Released from the law by a death: died to the law through the body of Christ (Romans 7:1–6)

Says Paul begins from a rule: "the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives" (7:1, BSB). A married woman "is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives" (7:2, BSB); if he dies, "she is free from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man" (7:3, BSB). So "you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God" (7:4, BSB). ἐθανατώθητε τῷ νόμῳ (ethanatōthēte tō nomō, "you were put to death in relation to the law") is aorist passive (note.language.Rom.7.1-Rom.7.6.katargeo-soma-christou; lex.G5220; lex.G1210; lex.G3428; lex.G2961).

Implies "Through the body of Christ" (7:4) refers to his body given up in death on the cross, not to the church. διά (dia, "through") names the means of the believers' death, as in their dying with him (6:3–6), and Col 1:22 joins his physical body and his death. The alternative takes it of the church as his body (12:5; 1 Cor 12:27). The union with Christ in his death is set out in note.exegetical.Rom.6.5-Rom.6.11.died-with-christ and is not repeated here.

Uncertain How the marriage picture maps. In 7:2–3 the husband dies; in 7:4 the believers themselves die. This commentary follows the Greek note's lean: the picture illustrates one point, release from the law by a death, and is not an exact allegory, since the application changes who dies. The alternative maps it closely, with the law or the old self (6:6) as the first husband.

Says "For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death" (7:5, BSB). "But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law" (7:6, BSB), so that we serve in newness of πνεῦμα (pneuma, "Spirit, spirit"), not in the oldness of γράμμα (gramma, "letter, written code") (lex.G3804; lex.G3821; lex.G1121; lex.G1398). The text ἀποθανόντες (apothanontes, "having died") is printed with high confidence; TR's ἀποθανόντος (apothanontos, "[it] having died") would make the law the one that died (var.Rom.7.6.apothanontes).

Uncertain Whether πνεύματος (pneumatos, "of S/spirit") in 7:6 is God's Spirit (lean; BSB "the new way of the Spirit"; γράμμα and πνεῦμα are contrasted in 2:29 and 2 Cor 3:6) or a new inner spirit (alternative). Rom 8:2–4 takes the contrast up.

Background. Roman and Jewish marriage law, including that under Jewish law only the husband could divorce, is set out in note.historical.Rom.7.1-Rom.7.25.marriage-law. The background explains the picture; it does not fix how it maps.