Romans 7:6

7:1-6 So long as a man continues under the law as a covenant, and seeks justification by his own obedience, he continues the slave of sin in some form. Nothing but the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, can make any sinner free from the law of sin and death. Believers are delivered from that power of the law, which condemns for the sins committed by them. And they are delivered from that power of the law which stirs up and provokes the sin that dwells in them. Understand this not of the law as a rule, but as a covenant of works. In profession and privilege, we are under a covenant of grace, and not under a covenant of works; under the gospel of Christ, not under the law of Moses. The difference is spoken of under the similitude or figure of being married to a new husband. The second marriage is to Christ. By death we are freed from obligation to the law as a covenant, as the wife is from her vows to her husband. In our believing powerfully and effectually, we are dead to the law, and have no more to do with it than the dead servant, who is freed from his master, has to do with his master's yoke. The day of our believing, is the day of being united to the Lord Jesus. We enter upon a life of dependence on him, and duty to him. Good works are from union with Christ; as the fruitfulness of the vine is the product of its being united to its roots; there is no fruit to God, till we are united to Christ.

The law, and the greatest efforts of one under the law, still in the flesh, under the power of corrupt principles, cannot set the heart right with regard to the love of God, overcome worldly lusts, or give truth and sincerity in the inward parts, or any thing that comes by the special sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. Nothing more than a formal obedience to the outward letter of any precept, can be performed by us, without the renewing, new-creating grace of the new covenant.

But now we are delivered from the law, that {i} being dead {k} wherein we were {l} held; that we should serve in {m} newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the {n} letter. (i) As if he said, The bond which bound us is dead, and has disappeared, in as much that the sin which held us does not have anything to hold us with now. (k) For this husband is within us. (l) Satan is an unjust possessor, for he deceitfully brought us into bondage to sin and himself: and yet nonetheless, as long as we are sinners, we sin willingly. (m) As is appropriate for those who, after the death of their old husband, are joined to the Spirit, the ones whom the Spirit of God has made new men. (n) By the letter he means the law, with respect to that old condition: for before our will is shaped by the Holy Spirit, the law speaks but to deaf men, and therefore it is dumb and dead to us, with regard to the fulfilling of it.

But now; i.e. being brought out of our fleshly state. We are delivered from the law: see the notes on Romans 7:4 . That being dead wherein we were held; the relative is not in the Greek text, but it is well supplied to fill up the sense. The antecedent must be either sin or the law; by both of these we were held or detained whilst unregenerate; but now neither of these have any power to hold us with. Some read it, he being dead; the old man, of which he spake in the foregoing chapter. That we should serve in newness of spirit; i.e. that we should serve God, or Jesus Christ, our new husband, in true holiness, which is wrought in us by the renewing of the spirit; or serve him in a new spiritual manner. And not in the oldness of the letter; i.e. not in an outward and ceremonial manner, according to the letter of the law; which service, or way of worship, is now antiquated, and grown out of date. The word oldness insinuates the abolishing thereof, because of insufficiency, Hebrews 8:13 .

(6) That being dead. —Our translators seem to have had a false reading here, which is not found in any MS., but arose from an error of Beza and Erasmus in interpreting a comment of Chrysostom’s. The true reading runs thus: “But as it is we were” (not “are”) “delivered from the Law, having died to that wherein we were held.” In the act of our baptism, which united us to Christ, we obtained a release from our old tyrant, the Law. Wherein we were held.—Oppressed, held in bondage. That we should serve.—Rather, perhaps, so that we serve; result, not purpose. Our release from one master implied an engagement to another. Our new state is one in which we serve an active living Spirit; our old state was a bondage to the dead and formal letter. The “Spirit” is here the Holy Spirit, as the animating principle of the new life, and as opposed to a system which proceeds merely by external precepts and requirements.

Romans 7:6 . νυνὶ δὲ as things stand, considering what we are as Christians. κατηργήθημεν : cf. Romans 7:2 . We are discharged from the law, by our death to that in which we were held. But what is this? Most expositors, say the law; Philippi even makes τοῦ νόμου the antecedent of ἐν ᾧ , rendering, we have been delivered, by dying, from the law in which we were held. This construction is too artificial to be true; and if we supply τούτῳ with ἀποθανόντες , something vaguer than the law, though involving and involved by it (the old life in the flesh, for instance) must be meant. ὥστε δουλεύειν κ . τ . λ .: “enabling us to serve” (S. and H.): for ὥστε with inf in N.T., see Blass, Gramm. des N.T. Griech. , § 219. ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος κ . τ . λ . = in a new way, which only the possession of the spirit makes possible, not in the old way which alone was possible when we were under the letter of the law. For the Pauline contrast of πνεῦμα and γράμμα , see 2 Corinthians 3; for οὐ in this expression, see Burton, § 481.

6. But now—On the same expression, see on [2214]Ro 6:22, and compare Jas 1:15. we are delivered from the law—The word is the same which, in Ro 6:6 and elsewhere, is rendered "destroyed," and is but another way of saying (as in Ro 7:4) that "we were slain to the law by the body of Christ"; language which, though harsh to the ear, is designed and fitted to impress upon the reader the violence of that death of the Cross, by which, as by a deadly wrench, we are "delivered from the law." that being dead wherein we were held—It is now universally agreed that the true reading here is, "being dead to that wherein we were held." The received reading has no authority whatever, and is inconsistent with the strain of the argument; for the death spoken of, as we have seen, is not the law's, but ours, through union with the crucified Saviour. that we should—"so as to" or "so that we." serve in newness of spirit—"in the newness of the spirit." and not in the oldness of the letter—not in our old way of literal, mechanical obedience to the divine law, as a set of external rules of conduct, and without any reference to the state of our hearts; but in that new way of spiritual obedience which, through union to the risen Saviour, we have learned to render (compare Ro 2:29; 2Co 3:6). False Inferences regarding the Law Repelled (Ro 7:7-25). And first, Ro 7:7-13, in the case of the UNREGENERATE.

Verse 6. - But now (meaning, as things are , not at the present time , as is shown by the aorist following) we have been (properly, we were ) delivered ( κατηργήθημεν , the same verb as in ver. 2; see note on that verse) from the Law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in oldness of the letter . In the word "serve" ( δουλεύειν ) we observe a resumption of the idea of Romans 6:16 , seq. , where we were regarded under the aspect of being still bond-servants, though to a new master. There the apostle intimated that he was but speaking humanly in describing our new allegiance to righteousness as bond-service, such as we had once been under. Here he intimates the true character of our new service by the addition of the words, ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος καὶ οὐ παλαιότητι γράμματος . These are characteristic and significant expressions. "Spirit" and "letter" are similarly contrasted ( Romans 2:29 ; 2 Corinthians 3:6 ). "Spiritum literae opponit, quia antequam ad Dei voluntatem voluntas nostra per Spiritum sanctum formats sit, non habemus in Lege nisi externam literam; quae fraenum quidem externis nostris actionibus injicit, concupiscientiae autem nostrae furorem minime cohibet. Novitatem. vero Spiritui attribuit, quia in locum veteris hominis succedit; ut litera vetus dicitur quae interit per Spiritus regenerationem" (Calvin).

Otherwise, with regard to newness and old ness, "Vetustatis et novitatis vocabulo Paulus spectat duo testamenta" (Bengel). That the latter idea may have suggested the expressions seems not unlikely from 2 Corinthians 3:6-18 (cf. also Hebrews 8:6-13 ). For in both these passages the idea of the verse before us enters, and in both the old and new covenants are contrasted with regard to it. It may be enough here to say that the contrast in its essence is between exacted conformity to an external code (which was the characteristic of the old covenant) and inspired allegiance to the Law of God written on the heart (which is the characteristic of the new). Romans 7:6

Romans 7:6 . Ἀποθανόντες , being dead ) So Romans 7:4 , ye became dead , said of that party, which corresponds to the wife: comp. Galatians 2:19 . I have shown in der Antwort wegen des N. T. p . 55. A. 1745, that Chrysostom also read ἀποθανόντες , not ἀποθανόντος .[68]— ᾡ ) A plain construction in this sense: we have been set free by death from the law, which held us fast.— κατειχόμεθα ) an expressive term; comp. συνέκλεισε , ch. Romans 11:32 , ἐφρουρούμεθα , Galatians 3:23 .— ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος , καὶ οὐ παλαιότητι γράμματος , in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter ) We have the same antithesis, ch. Romans 2:29 ; 2 Corinthians 3:6 . The letter is not the law considered in itself, inasmuch as, thus considered, it is spiritual and living [instinct with life] Romans 7:14 ; Acts 7:38 [the lively oracles], but in respect of the sinner, to whom it cannot give spirit and life, but leaves him to death, nay even it to a more profound extent hands him over to its power: although he may in the mean time aim at the performance of what the letter and its mere sound command to be done; so that the appearance and the name may still remain, just as a dead hand is still a hand. But the Spirit is given by the Gospel and by faith, and bestows life and newness, 2 Corinthians 3:6 ; comp. John 6:63 .

The words oldness and newness are used here by Paul in relation to the two testaments or covenants, although believers have now for a long time enjoyed the first fruits of the New Testament; and at the present day unbelievers retain the remnants, nay rather the whole substance, of the Old Testament. Observe too, the ἐν , in . is put once, not twice [The Engl. Vers. wrongly supplies in before the oldness . But Beng. That we should not serve the oldness , etc.] We have served oldness not God: comp. Galatians 4:9 , οἷς , to which [The beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage ]; now we serve not newness , but [we serve] God in newness , ch. Romans 6:22 . [68] So also A (B?) C, both Syr. Versions, Memph. The first correction of the Amiatine MS. of Vulg. read ἀποθάνοντες . D ( Λ ) G fg Vulg. read τοῦ θανάτου [The law of death]. Rec. Text (and B?) ἀποθάνοντος .—ED.