Romans 7:4-6: “…….. you also were made DEAD TO THE LAW through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God.” (WEB) 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused (the word aroused was added by anti-law leaning translators) by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit TO DEATH. (NKJV, parenthesized words added) 6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.” (WEB)
To understand these very concise verses, other verses must be acknowledged as equally valid. Some (actually a significant number) of those other verses are also guiding clues in explaining verses 4 through 6. Isaiah 28:12,13 warns us that just knowing small parts of the Bible here and there, without knowing the entire Bible, can ensnare us. Note that in Romans 7 MAJOR emphasis is on DEATH, DEATH, DEATH, DEATH, DEATH and SIN. The very major Old Testament principle of death as the final result of sinning is the main subject in the book of Romans, especially as shown in Romans 7:5,6,9,10,11, and 24. Ezekiel 18:4: “…… The soul who sins, he shall DIE.” Ezekiel 18:20: “The soul who sins, he shall DIE ……” Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is DEATH……” James 1:15: “…… sin, when it is full grown, produces DEATH.” Romans 5:12: “…… DEATH passed to all men, because all sinned.” Romans 5:14: “…… DEATH reigned …… even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience ……” (WEB) In Romans 6 and 7 the word “death” appears 11 times, not including the frequently repeated words “died” and “dead” in the New King James Version, compared to the chapters in the other books of the Bible. Therefore the major law of sin and death most likely is the law that Christians have been delivered from in Romans 7:6. Our wonderful Savior, Jesus, paid that terrible price of death for OUR SINS (primarily our past sins, not future, un-repented of sins [Romans 3:24,25]), but He paid it ONLY FOR LAW KEEPING CHRISTIANS! Again, what law have Christians become dead to and delivered from? Near the beginning of the very next chapter ROMANS 8:2 PINPOINTS the EXACT, PRECISE law that they have been delivered from, THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. Repeat, eternal DEATH is what Christians have been delivered from, or the PENALTY part of the law for breaking the law, which is distinctly different from the other part of the law that is still in force, the OBEDIENCE part of the law. Our wonderful Savior, Jesus, paid that terrible price of death for OUR SINS (primarily our past sins, not future, un-repented of sins [Romans 3:24,25]), but He paid it ONLY FOR LAW KEEPING CHRISTIANS! A very powerful clue that these Roman 7 verses DO NOT indicate OT law keeping, or obedience to the OT laws, has ended is the following: The word “sin” occurs frequently throughout the NT, 127 times in the New International Version. 1 John 3:4 defines sin as the transgression of the law, referring to the general law in the Bible. The Greek in 1 John 3:4 shows that the law includes many still applicable OT laws such as the tithing, dietary, and festival laws. If Jesus abolished the law, sin then becomes non-existent because laws no longer exist to break. But since the Bible all the way to Revelation repeatedly and solemnly warns Christians to avoid sin, defined Biblically as breaking the law, then the law is shown to still exist and be in full force. Also, if mainstreamers are correct that these Roman 7 verses provide permission to abandon law keeping then the Ten Commandments no longer need to be obeyed. The first Commandment is to worship only the one true God, not other gods. DO A LITTLE REASONABLE THINKING!! To interpret Romans 7:4-6 as proof that obedience to the law, which would include obeying the first Commandment as well as other Commandments forbidding lying, stealing, homosexuality, and other Old Testament laws prohibiting bestiality or putting stumbling blocks in front of the blind for example, has become obsolete is therefore ABSURD A DOZEN TIMES OVER, OF COURSE!! Look at Romans 7:7: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” (WEB) The “oldness of the letter” in Romans 7:6 refers to the original, Old Testament legal condemnation for breaking the law, which was the automatic death penalty part of the law for violating the law (Numbers 15:35, Mark 7:10, etc.). Look at Romans 7:12: “Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.” (WEB) Verses 7 and 12 emphasize that observing the majority of the Mosaic laws is still a necessary and integral part of Christianity. These verses are addressed to baptized Christians with the Holy Spirit faithfully obeying divine laws, thereby nullifying or suspending for themselves the penalty, and only the penalty, not the obedience part of the law, of violating Biblical laws. Romans 7:4 says that YOU, a Christian, have become dead (or immune) to the law (the penalty part of the law). Verse 4 does not say that the law itself has become dead. Concluding, there is simply TOO MUCH REASONABLE DOUBT to believe that Romans 7:4-6 conclusively and clearly proves Old Testament law keeping in general has been annulled. A far larger number of verses not only support law keeping, but EMPHATICALLY support law keeping. Remember, the Old Covenant in the Old Testament NEVER DID formally promise immortality (a release from the potentially eternal death penalty for sinning) to the ancient Israelites. So the New Testament deliverance and new freedom from eternal death is a very, very, “big deal.” Romans 7:4-6 is a REMINDER of the fabulous new freedom from eternal death (freedom from the great Law of sin and death that has plagued humanity for many thousands of years) that Christians now have, thanks to the sacrificial death of Jesus, who died for us. The word “aroused” in “the sinful passions which were aroused by the law” in Romans 7:4 is a word that has been ADDED by often anti-Old Testament law leaning translators. That word is not in the original Greek. The context is “sinful passions which were DEFINED or DESCRIBED by the law (OT and NT laws).” For a better understanding please visit http://www.ucg.org/booklet/new-covenant-does-it-abolish-gods-law/justice-and-judgment-god/ then scroll down to the lower one third of that page. Another good site is http://rcg.org/questions/p155.a.html. Again, to make sure you thoroughly understand, the meaning of Romans 7:6 can logically be discerned further through a simple process of elimination. This verse obviously CANNOT refer to all or even a majority of the Old Testament laws since the New Testament explicitly lists many of them by name, which when violated by a sinner, will result in eternal condemnation (death) according to the New Testament. Lying, murder, adultery, breaking any of the Ten Commandments, homosexuality, fornication, etc. are some examples. So you cannot say that Christians have been delivered from those laws. If you say that Romans 7:6 refers to all the Old Testament laws NOT mentioned in the New Testament, then you will need to admit that Christians have now been “delivered” from the laws prohibiting bestiality, prohibiting the prosecution of an innocent son for a crime committed by his father, prohibiting the destruction of property landmarks, prohibiting people from being members of a vandalizing mob, and prohibiting putting stumbling blocks in front of helpless blind people, etc., which of course makes no sense at all. This verse must therefore be about one or maybe several very specific Old Testament laws that should be able to be detected from the context of Romans 7 and nearby Romans 6 and Romans 8.