“Now, dear brothers and sisters[a]—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living? For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. ” Romans 7:1-2 NLT.  

Footsteps #319 In Romans 6 Paul has used illustrations related to baptism and slavery. In Romans 7:1-6 he draws an analogy from marriage law. In order to realise the force of the illustration in Romans 7:1-6, we need to remember that keeping the law was the way that pious Jews expected to gain salvation. The rich young man who told Jesus that he had observed all the commandments was quite sincere in his desire for perfection (Matt 19:16-30), and when Paul writes that as a Pharisee he had been blameless regarding the law (Phil. 3:6), he was speaking in terms of sober fact as far as the Pharisaic mind perceived things. Yet in Christ, he found a new life, new power, new joy, and new peace that he had never known before.   

In Romans 7:1-3, using the marriage relationship as an analogy, he notes that the wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but that after his death she is free to marry another. Paul’s argument is complex, but his meaning is clear. Death – the believer’s death-with-Christ – breaks the bond which formerly yoked him to the law, and he is now free to enter into union with Christ. The law proved to be fruitless as a way of salvation. Union with the law brought sin and death, but union with Christ brings life eternal. Death puts an end to the legal obligation of marriage. Now in v4 Paul applies that illustration to the Christian experience, but with a slight shift in characters. The illustration of vs1–3 had the death of the husband freeing the wife from the law. But in the application of v4 the death of sinful self, releases believers from the condemnation and dominion of the law and frees them to join Christ.   

And how is it that Christians have “died to the law”? That death took place when they allowed their old selves to be “crucified” with Christ as they entered the watery grave of baptism (Rom.6:3-6). The believer’s death with Christ is a death to the law as a way of salvation. Trusting to the grace of God means putting to death any trust in the law as the road to heaven. The law says do, the gospel says done! Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law (perfection) on our behalf.