Jesus was the source of bearing fruit for god

JESUS WAS THE SOURCE OF BEARING FRUIT FOR GOD
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
ROMANS 7:4 So, my brothersand sisters, you also died
to the law through the body of Christ, that you might
belongto another,to him who was raised from the dead,
in order that we might bear fruit for God.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Position Of The Law Under The New Testament
Romans 7:1-17
C.H. Irwin The apostle is here continuing his discussion of the immoral suggestion to which he
alluded in the previous chapter (ver. 15), "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the
Law, but under grace?"
I. THE RELATION OF THE LAW TO THE CHRISTIAN.
1. he Christian's union with Christ involves his freedom from the Law.
(1) From the Law as condemning him. "Ye are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ"
(ver. 4). The Christian, by faith in Jesus Christ, becomes a participator in his death. "Who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ that died; There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus."
(2) From the Law as a motive-power. "But now we are delivered from the Law, having died to
that wherein we were held [Revised Version]; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not
in the oldness of the letter" (ver. 6). The Authorized Version is here misleading when it
translates, "that being dead wherein we were held." The apostle does not speak of the Law as
being dead, but of Christians as being dead to the Law. The Law is not dead, but we are dead to
it. We have a higher and a better life.
2. But this union with Christ and freedom from the Law do not imply that he is free to commit
sin. The principles of the Law remain, though the power of it is gone, so far as justification or
condemnation of the Christian is concerned. The Law was powerless to give fife. Through the
sinfulness of our nature it brought forth fruit unto death (ver. 5). But our very freedom from the
Law is in itself a reason for holy living. Christ implants in us a new principle. We now "serve in

newness of spirit." Professor Croskery ('Plymouth Brethrenism') deals with this subject very
fully in a chapter on "The Law as a Rule of Life." "If Old Testament saints," he says, "could be
under the Law cud yet not under curse, because they were under the promise - that is, under the
covenant of grace - why should not New Testament saints, saved by grace, be under Law
likewise, as a rule of life, without being overtaken by the curse? What difference was there
between David's sin and Peter's sin, in relation to the Law? If David was bound to keep the ten
commandments, including the seventh, are not New Testament saints similarly bound? Does not
James settle this point when he says, 'He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill'
(James 2:11), and says this, too, to Christians? The passage [ch. 6:14] means, 'Ye are not under
the Law as a condition of salvation, but under a system of free grace.'" The Law still remains as
the rule of life, the standard of obedience. St. Paul himself says in this same chapter, "With the
mind I myself serve the Law of God" (ver. 25). And our Lord himself said, "Think not that I am
come to destroy the Law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil"(Matthew 5:17).
II. THE RELATION OF THE LAW TO THE SINNER.
1. The Law reveals to him the depths and power of his own sinfulness. After the apostle has
shown how, in the unregenerate nature, "the motions of sins, which were by the Law, did work in
our members to bring forth fruit unto death," he asks, "What shall we say then? Is the Law sin?"
(ver. 7). That is to say - Is the Law therefore in itself sinful? does it encourage sin? Far from it,
he says. "Nay, I had not known sin, but by the Law." That is - I had not known the force or
power of sin but by the law. "Sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is
good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful" (ver. 13). Some would
condemn the Bible because it describes sin, and pictures some of its best characters as falling
into sins of gross description. But this, so far from being a defect of the Bible, is at once an
evidence of its truthfulness, and an element in its purifying power upon humanity. The Bible
does not describe sin to make us love it, but to turn us from it. So it is with the Law of God. It
may awaken in our minds suggestions of sins that we would not otherwise have thought of (vers.
7, 8), but conscience at once recognizes that this is due, not to the Law itself, but to the
sinfulness of our nature.
2. The Law remains as the standard of right life. "The Law is holy, and the commandment holy,
and just, and good" (ver. 12); "The Law is spiritual" (ver. 14). Here is the answer to those who
regard the Law as abrogated. The Law is still binding as the rule of life, the standard of morality.
It therefore condemns the sinner. Thus still it becomes our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ. -
C.H.I.
Biblical Illustrator
Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ: that ye should be married to another.

Romans 7:4
The sinner married to the law
J. Lyon.I. THE SINNER, BEFORE BELIEVING, IS MARRIED TO THE LAW.
1. This marriage involves certain obligations that correspond to those that grow out of the
conjugal relation. The husband is the head of the wife, and his duty is to live with her, provide
for her, and love her; the wife's duty is to be subject to her husband, consulting his will, and
acting faithfully for his interests. If the law, then, be the sinner's husband, we may say, "Submit
yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord." This is your duty, and it is also your
interest. The ten rules of your husband's house are equitable and good, tending as much to
promote your own happiness as his honour.
2. This marriage is of the Lord. God has joined the parties together; the marriage was made in
heaven. As soon as he is born, the sinner is espoused to the law, yea, before, and there is nothing
unfair in placing a sinner under a constitution which is perfectly good. It is just as fair for God to
marry the sinner to the law without his consent as to bring him into existence without it. But, in
one sense, the sinner has consented. Our first parents consented for themselves and their
offspring, and had you been present personally when the covenant was made with them, you
could not have refused and been innocent; and had Adam and Eve acted faithfully, the
arrangement would have been extolled as wise and good.
3. The chief reason why objections are made is, that it is an unhappy marriage. In the case of
unhappy marriages, it is commonly remarked that there is fault on both sides. But this cannot be
said of this, for the Husband is uniformly holy, just, and good, and the spouse that faithfully does
His will is sure of happiness. But if He be once offended, woe then to the offender; for He will
never again be reconciled. Suppose you expostulate, "I wish to do Thy will," He will reply,
"Speak not of wishes, but do it." "But I have done it in almost every particular." "That is not
enough; My will must be altogether done." "But I am sorry, and mean to reform." "But you
cannot now repair the injury you have done." "But may I not be forgiven?" "No — there is no
forgiveness in My nature, the soul that sinneth it shall die."
4. But such an unhappy marriage were well dissolved." True, but the marriage is not easily
dissolved. It is always a difficult thing to break a marriage. Yet in ordinary cases the wife may
desert her husband, or obtain a divorce. But desertion or divorce is impossible in this case. What
God has joined together, man cannot and dare not put asunder. The husband, though deeply
injured, will not consent to a separation. You may become so depraved as almost to forget that
he has any claim upon you. But he will follow you still, and assert his right to you as long as you
live. There is only one way of escape, viz., to get married to Him that was raised from the dead.
Your second Husband will give ample satisfaction to your first. He will take all your
responsibilities on Himself, and deliver you.
II. THE BELIEVER IS MARRIED TO THE LORD. Of the second marriage you may notice,
just as of the first, that —
1. It involves certain obligations. The spouse is bound just as before to be subject to her husband
in all things. The identical regulations of the first husband are found word for word in the house
of the second. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." "He that hath My commandments and
keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me."

2. It is of the Lord, though it is never consummated without the consent of parties. The believer
is espoused to Christ before he is born, but the marriage is not completed until consent is given
freely and cordially. But mark the wonders of Christ's love! He has provided the Spirit to operate
on the heart, and make us willing in the day of His power. He has instituted the Christian
ministry and, like Abraham's servant, every minister is bound to go to the intended bride and tell
her of the riches and honours of his Master's Son, in order to gain her consent.
3. It is a happy marriage — as happy as the other is miserable. Christ loves that sinner as He
loves Himself. "No man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it." In having
Christ, you have all things — pardon, strength, support, and a title to glory. As Elkanah said to
his disconsolate spouse, so Christ says to His — "Am not I better to thee than ten sons?"
4. It is one that can never be dissolved. Whom Christ espouses, He espouses forever. May the
spouse then do as she pleases? No; does a woman feel encouraged to insult her husband because
she knows he will not put her away? No; she knows he has various ways of expressing his
displeasure, though he does not insist on a Separation. The want of his love, the frown on his
face, will be felt by an affectionate woman to be dreadful enough.
III. BEFORE A PERSON CAN BE MARRIED TO THE LORD, HIS MARRIAGE WITH THE
LAW MUST BE DISSOLVED.
1. This is in accordance with both the law of God and of man, and the apostle assumed it as
admitted and well known. As long as both you and the law are alive the marriage must stand
(ver. 1).
2. How, then, is it possible for a sinner to be set at liberty? Only by death. No doubt the death of
either party would dissolve it, but the Husband cannot die; He is immortal. It is your death,
sinner, that must cut the connection.
3. But how can the spouse that dies be married to another? It is the party that survives, that gets
married a second time.(1) But this spouse dies not personally, but by substitute — by "the body
of Christ." Being represented by Christ, ye were virtually in His person or body when He died.
You admire the generosity of the Armenian prince who proposed to the conqueror to give his life
as the ransom of his brides what say you to the generosity of Jesus? The bride was so overcome
that she could attend to nothing else. "What did you think of Cyrus?" said her husband. "I never
observed him. I was thinking of that man who proposed to give his life for mine." Herein,
indeed, is love, and if Christ's professed spouse refuse to return the affection, let her be anathema
maranatha.(2) But the believer dies to the law also in spirit — his hope and his self-righteous
confidence die. Married to the law he was at one time alive, cherishing the hope of being able to
please it, and ultimately to enter glory. But "the commandment came, sin revived, and he died."
Through the law itself he became dead to the law. Its spirituality, its exceeding breadth and
purity, put an end to its legal hopes and dependencies. But observe it is not the law, apart from
the body of Christ; but the law as magnified and made honourable in that body. In the Cross we
see as never before the awful strength and vengeance of the law. If the spouse is alarmed and
reduced to despair when she hears her husband's words, she dies altogether when she beholds his
doings. She no longer hopes to appease his anger by her repentance, reformation, promises, or
duties.
4. At the very time the spouse becomes dead to the law she becomes united to the Lord. The date
of her death is also the date of her marriage; hence there is mourning and rejoicing on the same
day. There is a strange mixture of emotions experienced, which it is difficult to describe.

5. Let God's people, then, realise their privileges, and know that they are free. Some who are
professedly married to the Lord, act as if their first marriage remained still in force. But ye are
not under the law, but under grace; and when the law comes to you demanding allegiance, and
threatening wrath as formerly, refer it at once to the Lord Jesus.
IV. IT IS ONLY WHEN THE FIRST MARRIAGE IS DISSOLVED AND THE SECOND
CONTRACTED THAT FRUIT IS BROUGHT FORTH UNTO GOD.
1. The fruit of the first marriage is unto death (ver. 5). The offspring of the first marriage is sin,
and as soon as it comes into existence it begins to reign over its own parent, and that unto death.
It will murder your precious soul; aye, and your husband will give it authority for this purpose —
"The strength of sin is the law." He will at last in justice abandon his guilty spouse to her own
monster offspring — the fruit of her infidelity; and sin shall hold her in everlasting death.
2. But the fruit of the second marriage is unto God, viz., holiness (chap. Romans 6:22); which
has —
(1)Its commencement in genuine repentance.
(2)Its essence in love to God and to His plans.
(3)Its external manifestation in the obedience of the life.
(J. Lyon.)
Married to Christ
S. Martin.I. TO HIS MEMORY.
1. When them of the Southern States of America were set free, they were, in many cases, placed
in a position of deep misery. Their cry reached the ears of many in the North, and amongst those
who went to the rescue was a young man of education, refinement, social position, and wealth,
who, soon after commencing his arduous work, sickened and died. Arrangements were made to
convey the body to the family sepulchre; but many who had been fed, clothed, instructed and
comforted by their deceased friend, entreated that his dust might be allowed to sleep in the scene
of his generous labours. The mother consented, and the father; but the consent of another was
necessary. Could any wonder if it was but tardily given? At length his betrothed gave her cordial
assent, declaring that she would live where her elect husband had died, and by devoting herself
to his work, would be married to his memory.
2. More than eighteen centuries ago the Son of God came from heaven to our earth. He went
about doing good. He bare our sins in His own body on the tree; He rose again, and ascended
into heaven. But there is a remembrance of these things by the writings of the evangelists and
apostles. By testimony, the Jesus of the past is with us. The birth at Bethlehem, the teaching,
miracles, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, can only be memories. Let us be married to
His memory —(1) By frequently thinking of all that He was, and did, and suffered. We cannot
visit Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Calvary, but we can think of them.(2) By cherishing affections
corresponding with such thoughts. Thus thinking, gratitude and love will spring up in our hearts.
Let us cherish these plants.(3) By contentedly living on this earth so long as we have a work of
God to do. Christ came to this world, and remained until His work was finished. His memory
seems to say, Pray not to be taken out of the world, but ask for help to complete your work.(4)
By working, so far as we can, the works He wrought. He healed, and we may be great healers.
He comforted, and the weakest may be a son of consolation. He instructed, and all who have

religious knowledge may instruct. He made peace, and a little child may be a peacemaker.(5) By
intelligently and devoutly observing the ordinance of remembrance which He founded (1
Corinthians 11:23-25).
II. TO THE FELLOWSHIP AND THE SERVICE OF THE LIVING CHRIST. The law, as given
by Moses, has no claim upon us now. Prescription and exclusive sanctity as to place of worship
is dead; human priesthood, carnal sacrifices, ritualism, symbolism, the whole Mosaic economy is
dead. Let us then be married to the living Christ —
1. By the nonrecognition of the Mosaic institutes. As they who are married, forsaking all other,
cleave to each other as long as both shall live, so the disciple of Jesus must cease to be a disciple
of Moses, or refuse to be, if tempted to be.
2. By looking, and continuing to look to Him, for every good thing. All that we really need, the
mediation of Jesus Christ can secure.
3. By cherishing and expressing true love for Him. Some appear to be content with knowledge
without love, and others reduce their love to mere obligation for redemption from hell. But see 1
Corinthians 16:22.
4. By obeying His commandments. Verily, these are not grievous; but if they were, true love
would make the yoke easy and the burden light. This is one test which Jesus gave His disciples
(John 14:15).
5. By recognising Himself in His disciples, and by ministering to His needy ones for His sake.
6. By defending His name and His mission.
7. By devoting ourselves to advance the aim of His mediation — to save the world.Conclusion:
1. I know of no illustration of marriage to the Saviour's memory and mission equal to the
example of the Apostle Paul. He describes his own death to the law and marriage to Christ, and
his previous marriage to the law and death unto Christ, in Philippians 3:5-10. Paul knew what he
was writing when he wrote the text, and as a wife submits herself to her own husband as her
head, is subject to him in everything, reverences him, helps him, makes his cares, joys, honours,
and burdens her own, and blends her life with his, so did Paul live for Christ.
2. One motive by which we should be constrained to seek and to cherish union with Jesus Christ
is this — that only thereby can we live as God's children. The reference in the text is to the fruit
of marriage. Elsewhere, with another reference, the same truth is presented (Galatians 2:22, 23;
Ephesians 5:9; Colossians 1:5, 6, 10). The fruit here named is reconciliation to and oneness with
God. It is light in the spirit, love in the heart, and righteousness in the life. It consists of all the
fruits of holiness and righteousness and godliness. Peter names them as virtue, etc. (2 Peter 1:5-
7). John represents them as all included in love. Jesus represents union with Himself as essential
to all usefulness (John 15:5).
3. All coming short of this is traceable to non-union with Christ. Some religious people marry
themselves to a system of theology, and the fruit is pride and bigotry; others to a round of
ceremonies, and the fruit is self-deception and hypocrisy; others to what they account "the
Church," and the fruit is a form of godliness without the power; others to a sect, and the fruit is
envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness; others but partially identify themselves with
Christ, and the fruit is indecision, confusion, and various evil works. The world, the flesh, the

lust of the eyes, and the pride of life make this union partial; in the degree that it is not entire,
there cannot be fruit unto God (Psalm 45:10, 11).
(S. Martin.)
The believer's new relations
J. Lyth, D. D.I. DEAD TO THE LAW.
1. This imparts release from its —
(1)Condemnation.
(2)Penalty.
(3)Bondage.
2. Is effected by the body of Christ sacrificed for us.
II. MARRIED TO CHRIST.
1. The nature of this union.
2. The honour of it.
3. The result of it.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
Make a confidant of the Lord Jesus
C. H. Spurgeon.Make a confidant of the Lord Jesus — tell Him all. You are married unto Him:
play the part of a wife who keeps no secrets back, no trials back, no joys back; tell them all to
him. I was in a house yesterday where there was a little child, and it was said to me, "He is such
a funny child." I asked in what way, and the mother said, "Well, if he tumbles down and hurts
himself in the kitchen, he will always go upstairs crying and tell somebody, and then he comes
down and says, 'I told somebody'; and if he is upstairs he goes down and tells somebody, and
when he comes back it is always, 'I told somebody,' and he does not cry any more." Ah! well, I
thought, we must tell somebody: it is human nature to want to have sympathy, but if we would
always go to Jesus, and tell Him all, and there leave it. we might often dismiss the burden, and be
refreshed with a grateful song.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) Are become dead.—Were rendered dead—
somewhat stronger than simply “ye died.”
By the body of Christ—i.e., by the death of the human body of Christ upon the cross. The
Christian, as the last chapter has shown, is so united to Christ that whatever has happened to his

Master has happened also to him. Christ was put to death upon the cross; he therefore has also
been put to death with Him. But why put to death to the Law? Probably all that is meant is
simply that the Christian died, and therefore all the relations contracted before that death came to
an end. At the same time he entered upon new relations corresponding to his new and risen state.
The argument can hardly be said to have a logical cogency in a controversial sense. It is not,
quite strictly speaking, argument at all, but rather emphatic assertion, with all the weight of
apostolic authority, and in a graphic illustrative form. The gist of it all is, “You have done with
the Law and assumed a new spiritual life in Christ: see that you make this a reality.”
That we should bring forth fruit unto God.—This mystical and ethical union with Christ will not
be unproductive; it will have for its fruit a life consecrated to God.
Benson CommentaryHYPERLINK "/romans/7-4.htm"Romans 7:4. Wherefore, my brethren —
Hence it follows, or by this comparison it appears; ye also — Believing Jews, and much more
believing Gentiles; are become dead to the law — Taken off from all hopes of justification by it,
and confidence in your obedience to it: and so likewise it has become dead to you, and has no
life or efficacy in these respects; by the body of Christ — By the offering up of Christ’s body on
the cross; that is, by the merit of his death, by which it evidently appears, that there is no other
way of making reconciliation for sin, or of obtaining deliverance from wrath but by that; his
death and sufferings having now accomplished the design of the law, and abrogated its authority;
and it, therefore, expiring with him. That ye should be married to another — (2 Corinthians
11:2;) so that you must now give up yourselves to Christ, as your second husband, that you may
be justified by faith in him. The apostle speaks of Christ as the husband of the believing Jews,
because he was now become their Lord and head; and he calls him another husband, because
they had been formerly, as it were, married to the Mosaic law, and relied on that alone for
salvation. And the crucifixion of their old man, or corrupt nature, and their obtaining a new
nature, through the death of Christ, was a fit preparation of them for being espoused to Christ.
Who is raised from the dead — Who is alive himself, and will bestow spiritual life on those that
believe on him, and give up themselves to him; that we should bring forth fruit — Namely, of
holiness and good works, Galatians 5:22; unto God — To his glory, Matthew 5:16; John 15:8;
Php 1:11. In this passage the union of Christ with his people is represented as a marriage, as it is
also Ephesians 5:31-32; Revelation 21:9; Revelation 22:17. The apostles probably took that idea
from the ancient phraseology concerning the Jews. See on Romans 7:2. But from whatever
source it was derived, it is a strong representation of the friendship and endearment which
subsists, and to all eternity will subsist, between Christ and believers, and of the happiness which
they will derive from his love to them, and from their entire subjection to him.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary7:1-6 So long as a man continues under the law as a
covenant, and seeks justification by his own obedience, he continues the slave of sin in some
form. Nothing but the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, can make any sinner free from the law of sin
and death. Believers are delivered from that power of the law, which condemns for the sins
committed by them. And they are delivered from that power of the law which stirs up and
provokes the sin that dwells in them. Understand this not of the law as a rule, but as a covenant
of works. In profession and privilege, we are under a covenant of grace, and not under a
covenant of works; under the gospel of Christ, not under the law of Moses. The difference is
spoken of under the similitude or figure of being married to a new husband. The second marriage
is to Christ. By death we are freed from obligation to the law as a covenant, as the wife is from
her vows to her husband. In our believing powerfully and effectually, we are dead to the law, and

have no more to do with it than the dead servant, who is freed from his master, has to do with his
master's yoke. The day of our believing, is the day of being united to the Lord Jesus. We enter
upon a life of dependence on him, and duty to him. Good works are from union with Christ; as
the fruitfulness of the vine is the product of its being united to its roots; there is no fruit to God,
till we are united to Christ. The law, and the greatest efforts of one under the law, still in the
flesh, under the power of corrupt principles, cannot set the heart right with regard to the love of
God, overcome worldly lusts, or give truth and sincerity in the inward parts, or any thing that
comes by the special sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. Nothing more than a formal
obedience to the outward letter of any precept, can be performed by us, without the renewing,
new-creating grace of the new covenant.
Barnes' Notes on the BibleWherefore - This verse contains an application of the illustration in
the two preceding. The idea there is, that death dissolves a connection from which obligation
resulted. This is the single point of the illustration, and consequently there is no need of inquiring
whether by the wife the apostle meant to denote the old man, or the Christian, etc. The meaning
is, as death dissolves the connection between a wife and her husband, and of course the
obligation of the law resulting from that connection, so the death of the Christian to the Law
dissolves that connection, so far as the scope of the argument here is concerned, and prepares the
way for another union, a union with Christ, from which a new and more efficient obligation
results. The design is to show that the new connection would accomplish more important effects
than the old.
Ye also are become dead to the law - Notes, Romans 6:3-4, Romans 6:8. The connection
between us and the Law is dissolved, so far as the scope of the apostle's argument is concerned.
He does not say that we are dead to it, or released from it as a rule of duty, or as a matter of
obligation to obey it; for there neither is, nor can be, any such release, but we are dead to it as a
way of justification and sanctification. In the great matter of acceptance with God, we have
ceased to rely on the Law, having become dead to it, and having embraced another plan.
By the body of Christ - That is, by his body crucified; or in other words, by his death; compare
Ephesians 2:15, "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity," etc. that is, by his death. Colossians
1:22, "in the body of his flesh through death," etc. Colossians 2:14; 1 Peter 2:24, "who bare our
sins in his own body on the tree." The sense, is, therefore, that by the death of Christ as an
atoning sacrifice; by his suffering for us what would be sufficient to meet the demands of the
Law; by his taking our place, he has released us from the Law as a way of justification; freed us
from its penalty; and saved us from its curse. Thus released, we are at liberty to be united to the
law of him who has thus bought us with his blood.
That ye should be married to another - That you might be united to another, and come under his
law. This is the completion of the illustration in Romans 7:2-3. As the woman that is freed from
the law of her husband by his death, when married again comes under the authority of another,
so we who are made free from the Law and its curse by the death of Christ, are brought under the
new law of fidelity and obedience to him with whom we are thus united. The union of Christ and
his people is not unfrequently illustrated by the most tender of all earthly connections, that of a
husband and wife, Ephesians 5:23-30; Revelation 21:9. "I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's
wife," Revelation 19:7.
Even to him who is raised ... - See the force of this explained, Romans 6:8.

That we should bring forth fruit unto God - That we should live a holy life. This is the point and
scope of all this illustration. The new connection is such as will make us holy. It is also implied
that the tendency of the Law was only to bring forth fruit unto death Romans 7:5, and that the
tendency of the gospel is to make man holy and pure; compare Galatians 5:22-23.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary4. Wherefore … ye also are become dead—rather,
"were slain."
to the law by the body of Christ—through His slain body. The apostle here departs from his
usual word "died," using the more expressive phrase "were slain," to make it clear that he meant
their being "crucified with Christ" (as expressed in Ro 6:3-6, and Ga 2:20).
that ye should be married to another, even to him that is—"was."
raised from the dead—to the intent.
that we should bring forth fruit unto God—It has been thought that the apostle should here have
said that "the law died to us," not "we to the law," but that purposely inverted the figure, to avoid
the harshness to Jewish ears of the death of the law [Chrysostom, Calvin, Hodge, Philippi, &c.].
But this is to mistake the apostle's design in employing this figure, which was merely to illustrate
the general principle that "death dissolves legal obligation." It was essential to his argument that
we, not the law, should be the dying party, since it is we that are "crucified with Christ," and not
the law. This death dissolves our marriage obligation to the law, leaving us at liberty to contract
a new relation—to be joined to the Risen One, in order to spiritual fruitfulness, to the glory of
God [Beza, Olshausen, Meyer, Alford, &c.]. The confusion, then, is in the expositors, not the
text; and it has arisen from not observing that, like Jesus Himself, believers are here viewed as
having a double life—the old sin-condemned life, which they lay down with Christ, and the new
life of acceptance and holiness to which they rise with their Surety and Head; and all the issues
of this new life, in Christian obedience, are regarded as the "fruit" of this blessed union to the
Risen One. How such holy fruitfulness was impossible before our union to Christ, is next
declared.
Matthew Poole's CommentarySee Poole on "Romans 7:3"
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleWherefore, my brethren, ye also,.... Here the apostle
accommodates the foregoing instance and example to the case in hand, showing, that the saints
were not under the law, the power and dominion of it; since that, as when a man is dead, the
woman is loosed from that law by which she was bound whilst he lived, that she may lawfully
marry another man, and bear children to him without the imputation of adultery; so believers
being dead to the law, and the law dead to them, which is all one, they are loosed from it, and
may be, and are lawfully married to Christ, that they may bring forth the genuine fruits of good
works, not in order to obtain righteousness and life by them, but for the honour and glory of God;
in which account may be observed, an assertion that the saints and children of God
are become dead to the law, and that to them, as in Romans 7:6, and can have no more power
over them than a law can have over dead persons, or a dead abrogated law can have over living
ones. They are represented as "dead to sin", and "dead with Christ", Romans 6:2; and here, "dead
to the law", as in Galatians 2:19, and consequently cannot be under it; are out of the reach of its
power and government, since that only has dominion over a man as long as be lives the law is
dead to them; it has no power over them, to threaten and terrify them into obedience to it; nor
even rigorously to exact it, or command it in a compulsory way; nor is there any need of all this,
since believers delight in it after the inward man, and serve it with their minds freely and

willingly; the love of Christ, and not the terrors of the law, constrains them to yield a cheerful
obedience to it; it has no power to charge and accuse them, curse or condemn them, or minister
death unto them, no, not a corporeal one, as a penal evil, and much less an eternal one. And the
way and means by which they become dead to the law, and that to them is,
by the body of Christ; not by Christ, as the body or substance of the ceremonial law; see
Colossians 2:17; since that is not singly designed, but the whole law of Moses; but by "the body
of Christ", is either meant Christ himself, Hebrews 10:10, or rather the human nature of Christ,
Hebrews 10:5, in which the law meets with every thing it can require and demand, as holiness of
nature, which is the saints' sanctification in Christ; obedience of life, which is their
righteousness; and sufferings of death, which is the penalty the law enjoins, whereby full
expiation of sin is made, complete pardon is procured, and eternal redemption obtained; so that
the law has nothing more to demand; its mouth is stopped, it is not in its power to curse and
damn believers, they are dead to that, and that to them: the reason why the law is become so to
them, and they to that, is,
that ye should be married to another; or "that ye should be to another", or "be another's"; that is,
that ye should appear to be so in a just and legal way; for they were another's, they were Christ's
before by the Father's gift, and were secretly married to him in the everlasting covenant, before
he assumed their nature, and in the body of his flesh bore their sins, satisfied law and justice,
paid their debts, and so freed them from the power of the law, its curse and condemnation, or any
obligation to punishment; all which was done in consequence of his interest in them, and their
marriage relation to him; but here respect is had to their open marriage to him in time, the day of
their espousals in conversion; to make way for which, the law, their former husband, must be
dead, and they dead to that, that so their marriage to Christ might appear lawful and justifiable;
who is very fitly described by him,
who is raised from the dead; and is a living husband, and will ever continue so, will never die
more; and therefore as the saints can never be loosed from the marriage bond of union between
Christ and them, so they can never be loosed from the law of this husband; wherefore though
they are dead to the law as a covenant of works, and as ministered by Moses, and are free from
any obligation to it, as so considered, yet they are "under the law to Christ", 1 Corinthians 9:21;
under obligation, by the ties of love, to obedience to it, and shall never be loosed from it. The
end of being dead to the law, and of being married to Christ, is,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God. The allusion is to children being called "the fruit of the
womb", Psalm 127:3, and here designs good works, the fruits of righteousness, which are
brought forth by persons espoused to Christ, under the influence of the Spirit and grace of God;
and they are "unto God", that is, for the honour and glory of God; meaning either Christ the
husband of believers, who is God over all blessed for ever; or God the Father, to whose praise
and glory they are by Christ; and which is a reason and argument which strongly excites and
encourages the saints to the performance of them: and let it be observed, that as children
begotten and born in lawful marriage are only true and legitimate, and all before marriage are
spurious and illegitimate; so such works only are the true and genuine fruits of righteousness,
which are in consequence of a marriage relation to Christ; are done in faith, spring from love,
and are directed to the glory of God; and all others, which are done before marriage to Christ,
and without faith in him, are like spurious and illegitimate children.

Geneva Study Bible{2} Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the {b}
body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth {c} fruit unto {d} God.
(2) An application of the similitude of marriage. So, he says, it is the same with us: for now we
are joined to the Spirit, as it were to the second husband, by whom we must bring forth new
children: we are dead with regard to the first husband, but with regard to the latter, we are as it
were raised from the dead.
(b) That is, in the body of Christ, to show us how intimate and near the fellowship is between
Christ and his members.
(c) He calls the children, which the wife has by her husband, fruit.
(d) Which are acceptable to God.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT CommentaryHYPERLINK "/romans/7-4.htm"Romans 7:4. Ὥστε] does not express
the “agreement” or the “harmony” with which what follows connects itself with the preceding
(Hofmann), as if Paul had written οὕτως or ὁμοίως. It is rather the common itaque (Vulgate),
accordingly, therefore, consequently, which, heading an independent sentence, draws an
inference from the preceding, and introduces the actual relation which results from Romans 7:1-3
with respect to Christians, who through the death of Christ are in a position corresponding with
that of the wife. This inference lays down that legal marriage relation as type.
καὶ ὑμεῖς] ye also, like the wife in that illustration quoted in Romans 7:2-3, who through the
death of her husband is dead to the dominion of the law. In this, in the first instance (for the main
stress falls on εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι κ.τ.λ[1534]), lies the point of the inference; analogously with the
case of that wife Christians also are dead to the law through the death of Christ, because, in their
spiritual union with Him, they have suffered death along with Him. Van Hengel takes καὶ ὑμεῖς
in the sense: ye also, like other Christians, which, however, since Romans 7:4 begins the
application of what had previously been said of the woman, is neither in harmony with the text
nor rendered necessary by the first person καρποφορ.
ἐθανατ. τῷ νόμῳ] ye were rendered dead to the law,[1535] so that over you as dead persons it
rules no longer (Romans 7:1). The dative as in Romans 6:2; Romans 6:10. The passive (not ye
died) is selected, because this (ethical) death of Christians is fellowship with the death of Christ,
which was a violent one. Therefore: διὰ τοῦ σώμ. τ. Χ.] by the fact, that the body of Christ was
put to death. The conception of the participation of believers (as respects their inner life and its
moral self-consciousness) in the death of their Lord, according to which the putting to death of
their Master included their own putting to death, is justly assumed by Paul, after ch. 6, as
something present to the consciousness of his readers, and therefore views deviating from this (e.
g. that διὰ τ. σώμ. τ. Χ. applies to the atoning sacrificial death, which did away the dominion of
the law) are to be rejected as here irrelevant, and not in keeping with the proper sense of ἐθανατ.
For that ἐθανατ. τ. νόμῳ is meant to be a mild expression for ὁ νόμος ἐθανατώθη, ἀπέθανεν ὑμῖν
(Koppe and Klee, following Calvin, Grotius, and others, also several Fathers; comp on Romans
7:2), is an assumption as gratuitous, as is a “contraction of the thought and expression,” which
Philippi finds, when he at the same time introduces the conception of the putting to death of the
law through the body of Christ, which is here alien.

εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι ὑμᾶς ἑτέρῳ] in order to become joined to another (than the law)—this is the
object which the ἐθανατ. τ. νόμῳ κ.τ.λ[1537] had, and thereby the main point in the declaration
introduced by ὥστε, parallel to the ΤΟῦ ΜῊ ΕἾΝΑΙ Κ.Τ.Λ[1538] in Romans 7:3. Paul
apprehends the relation of fellowship and dependence of the Christian’s life to Christ—as he had
prepared the way for doing so in Romans 7:2-3, and as was in keeping with his mode of view
elsewhere (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:25 ff.)—under the image of a marriage connection,
in which the exalted Christ is the husband of His Church that has become independent of the law
by dying with Him.
τῷ ἐκ νεκρ. ἐγερθ.] apposition to ἑτέρῳ, in significant historical reference to διὰ τ. σώμ. τ. Χ. For
if Christ became through His bodily death our deliverer from the law, we cannot now belong to
Him otherwise than as the Risen One for a new and indissoluble union. The importance of this
addition in its bearing on the matter in hand lies in the καινότης ζωῆς (Romans 6:3; Romans
6:11; Romans 6:13; Romans 6:22) which, on the very ground of the ethical communion with the
Risen One, issues from the new relation. Certainly the death of Christ appears here “as the end of
a sin-conditioned state of the humanity to be united in Him” (Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, p.
354); but this great moral epoch has as its necessary presupposition just the vicarious atoning
power of the ἱλαστήριον which was rendered in the death of Jesus; it could not take place
without this and without the faith appropriating it, Romans 3:21 ff.; Romans 5:1 ff.
ἵνα καρποφ. τ. Θεῷ] The aim not of ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγερθέντι (Koppe, Th. Schott, Hofmann), but
rather—because the belonging to is that which conditions the fruit-bearing—of the γενέσθαι
ὑμᾶς ἑτέρῳ, τῷ ἐκ νεκρ. ἐγ., consequently the final aim of the ἐθανατ. τῷ νόμῳ. There is here
(though van Hengel and others call it in question, contrary to the clear connection) a continuation
of the figure of marriage with respect to its fruitfulness (Luke 1:42; Psalm 127:3, Symm. and
Theod. Psalm 91:15). The morally holy walk, namely, in its consecration to God is, as it were,
the fruit which issues from our fellowship of life with Christ risen from the dead as from a new
marriage-union, and which belongs in property to God as the lord-paramount of that union (the
supreme ruler of the Messianic theocracy); the bringing forth of fruit takes place for God. The
opinion of Reiche and Fritzsche that καρποφ. taken in the sense of the fruit of marriage yields an
undignified allegory (the figure therefore is to be taken as borrowed from a field or a tree, which
Philippi, Tholuck, and Reithmayr also prefer) is untenable, seeing that the union with Christ, if
regarded as a marriage at all, must also necessarily, in accordance with its moral design, be
conceived of as a fruitful marriage.[1539]
[1534] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.
[1535] This is expressed from the Jewish-Christian consciousness, nevertheless it includes
indirectly the Gentile-Christians also; for without perfect obedience to the law no man could
have attained to salvation, wherefore also obedience to the law was expected on the part of
Judaists from the converted Gentiles (Acts 15). As the argument advances, the language of the
Apostle becomes communicative, so that he includes himself with his readers, among whom he
makes no distinction. Compare Romans 8:15; Galatians 3:14; Galatians 4:6. By our passage
therefore the readers are not indicated as having been, as respects the majority, Jews or at least
proselytes.

[1539] This view is the one perfectly consistent with the context, and should not be superseded
by the prudery of modern canons of taste (Fritzshe terms it jejunam et obscoenam). Theodoret
already has the right view: καὶ ἐπειδὴ συνάφειαν κ. γάμον τὴν εἰς τὸν κύριον προσηγόρευσε
πίστιν, εἰκότως δείκνυσι καὶ τὸν τοῦ γάμου καρπόν. Comp. Theophylact.
Expositor's Greek TestamentHYPERLINK "/romans/7-4.htm"Romans 7:4. ὥστε καὶ ὑμεῖς
ἐθανατώθητε τῷ νόμῳ: the inference is drawn rather from the principle than from the example,
but καὶ ὑμεῖς means “you as well as the woman in the illustration,” not “you Gentiles as well as I
a Jew”. The last, which is Weiss’s interpretation, introduces a violent contrast of which there is
not the faintest hint in the context. The meaning of ἐθανατώθητε is fixed by reference to chap.
Romans 6:3-6. The aorist refers to the definite time at which in their baptism the old life (and
with it all its legal obligations) came to an end. διὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χτοῦ: Weiss rejects as
opposed to the context the “dogmatic” reference to the sacrificial death of Christ as a satisfaction
for sin; all the words imply, according to him, is that the Christian, in baptism, experiences a
ὁμοίωμα of Christ’s death, or as it is put in Romans 6:6 is crucified with Him, and so liberated
from every relation to the law. But if Christ’s death had no spiritual content—if it were not a
death “for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3), a death having the sacrificial character and atoning
virtue described in Romans 3:25 f.—there would be no reason why a sinful man should be
baptised into Christ and His death at all, and in point of fact no one would be baptised. It is
because Christ’s death is what it is, a sin-expiating death, that it draws men to Him, and
spiritually reproduces in them a reflex or counterpart of His death, with which all their old
relations and obligations terminate. The object of this is that they may belong to another, a
different person. Paul does not say ἑτέρῳ ἀνδρί: the marriage metaphor is dropped. He is
speaking of the experience of Christians one by one, and though Christ is sometimes spoken of
as the husband or bridegroom of the Church, there is no Scripture authority for using this
metaphor of His relation to the individual soul. Neither is this interpretation favoured by the use
of καρποφορήσωμεν; to interpret this of the fruit of the new marriage is both needless and
grotesque. The word is used frequently in the N.T. for the outcome of the Christian life, but
never with this association; and a reference to Romans 6:21 shows how natural it is to the
Apostle without any such prompting. Even the change from the second person (ἐθανατώθητε) to
the first (καρποφορήσωμεν) shows that he is contemplating the end of the Christian life quite
apart from the suggestions of the metaphor. Christ is described as τῷ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγερθέντι,
because we can only belong to a living person. τῷ θεῷ is dat comm God is the person interested
in this result.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges4. Wherefore] The word marks transition from the
facts to the spiritual inference.
are become dead] Lit., and better, were made dead; a passive verb, suggesting the external,
objective work which caused their “death;” viz., the Death of their Representative and Head, the
Second Adam.
to the law] To its claim on you as a covenant of salvation.

by the body of Christ] Which was slain for you. No reference to the mystical Body, the Church,
(Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 10; Eph.; Col.;) is to be sought here. The word “body” is used,
instead of “death,” probably to remind the readers that the Lord “took our nature upon Him”
expressly in view of His death. (See Hebrews 2:14.) Meanwhile the truth of the connexion
between believers and their Head, their Second Adam, is still full in view. By virtue of it the
death of the Lord counts as the death of His brethren, in respect of the claim of the Law upon
them—here figured as the claim of one marriage-partner over the other, to be broken only by the
death of one of the two.
to another] i.e., another than the Law, now regarded as defunct in respect of its claim on them.
Observe that the metaphorical language here is not strictly consistent. In Romans 7:2-3, the death
of the husband is contemplated; in Romans 7:4 the death of the wife. The change may be
explained partly by St Paul’s desire to avoid an expression so easily misunderstood as the death
of the Law (see on Romans 7:6); and partly by the unique character of the spiritual fact
illustrated here by a new marriage; viz. the death and resurrection (in her Representative, who
now becomes her Husband also,) of the mystical Bride.—The change in the metaphor, whatever
its cause, leaves it unchanged as an illustration.—The figure of Marriage, passingly employed
here, (and still more so, Galatians 4:21-31,) is worked out more fully in Ephesians 5:23, &c., and
in the Revelation. It is largely foreshadowed in O. T.; e.g. in Psalms 45; Canticles; Isaiah 54;
Jeremiah 3; and in the many passages where idolatry is pictured by sin against wedlock.
to him who is raised] The Lord’s resurrection is here brought in, because the “death” (in Him) of
His people has just been mentioned. The thought suggests both that they are “risen in Him” to
the life of peace with God, and that they partake with Him, as their Risen Head, “the power of an
endless life.”
fruit] offspring. The metaphor is carried into detail. (See for a parallel of more elaboration, James
1:15.) The “offspring” here is, obviously, the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22), Christian
virtues; just as the “offspring” of the former marriage had been acts of sin (Romans 7:4).
unto God] The Father, not Christ. The phrase does not suggest the bearing children to a Husband,
but the bearing children to be then dedicated to God. So Hannah bore Samuel “unto God.”
Bengel's GnomenHYPERLINK "/romans/7-4.htm"Romans 7:4. Ὥστε) This word has a stronger
meaning than if οὕτως had been used.—ἐθανατώθητε, ye have become dead) which denotes
more than ye are dead. The comparison is thus summed up: the husband or wife, by the death of
either, is restored to liberty; for in the protasis, the party dying is the husband; in the apodosis,
the party dying is that, which corresponds to the wife.—διὰ τοῦ σώματος, by the body) A great
mystery. In the expiation [atonement] for sin, why is it that mention generally is made of the
body, rather than of the soul of Christ? Ans. The theatre and workshop of sin is our flesh; and for
this, it is the holy flesh of the Son of God, which is the remedy.—ἐγερθέντι, who is raised) and
so is alive [which the law no longer is to the believer].—καρποφορήσωμεν, we should bring
forth fruit) He comes from the second person to the first; fruit corresponds to offspring; for the
simile is derived from marriage.
Vincent's Word StudiesAre become dead (ἐθανατώθητε)

Rev., more accurately, ye were made dead, put to death; because this ethical death is fellowship
with Christ's death, which was by violence.
Who was raised
An important addition, because it refers to the newness of life which issues from the rising with
Christ. See Romans 6:3, Romans 6:11, Romans 6:13, Romans 6:22.
Bring forth fruit
The figure of marriage is continued, but the reference is not to be pressed. The real point of
analogy is the termination of relations to the old state.
PRECEPT AUSTIN RESOURCES
BRUCE HURT MD
Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the
body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the
dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. (NASB: Lockman)
Greek: hoste adelphoi mou, kai huHYPERLINK
"http://studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=5210"meiHYPERLINK
"http://studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=5210"s ethanatothete (2PAPI) to nomo
dia tou somatos tou ChHYPERLINK
"http://studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=5547"ristou, eiHYPERLINK
"http://studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=1519"s to genesthai (AMN) humas hetero
to ek nekron egerqenti, (AAPMSD) hina karpophoresomen (1PAAS) to theo
Amplified: Likewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law through the
[crucified] body of Christ, so that now you may belong to Another, to Him Who was
raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. (Amplified Bible -
Lockman)
Barclay: Just so, my brothers, you have died to the law, through the body of Jesus Christ
(for you shared in his death by baptism) in order that you should enter into union with
another, I mean, with him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear
fruit to God. (Westminster Press)
NLT: So this is the point: The law no longer holds you in its power, because you died to
its power when you died with Christ on the cross. And now you are united with the one
who was raised from the dead. As a result, you can produce good fruit, that is, good
deeds for God. (NLT - Tyndale House)

Phillips: There is, I think, a fair analogy here. The death of Christ on the cross had made
you "dead" to the claims of the Law, and you are free to give yourselves in marriage, so
to speak, to another, the one who was raised from the dead, that you may be productive
for God. (Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest: So that, my brethren, as for you, you also were put to death with reference to the
law through the intermediate agency of the body of Christ, resulting in your being
married to another, to the One who was raised up from among the dead, in order that we
might bear fruit to God.
Young's Literal: So that, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the
body of the Christ, for your becoming another's, who out of the dead was raised up, that
we might bear fruit to God;
THEREFORE MY BRETHREN, YOU ALSO WERE MADE TO DIE TO THE LAW
THROUGH THE BODY OF CHRIST: hoste adelphoi mou, kai humeis ethanatothete
(2PAPI) to nome dia tou somatos tou Christou:
• Romans 7:6; 6:14; 8:2; Gal 2:19,20; 3:13; 5:18; Eph 2:15; Col 2:14,20
• Romans 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
In Galatians Paul states a parallel truth writing that…
through the Law I died to the Law (cp Ga 3:10,13, 24), so that I might live to God.
Comment: What does the first [somewhat difficult to grasp] clause mean? The law
condemns and subjects all men to the death penalty. Think of the situation where a man is
found guilty of a capital offense and is executed. What power does the law have over this
dead man? And by the same token, Paul is saying [and the next verse makes this even
clearer - Ga 2:20-note] I have died with Christ [Ro 6:3-note] and Christ took the full
brunt of the penalty that was justly due to me for breaking the law, though He Himself
was not guilty of breaking any law [He 4:15-note, 1Pe 1:18, 19-note]. And so God's
righteous justice was propitiated or satisfied when the full fury of His holy wrath was
poured out upon the Lamb of God Who took away [Jn 1:29, 1Pe 2:24, 25-note, cp Re 5:6-
note, Re 5:9-note] Paul's [and every believer's] sins, so that Paul [and every believer] is
forever free of the death penalty imposed by the law.
Middletown Bible has a useful table comparing the truths in Romans 6 and Romans 7…
ROMANS 6 ROMANS 7
Key Word in Chapter
SIN
(see Ro 6:1, 2, 6, 7, 10-23)
11 times
LAW
(see Ro 7:1-14, 16, 22, 25)
18 times
Believer’s
Relationship
Believer’s Relationship
to Sin
Believer’s Relationship
to Law
Dominion Sin had dominion
(Ro 6:14)
The Law had dominion
(Ro 7:1)

Death I died to (the) Sin
(Ro 6:2)
I died to the law
(Ro 7:4)
Freedom Free from Sin
(Ro 6:18)
Free (delivered) from the law
(Ro 7:3,6)
Newness Walk in newness of LIFE
(Ro 6:4)
Serve in newness of SPIRIT
(Ro 7:6)
Fruit of Flesh
Fruit of Spirit (God’s
life)
Romans 6:21KJV
Romans 6:22KJV
Romans Ro 7:5
Romans Ro 7:4
Therefore (5620) (hoste) means so that, consequently, accordingly, thus. This opening word
indicates that illustration is now giving way to application. It draws an inference from the
preceding illustration and introduces the actual relation with respect to Christians who are in a
position corresponding with that of the wife.
Made to die (2289) (thanatoo [word study] from thánatos = death) means literally to kill, to
cause to be put to death, to mortify, to give up to death, to condemn to death or to deliver over to
death. And so in the NT some uses are literal (Mt 10:21, 26:59, 27:1, Mk 13:12, 14:55) and mean
to cause cessation of life as by condemning to death or delivering/handing one over to be killed.
In Ro 7:4 thanatoo is used figuratively in reference to the death that the believer dies through
supernatural, mystical but very real unity with the body of the crucified Christ. The aorist tense
conveys the truth that this "death" is a past tense, historical event. Count it as true. Praise Him
that it is true. Then walk in the light of that truth. Don't place yourself back under the "yoke" of
the law in any form! Even "good things" can subtly become "laws" -- e.g., "If I don't have my
quiet time this morning, the Lord won't bless me." Wrong! The Lord blesses you not because you
merit blessing but because He is good. Sure, He blesses obedience, but our obedience is to be out
of love, not legalistic constraints, out of a desire to please our Father, not puff up our flesh. So
don't be deceived beloved brethren for our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak, so we must
continually be on guard and continually surrendered to His sweet will, not some legalistic yoke.
In another very practical figurative use of thanatoo Paul instructs believers to mortify (cp Col
3:5KJV-note) or subdue the evil desires and deeds that emanate from those desires (Ro 8:13 -
note). By using the present tense in Ro 8:13 Paul is calling for a habitual, moment by moment
effort (albeit not "self" effort, but Spirit enabled effort) on the part of believers to "search and
destroy" these death dealing deeds. We need to have the continual mindset of soldiers who are
continually engaged (Take no "furloughs" please dear believer! Your adversary doesn't! cp 1Pe
5:8-note where "prowls" = continually) in a deadly conflict (1Pe 2:11-note, 2Ti 2:3, 4-note) and
must continually be killing sin (by the Spirit), lest sin kill us. Remember that "death" speaks of
separation so what a believer enabled by the Spirit is to do is to separate moment by moment,
day by day from the evil, dead dealing deeds of the fallen flesh nature (Jas 1:14, 15-note).
Remember brethren beloved by God (1Th 1:4-note), that He saved us by grace through faith (Ep
2:8, 9-note) the first time (justification - Ro 3:24-note, Ro 3:28-note) and He saves us each day
by that same grace through faith (progressive sanctification). Our tendency is to try to live this
supernatural life in our strength (flesh), not the strength of His Spirit (faith). God says in Roman
6-8, stop "trying" and start "dying" (to your flesh), and do this every day and every moment of

every day! Trying breeds struggling and frustration. Dying yields surrender and fulfillment. (SEE
CAVEAT BELOW REGARDING "STOP TRYING AND START DYING") In Romans 7 Paul
will make it all too clear that one cannot be sanctified by the law. To reiterate, the moment you
try to please God by keeping a list of do's and don'ts, of regulations, of schedules, etc, then at that
moment you have in effect placed yourself back up under the law in one form or another and
your experience will mimic that of Paul's description in Romans 7. And as Paul explains in the
next verse, when you place yourself under the law, the law functions like a stimulant or a catalyst
to arouse your sinful passions (Ro 7:5)! Beware! Legalism can be very subtle!
ONE CAVEAT REGARDING THE EXHORTATION - "STOP TRYING AND
START DYING" - This statement DOES NOT mean that we are to "Let God and Let
God" which is a false teaching (probably originating from the Keswick Movement)!
And so, as an example, the phrase "stop trying" means stop trying to live the
supernatural life in your natural strength, but in dependence on the Spirit. So does this
signify you will do nothing? Does this signify you are a "passive participant" in your
progressive sanctification? Of course not! Paul was very clear that while believers are
totally dependent on the Spirit of Christ to live a supernatural life, we are also totally
responsible to work out our salvation -- "So then, my beloved, just as you have always
obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
(command in the present imperative - but even obeying this necessitates the Spirit's
enablement described in the next verse) your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for
(strategic "term of explanation") it is God who is at work in you, both to will (desire) and
to work *power) for His good pleasure. (Php 2:12HYPERLINK
"https://www.preceptaustin.org/philippians_212-18#2:12"+, Php 2:13NLTHYPERLINK
"https://www.preceptaustin.org/philippians_212-18#2:12"+).
Thanatoo -11x in 11 verses in the NAS - Matt. 10:21; 26:59; 27:1; Mk. 13:12; 14:55; Lk. 21:16;
Rom. 7:4; 8:13, 36; 2 Co. 6:9; 1 Pet. 3:18 and is rendered in the NAS as cause to be put to
death(1), made to die(1), put to death(8), putting to death(1).
Note that the Law has not died. Believers have been made to die (passive voice = divine
passive = God brought about this supernatural event, not us. We became sharers and participants
in this truth by grace through faith!) to the Law. Paul avoids saying that the Law died, for that is
not taught in Scripture, though the law had a certain course to run as explained in Hebrews (cp
He 8:13NLT-note). Paul is continuing the emphasis which he had begun to explain in Romans 6,
where he introduced the truth that death ends obligation, having stated in Ro 6:14 (see note)
that believers are no longer under (under the power, authority, and control of) law, but under
grace".
In Galatians Paul explained that
Christ redeemed (bought us back, delivered us by paying the price = His precious
blood) us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse (which condemned us to
die) for (on our behalf, speaking of His substitutionary death) us (Galatians 3:13)
In Colossians he explained that God
cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the handwriting of the note (bond) with its
legal decrees and demands which was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This
[note with its regulations, decrees, and demands] He set aside and cleared completely out
of our way by nailing it to [His] cross. (Col 2:14-note)

Paul went on to explain that
(believers) have died with Christ (believer’s union with Christ in His death and
resurrection) to the elementary principles of the world… (Col 2:20-note)
Writing to the churches in Galatia Paul explained that
I have been crucified with Christ (the believer is identified with Christ in His death) and
it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Jesus did not die for me in order that I
might go on living as I choose but that from now on He might live His life in and through
me, empowering me by His Spirit to live in a supernatural way previously not possible in
my strength) and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith (reliance and
continual dependence on Christ, yielding to Him, allowing Him to live His life through
me) in the Son of God, Who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me." (Gal 2:20-note)
Christ, not the law, now is to have dominion over me. Stated another way, the believer’s rule of
life is Christ and not the law. It is not a matter of striving and trying, but of trusting and
relying. Believers are called and empowered to live a holy life (1Pe 1:14-note, 1Pe 1:15, 16-
note, Lv 11:44), not out of fear of punishment, but out of love of God and a desire to be pleasing
to Him as our Father (cp 1Pe 1:17NLT-note, 2Co 5:9, 2Co 7:1-note in context of the promises in
2Co 6:16, 17, 18).
As Middletown Bible reminds us "The law is a terrible husband -- strict, inflexible, stern, rigid,
demanding and unbending. The Lord is a wonderful husband -- merciful, gracious, and He, by
His power and life, ENABLES me to please Him (cp He 13:21NLT, He 13:20NLT-note). Just as
a marriage relationship produces FRUIT (children), so our marriage to Christ produces fruit (see
Ro 6:22ESV-note; Ga 5:22-note, Ga 5:23-note). See also John 15:2, 5, 8 = "fruit" > "more fruit"
> "much fruit." (Romans chapter 7)
Through (1223) (dia) marker of instrument by which something is accomplished, by means of.
The body of Christ (Mt 26:26; Jn 6:51; 1Cor 10:16; Heb 10:10; 1Pet 2:24-note) - This is not a
reference to the church (also referred to as "the body of Christ", cp Ep 4:12-note), since the word
has not been used in the corporate, mystical sense so far in Romans, and when it is so used (Ro
12:4, 5-note) Paul brings in the human body as an analogy in order to make his meaning clear, as
he had done in an earlier letter (1Cor 12:12, 13).
Newell writes that…
The great lesson which each of us must lay to his own heart, is, that those in Christ,
whether Jew or Gentile, are not under law as a principle, but under grace (Ro 6:14-
note),—full, accomplished Divine favor—that favor shown by God to Christ! And the
life of the believer now is
(1) in faith, not effort: as Paul speaks in Gal 2:20 (note):
The life which I now live in the (physical) flesh, I live in faith, the faith which is in the
Son of God
(2) in the power of the indwelling Spirit; for walking by the Spirit (Gal 5:16-note, Ga
5:18-note, Ga 5:25-note) has taken the place of walking by external commandments; and
(3) exercising ourselves to have a good conscience toward God and men always (1Ti
1:5, 19, 1Pe 3:16-note): particularly, not wrongly using our freedom (or liberty) (Take a
moment and ponder these passages onfreedom in Christ = Ro 8:2-note, Ga 5:1, cp

Ga 2:4, Jn 8:31, 32, 34, 36, 1Co 7:22NLT, 2Co 3:17NIV, 1Pe 2:16NLT-note, 2Pe
2:19NLT-note, Jude 4NIV). (Romans - Verse by Verse)
THAT YOU MIGHT BE JOINED TO ANOTHER TO HIM WHO WAS RAISED FROM
THE DEAD: eis to genesthai (AMN) humas hetero to ek nekron egerthenti (AAPMSD):
• Ps 45:10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15; Isa 54:5; 62:5; Hos 2:19,20; Jn 3:29; 2Cor 11:2; Eph 5:23,
24, 25, 26, 27; Rev 19:7; 21:9
Paul now spells out two purposes of our union Christ (in His death): (1) We might belong to
Christ and (2) We are to be fruit bearers for the glory of God.
Stop for a moment and contrast our new relationship in Christ with our former relationship under
the law - we are dead to the law and married to Christ. Our relationship is now a love
relationship not a legal (law) relationship. What a wonder, that the God Who created us,
redeemed us and then marries us! Surely we see in this how Christianity is not a dead, even
orthodox religion but a relationship to a living Person. Beloved, Paul is explaining that
Christianity is not about doing something but about knowing Someone (cp Jn 17;3, 1Jn 2:3, 4).
Never lose the wonder of this grand truth and lapse into legalistic religion when you could be
enjoying intimate relationship with the God of the Universe! Amazing love, how can it be?…
And Can It Be That I Should Gain
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
See and listen also to…
Gaithers And Can It Be That I Should Gain live
Amazing Love
Chris Tomlin - Amazing Love
Joined (be married to, might belong to, becoming another's) (1096) (ginomai) means to cause to
become or to come into existence and more literally "having become another man's". If you are
dead, how can you be joined to another? In Christ’s death we died and in Christ’s resurrection
we live and since we are alive we can be joined in marriage to Christ! Amen.
And so in a mystical (but very real) sense believers are now united to Christ as His bride (Ep
5:25-note) for we have been betrothed to our Beloved (2Co 11:2) and betrothal in the Jewish
culture was tantamount to a legal binding relationship and to break it one had to get a writ of
divorce (cp Joseph contemplating breaking the "engagement" to Mary in Mt 1:18, 19, 20). As a
woman could marry a new husband only after her first husband had died, so we have been
married, as it were, to our great Bridegroom after we died to the law (Re 19:7-note, Re 19:8-
note, cp 1Co 6:19, 20).

To belong to Christ involves participation not only in his death but also in His resurrection (cp
Col 2:12-note, cp Ro 6:3-note, Ro 6:4-note, 2Co 13:4). Severance from obligation to serve the
law is only part of the truth. We are married, as it were, to the risen Lord, with a view to bearing
fruit to God. Perhaps an analogy is intended here--as a marriage produces progeny, so the
believer's union with Christ results in spiritual fruit. It should be recalled that in our Lord's
teaching the secret of fruit bearing is union with Himself (Jn 15:5, 7, 8), emphasized here in
Romans 7:6.
THAT WE MIGHT BEAR FRUIT FOR GOD: hina karpophoresomen (1PAAS) to theo:
• Ro 6:22; Jn 15:8; Gal 5:22,23; Phil 1:11; 4:17; Col 1:6,10
That (2443) (hina) is a marker of result or of purpose for the fact that believers are in Christ,
having been born again to a new Master with a new Power and Purpose in Christ.
Bear fruit (2592) (karpophoreo from karpos = fruit + phero = to bring) literally means to
bring forth fruit, to be fertile, productive. In John 15 those who abide in the Vine Christ Jesus,
will bring forth "much fruit" ("good works").
Karpophereo is in the subjunctive mood which with hina (conjunction meaning "for the
purpose of", "in order that") is used to express purpose -- fruit bearing. If you are a believer and
feel you have no "purpose", here it is… go and bear fruit, much fruit, fruit that remains for
eternity. Focus on the facts not on your feelings. Let this truth renew your mind if you are
downcast.
The aorist tense calls for this to be an actual outcome (fruit bearing).
Some commentators (even some very excellent expositors like Lloyd-Jones) interpret fruit as
literal children (continuing with Paul's metaphor of marriage), an interpretation that seems
incorrect even from the context. In other words, who is a believer joined to? Christ of course, so
it seems far fetched to think Paul intends fruit in such a context to be children. Could he mean
"spiritual children"? I suppose one cannot totally discount that possibility for converts are
occasionally referred to as "fruit".
Newman writes that Paul's metaphor of bear fruit...
may have the specific meaning of “bringing others to God,” but in the present context the
emphasis seems to be more general, that is, simply living a life that is useful to God. In
some languages, useful in the service of God may be expressed as “doing good for God’s
sake” or “doing good as a way of serving God.” (The United Bible Societies' New
Testament Handbook Series)
Stott goes on to add that…
whether ‘fruit’ means ‘children’ or not, all are agreed that the result of being released
from the law and joined to Christ is holy living, not antinomian license. For becoming a
Christian involves a radical change of allegiance. At the end of chapter 6 our two
slaveries were contrasted. At the beginning of chapter 7 it is our two marriages, death
dissolving the first and so permitting the second. Both metaphors speak of our new
freedom to serve, which is the topic to which Paul now comes. (Stott, J. R. W. The
Message of Romans. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press)
Matthew Poole says fruit refers to…

fruits of holiness and good works, to the glory and praise of God.
Jamieson writes that…
all the issues of this new life, in Christian obedience, are regarded as the “fruit” of this
blessed union to the Risen One.
KJV Bible Commentary writes that…
The purpose of our being free from the law and married to another, the risen Lord, is that
we may produce fruit unto God. Although this may be an extension of the marriage
analogy, and the fruit mentioned is the progeny which is the result of marriage (i.e., the
winning of others to the Lord), it is most likely that the fruit unto God is a righteous life
which is characterized by those “good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them” (Eph 2:10-note). (Dobson, E G, Charles Feinberg, E Hindson,
Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV Bible Commentary: Nelson)
John MacArthur's comments that…
Godly fruit exists basically in two dimensions: (a transformed life that manifests godly)
attitudes and actions. The fruit of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life is manifested
internally in his attitudes of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-note, Ga 5:23-note). As far as godly actions are
concerned, Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every
branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit,
He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1, 2). The writer of Hebrews speaks
of “the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name” (He 13:15-note), and Paul prayed that
Philippian believers would be prepared for the day of Christ by being “filled with the
fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God”
(Php 1:11-note).
Charles Simeon (Horae Homileticae Vol 15: Romans) says that …
By our connection with the law, we have brought forth fruit only unto sin and death: but
by the mighty operation of divine grace, we shall be enabled to bring forth fruit unto
God, and holiness, and life (Ro 6:21, 22-note). We shall no longer live under the
influence of a slavish spirit, aiming only at the mere letter of the commandment, and
regarding even that as an irksome service; but we shall aspire after the utmost spirit of the
commandment, and strive with holy ardour to make the highest possible attainments,
longing, if possible, to be “holy as God is holy,” (1Pe 1:16-note) and to be “perfect as
God is perfect.” (Mt 5:48-note) Our services will resemble those of the heavenly choir,
who look, and watch, and pant, as it were, for an opportunity to testify their love to God,
and to execute, in all its extent, His holy will. How should the prospect of such fruit
stimulate our desires after Christ! Let us bear in mind, that the bringing of us to such a
state was the great object which He sought in giving up Himself for us (1Pe 2:24-note);
and let it be also the great object of our solicitude in devoting ourselves to Him (Ro 14:7,
8-note)
Notice that Paul moved from the second person plural (you) to the first person plural (we),
including himself along with his readers. The believer who has died with Christ is released from
bondage to the law and hence from bondage to sin and is free to experience the abundant life of
Christ (Jn 10:10b). God’s purpose in all this is in order that we might bear fruit to God (cp Ro

6:22-note Gal 5:22, 23- notes-Ga 5:22; 23 Php 1:11- note). Only a person who is spiritually alive
can bear spiritual fruit, fruit that remains (cf. Jn 15:4,5,16). (See also word study on fruit =
karpos)
As believers we are not to continue in sin (Ro 6:1-note) but we are now in Christ and married to
our Savior, Jesus, and our occupation is to bear fruit for God…
For we are His workmanship (poiema), created in Christ Jesus for good works (see Good
Deeds), which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ep 2:10-note).
In sum, Paul is saying that before faith in Christ's death, burial and resurrection, we were
''married'' to a husband named ''the Law''. But when we died with Christ in Romans 6, we were
set free from our husband and united with our new Husband, Christ. The old ''husband'' is not
dead… believers are the ones who have died.
Barnes writes that bring forth fruit means…
That we should live a holy life. This is the point and scope of all this illustration. The new
connexion is such as will make us holy. It is also implied that the tendency of the law was
only to bring forth fruit unto death, Ro 6:5 and that the tendency of the gospel is to make
man holy and pure. Comp. Ga 5:22,23. (Albert Barnes. Barnes NT Commentary)
Barnhouse has the following thoughts on fruit…
One of the most important purposes of redemption is that we might bring forth fruit unto
God. We were transplanted out of death and rooted and grounded in His love so that we
might bring forth fruit. Fruit is the expression of life, and in the Word of God fruit is
indicative of converts, character, and conduct…
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the
vine; no more can you, except you abide in me” (John 15:4). This is a magnificent
expansion of our text in Romans which sets forth our oneness with Christ, our marriage
to Him to bring forth fruit for God. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides
in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing” (v.
5). How many Christians read it, “Without me you cannot do very much,” cling to their
own imagined ability, and so fail to bear fruit! God never mingles His power with ours.
Only when we recognize our own absolute nothingness does He work in full power.
(Barnhouse, D. G. God's Freedom : Romans 6:1-7:25. Grand Rapids, MI.: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company)
Robert Haldane writes that…
One of the great ends of marriage was to people the world, and the end of the marriage of
believers to Christ is, that they may bring forth fruit to God, John 15:4, 5, 6, 7, 8. From
this it is evident that no work is recognized as fruit unto God before union with
Christ. All works that appear to be good previous to this union with Christ are
“dead works,” (He 9:14-note) proceeding from self–love, self–gratification, pride,
self–righteousness, or other such motives. “They that are in the flesh cannot please
God.” (Ro 8:8-note) “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Ro 8:7-note) We can never look upon the law with a
friendly eye till we see it disarmed of the sting of death; and never can bear fruit unto
God, nor delight in the law as a rule, till we are freed from it as a covenant, and are thus
dead unto sin. How important, then, is the injunction, “Likewise reckon ye also

yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,”—and this applies equally to the law,—”but alive
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 6:11. (Romans 7 Commentary)
Newell adds that…
It is implicitly asserted here that those under law could not bring forth fruit to God.
Because, in order to bring forth such fruit, they had to be made dead to the Law. This
cannot be sufficiently emphasized, for all about us we find those who are earnestly
seeking to bear fruit to God, while “entangled with the yoke of bondage,” (Ga 5:1KJV)
not knowing themselves dead to the legal principle… No, it is only those who see
themselves to have died with Christ and to be now joined to a Risen Christ in glory, that
fully bring forth fruit to God.
It Is a glorious day when a believer sees himself only in a RisenChrist—dead,
buried and risen; and can say with another, “I am not in the flesh, not in the place of a
child of Adam at all, but delivered out of it by redemption. The whole scene of a living
man, this world in which the life of Adam develops itself, and of which the Law is the
moral rule, I do not belong to, before God, more than a man who died ten years ago out
of it.” (Romans Verse by Verse)
Romans 7:5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the
Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. (NASB: Lockman)
Greek: hote gar eHYPERLINK
"http://studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=2258"men (1PIAI) en te sarki, ta
pathemata ton hamartion ta dia tou nomou energeito (3SIMI) en toiHYPERLINK
"http://studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=3588"s melesin hemon eis to
karpophoresai (AAN) to thanato;
Amplified: When we were living in the flesh (mere physical lives), the sinful passions
that were awakened and aroused up by [what] the Law [makes sin] were constantly
operating in our natural powers (in our bodily organs, in the sensitive appetites and wills
of the flesh), so that we bore fruit for death. (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
NLT: When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us,
and the law aroused these evil desires that produced sinful deeds, resulting in death.
(NLT - Tyndale House)
Phillips: While we were "in the flesh" the Law stimulated our sinful passions and so
worked in our nature that we became productive - for death! (Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest: For when we were in the sphere of the sinful nature, the impulses of the sins
which were through the law were operative in our members, resulting in the production
of fruit with respect to death.
Young's Literal: for when we were in the flesh, the passions of the sins, that are through
the law, were working in our members, to bear fruit to the death;
FOR WHILE WE WERE (past tense) IN THE FLESH (unregenerate): hote gar hemen en te
sarki:
• Ro 8:8,9; Jn 3:6; Gal 5:16,17,24; Eph 2:3,11; Titus 3:3

Were is in the imperfect tense which speaks of durative action (= action that is ongoing,
progressive or continual) in the past (when you were unregenerate). At that time we were dead in
our trespasses and sins and under the rule and control of our fallen sin nature inherited from
Adam. We had no choice but to obey the strong desires of our unregenerate flesh.
NIV is interpretive but accurate "controlled by the sinful nature"
"when basically we were governed by our sinful human nature" (Kistemaker)
Flesh (4561)(sarx) (Click in depth study) is used 147 times in the NT and because of multiple
nuances (some Greek lexicons list up to 11 definitions for sarx!) the diligent disciple must
carefully observe the context of in order to discern which nuance is intended. The range of
meaning extends from the substance flesh (both human and animal), to the human body, to the
entire person, and to all humankind.
In the present context, sarx is used in the moral/ethical or spiritual sense to describe the outlook
of mankind which is continually orientated toward self, is prone to sin, is opposed to God and
which pursues its own ends in self-sufficient, independence from God. Flesh thus is the ugly
complex of human sinful desires that includes the ungodly motives, affections, principles,
purposes, words, and actions that sin generates through our bodies. Sarx as used in this manner
denotes the entire fallen human being—not just the sinful body but the entire being, including the
soul and mind, as affected by sin. To live in the flesh is to be ruled and controlled by that evil
complex. Because of Christ’s saving work on our behalf, the sinful flesh no longer has the
"right" to reign over us, to debilitate us and drag us back into the pit of depravity into which we
were all born.
Believers need to understand that there is this remnant of the old flesh nature within our physical
bodies of flesh. In contrast to the unregenerate man, believers now have the power when led by
the Holy Spirit to say "yes" to God and "no" to the flesh, whereas before our union with Christ in
Romans 6 (Ro 6:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11-see notes on Ro 6:1-3; 6:4-5; 6:6-7; 6:8-10; 6:11)
took place, we had no choice. Paul teaches clearly that the flesh is opposed to Spirit. The
unbeliever can live only in the flesh, but the believer can live in the Spirit but can fall back into
living according to the flesh. Paul repeatedly encourages believers to overcome the deeds of the
flesh in the only way possible - by living in the Spirit.
IN THE FLESH
In the flesh - Here are all the NT uses (in the NAS) of this phrase - Ro 2:28; 7:5; 8:3, 8, 9; 2Co
10:3; 12:7; Ga 2:20; 6:12; Ep 2:11; Phil 1:22, 24; 3:3, 4; 1Ti 3:16; Philemon 1:16; 1Pet. 3:18;
4:1, 2, 6; 1Jn. 4:2; 2 Jn. 1:7. Most of these uses of in the flesh describe one's physical being, the
literal body, a number of these in fact specifically referring to the Incarnation or Christ in the
flesh. The following 4 verses however use in the flesh to refer to man’s unredeemed humanness,
his own ability and achievements apart from, hostile to and opposed to God - Ro 7:5, 8:8, 9, Php
3:3, 4.
The Amplified Version qualifies the phrase in the flesh with the explanatory clause that this
refers to mere physical lives but a careful examination of the context does not support the
Amplified Version's interpretation.
The Weymouth paraphrase is interesting…

For whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly natures, sinful passions— made
sinful by the Law—were always being aroused to action in our bodily faculties that they
might yield fruit to death.
Phillips renders it…
While we were "in the flesh" the Law stimulated our sinful passions and so worked in
our nature that we became productive - for death! (Phillips: Touchstone)
MacDonald explains that…
In the flesh here is descriptive of our standing before we were saved. Then the flesh was
the basis of our standing before God. We depended on what we were or what we could do
to win acceptance with God. In the flesh is the opposite of “in Christ.” (MacDonald, W &
Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
Donald Barnhouse rightly states that…
Here, ‘in the flesh’ does not refer to the body. These three simple words describe the
deadly state of people who have not been born again… It is a moral state, the condition of
the unsaved before God. The state of the redeemed is described in chapter 8:
“You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you”
(see note Romans 8:9).
Being in the flesh, then, is the opposite of being in the Spirit. We all begin in the flesh,
but some of us are now in the Spirit, even though the flesh is still in us. Because we have
been freed from the flesh by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and our union with Him in
His resurrection, we are liberated from the passions of that flesh and may henceforth be
dominated by the new life of our risen Lord.
Wuest writes that in the flesh…
refers to the condition of a person in the absolute control of the evil nature, as is clearly
seen by a consideration of Paul’s words in Ro 8:9 where he says, “But ye are not in the
flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God, dwell in you.” That is, in the case
where the person is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, that person is not in the control of the evil
nature. That individual is a saved person. Consequently, the one who is in the flesh is an
unsaved person, the flesh here referring to the fallen nature.
John MacArthur notes that…
The unredeemed, unregenerate person can operate only in the area of the flesh, the
natural and sinful sphere of fallen mankind… A person who still lives in the realm of
the flesh cannot belong to Christ (see Ro 8:9)… It is possible, of course, for a believer to
fall back into some of the ways of the flesh, which he does whenever he sins. Although
a believer can never again be in the flesh (Ed: In the figurative sense of being in the
sphere of the anti-God influence), the flesh is still able to manifest itself in the believer.
William Newell explains that Paul…
… does not say, in the body, for we are all that! Being in the body has no moral
significance, but the words are, in the flesh-the condition of those not saved, as we see
from Ro 8:8-note; Ro 8:9-note:

For ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you.
This does describe a moral state or condition, - absence of life, absence of the Holy
Spirit, and control by the fallen nature. (Romans 7).
In summary, In the flesh in Romans 7:5 refers to a lost man, one who is unredeemed and thus
unregenerate and able to operate only in the sphere of fallen mankind. To be sure, the believer
can still manifest deeds of the flesh, but he or she can never again be in the flesh in the same
way as before being crucified with Christ (Ro 6:6-note).
MacDonald agrees explaining that…
The expression in the flesh obviously doesn’t mean in the body. In the flesh here is
descriptive of our standing before we were saved. Then the flesh was the basis of our
standing before God. We depended on what we were or what we could do to win
acceptance with God. In the flesh is the opposite of in Christ. (MacDonald, W., &
Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. Nashville: Thomas
Nelson)
As alluded to above in the discussion of sarx, in order to keep one from becoming confused, be
aware that in the letter to the Romans Paul uses the word flesh to convey different meanings:
(1) the humanity of Jesus Christ (Ro 1:3-note)
(2) the physical body (Ro 2:28- note)
(3) mankind--"no flesh" (Ro 3:20-note)
(4) the so-called "ethical" meaning denoting the old sinful nature (flesh). It is this last
sense of the word that pervades Romans 7 and 8, together with a final use in Ro 13:14-
note.
THE SINFUL PASSIONS… AROUSED BY THE LAW: ta pathemata ton hamartion ta dia
tou nomou:
• Ro 3:20; 4:15; 5:20; 1Cor 15:56; 2Cor 3:6, 7, 8, 9; Gal 3:10; Jas 2:9,10; 1Jn 3:4
Simply stated, the law can never conquer our sinful passions. It can only arouse our sinful
passions.
Sinful passions - This is a genitive expression in Greek and can be rendered "sinful passions" or
"passions which lead to sin." Robertson says "passions of sins" or marked by sins.
Passion (3804) (pathema from pascho = suffer where the suffix "–ma" indicates that which is
suffered) in this context means passions, impulses, affections or strong inward emotions.
Although not the primary meaning of pathema in this verse, the other meaning deserves mention
and contemplation for it refers to the very pain that we are experiencing right now because of
sin, those very things that we can "see, touch and feel" - those things that are causing us anguish
and emotional trauma… all because they are dictated by our fallen sinful nature and fall so far
short of God's mark.
Sinful passions then describe those overwhelming impulses to think and do evil, which
characterize those who are “in the flesh” (Ep 2:3), but which obviously can also affect true

believers. Prior to our conversion we were ruled by sinful passions which were aroused by the
law. Paul uses pathema in Galatians explaining that…
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions
(pathema) and desires. (Gal 5:24)
Aroused is not in the original Greek but does accurately reflects the intent of this passage.
Consider the effects of the Laws of Prohibition in the 1920's. The law that banned alcohol
stimulated the old flesh nature and the sinful passions were aroused so that men's appetite for
alcohol increased and the results were deadly fruit euphemistically referred to as the "Roaring
20's". It was a tragic chapter in American History. The Mosaic Law affected the nation of Israel
much like the Law of Prohibition affected America. The Law stipulates what is right and what is
wrong, and in so doing it arouses evil in an unregenerate person because the naturally rebellious
nature makes him want to do the very things that are forbidden.
As MacDonald succinctly explains…
It is not that the law originated them ("the sinful passions"), but only that by naming and
then forbidding them it stirred up the strong desire to do them!" (MacDonald, W., &
Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. Nashville: Thomas
Nelson)
Poole notes that sinful passions refer to…
the corrupt inclinations to sin, which are drawn forth by the law, as ill vapors are raised
out of a dunghill by the sun; or which are irritated by the law.
Calvin writes that…
the law excited in us evil emotions, which exerted their influence through all our
faculties; for there is no part which is not subject to these depraved passions. What the
law does, in the absence of the inward teacher, the Spirit, is increasingly to inflame our
hearts, so that they boil up with lusts.
The unbeliever’s rebellious nature is awakened when restrictions are placed on him and make
him want to do the very things the law forbids. As strange as it might seem, the law itself, by its
very prohibitions, generates sinful impulses which lead to breaking the law! So in fact this is one
of the functions of the Law -- to stimulate our sinful flesh! "Forbidden fruit is sweet". The
natural (in the flesh) tendency in man is to desire the forbidden thing.
Augustine vividly pictured the interaction of the Law and our sinful passions writing that…
"The law is not at fault, but our evil and wicked nature; even as a heap of lime is still and
quiet until water is poured on it, but then it begins to smoke and burn, not from the fault
of the water, but from the nature of the lime which will not endure it."
Barnhouse has an interesting comment on the Law noting that…
When the Church age began, the majority of believers were Jews who, not yet having the
New Testament, continued to live as though still under the law. Consequently there was a
conflict which reached its climax at Antioch when Paul rebuked Peter for clinging to the
law as a principle of Christian living. But in spite of Paul’s victory, man’s natural
tendency to do something for himself brought him back under law, and by the end of the
Dark Ages the entire legal system clouded over the life of the Church. Those who
believed in grace alone were a small remnant appearing throughout the centuries like

scattered stars peeping through clouds. When the Reformers emerged after the
Renaissance, they made a valiant attempt to lead the church back to Biblical truth.
Wayne Barber comments on Romans 7:5 noting that it teaches…
the most fundamental truth about living under the law. When we were under the Law, it
actually energized and encouraged our sinful flesh to operate. The law actually energized
our sinful flesh. In Romans 7:5 we see the term in the flesh is associated with the
controlling power of the sinful passions, and all this is associated with being in union
with Adam and under the law:
"For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law,
were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death."
In the flesh—we were dead spiritually in the realm of flesh. We were in union with
Adam.
The sinful passions indicated that which is the result of the sin of Adam. These are the
inordinate desires of our bodies that once controlled us.
"Which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit
for death."
Actually, you could read that:
"which were, through the Law (or by means of the law) at work in the members of our
body."
They were energized by the law. Paul wants us to see how that the law actually energizes
the flesh.
Paul has just described a miserable situation. Under the law, the sinful passions of our
flesh were energized and we could do nothing about it. They produced fruit in us,
unrighteous fruit.
We have got to understand this. When we are under the law, the flesh is always at work,
and the flesh can only produce unrighteousness. The flesh loves to work whether it be
grossly sinful works or "religious works." In fact, it is in the "religious" realm that it is
the hardest to detect. Flesh is inherently rebellious to God and His ways, so even though
it may appear to do good things, flesh trusts in it’s own strength. And without the
ingredient of "faith in God and His ability," the result is that our fleshly self always wants
the glory for what it has done.
In the religious realm the flesh loves to obey laws, to observe holy occasions, even to
fast. Paul had to chastise the Galatian believers over this. Look at Galatians 4:9, 10, 11:
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that
you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be
enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for
you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.
That is true even today. Years ago my wife and I were walking on a beach in Florida.
This lady came towards us with a radio headset on. She was singing a Christian song at
the top of her lungs. We stopped and spoke with her for several minutes. She never said a
word about Christ. It was all about her church and what her church was doing and how

Jesus was the source of bearing fruit for god

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