Romans 7:1

This chapter relates closely to what Paul had already written, especially with reference to the law of Moses; and the problem to which he addressed these words was that of the inordinate attachment of many Jewish Christians to the law, and their determination to bind certain provisions of it upon Gentile converts to Christ. This great problem, perhaps the greatest problem of all that confronted that age of the church, was of overriding consequence anywhere it surfaced; and Paul was certain that it would surface in Rome, hence the content of much of this epistle. The great apostle, more than any other, was responsible for divorcing Christianity from Judaism; and, but for his efforts, it was altogether possible that Christianity itself might have become but an antechamber of Judaism. A full and constant attention to what the problem was should accompany the study of this chapter.

Three times Paul had already indicated the severance of Christian faith from its Judaistic parent: (1) In Romans 3:20-24, he had elaborated the truth that no flesh can be justified by the law, that the law and the prophets themselves had foretold the new faith, and that God's grace had provided free and full redemption "in Christ Jesus." (2) In Rom.5:20,21, he had shown the temporary nature of the law, given primarily to expose sin, making it "abound," and that it was not true life at all but the means through which "sin reigned in death." (3) In Romans 6:14, Paul flatly declared that Christians were not under law at all, but under grace (a synecdoche for the entirely new system of Christianity). These three considerations of the relationship between the law of Moses and Christianity make up the subject of the entire seventh chapter, in which Paul took them up one by one and in the reverse order, proving first (Romans 7:1-5) that Christians are not bound in any sense whatever to the law of Moses, next showing holy the law made sin abound (Romans 7:6-13), and then demonstrating why no flesh could be justified by the law (Romans 7:14-25).

Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law hath dominion over a man for so long a time as he liveth? For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from the law of the husband. So then, if while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man. (Romans 7:1-3)

These three verses have a bearing upon the Christian doctrine of marriage, as indicated by Hodge, thus:

The doctrine concerning marriage, which is here incidentally taught, or rather which is assumed as known by Christians and Jews is, that the marriage contract can only be dissolved by death. The only exception to this rule is given by Christ (Matthew 5:32); unless indeed Paul (1 Corinthians 7:15) recognizes willful and final desertion as a sufficient ground of divorce.[1]

Regarding divorce, the Holy Scriptures teach that marriage is dissolved: (1) by death; (2) by adultery; and (3) by desertion, the latter not being strictly considered as ANOTHER ground beyond that given by Christ, but rather as prima facie evidence of the existence of ground (2), that of adultery. Paul did not here mention any exceptions, his analogy depending upon death as the terminator of Israel's marriage with God, and thus making the mention of any exceptions unnecessary.

Bearing in mind Paul's purpose in this paragraph of showing that Christians are no longer under Moses' law, the thrust of his words is simple and dramatic. In the Old Testament, God represented himself as being a husband to Israel and the relationship between them and God as a marriage contract (Jeremiah 31:32; Ezekiel 23, etc.). That marriage contract is no longer in force, for God died to Israel in the person of his Son upon Calvary! That really nullified the relationship between God and Israel. Thus, God is represented as a husband whose death has broken the ties that bound him to the wife Israel, not merely leaving Israel free to be united to another (Christ), but also leaving the old ties (the law of Moses, etc.) without any meaning or validity at all!

Paul could have selected other grounds for affirming that God had annulled the marriage contract with Israel, such as Israel's wanton disobedience and disregard of it as set forth by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:32f); but Paul's choice of the astounding fact of God's death in the person of his Son was a far more appropriate expression of the absolute termination that had fallen upon Judaism. Israel's wanton rebellion against God had come at last to full fruit when Christ himself was slain by them (see under Romans 3:26); and therefore, as far as the whole system of Judaism is concerned, it has exactly the same status as a marriage contract after the husband's funeral. Christ as God risen from the dead is married to another, the new bride being his church (Ephesians 5:22-33); and what a preposterous thing it would be to suppose that the new wife should abide by the terms of the marriage contract of the old wife. Devastatingly, Paul removed all grounds upon which the Judaizing teachers in the church might seek to impose portions of the law upon Christians.

Macknight's discernment of Paul's purpose in this paragraph is seen in this:

(Paul's purpose is) to wean the Jews from their extreme attachment to the law of Moses, and to make them sensible of the absurdity of pressing that law upon the Gentiles.[2]

Thus, it was the annulment of God's marriage contract with Israel through the death of Christ that abrogated and terminated that entire system, finally and irrevocably. As Paul himself expressed it: "He took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" (Colossians 2:14).

Scholars have made extensive efforts to view this chapter as applicable primarily to Christians with a consequent perplexity as to the meaning here. Griffith Thomas noted that "there are very few commentators clear on this point";[3] and even Macknight considered that the "Jews were put to death by the body of Christ";[4] and, from this, he reasoned that the Jews were free of the law of Moses because of their own death in the person of Christ; but to be "dead with Christ" and "in Christ" is to have eternal life, a result which cannot be claimed upon behalf of the people who rejected and crucified the Lord. The death of Christ did indeed have a consequence to Israel, as seen below.

The death of Christ (God come in the flesh) meant that all things whatsoever that pertained to God's relationship with Israel (viewed scripturally as a marriage contract), including the law of Moses, circumcision, the sacrifices, and the whole theocratic system perished on the cross of Jesus and were buried in the new tomb of Joseph of Arimathea; and don't forget to include the sabbath day in all that. Thus, not even Israel, much less Christians, had any further spiritual benefit to be procured through keeping the religious regulations of the Old Testament. God was free of all prior obligations resulting from the covenants with Israel, free to be married to another; but this meant that Israel was also free of any further obligation or benefit in the law. The great promise to Abraham was not annulled, but was shown to have been upon a higher level and ultimately designed to include all the families of the earth, Jews and Gentiles alike, as the one new man "in Christ," and therefore Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

[1] Charles Hodge, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), p. 220.

[2] James Macknight, Apostolical Epistles (Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1960), p. 88.

[3] Griffith Thomas, St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 183.

[4] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 90.