Romans 7, Christ in the Mosaic Law. In chapter 6, Paul clarified that being under grace does not mean we are free to sin. Paul now returns to the second point of his great argument. The law of Moses is unable to save or justify Jews, let alone Gentiles. Neither circumcision nor obedience to the Law of Moses are necessary any longer. Nevertheless, in this chapter, Paul also defends the law as something good. The law was not evil. It was simply inadequate.
In the final part of chapter 7, Paul illustrates his main point by providing a graphic portrayal of a wretched man, trying to find salvation and freedom from sin through the law. He reveals the utter futility of trying to live a godly life apart from the grace and power of God. Romans chapter 7 verses 1 through 4. The law was like a husband. Verse 1," Do you not know, brothers how the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?" I speak to those who know the law.
To help his Jewish readers see that the Mosaic Law is no longer in force, Paul uses the illustration of a husband and wife. He begins by saying," Do you not know brothers?" In other words, he is particularly speaking to the Jewish Christians. Chrysostom explains," That is, I am saying something that is clear to everyone and on which everyone agrees." Furthermore, I am speaking to people who know what I say is accurate. The law has dominion over a man as long as he lives.
The Law of Moses has no power over a person after he is dead. It may govern the inheritance of his estate, but it has no further dominion over his soul.
Chrysostom comments," Paul does not say husband or wife, but man, which word is common to either gender?" He earlier said," For he who is dead is freed from sin." Romans chapter 6:7." Accordingly, the law is given for the living, but it ceases to give commands to the dead, or as long as it lives." The latter part of this verse can also be translated:" The law has dominion over a man as long as it lives." In such case, it would refer to the law, not to the man. This is Origen's understanding of this verse.
He writes," For the woman who has a husband, that is a person under the law, is bound to her husband while he lives." The husband represents the law, but if the husband, that is, the law dies, she is discharged from the law, which is her husband. Origen feels this is more likely what Paul is saying, since this harmonizes with the illustration Paul uses in the next two verses.
Romans 7:2," For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives." But if the husband is dead, she is freed from the law of her husband. Jesus had declared the law and the prophets were until John. Paul's argument in this passage is based on those words of Jesus, that the law's authority was only until John. He uses the analogy of a husband's authority over his wife. Paul notes that a husband exercises dominion or authority over his wife only while he is living.
However, if he should die, then the wife is free from the law of her husband. Similarly, the law exercised authority over the Jews only as long as it was in force. However, with the coming of Jesus, the law died, and the gospel age or kingdom age began. Once the law died, those under its authority were freed from its commandments. As proof of the death of the law, Origen points to the fact that in his day, there were no longer a priesthood, sacrifices, or the ministry of the Levites.
All these disappeared with the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Males could no longer appear three times a year at the temple, as the law commanded, the regulations concerning leprosy, along with various other hygienic laws, could no longer be practiced. Origen continues, Jerusalem was destroyed along with what they called the sanctuary of the items in it, which were designated as holy. Also, the altar of burnt offerings was destroyed, along with the entire worship associated with it.
The Jews cannot keep their feasts in the place which the Lord God appointed to them for keeping feasts even though according to the letter of the law, they are specifically commanded to do so. Furthermore, the whole synagogue has become unable to stone those who have committed this or that sin. Romans chapter 7:3. So then if, while her husband lives, she is married to another man, she will be called an adulteress.
Yet if her husband is dead, she is free from that law so that she is not an adulteress, even if she is married to another man. Paul bases his argument on the marriage laws given by Jesus, not on the laws given by Moses. Under the Mosaic Law, a man could divorce his wife and she would be free to remarry. Accordingly, under the law, it was not true that a woman would be called an adulteress if she married another man while her first husband was still living.
In contrast, Jesus taught," Whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries her, who is divorced, commits adultery." Again, he says," Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.
If a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." Theodoret comments," The Holy Apostle was not ignorant that the law gave permission to the living to dissolve a marriage when it was no longer agreeable." However, he was mindful of our Lord's assertion, which declared that Moses gave them that law on account of the hardness of the hearts of the Jews. However, the law of nature had added no such provision.
For Jesus says that God made one man and one woman, establishing the law concerning marriage in the very manner of creation, Matthew 19:3-9. Origen adds," While her former husband is still living, a woman is an adulteress, even though she seems to be married to another man." Likewise, the man who seems to marry a woman who has been put away does not so much marry her as he commits adultery with her. This is according to the declaration of our Savior.
However, under both the Mosaic Law and the Law of Christ, a woman is free to remarry after the death of her husband. In such a case, she will not be called an adulteress. Accordingly, Paul is saying that since the law has died, anyone who had been under the law is now free to be married to Jesus Christ. They can become part of His bride and not be guilty of adultery against the law.
As Paul had told the Corinthians," I have betrothed you to one husband that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ." 2 Corinthians 11:2. Chrysostom comments," Paul places the law in the position of a husband, and he puts all believers in the situation of a wife." Paul does not deprive the law of its dignity. Rather, he says great things about its power. For while the law was alive, the Jews were bound to it. And those who transgressed it or left it while it was alive were to be called adulteresses.
But if they abandoned the law after it had died, there was no condemnation in this. For in human affairs, no one is faulted for doing the very same thing.
Romans chapter 7:4," Accordingly, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead, so that we should bring forth fruit to God." The reader is naturally expecting Paul to conclude his analogy by saying," Accordingly, my brothers, the law has become dead to you." However, instead he says," You also have become dead to the law." In short, in this passage, Paul actually ends up blending two different analogies.
The first analogy is that a believer is like a wife who is no longer under the authority of her husband because her husband has died. His second analogy is that a believer is like a wife who has died, and she is therefore no longer under the authority of her husband because she is dead. Chrysostom comments," Paul adds the conclusion in such a way that it does not tally with the premise.
For what the context would require would be:" And so, my brethren, the law does not rule over you, for it is dead." But he does not say this. Theodoret adds," Indeed, in strict consistency with the example used, he would have been expected to have said," The law is dead," that is, it has ceased. But instead, he declares that we have become dead to the law. So, Paul tells the Romans that they are free from the law of Moses in two ways. First, the law itself has died, thereby freeing them.
Second, even if the law were still alive, they died to it in their conversion and baptism. When a Christian rises again from baptism, he is free to marry another Christ Jesus.
Romans chapter 7 verses 5 and 6," From the Mosaic Law to the New Covenant," verse 5," For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin that were through the law worked among our members to bring forth fruit to death when we were in the flesh." Since Paul is writing to Christians who were still in their fleshly bodies, his words when we were in the flesh, obviously cannot be taken literally. Origen explains that Paul is talking about fleshly desires.
Chrysostom adds," Paul does not say when we were in the law, but when we were in the flesh, that is, in evil works, in a carnal life." The passions of sin that were through the law. Chrysostom explains," The law held the position of a bitter accuser because it lay bare the sins of the Jews." Therefore, Paul does not say that the passions of sins were from the law. Rather, he says they were through the law. That is to say, they were made apparent through the law.
Theodoret writes," Paul does not say from the law, but through the law. For the law itself does not bring about sin. Rather, it condemns sin. Nevertheless, sin uses for evil the very thing that was intended for good." Worked among our members to bring forth fruit to death. Theodoret explains," Even the members of our bodies do not in themselves bring about sin.
Rather, the inclination of the soul to do wrong operates through these bodily members." And Ambrosiaster explains that these passions originate in the heart, but they do their work through the various members of our bodies. Paul had discussed this very thing in the previous chapter. For example, as Ambrosiaster points out, the tongue says evil things, the hand commits theft, and the ears listen to slander. However, the real culprit is the evil that lies in our hearts.
Verse 6," But now we are delivered from the law, being dead to that by which we were held, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Being dead to that by which we were held." Paul briefly returns to his second analogy, that of a wife who has died and is thereby freed from the law of her husband. We are dead to the law, for we have been delivered from the law.
Not only does this mean the Jews are no longer under the law, but it also means the Gentiles do not have to come under the law, either for their initial salvation or their final salvation. We should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. In Koine Greek and other ancient languages, there was no system of capitalizing proper names. So when Paul talks about the newness of the Spirit, his meaning is not certain.
Most likely he is talking about the Spirit of the Law versus the letter of the Law. Yet He could be talking about the Holy Spirit. We will explore both possibilities: the Spirit of the Law. Most of the early Christians understood Paul to be talking about the Spirit of the Law, that is, the law's spiritual meaning. Among others, Barnabas, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Novatian, Methodius, and Theodoret support this view. Even Augustine understands it this way.
When discussing Paul's similar expression in chapter 2 of Romans, Augustine writes," The expression by the Spirit, not by the letter, should be understood as follows: The law must be interpreted according to the Spirit, not literally." Paul himself seems to intend this meaning, for he writes in verse 14," We know that the law is spiritual." Origen writes," I hold then that the law has a two-fold sense, one literal, the other spiritual." Of the first or literal sense, it is said, speaking through one of the
prophets, that did the statutes are not good, and the judgments are not good, Ezekiel 20:25.
In like manner, Paul says that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. He means by the letter, the literal sense of the law, and by the Spirit, the spiritual sense. Speaking similarly, Irenaeus ties in the Spirit of the Law with the New Covenant, where God's laws are written on our hearts. He writes," Our calling is by the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
For it is even as Jeremiah prophesied,' Behold, the days will come,' says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. For this is the covenant of the testament that I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days.
The Lord says," I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts." Jeremiah 31:31-33." Concurring with Irenaeus, Theodoret comments, by the word a letter, he refers to the law, and by the word" old," he refers to its having come to an end.
For indeed, by Jeremiah, God says," I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel." Tertullian writes," All these commandments had been given carnally in previous times to the people of Israel." So it follows that afterwards, there was to supervene a time when the commandments of the ancient law and of the old ceremonies would cease. There would come the promise of the new law and the recognition of spiritual sacrifices, and the promise of the new covenant.
Tertullian adds," The Lord therefore wished that the law should be more profoundly understood as signifying spiritual truths through material facts." So what is the spirit of the law versus the letter of the law? The letter of the law refers to the law's ceremonies, rituals, and temporal commandments. The Spirit of the Law refers to the eternal moral requirements of the Law, things like justice, mercy, faith, and love, which Jesus referred to as the weightier matters of the law.
In Romans 13:8, Paul says," Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law." In fact, Jesus had said that the entire law and the prophets hung on the two great commandments: to love God with our whole heart and to love our neighbor as ourselves. In contrast, the scribes and Pharisees focused on the letter of the law. They scrupulously followed every jot and tittle of the external requirements of the law. However, they knew nothing about the Spirit of the Law.
Concerning the letter versus the Spirit of the Law, Origen writes," Paul writes," Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink," Colossians 2:16, teaching us that the things according to the letter are a shadow, but that the true thoughts of the law that are stored up inside them are the good things to come, the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, Chrysostom understands the newness of the Spirit to refer to the newness of the Holy Spirit.
But do not fall back or grow lax, for you have been freed with a view to being slaves anew, although not in the same way. Rather, you are to serve in the newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. Now what does Paul mean here? The standard for the race we run is different from the standard they had in former times. For it was harder to run the race in former times than it is now. Christ requires more of us now because we have been given the wings of the Spirit.
For example, He requires us to be free not only from murder, as He did of those of old, but also from anger. He commands us to keep free not only from adultery, but even from an unchaste look. We are to be free not only from false swearing, but even from true swearing.
For that reason, he said," Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no way enter into the kingdom of heaven," Matthew 5:20." But he who does not see the kingdom shall certainly fall into hell." For this reason, Paul also says," Sin shall not have dominion over you, because you are not under the law, but under grace," Romans 6:14. And here again, he says," So that you should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
For it is no longer the letter that condemns," that is, the old law, but the Spirit who provides help. Actually, Paul may well have had both meanings of Spirit in mind, for they are closely intertwined. The Holy Spirit not only inspired all Scripture, but He also illuminates it. So to correctly discern the eternal spiritual truths in the Law, we need the Enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. We also need the power of the Spirit to live out the spiritual meaning of the law.