2 replies to this topic

[luke]

What is 'that by which we were bound' in Rom. 7:6?

Quote

Rom. 7:6
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

My immediate answer is 'the Law', but I'm not entirely sure because of the wider context of 'dying' in Rom. 6.

In Rom. 6 the dying is to 'the old self' (v6). If this is carried through to ch. 7, then the freedom from the Law comes as an additional consequence to the dying to the old self.

Perhaps this is also hinted at in the immediate context of 7:6:

Quote

Rom. 7:5-6
{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. {6} But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

Right?

Edited by luke, 26 January 2011 - 09:22 PM.

[Bibleortraditions]

The law of sin and death which we were bound by

[RobLawson]

The Expositor series has on the phrase (GEM writing, not HPM):

'The Diaglott has: 'But now, having died, we are released from the law, by which we were held'. The 'old man' of the flesh [which he takes the first husband of the first part of the chapter to be] was virtually imprisoned by the strength and power of the law, as well as by its authority. The law shackled a man, holding him in fetters because it constantly convicted him of sin (ch6v6), securing him within the bonds of death. Such a person was unable to rise above his condition, there being no formula by which he might redeem himself from the inevitability of sin. But baptism into Christ crucified 'the old man', releasing the believer from its power and law-thus we are no longer in bondage (ch7v1-2) to serve him as his 'wife' (v4).