DEAD TO THE LAW
Romans 7:1‑6
The Christian is not under the law. The good works of the Christian are not an attempt to keep the laws that God has established. Understanding this freedom from the law is one of the most difficult things in the Christian life. The Apostle presents this important truth by stating a well‑known principle, and then by illustrating the principle. The principle is that a man is under the law only as long as he lives: "How that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?" When you consider this, the truth is obvious. The law cannot accuse or condemn a dead man. It can bring charges and condemnation only while a man is alive. The obvious question is "what law is the Apostle referring to?" The answer is "all law". He is using the word law in the general sense of law. It would include the law God gave through Moses.

Paul uses the law of marriage to illustrate this principle. The marriage bond is a lasting bond. While a woman is still married to one man, she is surely not free to go marry another man. However death breaks this bond. Whenever the husband of a woman dies, she is no longer bound to the man. She is absolutely free to go forth and be married to another man. Otherwise she would be an adulteress if she married another man without being free from her first husband.

The application of the illustration is simple. We were under the law like a wife is under a husband. We were in subjection to the law. But instead of our husband dying, we died. The law did not die for in fact it is still alive and well. But we did die with the result that we no longer owe anything, nor have any obligation to our first husband, the law. Our freedom from the law came through death. The fourth verse is the point of application. In it are set forth in summary fashion the great truths about our freedom from the law.

WE DIED TO THE LAW THROUGH THE DEATH OF CHRIST
“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ;'' Each word in that statement must be understood. The "brethren" includes the whole Christian family. This is not just a word addressed to Hebrew believers. All men, Jew and Gentile, were once under the dominion of the law. Even the Gentile had in his conscience a law that indicted and condemned him. "Are become dead" means literally "ye are put to death", The word does not mean that we just died a normal and natural death. The word is one that would call attention to the violent nature of the death. We died violently. The "ye" in the statement is emphatic. Each believer has been put to a violent death to the law. It was a death that ended any responsibility, or duty toward the law, just like the death of a husband would end the duty and responsibility of a wife toward her husband.

The key word is "through the body of Christ." "Through" means "by"; The body of Christ is the means whereby the violent death to the law took place. The "body of Christ" is a reference to the body of Christ as offered upon the Cross. It is focusing upon His death for us. It was His death upon the Cross that worked out this death to the law. Space would prevent our exploring all of the significance of this, but let it suffice to just be reminded that through His death He completely satisfied any demand the law had against us. The law will never be able to find any basis for condemnation because all of its righteous demands have been satisfied. Jesus did it for us upon the Cross. Then through our identification with Him, whatever happened to Him, happened to us. He was born under the law, just like us. But when He died on the Cross, He died to the law. So when He died to the law, we died to the law. This means that when I hear the thunder of the Old Testament law, instead of being overwhelmed with a sense of guilt and duty, I am to be awakened to thanksgiving that everything the law demands I have done in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have died to the law. It can no longer impose upon me duty and guilt and condemnation.

Does this raise a question in your mind? You may begin to reason, then if we are free from the law, dead to the law, it does not matter how we live. We can totally disregard any precept of the law. However you need to listen to the whole passage. We were not set free from the law so we would not have to obey the law, but because we could not obey the law. This freedom also does not give us a license to sin, but rather a freedom to become what God wants us to be. This brings us to the real purpose of this death to the law.

WE DIED TO THE LAW THAT WE MIGHT BE MARRIED TO CHRIST
The illustration is still in the mind of the Apostle. Our death to the law in the body of Christ was that we might be set free from the law. We needed to be set free from the law because there was another Lover who had His heart set upon us. Since the death to the law has taken place, we are now free to be married to another. This second husband is none other than the One who was raised from the dead. Of course this is an obvious reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the background of this great truth is the implication that our marriage to the law was a bad marriage. The badness of this marriage is described in verse five. "For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto sin." Our language must be reverent in studying this passage. The Apostle is reminding us of what happened as the result of our being joined to the law as a wife to her husband. All the law could do was excite in us the passions which produce sin, which in the end means that a fruit was brought forth which resulted in death.  Both the law and Death are personified. It is as though we were the wife, the law the husband, and death is one waiting for the birth of the child. The product of the union is unto death!

But through the death of Christ upon the Cross, we died so that we are now utterly free from the bondage of that marriage. We now have our death certificate in the Gospel. Every time the law comes around trying to act as our husband, we pull out the death certificate of the Gospel. We inform him that we died two thousand years ago to the marriage with him. God Himself has signed and witnessed the death certificate that set us free from that marriage. So that now we are married to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Reverence must be used here to help us understand the nature of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are one with Christ like a husband and wife are one. A husband and wife are one flesh, but we are one with the Lord in spirit. We are married to Him. This means that we are in subjection to Him just like a wife is to be in subjection unto her husband. It means that our Lord bestows upon us the kind of care that a husband bestows upon his wife. Truly He is the good husband!

However the primary thing set before us is the purpose of this marriage. The purpose is "that we should bring forth fruit unto God." We are made one with Christ that fruit might come forth unto God. Just as a husband and wife are made one flesh that children might be born, that the earth might be replenished, so we are joined to Christ in marriage spiritually that spiritual fruit might be produced before God. What would this fruit be? Holiness, godly character! The very type of character that the law demanded of us! God's purpose is further stated by Paul as "that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.''

Instead of concluding this study, I want to apply it. The lessons for us are clear. 

First, because of the death of Christ upon the Cross for us, we are free from the law. Every demand that law had against us has been satisfied. Our only sense of duty is toward the Lord Jesus, and not toward the Old Testament law, or any law.

Second, our being under the law never produced any holiness. Rather it produced just the opposite. It produced the brats of sin and iniquity and uncleanness. This makes it clear that what you need in order to produce better men is not better moral training. Teaching men moral principles is never enough. In fact, such instruction will often backfire and produce a pattern of worse behavior.

Third, the only hope of our ever being sanctified, being holy, being what God wants us to be, is in being joined to the Lord Jesus. He is a good husband. He is able to produce through us the very children that God is pleased with ‑‑‑ love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. He will produce in us Christian character that will be a reflection of His own character. This means that what you need in your Christian life in order to know moral change is not a new set of rules, but a better relationship with your husband. Focus your attention on your Husband, and you will be amazed at what He can do.

My dear frustrated friend,  have you been trying in your own efforts to keep the law and to work your way to heaven? What you need is a new Husband. You need to be free from the law. You will never find fulfillment in that relationship. But a divorce will not do it-- takes a death. You must come to the Cross of the Lord Jesus and accept by faith what He did upon the Cross for you. This means that you die to the law, and then you can receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Husband. Then out of your new relationship with Him will begin to flow the very life you have always sought. 
 Will you make such a move toward God today?