Romans 7 study. Comments in >>blue.
1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
>>Tent maker Paul now changes hats and becomes Attorney Paul and breaks out his lawyer-speak. Paul is continuing the discussion from Romans 6. He starts off talking to those who know or have experience in the law. It is generally accepted that law only applies to the living, since a dead person can't "do" anything to break the law. It is preposterous to think that you could throw a corpse in jail. Now this doesn't prevent those in power from trying to get what remains in the deceased's estate after they die. But that would bring politics into this and..... moving on.
2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.
>>Marriage laws throughout history have maintained that a marriage lasts and continues while both spouses are alive. "Till death do us part". This was a common thing in the old days even in middle-aged or younger couples, that often one spouse dies young and leaves a widow(er) who then may remarry because the law becomes null.
3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.
>>Basic here, the wife remarries and the only difference on whether she is breaking the law is if the husband is alive or not.
4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
>>So Paul goes from an analogy in Ch. 6 of being a slave to either sin or righteousness, to an analogy of being married to either sin or another- Christ. Since we died with Christ through our faith in Him and being baptized into His life, we are free to "marry" as the bride of Christ. Using a tree or vine analogy, Paul says that we would, through this union with Christ, bear fruit to God. Yes, we are to produce good fruit, or beneficial product.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.
>>When our spirit was beholden to the "flesh" or body, our sinful passions or desires were "aroused by the law". We all have seen, I'm sure, those people, or even ourselves, who would do things against authority just because it was going against authority. We have a lot of trouble being told what to do. We Americans especially.
Again, those sinful passions created bad "fruit". Jesus outlines this in Matthew 7:
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Back to Romans 7:
6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
>>"delivered from the law" as if the law was a bad thing. The law really just puts a spotlight on the sin we have committed. And revolting against it causes more and more sin. Now that we have "died", the law is gone and we can serve in the Spirit and not because the law told you to serve. Read through the interactions Jesus had with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were all-consumed with following the letter of the law. Jesus showed that the spirit of the law was more important.
1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
>>Tent maker Paul now changes hats and becomes Attorney Paul and breaks out his lawyer-speak. Paul is continuing the discussion from Romans 6. He starts off talking to those who know or have experience in the law. It is generally accepted that law only applies to the living, since a dead person can't "do" anything to break the law. It is preposterous to think that you could throw a corpse in jail. Now this doesn't prevent those in power from trying to get what remains in the deceased's estate after they die. But that would bring politics into this and..... moving on.
2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.
>>Marriage laws throughout history have maintained that a marriage lasts and continues while both spouses are alive. "Till death do us part". This was a common thing in the old days even in middle-aged or younger couples, that often one spouse dies young and leaves a widow(er) who then may remarry because the law becomes null.
3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.
>>Basic here, the wife remarries and the only difference on whether she is breaking the law is if the husband is alive or not.
4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
>>So Paul goes from an analogy in Ch. 6 of being a slave to either sin or righteousness, to an analogy of being married to either sin or another- Christ. Since we died with Christ through our faith in Him and being baptized into His life, we are free to "marry" as the bride of Christ. Using a tree or vine analogy, Paul says that we would, through this union with Christ, bear fruit to God. Yes, we are to produce good fruit, or beneficial product.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.
>>When our spirit was beholden to the "flesh" or body, our sinful passions or desires were "aroused by the law". We all have seen, I'm sure, those people, or even ourselves, who would do things against authority just because it was going against authority. We have a lot of trouble being told what to do. We Americans especially.
Again, those sinful passions created bad "fruit". Jesus outlines this in Matthew 7:
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Back to Romans 7:
6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
>>"delivered from the law" as if the law was a bad thing. The law really just puts a spotlight on the sin we have committed. And revolting against it causes more and more sin. Now that we have "died", the law is gone and we can serve in the Spirit and not because the law told you to serve. Read through the interactions Jesus had with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were all-consumed with following the letter of the law. Jesus showed that the spirit of the law was more important.
