Title: Function of the Law
Commentary on Romans 48
function of the law
Romans 7:1 - 4
Introduction: In interpreting Romans 7, we are faced with a number of difficult problems to interpret. That is why Romans 7 is also called a difficult chapter, which makes it very difficult to understand the truth. However, if we read Romans 7 carefully, we find that there is no mention of the Holy Spirit, but a consistent reference to the Law. In 1-6, the marriage relationship with the law, 7-12, the defense of the law, and in 13-25, a lamentable appeal over the law. The purpose of the apostle Paul writing Romans 7 is to show us the function of the law and its purpose. What Paul tried to clarify in chapter 7 tells us that justification through the law is absolutely impossible, and proves that not only is sanctification by the law impossible.
At the beginning of Chapter 7, Paul is developing his logic to help us understand the problem of Christians' separation from the law and union with Christ by using the marriage relationship between a man and a woman as an example.
1. Law and Marriage
Paul cites the marriage relationship as the most effective analogy for explaining a Christian's new relationship with Christ.
(1) Do you not know that the law governs people only as long as they live? The law is God's law that applies only to the living. The dead are not subject to this law. Life ends with death. Although the law has the power to condemn men, it cannot condemn the dead. Death is the end of the law. The reason the law does not condemn Christians is that Christians are dead to the law (Romans 6:2,4,6).
(2) Paul, by linking this principle with the case of a married woman, explains how Christians broke their relationship with the law and entered into a new relationship with Christ. A woman with a husband is not free. This is because the husband is his head, and he is in a position to obey him in everything (Ephesians 5:23,24). There is only one way for man to be born into the world and free himself from the rule of the law. There is only death to the law.
But Paul says, “If her husband dies, she has departed from the law of her husband.” No matter how much a woman is under her husband's control, only as long as the husband is alive. When you die, you are freed from under your husband's law. In this way, if a person died to the law, he would be completely freed from that law. In this way, a woman who is freed from her husband's law is saying that she can legally marry another man. It is said that such a thing does not become a genital mutilation because it is not against the law. Paul's allegorical interpretation of this figurative interpretation in verse 4 clearly reveals the intended meaning, which is an interpretation of how it is possible for Christians to break with the law and unite with Christ, and why it is legal on the part of God is.
(3) Paul's explanation is to clarify the danger of misunderstanding between Christians and the law. Even Christians can sometimes fall into sin. At this time, many Christians are dragging themselves back under the law. And they bind themselves under the condemnation of the law. These Christians are wandering back and forth between the Law and Christ, no matter how many times a day. Something like this is absolutely impossible. This kind of thing is only due to false knowledge that comes from not knowing the relationship between self and the law. Paul uses the parable of marriage to make this relationship clear to all Christians.
2. Christian New Marriage
In verse 4, Paul is revealing the reality of the parable of the marriage relationship. “My brethren, you also were put to death to the law through the body of Christ.”
(1) For Christians, the next thing becomes possible only when the first thing is resolved. A person cannot bear fruit toward God in any way without clear handling of the law. A man cannot serve another master while retaining his relationship with the law. Then it becomes a vagina. In order for us to have a new relationship with God, our relationship with the law must be dissolved. The way of dissolution is that we die to the law.
(2) Our marriage to the law was dissolved because we were put to death to the law through the body of Christ. Here we are told that by being put to death to the law, we are freed from the shackles of the law, and it is through the body of Christ. This signifies his death and resurrection in the body of Christ. We cannot fulfill the requirements of the law even through our entire lives, nor can we escape from the rule of the law. It is because of the weakness of our flesh that has been defiled by our sins. Christ did it (Romans 8:3). God made this work through his own Son.
(3) In this way, we were able to form a marriage relationship with a new husband, not with the law. Union with Christ is a marriage. This new marital relationship must end the marriage relationship with the law. The only way is death. This is what Christ did for me. And we went to him and made a new marriage.
Conclusion: We can understand our new marriage relationship with Christ only when we get the answer to why Christ died to the law in our place like this. It is for Christ to welcome us as His bride. Therefore, whoever is freed from the law by Christ necessarily becomes his bride through union with Christ. Next, the reason God did this, he says, “so that we might bear fruit toward God.” Therefore, God wants this fruit from Christians (John 15:1,2; Luke 13:6-9; 2 Peter 1:8).