ὁ νόμος κυριεύει … ἐθανατώθητε τῷ νόμῳ διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ (7:1–6)

Says ὁ νόμος κυριεύει (kyrieuei, "has authority") over a person ἐφʼ ὅσον χρόνον ζῇ, as long as he lives (7:1; as in 6:9, 14). A wife whose husband dies κατήργηται (katērgētai, perfect passive of καταργέω), "is released," from the law of the husband (7:2). So believers ἐθανατώθητε (ethanatōthēte, aorist passive) τῷ νόμῳ, "died to the law," a dative "in relation to" (Abbott-Smith) as in 6:2, 10–11, διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ (7:4), and κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου (7:6; text: var.Rom.7.6.apothanontes).

Implies τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ is his body given up in death on the cross: διά names the means of the believers' death, as in their dying with him (6:3–6); compare ἐν τῷ σώματι τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ διὰ τοῦ θανάτου (Col 1:22). The alternative is the church as his body (12:5; 1 Cor 12:27).

Uncertain How the picture maps. In 7:2–3 the husband dies; in 7:4 the believers themselves die. This note leans to an illustration of one point, release from the law by a death, 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.

Uncertain ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος … οὐ παλαιότητι γράμματος (kainotēti pneumatos … palaiotēti grammatos, 7:6). This note leans to God's Spirit, "the new way of the Spirit" (BSB): γράμμα and πνεῦμα are set against each other in 2:29 and 2 Cor 3:6, and 8:2–4 takes it up. The alternative is a new inner spirit.