The point of noting that the law only has authority prior to death (Romans 7:1) is to highlight that Christians now live for the One who rose from the dead: Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God
(Romans 7:4). The personal nature of this address is apparent from the fact that in the original Greek Paul does not just address his readers here simply as brothers
(Romans 7:1), but as my brothers
(the only other occasion he does this in the entire letter is in Romans 15:14). This shows that the apostle embraces the uncircumcised as fellow believers. The crumbling of the law as a dividing wall is real! They, too, (just like the Jewish Christians) have died to the law. The verb the apostle uses, ethanatothète, which means you are killed,
indicates that the law judged them and got rid of them; they were excommunicated in that death. This happened through the body of Christ,
which undoubtedly includes his death, but the word body
(which is also used for corpse
) accentuates the fact that Jesus was condemned to death and that his body was removed from Israel and laid in a grave. Jesus died and became a corpse through the law. As such the law no longer applied to him. As far as the law was concerned, it was all over for Jesus. Therefore, when we are now buried with Jesus through baptism (Romans 6:4), we are no longer bound by the law. This frees us up to enter into another relationship—one with the risen Jesus. He lives for God (Romans 6:10b) and together with him we can now directly bear fruit for God.
To clearly understand Paul’s train of thought here, we must realize that he is not theologizing from a distance about the meaning and implications of Jesus’ death in general. As a fanatic Pharisee he would have been a witness to the fact that the Sanhedrin had condemned Jesus to death for blasphemy. He was banished in the name of the law—a verdict would not be revoked. On the contrary, it was confirmed by the negative attitude that many Jews harbored towards Jesus. He was cast out of the land of the law through his condemnation. His death by crucifixion was an adapted form of execution in the place of what would normally be legally applicable: death by stoning. Followers of someone who has been stoned to death by the Sanhedrin moves outside the realm of the law. Therefore, as far as the law is concerned, they are no longer bound to it and free to enter into a new bond with Another.1
4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.