Romans 7:4

Wherefore The word marks transition from the facts to the spiritual inference.

are become dead Lit., and better, were made dead; a passive verb, suggesting the external, objective work which caused their "death;" viz., the Death of their Representative and Head, the Second Adam.

to the law To its claim on you as a covenant of salvation.

by the body of Christ Which was slain for you. No reference to the mystical Body, the Church, (Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 10; Eph.; Col.;) is to be sought here. The word "body" is used, instead of "death," probably to remind the readers that the Lord "took our nature upon Him" expressly in view of His death. (See Hebrews 2:14.) Meanwhile the truth of the connexion between believers and their Head, their Second Adam, is still full in view. By virtue of it the death of the Lord counts as the death of His brethren, in respect of the claim of the Law upon them here figured as the claim of one marriage-partner over the other, to be broken only by the death of one of the two.

to another i.e., another than the Law, now regarded as defunct in respect of its claim on them. Observe that the metaphorical language here is not strictly consistent. In Romans 7:2-3, the death of the husband is contemplated; in Romans 7:4 the death of the wife. The change may be explained partly by St Paul's desire to avoid an expression so easily misunderstood as the death of the Law(see on Romans 7:6); and partly by the unique character of the spiritual fact illustrated here by a new marriage; viz. the death and resurrection(in her Representative, who now becomes her Husband also,) of the mystical Bride. The change in the metaphor, whatever its cause, leaves it unchanged as an illustration. The figure of Marriage, passingly employed here, (and still more so, Galatians 4:21-31,) is worked out more fully in Ephesians 5:23, &c., and in the Revelation. It is largely foreshadowed in O. T.; e.g. in Psalms 45; Canticles; Isaiah 54; Jeremiah 3; and in the many passages where idolatry is pictured by sin against wedlock.

to him who is raised The Lord's resurrection is here brought in, because the "death" (in Him) of His people has just been mentioned. The thought suggests both that they are "risen in Him" to the life of peace with God, and that they partake with Him, as their Risen Head, "the power of an endless life."

fruit offspring. The metaphor is carried into detail. (See for a parallel of more elaboration, James 1:15.) The "offspring" here is, obviously, the "fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22), Christian virtues; just as the "offspring" of the former marriage had been acts of sin (Romans 7:4).

unto God The Father, not Christ. The phrase does not suggest the bearing children to a Husband, but the bearing children to be then dedicated to God. So Hannah bore Samuel "unto God."