Romans Chapter 7 Vs. 4

 

Released from the Law

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Rom 7:4

Wherefore, my brethren,... Here Paul states that Jews are dead to the law because Christ has fulfilled its types and prophecies and abolished it, so they can be married to Him and produce fruit.

body of Christ... The body of Christ in sacrifice, not the church (Eph. 1:23; Col. 1:18, 1:24).

that we should... Referring to the fruit of John 15:16.

True Ministers Must Be

1. United to the vine (John 15:5)

2. Chosen by God to the work (John 15:15)

3. Ordained by God for the work (John 15:15)

4. Laborers to bring forth fruit, not idlers (John 6:27; 15:16)

5. Goers to the work, not waiters for the work (Mat. 28:19-20; Mark 4:35-38; 16:15-20; Acts 1:4-8)

6. Preservers of their fruit, not destroyers of it (John 15:16; 6:27)

7. Prayers that get results (John 15:16)

8. Lovers of all men (John 15:12-17; 1Jhn. 3:4-18; 1Cor. 13:1-13)

In response to faith in His Son, God makes the believing sinner forever dead to the condemnation and penalty of the law.

Just as the widow in Paul’s analogy was freed to remarry, the believer has been freed from his hostile relationship to the law that condemned him, and can therefore, be remarried, this time to Christ.

bring forth fruit... Is a transformed life that manifests new attitudes and actions.

In these verses Paul applied his illustration of marriage to a believer and the Law. He said, You also died (lit., “you were put to death,” as was true of Jesus) to the Law. Just as a believer “died to sin” (Rom. 6:2) and so is “set free from sin” (Rom. 6:18, 6:22), so he also died to the Law and is separated and set free from it (Rom. 6:14; cf. Gal. 2:19). As a wife is no longer married to her husband when he dies, so a Christian is no longer under the Law. This separation was through the body of Christ, that is, because of Christ’s death on the cross.

As a result Christians belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead (cf. Rom. 6:4, 6:9). This One of course is the Lord Jesus Christ. In a sense believers are united to Him as His bride (Eph. 5:25). God’s purpose in all this is in order that we might bear fruit to God (cf. Rom. 6:22; Gal. 5:22-23; Phlp. 1:11). Only a person who is spiritually alive can bear spiritual fruit, that is, holy living (cf. John 15:4-5). A person who is married to Christ can bear spiritual progeny. Paul moved from the second person plural (you) to the first person plural (we), including himself along with his readers.