VERSES 1-6: RELATION OF BELIEVERS TO THE LAW AND TO CHRIST
VERSE 1: TYRANY OF THE LAW
“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the Law) how that the Law hath do-minion over a man, as long as he liveth.”
“Know ye not, brethren”
Literally: “or are you ignorant, brothers.”
OR: (Grk.–ē)–The failure of the KJV translators to translate this chapter’s opening word, “or,” to which the Holy Spirit gives the emphatic position in this argument, obscures the whole meaning of the passage and context. Unless we connect this verse with 6:14 (as the proper translation “or” does), we cannot properly understand this passage.
KNOW YE NOT: (Grk.–agnoeite)–Here again is that often used Pauline expression—“Don’t you know; can’t you see this?” Or more literally, “or are you ignorant?” Someone has remarked that when Paul asks the believers, “Are you ignorant?” it often turns out that they are.
Paul continues the comparison between the former and the present state of a believer, and at the same time endeavors to wean the Jewish believers from their fondness for the Mosaic Law. He makes an appeal to their own observation respecting the relation between husband and wife. The illustration (verses 2-3) is designed simply to show that as when a man dies, and the connection between him and his wife is dissolved, his law ceases to be binding on her; so also a separation has taken place between Christians and the Law, in which they have become dead to it; and they are not now to attempt to draw their life and peace from it, but from that new source with which they are connected by the gospel, v. 4.
“I speak to them that know the Law”
Literally: “I speak to those knowing Law.”–Paul is referring to the Jewish members of the church, in Rome who were qualified particularly to understand the nature of the Law, and to appreciate the argument.
KNOW THE LAW: (Grk.–ginōskousin nomon)–Used only here in the N.T.
The Mosaic Law had had over a millennium’s trial with God’s chosen people in a land that was favorable and adaptable to the keeping of the Law. The Law was not given only to these people, but also to a land. Yet these chosen people, Israel, did not keep the Law. Peter calls it a yoke, “which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear” (Acts 15:10). Stephen said that they had, “…received the Law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it” (Acts 7:53).
That there were many Jews in the Church at Rome has previously been shown, but the illustration has no exclusive reference to them. This verse emphasizes the probability that this church had been started by converts from Pentecost who had gone back to Rome–“strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes” (Acts 2:9). The law to which he appeals is sufficiently general to make the illustration intelligible to all men.
The Romans, whether Jews or Gentiles, knew the principle of law. Roman law was known all over the entire Mediterranean world, that is, throughout the Roman Empire. It is interesting that in the original Greek text the definite article “the,” meaning, “the Law,” is not used here in this phrase, but is in the next phrase. This phrase should be read, as “…them that know law”—meaning any law, not just the Law, but law in general. Paul’s argument of the Jews was that the Law of Moses was of perpetual obligation, but they knew that death released a man from its power. The Law reigned only over the living.
“how that the Law”
Literally: “That the Law.”–The immediate reference here is probably to the Mosaic Law. But what is here affirmed is equally true of all laws.
THE LAW: (Grk.–ho nomos)–The definite article ”the,” (Grk.–ho)–is used in this phrase pointing out that Paul is referring to the Mosaic Law.
The Law is here personified,” (as a person), to which, as to an husband, life and death are ascribed. Paul is speaking of the law being dead to us, or we to it; the sense being the same.
“hath dominion”–After personifying the Law, see as setting up a lordship over a man, and exacting obedience.
DOMINION: (Grk.–kurieuei)–Literally: “rules; lords it over; exercises lordship.”
“over a man”
Literally: “over the man”–Over the man who is under it.
A MAN: (Grk.–tou anthrōpos)–Literally: “the person.” A generic term for people.
“as long as he liveth”
Literally: “As long a time as he lives.”–The rendering from the Greek here may mean either as “long a time he lives," or “as it lives
The thought here is that death releases a man from the laws by which he was bound in life. It is a general principle, relating to the laws of the land, the law of a parent, the law of a contract, etc. This general principle Paul goes on to apply to the law of God. Unfortunately, people today try to draw from this rules for marriage and divorce. However, Paul is not talking about marriage and divorce here. Instead, he is illustrating that a wife is bound to a living husband and that death frees her from the status of wife.
VERSE 2:
“For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he liveth, but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of the husband.”
This verse is a specific illustration of the general principle in verse 1, that death dissolves those connections and relations which make law binding in life.
“For the woman which hath a husband”
Literally: “for the married woman.”–Paul begins to use the fundamental law of domestic relationship to illustrate the fact that only death dissolves those connections and relations which lay binding in life.
This principle of law is shown from the marriage relation. death severs it, and after it the marriage covenant is not binding. Then woman can marry again without committing adultery. A married woman is bound to her husband while he lives; but when he is dead she is discharged from the law by which she was bound to him alone.
The illustration is not quite exact. The Law is here represented by the husband, but Paul does not mean to say that the Law dies to the Christian, but the Christian dies to the Law. The proposition must therefore be understood to be stated in a somewhat abstract form.
WHICH HATH A HUSBAND: (Grk.–hypandros)–Literally: “under” or “subject to” a husband. This illustration is used to display our union with Christ after the release from the Law; as analogous to a new marriage (v. 4)
“is bound by the law to her husband”
Literally: “Is bound by the Law to the living husband.”– She is united to him; and is under his authority as the head of the household. To him is particularly committed the headship of the family, and the wife is subject to his law, in the Lord, (see Eph. 5:23-33).
We read in I Cor. 7:39 that Paul expresses this same thought—“The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord.”
IS BOUND: (Grk.–dedetai)–Literally: “stands permanently bound.”–There is no way for release. A married woman is bound to her husband while he lives; but when her husband is dead she is discharged from the law by which she was bound to him alone.
By expounding on the similitude of marriage, Paul compares together the state of man both before and after regeneration. Simply put, he is pointing out that as long as the husband lives the law of matrimony remains binding, but if he is dead, the woman may marry again. A wife is bound to her husband only as long as he lives.
She is united to him; and is under his authority as the head of the household. To him is particularly committed the headship of the family, and the wife is subject to his law, in the Lord (Eph. 5:22-23).
“she is loosed from the law of her husband.”
Literally: “She is set free from the law of her husband.” When her husband is dead she is discharged from the law by which she was bound to him alone. The husband no longer has authority over her and the woman can marry again without committing adultery.
LOOSED: (Grk.–katergetai), i.e., “discharged,”–from the law which, so long as he lived, bound him to her as her husband, and thus bound her to him. Refer back to 3:3. The woman ahs been brought to a “nothing” condition in respect to the law of the husband.
“the law of the husband”–This is really an unusual Greek expression, but it shows the legal responsibilities of a woman to her husband. One expositor (Morris) calls it, “a husband-type law.”
When the husband dies the wife also dies (“is brought to nought”) so far as the marriage relation is concerned. The husband is represented as the party who died because the figure of a second marriage is introduced with its application to believers (v. 4). Believers are made dead to the Law as the wife is maritally dead —killed in respect of the marriage relation by her husband’s death. This is the only illustration in which death liberates a person who yet remains alive and can enter into new relations.
VERSE 3:
“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 not an adulteress, though she be married to another man.”
“if while her husband liveth”
Literally: “{if} the husband {is} living.” —The purpose for Paul’s illustration here is to show that both parties are equally bound to the other; but that the death of either dissolves the engagement.
“she be married to another man,”
Literally: “if she becomes another man’s”–Become joined to another man.
MARRIED: (Grk.–hypoandros)–This Greek word literally means, “under the power of a man.” In Jewish society this was the actual legal standing of the wife because she could not divorce her husband.
“she shall be called an adulteress”
Literally: “she will be called an adulteress.”–That is, she will be an adulteress, by the consent and judgment of all men. She will be noted and accounted as such by everybody, except in the above mentioned cases:
SHE SHALL BE CALLED: (Grk.–chrēmatisei)–Literally: “she shall be formally called” (see Acts 11:26). This Greek word used here often used to denote being called by an oracle, or by Divine revelation. This word is used only here and in Acts 11:26. But it is here employed in the simple sense of being commonly called, or of being so regarded.
The Greek expositor, (B. Reicke) says that the Greek root word (chrēmatizō)-–Literally means: “warn, direct, reveal, disclose, be called, have the name of” (see Acts 11:26), really, “denotes divine instruction by revelation” and here it is used to indicate that the woman, ‘is publicly reckoned an adulteress.”
“but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law,”
Literally: “but if the husband dies, she is free from the law.”–If her husband be dead; then there can be no exception to her marriage. The release of her husband from it by death, is also her release.
“so that she is not an adulteress, though she be married to another man.”
Literally: “{as for} her not to be an adulterous {by} becoming another man’s”
VERSE 4:
“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 death.”
The main here idea there is that death dissolves a connection from which our obligation resulted; that as death dissolves the connection between a wife and her husband, and her obligation of the law resulting from that connection, so does the death of the Christian to the Law dissolves that connection.
“Wherefore”
Literally: “so that, accordingly, therefore, consequently.”–This verse contains an application of the illustration in the two preceding verses.
This is the single point of the illustration, and consequently there is no need of inquiring whether by the wife Paul meant to denote the old man, or the Christian, etc. Paul is attempting to point out to the Roman Jewish believers that as death dissolves the connection between a wife and her husband, so does the death of the Christian to the Law dissolves that connection and prepares the way for another union, meaning their union with Christ, from which a new and more efficient obligation results. The purpose here is to show that the new connection would accomplish more important effects than the old. This is a parallel case. Paul is saying to the Jewish believers,
“You were once under the Law of Moses, and were bound by its injunctions; but now ye are become dead to that law-a modest, inoffensive mode of speech, for, the Law, which was once your husband, is dead.”
God has determined that the Law shall no longer be in force; so that now, (as a woman whose husband is dead is freed from the law of that husband, or from her conjugal vow, and may legally be married to another), so God, Who gave the Law under which you have been living, meant that it should be in force only till the coming of the Messiah. Now that that advent has taken place, the Law has ceased, and now you have been called to take on you the yoke of the Gospel, and lay down the yoke of the Law.
“my brethren”
Literally: “my brothers”–This is a parallel case. You were once under the Law of Moses, and were bound by its injunctions; but now you are become dead to that Law.
“ye also are become dead to the Law”
Literally: “You also were made dead to the Law.”– See study of 6:3-4, 8.. Our connection with the Law is done away with.
Paul is not saying that we are dead to the Law, or released from it as far as our obligation to obey it. We are dead to the Law as a way of justification and sanctification. In the great matter of acceptance with God, we have ceased to rely on the Law because we have become dead to it, and are now under a different and better plan.
MADE DEAD: (Grk.–ethanatothete)–Literally: “were slain, were made dead; were put to death.” This principle, under the figure of marriage, is applied to those believers who were once under the Law of Moses.
They were then related to it as a wife to a husband. But in the sixth chapter it has been shown that all disciples of Christ have died, been buried, and risen with Him (6:2-5); therefore, having died, they had been released from the Law. They now are as free from the Mosaic Law as an husband is, when his wife is dead . As new creatures, they could be espoused to another (meaning Christ). Christians are so united to Christ living by vital union with Him, being found in Him, that whatever was done to Him is said to have been done to them in His Person, or through His body. The church is spiritually the Body of Christ (I Cor. 12:27).
God, who gave the Law under which you have been living, meant that it should be in force only till the advent of the Messiah. That advent has now taken place, and as a consequence, the Law has consequently ceased, and now you are called to take on you the yoke of the Gospel, and lay down the yoke of the Law. This is God’s plan for you now.
“by the body of Christ”
Literally: “Through the body of Christ.” —That is, by His body crucified; in other words, by His death.
“Having abolished in His flesh the enmity,” etc. (Eph 2:15,); that is, by His death .
“In the body of His flesh through death,” (Col. 1:22).;
“Who bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (I Peter 2:24).
The sense is, therefore, that by the death of Christ as an atoning sacrifice; by His suffering for us that which would be sufficient to meet the demands of the law; by His taking our place, He has released us from the Law as a Way of Justification, freed us from its penalty, and saved us from its curse so that now, having been released, we are at liberty to be united to the Law of Him who has thus bought us with His blood.
BODY: (Grk.–zoma)—It is interesting that Paul here uses the Greek word, (zoma)– “body”—and not his usual word, (sarx)—“flesh.”
Paul uses “zoma” when he is referring to a metaphorical organism, such as the Church (see 12:4; I Cor. 10:16; 12:12-27; Eph. 1:23, 2:16) and he uses “sarx” if he is describing something of man as “mortal” (II Cor. 4:11); subject to infirmity (Gal. 4:13; II Cor. 12:7); locally limited (Col. 2:15).
To the Jewish believer, the announcement is now made that he was made dead to the Law through the body of Christ, in order to be wed to Another; i.e., to the risen Christ, and to bring fruit to God. He has been discharged from the Law and into service in newness of spirit. This was truly a startling announcement to those who for 1500 years had known nothing but the Law.
“that ye should be married to another”
Literally: “so you could be married to another”–That you might be united to another, and come under His Law, point out that the believers are now married to Christ.
Paul now concludes his illustration in verses 2-3. As the woman that is freed from the law of her husband by his death , when married again comes under the authority of another, so we who are made free from the law and its curse by the death of Christ, are brought under the new law of faithfulness and obedience to Him with whom we are thus united.:
“even to Him who is raised from the dead”
Literally: ”To the {One}having been raised from {the} dead.”
Meaning Christ. In other words, should come into a state of justification by virtue of your union with Christ through faith. Deliverance from the law of God as a covenant of works, and from the necessity of obeying it as a ground of justification, is essential to the obeying of it as a rule of duty. See the force of this explained (verse 6:8).
“that we should bring forth fruit unto God”
Literally: “That we may bear fruit to God.”–That we should live a holy life. This is the point and scope of all this illustration.
The new connection is such as will make us holy. It is also implied that the tendency of the law was only to bring forth fruit unto death (6:5) and that the tendency of the gospel is to make man holy and pure (comp. Gal. 5:22-23). The object of the marriage with the risen Christ is that we might bring forth fruit for God.