holy. Romans 7:12 will say, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” The issue is not whether the law revealed God’s righteousness. It did. The issue is whether the believer in the Body of Christ is under the law as his governing covenant. Paul says no. Marriage to Christ follows death to the law. The believer is not divorced from the law because he found something more attractive. He is dead to the law by the body of Christ and joined to the risen Lord. Death, not flirtation, changed the relationship.

Chapter Three: Bound Until Death, Loosed by Death

Paul says, “but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.” Death changes the legal condition. The woman is not guilty for being loosed when death has occurred. She does not need to feel guilty for no longer being bound. She is free from that law. The obligation belonged to a relationship that death ended. Paul is laying the rails carefully so the doctrinal train can arrive in verse 4: “ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ.” The believer’s release from the law is not lawlessness. It is lawful release through death.

“Loosed” means released from the binding claim. The bond is not ignored; it is ended. This is where legalism lies. Legalism says that if the believer is not under the law, he must be rejecting holiness. Paul says the release comes through death and leads to union with Christ and fruit unto God. That is not rebellion. That is God’s own order. A widow who remarries lawfully is not an adulteress. A believer joined to Christ after death to the law is not a spiritual criminal. The law itself recognizes death as the end of its dominion in that relationship. Paul uses the law’s own principle to show why the law cannot hold the believer.

This matters because many Christians live like guilty widows afraid to enjoy their new union with Christ. They know the gospel says grace, but they still think Moses is waiting outside the door with a clipboard and a curse. They try to please Christ while still reporting to the old legal arrangement. They talk about grace, but their conscience is chained to Sinai. They sing about the blood, then act as though the stone tables have the final word over their standing. Paul says the death of Christ has changed the whole relationship. The believer is loosed from the law’s covenant dominion by death. Stop acting like a freed woman who keeps mailing rent checks to a dead landlord.

Chapter Four: No Adultery When Death Has Ended the Bond

Paul continues, “So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress.” That is the law’s judgment while the first bond remains alive. The issue is not complicated. If the husband lives and the woman joins herself to another, she violates the lawful bond. The first relationship still has claim. Paul is stressing the seriousness of legal attachment. A man cannot simply declare himself free from a bond while the law still holds him. Something must end that bond lawfully. In Paul’s argument, the thing that ends it is death.

Then Paul says, “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.” Death removes the charge. The same act—being joined to another—would be adultery if the first husband lived, but is lawful if death has dissolved the first bond. Paul is showing that the believer’s union with Christ is not an unlawful union that violates the law. Death has occurred. The believer became dead to the law by the body of Christ. Therefore he can be joined to another without being charged as an offender. The cross settles the legality of grace.

This also means the believer does not honor Christ by trying to keep the old marriage alive. Imagine a woman remarried after her husband’s death, but she spends her new marriage trying to live as though the former bond still governs the house. That is the picture of many Christians under legalism. They belong to the risen Christ, but they keep dragging the old law relationship into the room and asking it how to run the marriage. Paul’s answer is sharp: death ended that bond. The believer is not married to Christ and Moses at the same time. Christ does not share His Bride with Sinai. The Christian life is not spiritual polygamy.

Chapter Five: Dead to the Law by the Body of Christ

Now Paul applies the illustration: “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ.” He does not say the law is dead. He says the believer is dead to the law. That distinction is important. The law remains holy, just, good, and useful when used lawfully. First Timothy 1:8 says, “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.” The problem comes when men use it unlawfully by placing the Body of Christ under it as a covenant master. The law did not die. The believer died with Christ, and that death ended the law’s dominion over him.

The death happened “by the body of Christ.” That points directly to Calvary. Christ did not merely teach us out of the law’s dominion. He died. His body was nailed to the cross. He bore the curse. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” Colossians 2:14 says He blotted out “the handwriting of ordinances that was against us” and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. The believer’s deliverance from law is not based on laziness, rebellion, or dislike for commandments. It is based on the crucified body of the Lord Jesus Christ. If a preacher drags the believer back under law after that, he is stepping over the body of Christ to get to Moses.

This phrase also destroys the idea that the law is the Christian’s power for holiness. Paul says the believer became dead to the law by the body of Christ so that he might be joined to Christ and bring forth fruit unto God. The law cannot produce that fruit because the law cannot give life. Galatians 3:21 says, “for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” But no law could do it. The body of Christ accomplished what law could never accomplish. Law can point its finger and say, “You are wrong.” The body of Christ bore the wrong, ended the old relationship, and opened the way to resurrection union.

Chapter Six: Married to Another

Paul says the purpose is “that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead.” The believer is not delivered from the law to become spiritually single, independent, and self-governing. He is delivered from the law to be joined to Christ. Grace is not freedom from all authority; it is union with the rightful Lord. The saved man does not escape Moses so he can enthrone himself. He is joined to Jesus Christ, the risen One. The law’s dominion ends, but Christ’s lordship does not. Liberty from law is not liberty from God.

“Married to another” speaks of intimate union, loyalty, fruitfulness, and shared life. The believer belongs to Christ. He is joined to the One who died and rose again. Second Corinthians 11:2 says, “for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Ephesians 5 shows Christ loving the Church and giving Himself for it. The believer’s relationship to Christ is living, personal, and fruitful. The law was written on stone and could command from outside. Christ lives, saves, intercedes, strengthens, chastens, nourishes, and works within His people by the Spirit of God. That is not a lower relationship. That is glory.

Notice that Paul identifies Christ as “him who is raised from the dead.” The believer is joined not merely to Christ crucified, but to Christ risen. The death ended the old bond; the resurrection establishes the new union. A dead husband cannot produce fruit. A living Christ can. Legalism keeps trying to make the believer fruitful by chaining him to a ministry of condemnation. Paul says fruit comes from union with the risen Lord. If you want fruit unto God, do not crawl back under the covenant that exposed your barrenness. Abide in Christ, walk in the Spirit, and live from resurrection union. The law says, “Produce.” Christ says, “Without me ye can do nothing,” and then gives life.

Chapter Seven: Fruit Unto God

Paul gives the purpose: “that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” Death to the law and marriage to Christ are not excuses for spiritual laziness. They are the only proper ground for true fruit. The believer is not dead to the law so he can live for the flesh. He is dead to the law so he can be joined to Christ and bring forth fruit unto God. That fruit is not the product of law’s pressure but of resurrection life. A tree produces fruit because it has life, not because someone tapes commandments to its branches. Legalism may decorate the branches, but only life produces fruit.

Fruit unto God is different from religious activity unto men. A person can be busy in religion and still barren toward God. He can attend meetings, follow rituals, keep rules, impress other believers, and develop a reputation for spirituality while his heart remains hard, proud, self-righteous, and unfruitful. Fruit unto God comes from union with Christ, obedience to truth, walking in the Spirit, and yielding to the Lord. Galatians 5:22–23 speaks of “the fruit of the Spirit” and then says, “against such there is no law.” The Spirit produces what law could command but not create. Law can demand love; the Spirit produces it. Law can condemn uncleanness; the Spirit produces holiness. Law can expose pride; the Spirit humbles the heart through grace.

This is why Paul’s doctrine must be defended fiercely. If a man thinks being dead to the law produces carnality, he has not read the verse. Paul says it produces fruit unto God when the believer is married to Christ. The real danger is not grace; the danger is trying to produce fruit from the wrong union. Put a believer under law as covenant master, and you will eventually produce pride, despair, hypocrisy, rebellion, or confusion. Join the believer to the risen Christ, teach him who he is in Him, and call him to walk in the Spirit, and fruit unto God becomes the proper result. The orchard of God is planted in resurrection ground, not at the foot of Sinai.

Conclusion

Romans 7:1–4 uses Paul’s marriage illustration to show that the believer’s relationship to the law has changed by death. The law has dominion over a man as long as he lives. A woman is bound to her husband while he lives, but death looses her from that law and frees her to be married to another. Paul applies the illustration directly: believers have become dead to the law by the body of Christ. The cross did not merely forgive sins; it ended the believer’s old legal relationship and made way for union with the risen Lord.

This passage does not dishonor the law. It puts the law where God puts it. The law is holy, just, and good, but it is not the covenant husband of the Christian. It cannot give life, produce fruit, or sanctify the believer by its dominion. The believer is not saved by grace and then handed back to Moses for management. He is dead to the law by the body of Christ. Any system that drags the Christian back under law as the rule of covenant standing is not producing deeper holiness. It is confusing death, marriage, and resurrection. It is trying to make a widow live under a bond God says death has ended.

The believer is now married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that fruit should be brought forth unto God. That is the positive glory of the passage. Grace does not leave the Christian floating without authority, affection, or purpose. Grace joins him to the risen Christ. The new union produces new fruit. The Christian does not bear fruit by flirting with Sinai while claiming Christ on Sundays. He bears fruit by living out of union with the resurrected Lord. The law could command fruit and condemn barrenness, but Christ gives life. Dead to the law, joined to Christ, fruit unto God—that is Paul’s order, and it is the only order that works.