Romanos 7:4

‘On which basis, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that you should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.'

In the same way the sacrificial death of Christ (‘through the body of Christ'; compare ‘He bore our sin in His own body on the tree' - 1 Pedro 2:24) has made us ‘dead to the Law'. While Jesus was alive on earth men were bound by the Law. Indeed in Gálatas 4:4 Paul tells us that Jesus Himself was ‘born under the Law'. (And the fact that the Pharisees never directly accused Jesus of breaking the Law demonstrates that He adhered faithfully to it, even by their standards). But when His body was suspended on the cross His body offered in death made us ‘dead to the Law' because there He died to the Law and we died in Him. As a result we can now ‘be joined to (married to - Romanos 7:3) another'. We can become conjoined with the risen Christ, something which will result in our bringing forth fruit unto God in righteous living because we are freed from the Law's constraints, and experience His risen power. Thus the ‘first husband' could be seen as Jesus Christ in His life on earth, and the second husband as the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Many, however, see ‘you were made dead to the Law' as signifying that the Law was her first husband. She was married to the Law, but as a result of its ‘death' at the cross (Colosenses 2:14), she (the true church) can now marry the risen Christ. And the result will be fruit unto God, the fruit of righteous living (see Gálatas 5:22). But that is to read in what Paul deliberately does not say, for he does not mention the Law in this regard and that in verses where the Law is mentioned four times. In the light of Romanos 7:6 ‘dead to the Law' simply indicates a death that freed from the control of the Law. (See below for a brief discussion of different interpretations).

However, we must not, because of the detail, lose sight of the wonderful situation that is revealed by this, and that is that our union with the risen Christ is like that of a wife conjoined with her husband. In other words we are as closely united with Him as it is possible to be. As the hymn says, He ‘walks with us, and talks with us, and tells us that we are His own'. He ‘dwells in our hearts by faith' (Efesios 3:17). He has come to make His dwelling in us (Juan 14:23). He says, ‘I will come to you' (Juan 14:18). Christ lives in us (Gálatas 2:20). Our eyes are thus on Him, and not on the Law. (We must not let the work of the Holy Spirit blind us to the fact that Jesus Christ Himself and the Father also live within us. We can become too fond of splitting up the Triune God). And as Efesios 5:25 brings out, He not only dwells within us but is also at work on our lives. ‘He loved the church and gave Himself up for it, that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it with the washing of water with the word, that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish'.